Abram
Notes
Transcript
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Propensity to disobedience
++Pride
++Self-centeredness
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Patience
++Mercy
++Grace
Where is Hope?
Where is Hope?
Repentance
++Faith
Abram - our father of faith
Abram - our father of faith
What did that faith look like?
What can we learn from his example of faith?
The account of Abram’s life begins in Genesis 11, right after the Tower of Babel.
Open your bibles to Genesis 11 and we will move through this quickly.
In Genesis 11.27-28 we find out that Abram was the firstborn of Terah, and that they lived in Ur of the Chaldeans.
This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
Why did God record this?
What we find out later is that Joshua was led by God to record this about Abram in Joshua 24.2-3.
Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
Ziggurat at Ur
Remember the Tower of Babel? The pride of mankind? They did not obey God, but wanted to make a name for themselves, and build a tower to the heavens? We we find is that these structures are found around the world are a part of the worship sun, moon, stars, and wisdom.
In other words, the people from the Tower of Babel took their disobedience with them, and built similar structures for similar reasons all around the world when God scattered them and changed their language!
What was meant as a punishment to help them see their pride and disobedience, was rejected, much as Cain’s punishment to be a wanderer, meant to show him his pride and disobedience, was rejected by him when he founded a city instead.
Man is prone to leaving the Lord and living in disobedience to him. Man is prideful, and self-centered.
And this is where Abram was, where he and his family worshipped other gods, as Joshua recorded.
But what happened?
We see in Acts that God reached out to Abram in Ur.
To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.
‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.
What does this show us about God?
What does this show us about God?
Patience
Mercy
Grace
All meant to bring Abram to repentance and faith.
Repentance - a change of mind/heart, a 180, from following his own heart and ways, to saying God is right.
Faith - believing God and acting accordingly. Trust and Obey
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Go - leaving country, people, father’s household
I will:
Great nation
Bless you
Make your name great
Bless those who bless you/curse those who curse you
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you
Covenant - Responsibilities God takes upon himself.
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
What do we see about Abram?
What do we see about Abram?
He went not knowing where he was going until God said this is the place.
He took his nephew, Lot. Wait, didn’t God say to leave your father’s household?
Abram trusted and obeyed… but there was a hiccup here.
Move on to Gen 12.10-13
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
What do we see about Abram?
What do we see about Abram?
God told him to go to Canaan. But when things got hard, he left and went to Egypt.
When he got to Egypt, he did not trust the Lord, but his own cunning, and had Sarai lie about being his wife.
But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Patience, Mercy, Grace - God did not give up on Abram, but saved his wife and restored her to him.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Troubles with Lot
Troubles with Lot
Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Pride, self-centered heart
The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Patience, Mercy, Grace
At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim,
these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley).
For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim
and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert.
Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim
against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.
The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.
They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.
A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Melchizedek - king of Salem, Priest of God Most High
Melchizedek - king of Salem, Priest of God Most High
God does not desire that anyone perish. He reveals Himself to people so that they may tell others about Him, so that more may be saved.
God is faithful to Abram.
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
What do we see about God?++Faithfulness.
What do we see about God?++Faithfulness.
What do we see about Abram?
What do we see about Abram?
++Abram had faith.
++Abram was not perfect.
Abram was quick to do what seemed right in his eyes and judgment. Anyone else like that?
God said to leave his fathers’s household… he did but he took Lot along.
God said to go to Canaan and live there, but there was a famine, so it only seems logical to go to Egypt where there was food, right?
God said he would care for Abram, but the Egyptians might kills him for his wife… so just lie about it, right?
But God was faithful to his covenant.
When God corrected him and brought him through situations which came from his own disobedience, Abram would trust and worship God who was always faithful to his promise, his covenant.
Where is hope?
Where is hope?
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
God reaches out in patience, mercy and grace even to those who are living in disobedience to him, not wanting anyone to perish, but to repent and live.
We see that in Abram, and in Melchizedek.
God expects trust and obedience, but he graciously works with those who trust him, patiently teaching them, and showing his faithfulness even when they are not 100% faithful.
