1 Genesis 12-16-Life of Abraham

A tested Faith

Intro:

Did you love tests growing up. My first thought is NO. Why because I did not like school.

I was never great at taking tests but I generally did well enough to pass, but not great enough to excel.

When I took the SAT I got an average score. Joe Blogg did not get the hard ones right, but got the easy ones right I scores a 1000 on my SAT, took it once and never took it again. I did not like tests.

But tests are a part of life. Not just academically but in all areas of our life. I did like tests on the basketball court.

My first great test in college basketball was when we played Oklahoma City University. They were a ranked team and we were not, they were a storied program. The night before I could not sleep, remember this was a big test. I was switching beds I could not get comfortable.

I remember I got blocked in this game like a volleyball player hits a ball. It did not end up good for our team or for me. I failed this test miserably.

But then I rethought the question. Do I like taking tests. And I changed my answer.

I loved being tested in things I loved. I did not spend hour upon hour in the gym for the heck of it. I wanted to play other players to test my skills.

If we love God and we want to honor him in our life we will embrace the testing of our spiritual life.

If your faith journey was a test how are you doing right now?

Are you failing?

Are you making progress?

Are you scoring straight A’s?

Or are you ready to call it quits?

Or have you even thought about your faith as a spiritual test?

What if we changed the way we viewed tests today. What if instead of running from testing we embraced it and learned from the tests God is taking us through.

Here is what the Bible tells us about tests:

James 1:12 LEB

Blessed is the person who endures testing, because when he is approved he will receive the crown of life that he has promised to those who love him.

Today I don’t want us to just take a spiritual test like it is a dreaded subject. I want us to embrace the tests of life so that we can become the men and women that God has created us to be.

I want to give us three lessons we will learn if we will embrace the testing of our faith.

FRoM THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM.

Today we will see three lessons we will learn from embracing the testing of our faith!

When we embrace the testing of our faith we will learn three lessons from Abraham.

The first lesson we learn when we embrace the testing of our faith is:

1. To fear God (Genesis 12:9-20).

Last week we saw Abraham pass a test with flying colors. Abraham is about to get tested again. What I want us to see as we dive into Abraham is that this man is a giant of the faith. He is called the Father of our faith. But even in this great legacy that he still leaves behind today is that he is not the Messiah. Just like we saw last week this great commitment to follow God even if it cost him comfort and leaving his family, he was not perfect. Only Jesus is the Messiah.

Now Abraham is about to fail a test.

Genesis 12:9–12 NAS

Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. 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. It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

You either fear God or Man

We just saw Abraham take huge step of faith. He left everything to follow God. So it was not that he did not know to fear God or had not feared God. But right here and now we see that he fear’s the Egyptians more than he feared God. They were in a different land and he was preparing for the bad things that could happen to him here. It is not all bad to be smart but here Abraham was not fearing God. He had a problem-He had a beautiful wife. Notice how he was plotting in his own head how he was going to handle this situation.

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

When we are not fearing God we tend to bring matters into our own hands. Notice Abraham is not seeking God or checking out God’s will. God I am going to do Marriage my way, I am going to do finances my way.

What are you bringing into your own hands right now?

The reality is we either fear God or fear man. Who are you fearing right now?

Our fear of man affects those around us

Would it not be great if our actions just hurt us or others actions did not affect us but when we do not fear God it affects those around us.

Genesis 12:13 NAS

“Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”

Notice how Abram is trying to invite his wife into his sin.

Notice what Abram said was true.

Genesis 12:14–15 NAS

It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Notice the way he thought it would turn out, was completely opposite. Because he did not fear God things got a lot worse.

When we do not fear God we forfeit the blessing of God fighting on our behalf

Genesis 12:16–18 NASB95

Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels. But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

Are you letting God fight your battles right now or are you trying to fight your own battles.

Genesis 12:19–20 NASB95

“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.” Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Application:

One of the many beautiful things about God is on a failed test we get grace. Another beautiful thing is even in those failures we can use them to fuel our future.

I was talking to Jacob last night and i shared with him an assignment we had to do at DTS. We had to give a 20 dollar bill to a homeless man. Now what do we think if we give aways a 20 dollar bill. They are going to spend it on something they should not. In other words we think they are going to abuse grace. But here is the reality. We abuse grace everyday.

Isn’t it awesome that even when we fail tests terribly that God still loves us.

Are you embracing the testing of your faith?

The next LESSON we learn when we embrace the testing of our faith is:

2. that our walk with God is a Journey (Genesis 15:1-7).

One of the things I loved about youth ministry was seeing students place their faith in Jesus Christ. I saw lives changed. I saw people who were dead spiritually come to life. It was amazing. But one of the things that we did wrong in this is that at times we would see people who would come to Christ and they would see this as the end and not the beginning of their walk with God. I have recieved Jesus and now I am going to live however I want. When we view our faith as a journey placing our faith in Jesus is the beginning and not the end of our journey.

Abraham passed many of the tests that God gave him and he failed some, but throughout his life he embraced the tests God sent towards him. He viewed his faith as a journey and not a destination.

How can we journey with God?

God equips us with his promises through his word.

Genesis 15:1 NASB95

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

There are so many things that we can fear. Did you know this command do not fear is in the Bible 365 times, enough for every day of the week.

Why should we not fear:

God is my shield. This should be such a great promise that God is our shield.

He also promises Abraham that his reward shall be great.

When we journey by faith our reward shall be great.

When we make faith a journey, we will not regret it:

The Little’s could have been afraid of a lot moving out here. No job, no employer, but GOd was their portion and I remember Tandi and Drew telling me that they made more that year than they had ever made. They experienced first hand that when you journey by faith God is our shield. Your reward shall be great. But what is even greater is year from now when you look back on experience the one thing you are not going to say, I regret trusting God, you are going to say what an amazing God and I am so glad I got to see him work in our lives in a real way.

We will walk authentically with God

Genesis 15:2–3 NASB95

Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”

God how is this going to work. I don’t understand.

Notice Abram was trying to walk by faith and here he is talking to God asking questions that he just does not get. I think many of us try and have a superficial relationship with God. Abram really had a hard time understanding how this was going to work out.

Is this the kind of relationship you have with God?

Do you ask God real questions?

God why am I going through this difficult time right now?

God how are we going to make ends meet?

God help me have a better marriage for your honor and glory?

Or is your relationship with God inauthentic?

See if you view faith as a journey and not a destination you will have an authentic relationship with the creator.

God's path becomes clear

Genesis 15:4–5 NASB95

Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Abraham this is how I am going to do it. You are not going to do it your way, we are going to do it my way and I am going to get all the glory.

I love that when Abraham sought the Lord, he gave a clear and direct answer. Notice their conversation was a dialogue and not a monologue.

Now watch how beautiful the end is here. This next verse in the Bible is one that you should know by heart.

Genesis 15:6 NASB95

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Why was Abram right before God, Because he had faith in God.

This verse is used throughout all scripture including Romans. The word faith and believe are interchangeable through out scripture.

hab 2:4 “But the righteous will live by his faith.”

john 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 5:24 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

We are saved by faith and we walk by faith.

Application:

Time I walked by faith to plant the church and I was at a point where I did not want to walk by faith anymore. List some difficult faith decisions and God told me this is the life I have called you to.

Have you begun your journey with God by placing your faith in Jesus?

Abraham is legitimately one of the most influential characters in the Bible, but he is not the messiah. He had to place his faith in God just like we need to place our faith in Jesus.

Difference between knowing about this and knowing GOd.

Is your faith more of a journey faith or a destination faith.

The last LESSON we learn when we embrace the testing of our faith is:

3. that the decisions we make have lasting consequences (Genesis 16:1-4).

What we do here and now matters.

God has told Abram that he is going to give him kids but he has not told him when it was going to happen, now we know it was going to be his wife. And we just had this great moment, where Abraham believed God.

As people we are so fickle, one moment we can be on a mountaintop with God saying Lord I believe you and I will do anything for you and the next we can be scared to even identify we are a Christian.

I love this verse, Lord I believe help my unbelief.

Genesis 16:1–2 NASB95

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Remember on the first test they failed that we looked at Abram invited Sarai into his sin, now Sarai invites Abram into her sin. Have you noticed we don’t like to sin alone we want to sin with our friends.

This is such a weird request for a wife to make to her husband.

Won’t we do crazy things we we get desperate.

We will come up and plans that just do not make sense.

WHAT WIFE SAYS THIS?

Genesis 16:1–4 NASB95

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

What is amazing is even when Hagar got kicked out God reached out to her and he made a great nation out of these people

But what is even crazier this is who Muslims claim is their first born.

Conclusion:

I embraced tests in basketball because I loved basketball.

My Sophomore year had come around and we were playing Oklahoma City AGAIN. All year I was motivated, I worked harder and was wanting another crack at them. Our team was more focused. This time the game was closer and at the end of the game we were tied. So here comes over time. I remember in over time we got the lead and with a minute left I get the ball, and do a pump fake and take a dribble in and hit a pull up. We are beginning to walk away and now we win. We experienced basketball glory.

I firmly believe because we embraced tests and learned even from our failures that we were more prepared this year as we beat Oklahoma City.

As hard as tests were in basketball the tests we face in our spiritual lives are even greater. And just like I embraced the tests on the basketball floor today I want us to embrace the testing that God has for us. If we don’t we will miss out. And the beautiful thing is that if we will embrace the testing of God we will look more and more like his son.

Illustration:

There is a certain tension between suffering and comfort. The Bible often associates suffering with fire that either destroys everything in its path or fire that refines and purifies. One we should avoid at all costs; the other produces something good, though through a painful process that might cause us to question our identity, our future, our source of strength and hope, perhaps even our very life. Let me tell you the story of the refiner’s fire that speaks to this ‘good’ kind of suffering:

A young man happened upon a silversmith who refined silver and gold from raw materials, sitting in front of his fire. “Why do you heat the metal?” he asked?

The Refiner answered, “In order to make precious silver I have to remove all the impurities that make it worth less than it really is.” The young man thought about his own life and how one time of fiery suffering or another was required to remove some of the ‘junk’ in his own life.

“Why do you sit while you work?” inquired the visitor?

The Refiner replied, “I have to watch the fire closely. Too little heat and the impurities will not be removed; too much heat and the precious metal will be destroyed and made worthless.” The young man reflected how his life of comfort had brought a sense of complacency that led him to abandon his dreams, settling instead for a humdrum life. But he had also come through painful fiery times with character and strength that he would not have found elsewhere.

Then the young man asked The Refiner, “How do you know when the silver is at the right temperature?”

The Refiner smiled and answered, “I know the purifying is complete when I can see my reflection in the silver.” The young man marveled at the answer thinking, “That is true in my life. My own fiery trials were only complete when My Refiner’s image could be seen in me.”

When we embrace the testing of our faith we will allow God to work in us in such a way that God sees his son in us.