God’s Grace Displayed in Abraham

Scene 1/ Abraham’s life is a study in contrasts.

We see both Great Risk & Great Reward.

Abraham took a great risk in leaving his homeland.

A man was identified in the ancient world as a member of his father’s household.

When the head of the household died, his heir assumed that title and its responsibilities.

Land, family and inheritance were among the most significant elements in ancient society.

For farmers and herdsmen land was their livelihood.

For city dwellers land represented their political identity.

Descendants represented the future.

Children provided for their parents in old age and enabled the family line to extend another generation.

They gave proper burial to their parents and honoured the names of their ancestors.

When Abram gave up his place in his father’s household, he forfeited his security.

He was putting his survival, his identity, his future and his security in the hands of the Lord.[1]

Yet Abram was told in Genesis 12:2 that if he would trust the Lord his name would be great.

We see in Abram’s life the contrast between great faithfulness and great failure.

In Genesis 12 in both verses 1 & 7 Abram is given a promise and acts upon it.

He was faithful to the Lord’s command.

We see this faithfulness repeated again and again throughout the next 14 chapters of Genesis.

In Genesis 13:4 He worships

And again in verse 18

In Gnesis 14:20-24 He honours God in victory

In Genesis 17:23 God renames Abram Abraham and commands him to circumcise the men in his camp.

He obeys.

In Genesis 22:1-18 God’s commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and Abraham fully intends to carry out this command before God stops him.

Knowing that Abraham will faithfully obey.

But we also see great moral failure.

Abram broke the strictest rules of ancient culture.

On two occasions he tries to pass his wife off as his sister, because he is afraid.

In Genesis 12:10-16 he tells the Egyptians that Sari is his sister.

His hope is that the princes of Egypt may ask for her hand in marriage and as the patriarch of the family he can refuse, thereby protecting his wife’s honour and saving his own neck.

But the plan falls apart when Pharaoh takes Sari into his palace as his wife.

The plagues and reaction of Pharaoh in Genesis 12:17-20 indicate that Abram failed to protect his wife’s honour.

Abram caused Pharaoh to unknowingly commit the most serious sin.

Pharaoh is outraged; such behaviour is unimaginable, immoral in the extreme.

Abram has dishonoured both Pharaoh and Sari; so Pharaoh expels Abram from Egypt.

In Genesis 20 Abraham tries the same thing with King Abimelech.

But this time God warns King Abimelech who states his innocence.

And once again Abraham has to stand before a ruler who is utterly shocked by his behaviour.

In Genesis 16 we read of Sari suggesting to Abram that because she cannot bear him a son that Abram use the custom of producing a child via a servant.

Abram agrees to this and fails to trust God’s promise that Sari will have a son.

And when the obvious jealousy erupts he allows Sari to treat the servant Hagar terribly and drive her and the child Ishmael away

Abram fails to protect those he is responsible to protect.

In Abraham’s life we see both great adventure and great caution.

In Genesis 14, he risks all to save his nephew Lot who has been taken captive by the Kings of Mesopotamia.

He mobilises his entire fighting force and those of his allies and pursues a powerful army, defeats them and regains Lot and all of the plunder.

But when we turn to Genesis 24 Abraham shows great caution.

He sends his most trusted servant to find a wife for his son.

He does not choose from amongst the peoples where he lives.

He does not choose from amongst his own immense tribe.

He looks for a wife for Isaac from amongst his own relatives back in the region of Mesopotamia.

And there Rebekah is found for Isaac.

Scene 2/ Through all of these contrasts in Abraham’s life there is the thread of Grace

Abraham did nothing to earn God’s favour.

It was unmerited, simply given as an act of a gracious God.

In Genesis 12:1-7 there is a promise of being a great nation; of fame; of being a blessing to others; of being a blessing to all on earth; and receiving land.

There is no reason for this grace shown to Abram.

In Genesis 13:14 the promise of land and innumerable descendents is repeated.

Once again Abram has done nothing to earn God’s favour.

A gracious God simply chooses to give.

And then in Genesis 15:1-14 again God promises protection, great reward, descendents and land.

The promise of Genesis 12 is largely repeated in Genesis 17.

But why?

Why is such favour, such effort, such time put into one nomadic tribesman.

A man who on many occasions failed to act morally

He didn’t just break the moral code of his time; he failed the moral code of all times.

Yet God showed his grace to Abraham!

Abraham had no merit in himself; but God knew who one of his descendents would be.

Scene 3/ Abraham’s experience of God looks forward to Christ.

God made a promise to Abraham and in Genesis 15:6 we read “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (NLT)

Christ is the source of that great contrast between God’s Grace received by faith verses the condemnation of law, sin & judgement.

Abraham did not earn grace from God; in fact he did many things that earnt judgement.

Judgement not just from his contemporaries but also from God.

So let’s not think for one moment that Abraham deserved any favour from God.

His works counted for nothing to God.

Romans 4:1-5 says “Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” (NLT)

The thread of grace running through the story of Abraham’s life leads us to his descendent Christ.

From the creation, to the fall, from Noah to the tower of Babel, from Abraham to Moses, from King David to Christ there is this thread of Grace.

A thread which weaves its way down through the generations.

And then bursts forth with incredible power in the person of Christ.

This is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 that through you all the peoples of the world will be blessed.

In Christ there is the offer of grace.

The offer of God’s unmerited favour.

Scene 4/ As Abraham was a recipient of Grace; so too are we; there is no contrast between his life & ours.

We are all sinners saved by Grace.

As Abraham did not deserve God’s blessing neither do we.

Yet it is offered.

We can choose the path of law, sin & death.

Or we can choose the path of Grace

We can see this choice as a fork in the road.

A man stands at a fork in the road trying to decide which way to go. One road has a sign which says “law.” The other has a sign reading “grace.” If he chooses to travel the law road, he falls away from the grace road. It is not a matter of being in grace, and falling out of it. It is a matter of never having been in grace. One cannot travel both roads. For law and grace negate each other. If it is by works it cannot be by grace or as a gift. If it is by grace, then it cannot be by law. Christ is in the grace road. So if you travel the law road, you are cut off from Him and His saving power. To depend upon legalism in any form or degree for salvation is to turn your back upon Christ.[2]

Romans 1:17 NLT

17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Romans 3:21–26 NLT

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

We may see a person as an alcoholic, a bum, and a human wreck destroyed by sin.

God sees not only what we are but what we may become by His forgiving grace.[3]

So receive that grace, God offers it.

You do not deserve it, neither do I or anyone else sitting here today.

But it is offered.

Accept it by faith and it will be given.

Will you accept the grace which God offers you today?

[1]Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Ge 12:1). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [2]Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (p. 132). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press. [3]Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (p. 131). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.