The Thread of Redemption (2)

Introduction

We are looking at the call of Abram—later Abraham—and particularly how Moses sets up the narrative to build a sense of anticipation through the promise God made to Abram and its impact upon all humanity.

If we use a tree as a metaphor, we might say that the first eleven chapters of Genesis form the roots—where creation, fall, and flood take place. Chapters 12–50 are the tree itself, tracing God’s redemptive work through one family. The rest of the Bible is the branches and fruit—the unfolding of that redemptive plan across history.

It is through Abraham that the promise of a Redeemer, a Messiah, will come. Nearly two thousand years after creation and the fall of mankind, God’s promise to Adam and Eve—that a Son would crush the serpent’s head—is reiterated. God renews His covenant promise through a man named Abram:

Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV) “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

In these words, God begins to weave His plan of redemption—a plan that would one day culminate in Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, the Savior of the world.

In the Garden, one man’s rebellion cast all his descendants into conflict with their Creator. Now, in a pagan city far from that garden, God calls another man—Abram—to walk by faith. Through his obedience, God would open the door of deliverance for all humanity.

The thread of redemption is passed from one hand to another—Adam to Noah, Noah to Shem, Shem to Abram—each called to trust and obey.

As we saw two weeks ago, God’s call to Abram was more than a change of address—it was the beginning of a divine promise that would bless the world. From the dusty streets of Ur to the unknown paths of Canaan, Abram’s journey shows what happens when faith answers God’s invitation.

That same promise of blessing still stands for all who will trust Him today.

“Faith is not about knowing the path—it’s about knowing and trusting the One who calls you to walk it.”

Tonight, let’s look more deeply at The Call.

The Call

The call came to Abram while he lived in Ur, a thriving pagan city devoted to the worship of the moon goddess Nanna. Each month, her crescent “appearance” was celebrated as she supposedly traveled across the heavens. Paganism was now the dominant belief system across the known world—just a few generations removed from the Tower of Babel.

It doesn’t take many generations for people to forget what God has done or who He is.

Think for a moment about our own nation. The Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620 came seeking freedom—not political or economic gain—but the freedom to worship God according to His Word.

The National Monument to the Forefathers still stands today as a silent testimony to that foundation. The central figure—Faith—lifts one hand toward God and holds an open Bible in the other. She represents what most inspired the Pilgrims’ journey: a desire to worship the one true God.

But in just four centuries, how far we’ve drifted. The cry “We have no king but King Jesus” has been replaced by “No king but self.” The motto of many hearts today might as well be, “Do what you want—that’s the whole of the law.”

Our nation was called into being by the providence of God, yet we’ve lost our sense of that calling—just as the nations at Babel forgot theirs.

Still, God’s mercy shines through history. As Moses unfolds the story, we see that it is by the mercy of God that He calls the pagan out of darkness and into a life of faith. God’s call may lead through hardship, danger, and the unknown—but it is a life worth living.

When the hearer obeys, lives are changed. The call of Abram was a covenantal call—a promise that God would bless him if he believed and obeyed.

And the same is true today: Faith always produces obedience. When we hear God’s voice and believe His Word, obedience becomes the natural response.

Ephesians 2:1–7(ESV) 1-7 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Those first seven verses are one long sentence in the Greek—a single, unstoppable declaration of grace.

We were dead, deceived, and disobedient, yet God—rich in mercy—made us alive through Christ.

That grace bears fruit. Just as a vine naturally bears grapes, the life of Christ within us must produce good works that reveal His nature in us.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Abram’s faith produced the fruit of obedience:

Genesis 12:4–5 (ESV) So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

At seventy-five, Abram began a journey of faith that would change the course of history.

Conclusion – The Blessing Beyond Yourself

The greatest blessing of faith and obedience is not what it does for us—but what it does through us.

Abram’s obedience set in motion a chain of redemption that led to Christ. Through one man’s faith, all nations were offered salvation.

When we respond to God’s call with the same faith, we become part of that same thread of redemption. The story that began in Genesis continues through every believer who walks in obedience today.

So the question tonight is simple: Will you be part of that thread—or will the story unravel where you stand?

When God calls, obey. When He leads, follow. And when He blesses, be the blessing—so that through you, others might find the Redeemer who still calls mankind out of darkness and into His marvelous light.