Untitled Sermon (3)

Abraham: The Father of the Faithful

Genesis 12 & 15

PRAY!!

Introduction/Thank Darrel for invite/Dr. Martin for his ministry

I would like to look with you today at the portrait of Abraham, his life, his calling, his faith…. As a living illustration for us to learn from in our own faith journeys.

I think this will go well as background to your study through the book of Hebrews:

· Genesis 1-11 is the rapid fire story of God’s perfect creation, which was subjected to corruption and futility because of sin, the rapid descent into total wickedness, bringing God’s judgement of destruction and cleansing through Noah and the flood.

· After the flood, there is again a descent into wickedness, pagan idolatry, leading to the tower of Babel (Gen 11), a picture of pride and rebellion against God once again.

· God scatters the people over the earth and confuses the languages – a mercy that slows the progression of sin.

📷Then we come to the descendants of Shem in ch 11 that leads down to Terah who leaves Ur (Mesopotamian valley), finally bringing his son Abraham to Haran.

The story of Genesis goes from the rapid fire telling the broad story of all peoples, to the detailed story of the calling of one man. Abraham…

· Himself, most likely a pagan, an idolator/certainly from a pagan culture, who was called out of a land of spiritual darkness and into a covenant relationship with the LORD.

· ��Dr. Christopher Write, OT Scholar, Author “The call of Abram is the beginning of God’s answer to the evil of human hearts, the strife of nations, and the groaning brokenness of his whole creation.”

📷If I were to ask you, Who is Abram and why is he important? You might respond, well father Abraham had many sons… and many sons had father Abraham… but there is much more for us to see in his life

· By God’s calling, Abraham becomes the Father – The patriarch of Israel, and receives the covenant of faith from which all the nations of the world would one day be blessed

Genesis 12:1-4 The Call of Abram

[1] 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. [2] 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. [3] 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.” [4] 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.

Abram as is his name in Verse 1 means “high father” his wife Sarai – “princess”

· God would later change his name – giving him a new identity

o Renaming him Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude”

o And rename his wife Sarai to – Sarah, meaning “mother of nations”

· Verse 1: The Lord gives Abram a command “Go!”, From 3 three things:o #1 From your country, #2 From your kindred, #3from your father’s houseo Leave behind the place you know, the people you know, and your inheritance· And he must GO! “To the land that I will show you” The land of Canaan, this is the Promise Land, this would be the land one day that Joshua would lead the nation of Israel over the Jordan to possess. · Did you notice the “I will” statements of God here?o V2 I will make you a great nationo I will bless youo I will make your name greato V3 I will bless those who bless youo I will curse those who dishonor you· Who is going doing all of the work here? GOD o God is saying leave everything Abraham…§ go and trust me to be your place, your provision, and I WILL be your inheritance/protector/ & providero And Abraham’s role in this? Trust God and obey· In v3 we see purpose of God’s call, that through Abraham, God’s redemptive plan would continue and eventually reach out to the entire world.o Verse 3, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”o This points to the cross, If you follow the line of descendants from Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Judah – down to David –then Jesus the promised king in the line of David, § and ultimately the spreading of the gospel and salvation to all nations.o Right before the ascension of Jesus to heaven, Jesus appears to the disciples§ ��Matthew 28:18-20 [18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore what? Go therefore and make disciples of WHO? all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”o Right at the point of history (Gen 12) when God is narrowing his focus, choosing one man from whom will come one nation, § we see the beginning of a promise pointing back again to all people, § to all nations, by the authority and power of Jesus, in the spreading of the Gospel of Salvation · Verse 4 “So Abraham went” He goes to the land of Canaan.

o ��Hebrews 11:8 [8] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

o Abraham demonstrates faith, trust, and obedience. Things that we ourselves must have and show. –Hall of Faith—· Now, Put yourself in the Abraham’s shoes, what if this were you?· 📷What would it take for you, if God was telling you to up and go to an unknown place, to step out in faith, walk away from all you have and know? o It is hard to leave what you know for the unknown, it is not so easy to take that first step, so I see the great faith of Abraham, especially at age 75 to step into the unknown.· But look in Verse 5 at what he takes:o [5] 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.o Lot is Abraham’s nephew…§ God had told Abraham to leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s house§ He does 2 of the three things. This as we see begins to be a pattern with Abraham.§ Abraham follows but fails in places to fully obey and trust God§ we see God in turn, bringing him back to the plan/steering him.· However forgiven, His disobedience always bring paino In the case of Lot, fighting/conflict leads to Abraham splitting from Loto God steers Abraham back onto the course of faithfulnesso Lot get into a mess of trouble, Sodom, eventually Lot’s offspring become enemies and thorns for Israel· In verse 10 back in Chapter 12, we see shortly after arriving at Bethel, just north of Jerusalem, there is a famine

· Genesis 12:10 (ESV) [10] Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

o Now remember, the “I will’s” God had promised Abraham that he would provide right?o But What does Abraham do? He takes off to Egypt for fear of starvation.o God had promised to protect Abraham right?§ Look what he tells Sarah in verse 11 as they arrive in Egypt· [11] … “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, [12] and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. [13] Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”· Was he fully trusting in God or was he hedging his bets, helping God out with a man centered plan? Are we ever guilty of a halfhearted faith ourselves?· And what about guarding the purity of his wife? And what would become of his descendants if Sarah is taken into Pharaoh’s harem? Which is exactly what happens….o But God protects Abraham AND Sarah’s purity, in verse 17 God steps in and afflicts Pharaoh House with plagues. o Pharaoh says in verse 18: “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? [19] Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”o God is again steering Abraham’s path back in line with his plan.

��TURN FORWARD TO Genesis 15:1-3 God's Covenant with Abram, The Abrahamic Covenant [1] After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” [2] But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” [3] And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” · Verse 1, God speaks to Abraham again. Some years have gone by now for “these things” to happen between chapters 12 and 15. Abraham was 75 years old in chapter 12 verse 4 and in the next chapter we are told 10 years have gone by since Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan.· The Lord says, “Fear not, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”o Don’t forget my promise Abraham, I will deliver on what I told you· How does Abraham respond in verse 3? Questioning–LORD, I’m still childless, I thought my heir could be Lot but that didn’t work out. o In Abraham’s mind, the evidence that he and Sarah were too old and it had been too long for them to have a child of their own. So Abraham once again starts offering suggestions§ Now God…Seeing that we are so old, is your promise going to be fulfilled by Eliezer?📷Genesis 15:4-6[4] And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” [5] And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [6] And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. · God renews and elaborates on his promises· Abraham’s heir would be his own son from his seed, and eventually the number of his offspring through his son would be an uncountable multitude · This time, what is Abraham’s response to God’s promises? Verse 6 “he believed”o What is the result of belief in the promise of God? Counted to him as righteousness - he was clearly not perfectly righteous – but it was credited him as righteousnesso This is the opposite of the fall in the garden: When Adam and Eve were tempted to not believe God. The crafty serpent: Did God really say?§ As we see from here, God is revealing that salvation will come by faith § 📷Ephesians 2:8-9 [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.§ 📷Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 📷The rest of chapter 15 tells about this strange formal covenant ceremony between God and Abraham. Now of course a covenant is: A promise, a mutual agreement: Example: Marriage – Rings as a symbol of the covenant promise§ God binds his promises to and through Abraham in an amazing & very strange way in Ch 15 § Genesis 15:7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” [8] But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” [9] He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” [10] And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other.§ This covenant ceremony is similar to today’s legal contract, where you would commonly find stated requirements that both parties must fulfill, what compensation will be given for services provided, and what are the penalties for breaking the contract.§ A contract signing was not like today’s “shoot me an email and I’ll ink it and fax it back to you.o In the ancient days the contract signature would be a bit messier§ Following the custom of the day, God calls Abraham to slaughter a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon (all clean animals)o Abraham was to cut them in half and make sort of alley of bloodo Both parties would walk between the animals showing symbolically what would happen to them if they did not keep the agreemento Gen 15:12 at dusk “a deep sleep fell on Abram”o Genesis 15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (And the termites)o Gen 15:17, only the smoking firepot and a torch… Passed through… that’s very strange but we know that it represents God’s presence§ He who would later lead his people in the wilderness by a cloud (smoke) by day and a pillar of fire by nighto The presence of God passed through the bloody alley BUT§ Abraham did not go through this alley of bloody death, § this tells us that God is determined to keep the covenant no matter what Abraham or his offspring may fail to uphold their side§ It is certainly a good thing, as sinners (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the tribes, and we ourselves included are unable to perfectly hold up our side… · We are like Abraham – imperfect in our obedience and sometimes faltering in faith· Without God seeing us through, we would have no chance· John MacArthur if you could lose your faith, you would.o If Salvation were up to use, we would have no hope, o We have no plan on our own, What was Adam’s plan after sinning? He didn’t have one, his plan was just to hide§ God’s plan was to send his Son to the cross, he was showing us here that it was his plan to take on the punishment for our disobedience· He would take the death we deserve and put it upon himself, he will hold up his end of the covenant· And simultaneously pay for our mistakes

We too are called out by God, like Abraham, called out from the darkness of paganism/worldliness/unholy/wickedness/pridefulness/slaves to sin

We like Abraham, are an imperfect people, but we do indeed worship a perfect savior.

· We are not perfect but God already knows that… he planned for it

o We are not called to perfection (that doesn’t come until later/heaven) but faithfulness

· Our whole Christian lives are a work in progress – a sanctifying journey,

o yet we take courage from the life of Abraham that that God is indeed merciful and He is ready to forgive

· We should shout our hallelujahs to his blessed name

So we take heart in these crazy days we ourselves – we hope in a GUARANTEED future with our King in life everlasting!! · If God has called you out and you have responded yes Father, I am a sinner Lord, I place my trust in the completed work of Jesus Christo THEN: You too have been counted as righteous God has called YOU§ Called you to trust him § HE WILL be your place, § HE WILL be your provision, § and He WILL be your everlasting inheritance