Sermon Illustrations

How would the Bible read, I wonder, if faith were left out. Imagine Heb 11 w/o faith:

­ Without Faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, didn’t even gather the materials to build an ark because a worldwide flood was such an impossibility.

­ Without faith, Abraham, didn’t leave his home when God called him because that would be foolish. Without faith, he wasn’t able to become a father, and if he had he wouldn’t have offered up his son to God.

­ Without faith, Moses chose to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and to enjoy the pleasures of sin over suffering for Christ.

­ Without faith, the people of Israel couldn’t pass through the Red Sea on dry land, and the Egyptians overran them.

­ Without faith, the walls of Jericho didn’t fall at all. The people didn’t even march around the city for 7 days, because such a thing would have been foolish, right?

­ Without faith, many others failed to conquer kingdoms, justice was perverted, they lost what was promised, were burned by flames, caught by the edge of the sword, their strength was turned to weakness, they were weak in battle and routed by foreign armies. These were all not commended for their faith, and none of them received what was promised.

Take the life of great people, remove faith, and that’s how it reads. That’s the Bible story without faith.