Genesis 12:1-10 "The Call of Abram"

Good evening, Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis Chapter 12. Genesis 12:1-20 this evening.

We’ve come to a major shift in the Book of Genesis.

Chapters 1-11 of Genesis focus on “Primeval History”… the origins of the universe… life… the fall… the first Gospel prediction… the world in chaos from man’s sin… the flood… the origin of nations post-flood with the Son’s of Noah… the origin of languages at the Tower of Babel…

1-11 largely portrays mankind’s rebellion…

And, then in Chapters 12-50 of Genesis… the focus shifts to “Patriarchal History”… which tells of God bringing mankind into a place of blessing.

We will read of the calling and covenants of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… from whom would come the nation of Israel… and Jesus… the Messiah.

Chapter 12 has been called the “central passage of the Book of Genesis” and it begins the fourth of seven dispensations.

1. There is the Dispensation of Innocence → Gen 1-2

From Eden to the Fall

2. Conscience → Gen 3-8

The expulsion from Eden to the Flood

3. Human Government → Gen 9-11

Post Flood to the Tower of Babel

4. The Dispensation of Promise → Gen 12- Exo 19

From Abrams Call to Sinai

What we begin tonight.

Law → Exo 20 to the conclusion of the Gospels

The Ten Commandments to Christ’s Death…

… with some aspects relevant in the Millenium.

Grace (the Church Age… the dispensation we live in) → Luke 22 to Rev 3

From the New Covenant in Christ’s blood to Rapture

Lastly, the Millennial Kingdom… the Reign of Christ→

From the 2nd Coming to the Great White Throne (Rev 19-20)

So essentially… “From Eden lost to Eden restored.”

And, Genesis 12 is a chapter of contrast. Tonight, we see Abram’s faith in obeying the calling of God, and next time this is contrasted with his faith being tested and Abram taking matters into his own hands… succumbing to fear of famine and Pharoah… and faltering in faith.

And, within each of us… there are moments where our flesh wars with out spirit… and often we demonstrate duplicity (contradictory doubleness of thought)…

Thus, Chapter 12 in some ways is a portrayal of every person who has answered a call of faith… and when faith is tested… the common response for believers to have moments of lapsed faith…

And yet… God will not forsake Abram… and He does not forsake us either.

And we praise God for His mercy, grace, and tremendous patience with us.

Well… let’s pray and then look at the first half of this chapter in a message titled, “The Call of Abram.”

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, if you are able, please stand as I read our passage.

Genesis 12:1–10 “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

In V1… we read the LORD… Yahweh God… said to Abram…

The word “said” means “to utter or say”, so God spoke to… Act 7:2 states God “appeared to” Abram… and lays out what we know as “The Abrahamic Covenant.”

We see this Covenant first expressed here and reiterated with details added in Gen 15, 17:7-8, 22:17-18.

Abram heeded the words of God in V1 & V2… which include two commands or imperatives:

First, in V1… to leave his country and family to go to a foreign land that Abram knows nothing about.

Which was needed because Ur and Abram’s father, Terah, were pagan.

Terah was specifically named in Joshua 24:2 as one who “served other gods.”

In Jewish tradition… Terah thrived as an idol-maker… and there are many extra biblical stories of Abraham confronting his father’s trade.

So, Abram believes God’s call to go… and this becomes monumentally significant and repeatedly stands to support justification by faith alone in scripture.

Hebrews 11:8 declares, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Abram’s faith landed him in Heb 11… the “Hall of Faith.”

Further, in Gen 15, God told Abraham his descendants would be as numerous as the stars…

“And [Abram] believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Gen 15:6)

Which majorly supports justification by faith alone… not by keeping the law.

Galatians 3:24 “… the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

The law teaches God’s command… which mankind cannot keep because of the sin nature, thus the law causes man to cry out to Christ… the Anointed One… the Messiah.

The Law schooled the Jews to cry out, “Save us” because we cannot keep the law and save ourselves by works… by self-righteousness.

Also pertaining to Abraham and law vs faith… Romans 4:13 declares, “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

So, these acts of faith have earned Abraham the title the “Father of Faith.” He is called “the father of all those who believe” in Rom 4:11.

And, this Abrahamic Covenant… has a ripple effect to bless the whole earth.

Which ties to the Second Command… which doesn’t sound like a command… but, at the end of V2 we read “And you shall be a blessing”…

‘Be a blessing’ is a command.

So as Abram… took step 1 (which was a step of faith… which he took as we read simply in V4 “So Abram departed...”). He gets out of Ur and goes to what would be Canaan,

God then delivered three blessings tied to Abram leaving his land… observed in V2…

One: “I will make you a great nation” — his descendents would be countless… “as numerous as the stars” in Gen 15:5; “as the dust of the earth” in Gen 13:16.

Two: “I will bless you… a personal blessing of material and spiritual prosperity.

Three I will “make your name great”- his name would be renowned.

And, these would enable Abram and his descendants to “be a blessing”… (the second imperative at the end of V2).

Namely through the promises we read in V3…

“I will bless those who bless you”: Friends of Israel and the God of Israel would be blessed.

“I will curse him who curses you”: Enemies of Israel (Antisemites) would be cursed.

Two promises of protection.

Barnhouse wrote: “When the Greeks overran Palestine and desecrated the altar in the Jewish temple, they were soon conquered by Rome. When Rome killed Paul and many others, and destroyed Jerusalem under Titus, Rome soon fell. Spain was reduced to a fifth-rate nation after the Inquisition against the Jews; Poland fell after the pogroms; Hitler’s Germany went down after its orgies of anti-Semitism; Britain lost her empire when she broke her faith with Israel.”

Not a coincidence… it’s a covenant. And God will not be mocked. Man reaps what he sows.

We’re in a time of blessing in that President Trump supports Israel, but anti-Semitism is on the rise and I fear for the state of the Nation and the church…

… for history testifies of the truth of Gen 12:3.

“And in you all families of the earth shall be blessed”: which points forward to the ultimate blessing… a universal blessing… as Jesus Messiah would be born through the line of Judah… a descendant of Abram.

And, Paul describes this promise as the Gospel. Galatians 3:8 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

When God reiterated the covenant in Genesis 22:18 He stated, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

And Paul further provides insight that Abram’s seed points singularly to Christ.

Galatians 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”

And so, before us… the first order of business in this major shift of Chapter 12 is to display the calling of Abram… and the covenant set before him by the LORD.

And this is an unilateral and unconditional covenant…

It’s unilateral as seen in the Gen 15 account… God promises Abram land, and Abram said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen 15:8)

So God tells him to bring a three year-old heifer, goat, and ram, plus a turtledove and young pigeon.

All but the birds are cut in two down the middle, and placed opposite one another…

Then when sun goes down, Abram fell into a deep sleep…

And, God made (lit “cut”) the covenant by Him alone passing through the pieces alone…

Thus, earning this covenant the title… the “Covenant Between the Pieces.”

And, since God alone passed through… this covenant is based on God’s faithfulness alone… not Abrams.

Further in Genesis 22:16 God said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord...”

And Hebrews 6:13–14 explains, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”

God swore by Himself… making this a unilateral covenant (meaning “One Party Swears”)… and it’s promises are absolutely sure since they are all based on God’s faithfulness.

And, this covenant is also unconditional… meaning there are “No ifs”… no conditional language.

7x in Gen 12, 15, and 17 God declares repeatedly “I will”… the covenant will be accomplished by God.

Even when Abraham falters… lies about Sarah (not once, but twice) or tries to create an heir with Hagar instead of Sarah… God does not forsake the covenant… or curse Abram (actually he is blessed)… Nor does God add conditional clauses.

The covenant has been sealed by God making the covenant and swearing by His own name.

So it was Unilateral… God was the one to walk and talk.

And it’s unconditional… What must Abraham do to keep it? Nothing.

And, very interesting… Stephen in Acts 7… gives us insight as to when God spokes vv 1-3 to Abram.

Acts 7:2–4 reads, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.”

And so… God spoke and appeared to Abram in Mesopotamia… which in Abram’s time encompassed Ur of the Chaldeans… so, it would seem that God places this call upon Abram when he was still in Ur… before he dwelt in Haran.

And God places upon him a difficult call to follow… to leave family and country.

And this was a call that initially Abram only partially obeyed… or delayed in obeying fully at first…

Abram did not immediately go to the Land… what would be revealed as the Land of Canaan…

But lingered… dwelling in Haran.

Nor did Abram immediately leave his family, for he remained with his father until his father died.

And, we need to be careful with partial obedience… or delaying obedience to God’s call for our lives.

We read in Gen 11:31 that Abram’s father (Terah) was the one who initially took Abram and Lot away from Ur to go to Canaan…

But he stopped there… He dwelt there the rest of his days and died there.

It raised the question, “Did God initially call Terah, but then moved on because Terah did not proceed to Canaan?”

What if Abram never moved from Haran and proceeded to Canaan? Would God have found another?

In the Jewish Midrash it is stated, “Had Abraham remained in Haran, he would have remained a wealthy shepherd—but not the father of the faithful.”

It’s speculated… with reason… that God would have moved on to another… just as He did moving away from Terah to Abram.

So. with or without us… God’s will be done… God’s Sovereign plan will be fulfilled… but when we obey and say, “Yes”… we get to be a part of the blessing.

Now… with Abram… this partial and delayed obedience did not remove God’s promises… but Abram would not realize God’s promises until He followed God’s call.

The promise of God was on hold until Abram obeyed the voice and command of God.

In V4 we read the word “So”… “So Abram departed” and it would seem this word was the hinge on which everything turns.

The promises would come more and more into realization as Abram obeyed God.

Leading to God formalizing the covenant by passing between the pieces in Gen 15.

And, I don’t know about you, but this thought about partial and delayed obedience… and not fully realizing the blessing of God… this convicted me.

Because I know… in one matter… I stand guilty before God in partial and delayed obedience.

You see… God called me to go to Bible College… and I did.

I went to Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, CA… then was re-directed to missions work in the Philippines… and I continued at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Dumaguete… then transferred to online studies…

And, while I have over 60 credits… not all my credits transferred from school to school… and there are 3 classes still lingering out there for me to complete.

Acts… OT prophecy and wisdom… and a 2 cr Foundations course (which has several options)… 8 credits in all.

Now… About two months ago I got motivated… because I got an email from my school informing me of their new policy… essentially finish soon or your credits will no longer be eligible to complete your degree.

So… this past Tuesday, I completed my application to re-enroll… beginning January I should be in a class online…

And, please pray I find some extra time.

But look… for you… for me… when God calls us to do something… finish it. Don’t delay and don’t partially obey.

I’ve been wondering for years if God has some new doors He plans to open for me and this ministry upon my degree being completed.

Maybe… maybe not… regardless… when God calls us, we should complete that which He called us to.

And that’s what we begin to see next in the life of Abram… beginning in V4…

V4 “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”

Now… the big word “So”… from all that God said… Abram listened and obeyed… encapsulated in the word “So”…

And as he departs Haran… His nephew Lot joins him…

Which seems to be a voluntary choice. We don’t read that Lot was called by God to go, but he evidently believed in God’s promises and calling… and the need to forsake the idols of Haran.

And you may be thinking… isn’t this the same Lot who eventually dwells in Sodom… and after it’s destroyed… in Gen 19 gets drunk and has relations (and eventually children)… with his own daughters?

Oh Yes… same guy. No doubt Lot had some issues.

One might even look at the assessment of Lot’s life and determine… that man is NOT a believer… for sure he lost his salvation.

But, he did not. Lot was a believer who fell into carnality. He was a “carnal Christian”… the type of believer described in 1 Cor 3.

2 Peter 2:7–8 declares angels “… delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—”

Just to be sure you caught it… Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, repeated 3x in those two verses that Lot was righteous.

Righteous, by def. “innocent.” When one believes God, He sees them as innocent… and eternally they do not see death, but eternal life.

Lot was for sure beat down by the world… oppressed by the filth of Sodom… and commits incest during two drunken nights… ending his story on a really low note.

But, God does not demand sinless perfection… God demands our faith in Him.

And the fact that Lot is declared as righteous 3x in 2 Pet 2… is a great assurance for us all… that though we may make some pretty bad mistakes in life…

It is not our works of perfection that saves us… it is our faith in Jesus Christ who was the perfect sinless sacrifice for our sin… who saves.

And that is a gracious assurance indeed.

Well… Abram… now 75 years old… having lived in Haran most of his life… a city named after his deceased brother… a city where Terah and Abram prospered.

He departs his established life… his life of comfort and prosperity… (which the following verses establish)…

And leaves to go to Canaan where he has nothing… but this is where God called Him to go.

Stephen wrote this about Abrams initial departure from Haran to Canaan in Acts 7:5 “And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on.”

Abram believed God… though he had no land or descendants to show for himself when he initially departed.

It was a relationship of faith in God’s promises… not of what was observable before him.

As it is for us… in 2 Cor Paul declared God gave us the Spirit as a guarantee… and while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.

And, then he writes 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

We believe in the promises of God… that we will be glorified immediately after death… absent from the body and present with the Lord.

We have our pledge that as we exit this land… God will be faithful in completing the work He started in us.

Finishing our Salvation… justification… sanctification… and what we so yearn for… glorification.

Saving us completely… ridding us totally from the presence of sin.

This is the life of the believer… trusting God… looking beyond this world to unseen eternity and believing God will fulfill all He has promised.

Continuing to vv 5-6 we get a glimpse of the prosperity of Abram… the life they left behind… to head into the unknown… even into hostile territory.

vv 5-6 “Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.”

Abram now 75 years… Sarai is 65… ten years younger according to Gen 17:17… will set out from Haran to the land of Canaan.

And I have a map of Abram’s Journeys. You can follow numbers 1-4… to get an idea of their travel from Ur to Haran to Canaan… then to Egypt later in the chapter.

V5 testifies they had acquired “possessions”… which one of the greatest possessions in that time were flocks and herds.

And he acquired “people”… slavery was common in those days.

And they would be workers to tend the flocks… to make food… to pitch tents… and people meant protection.

And, it would seem they would shift from a settled life, living in a home in the city of Haran…

To a nomadic life… going from place to place and living in tents as we see in V8 .

What’s interesting is despite both of these indications of material prosperity, the many years spent in Haran have been called “the wasted years in Haran”… meaning years without progress.

In the eyes of the world, if you prosper materially… that’s the most important thing in life.

But, what does material prosperity matter in the eyes of God?

There is no eternal value to earthly wealth… we for sure cannot take it with us.

There’s a saying, “I’ve never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse.”

Well… unless you Google that phrase… and then you will.

I saw pictures online of several hearses pulling U-hauls… one was stacked with furniture… another was pulling a boat…

But when they excavate the tombs of the Pharoah's… if not already looted… they uncover a vast array of treasures… left behind and not taken.

So… let us be cautious not to have “wasted years” in our lives… seeking material wealth, but delaying true riches…

Treasures in heaven… rewards at the Bema Seat… for our faithfulness in obedience to our Lord.

Once again in V4… Abram partially obeys… V1 stated he was to leave his family, but he brings his nephew Lot.

And we’ll read ahead of several time that Lot was a burden… a source of trouble.

This is a story repeated many times over in the Bible… and many times over in our lives.

Thank God for his patience and grace with us.

Upon arrival in the land of Canaan, V6 mentions Abram comes “to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.”

Shechem was a place about half way between Jerusalem and the Galilee. Near the center of the land of Israel… about 40 miles north of Jerusalem.

And it’s a city that will be re-visited many times over in scripture.

First, here in Gen 12… as Abram comes to a known landmark “the terebinth tree”… an oak tree or grove belonging to a Canaanite named Moreh.

Moreh means “teacher”, and it’s possible that the “oak of Moreh” was a pagan site… as pagan worship was prevalent in Canaan.

But… for Abram… Shechem becomes a place of promise… as we’ll see in the following verse that God appears to Abram to promise him the land of Israel.

Whatever kind of teacher Moreh was… Abraham will take possession of the land… one day his people would occupy the land… and the true Teacher… Messiah would one day walk this land.

So, what happens here in Gen 12… sets the stage for Shechem to be a sacred place to the Israelites.

Shechem also becomes a place of worship…

Abram build an altar here in V7… Jacob also builds an altar here in Gen 33:18-20.

And this remained a place of worship in Joshua’s day (Josh 24:26)

Shechem would later become a place for the nation to commit to the Lord…

Before they entered the land… blessings and curses of the law were pronounced from Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal… which are just North and South of Shechem. (Deut 11:25-30 and Josh 8:33).

And Joshua would renew the covenant to follow the Lord at Shechem in Josh 24.

Shechem in Joshua 21 becomes a Levitical City of refuge.

Shechem was also a place of grave sin.

In Gen 34… the son of a Hivite chieftain, who’s name was Shechem, raped Jacob’s daughter, Dinah.

And two of Jacob’s sons avenger her by deceiving the men to get circumcised and then slaughtering them.

In the time of the judges, Shechemites come against Gideon… Judges 9.

When the Nation divided, Shechem was the capital of the Northern Kingdom for a period of time 1 Kings 12:1.

So… many events will unfold at Shechem… and often mankind’s sinfulness will be on display.

The people will be exposed at Shechem for not properly honoring God.

AND… at the same time… God’s faithfulness will be revealed at Shechem.

But, here in Gen 12… the dark shrouded words at the end of V6 stand out, “And the Canaanites were then in the land.”

These were not a good people…

If you recall… when Noah cursed Ham for his dishonor…

Noah said in Genesis 9:25 “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”

This was a prophetic utterance repeated 3x in Gen 9… Canaan would be a servant both to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.

But the Canaanites will not depart willingly… this note of the Canaanites presence is ominous… preparing the reader for many future conflicts to come.

With God victorious in the end… and Israel not only becoming the possessor, but also the occupier of the land… which we read about in Joshua.

And the word of God follows that pattern to this day. We read of persecutions… future wars and rumors of wars… a coming anti-Christ to plague the earth…

But, we too can hold onto the promises of God and know that God is already… and we are already victorious.

Jesus Christ has already defeated sin and death… that victory is won. Through faith, we die and live again eternally in heaven… face to face with God.

And this ball of dirt is already the possession of Jesus Christ… we are just waiting for Him to return and occupy it.

And we say, “Come quickly Lord Jesus!”

Well, for Abram… in a similar way… there he stands in this land now occupied by the wicked Canaanites… and he receives a blessed promise from God.

V7 “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.”

This is the first note in the OT that the “LORD appeared.” 20x in the OT we will read that phrase.

Appeared means “to see” or “became visible.”

And we know that no man may see the face of the LORD and live (Exo 33:20, John 1:18, 1 Tim 6:16, 1 John 4:12)….

The Father dwells in unapproachable light… and it is the Son who declares Him.

So what we are reading here in V7 is a theophany… a preincarnate appearing of Christ in the OT.

A major problem for cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses who deny the deity of Christ.

But He and the Father are one. John 10:30… and Jesus is the LORD… which is the tetragrammaton… YHWH… Yahweh God.

And, while this land was presently occupied by the Canaanites… now that Abram had departed His country… first Ur, then Haran… and stood foot in the Promised Land…

Now God reveals that this is the land He promised back in V1.

To Abram’s descendants… who would become a “great nation” V2… God now gives this land.

Land which is broadly promised in Gen 15:18-21 and in greater detail promised in Numbers 34:1–12.

Land which Israel had never fully occupied. At their height of power under Solomon they occupied about 30,000 square miles, but God promised them roughly 300,000 square miles.

And this will not be fully realized until Jesus returns… then Ezk 47-48 will be fulfilled.

For Abram once he obeyed to enter the land of Canaan… God now reveals this is the Promised Land. …

And for us today… so often God will not give full revelation of His will… until we are obedient to His direction.

God gives glimpses… He gives plans in part… but He leads us to take steps of faith… and then subsequent plans come.

One of the most dramatic times this occurred in my life was when my family were missionaries in the Philippines.

God was directing us to build… what we would call a pavilion… what they called a “church.”

And, after stirring our hearts… after people vocalizing to build… after consulting with our overseeing church and Pastor… after God closing doors on certain properties and opening a door on the place…

We could see God’s will unfolding… and now we just needed the funds to proceed.

A generous donation had just arrived that we had earmarked for visas, but it was so clear that God wanted us to build.

So I reasoned, if God provided the funds for the Visas, we will trust Him to also provide the funds for the Church.

And, literally as I was driving to buy the first batch of materials with the Filipino contractor…

My wife texted saying, “Did you see the email?”

An email came in… literally as we stepped out in faith to buy the materials… and the email was from a business owner committing to fund the church project. Praise God.

The same thing recently happened with my son, Ethan.

He was felt led to go on a missions trip… and I told him, “If the Lord is leading, you should obey… even if you have to personally pay.”

And, as he committed in his heart… as he took a step of faith… within the day… the trip was fully funded by people whom God stirred their heart.

I have a number of similar stories… and many of you do as well.

I encourage you to pay attention to how God is leading and know… He will stretch you to take steps of faith… and then meet you on the road as you do…

Providing for you… and giving you further revelation of His will.

I can imagine Abram… now standing with the LORD… which had to be tremendously overwhelming… and looking out at the plains before him…

Receiving this promise from the Almighty… and feeling tremendously humbled.

Did he ask or wonder, “Why me? I’m not a perfect man… I’m not worthy?”

Can we not all ask the same question… as we gaze out at the eternal plains of promise set before us?

We are not worthy of the inheritance to be “joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17).

And, yet God extends to us a free and gracious gift beyond our comprehension… that we accept through faith.

Abram, very appropriately “builds an alter to the LORD”… because this was a special place where he met with God…

He would offer sacrifice for his sin here.

He would demonstrate submission to God.

And here he would worship God.

And there are many verses that reflect how we are also to “altar with God”…

We remember Jesus’ broken body and shed blood for our sin during communion. 1 Cor 11:23-26.

And we worship Him in many and various ways:

In Spirit & Truth John 4:23–24

In Reverence & Awe Hebrews 12:28

In Singing Eph 5:19, Col 3:16

In Prayer Phil 4:6, 1 Tim 2:1

In Obedience Romans 12:1

In a Sacrifice of Praise & Good Works Hebrews 13:15–16

And In Gathering together Hebrews 10:25, Acts 2:42

We don’t need a physical altar to worship the LORD, but let our hearts be the very altar to our God… the very throne He sits upon… for we know He looks on the heart…

Continuing to vv 8-9 “And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”

After this mountaintop experience with the LORD… Abram moves from the place of meeting with God at Shechem…

Travelling about 30 miles south… still about 10 miles north of Salem (Jerusalem)… in between Bethel and Ai…

Here he pitches his tent… he sets up camp. And builds another altar to the LORD… calling on the name of the LORD… again in worship and sacrifice.

And, after in V9 would travel further South Country… the “Negev”… perhaps because of the lack of food… the famine on the land as pictured in V10… which we’ll come to next time.

But before we close… let me say that like Abram… we too are on a pilgrimage…

In fact in 1 Peter 2:11 we read, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims [“temporary residents and foreigners”], abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul...”

We are just passing through this world… we have a different final destination… therefore our eyes… and the desires of our hearts should be affixed on eternity… not distracted by all the things that sparkle and distracts us in this lifetime.

They don’t build us up spiritually… they “war against the soul.”

We are to hold loosely to this world… to “pitch our tents” so to say…

Sure we may live in houses… we may even own homes… but we are to not let our hearts dwell permanently on this earth.

For this is not our home.

Take a good look at your ID… and though it may say “Indiana”… that’s just temporary.

You’re a “sojourner and pilgrim”… your true citizenship lies elsewhere.

Philippians 3:20–21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body...”

2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Jesus promised in John 14:2–3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

There are many and glorious promised that await us in our “promised land”…

So live as a Pilgrim… not a drifter who has no direction, but a Pilgrim… one who has left their home and is on a journey to a specific destination.

You are a Kingdom Citizen… know this… and journey well… walking in faith… as an Ambassador of our King… with eyes on eternity, and not distracted by this world.

One scholar wrote, “Departure from securities is the only way out of barrenness.”

Away from the wasted years in Haran.

But as we walk in faith… we become part of God’s program… we partake in the blessing to bless the world… with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray!

If you need prayer for anything, please let us pray with you before you go.

And I pray you journey well the rest of this week.