The Man of Faith

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. You follow as I read the first nine verses. 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. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 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.

When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. Let's pray. Father would you open our eyes again to this marvelous text that speaks to us of the man of faith help us not to be satisfied with only what Abram did but help us to see what Jesus has accomplished and how we must be thank you for your word thank you for your son thank you for your spirit that opens the word to us we thank you for all these things in the name of Jesus our Lord Amen Another day on the trail.

It's been weeks since you left your home in Egypt. It the only home you ever known Your ancestors settled there 400 years ago But after seeing the miraculous hand of God work against them the Egyptians finally sent you away Having been ripped from all that's familiar to you, you now journey to a land that you have never seen. All because this wonder-working God has promised you a land that you will someday occupy.

But then you remember the story that Moses told you a few nights ago the story of the father of your nation, Abraham, and how he left all that was familiar to him to go to a land that God had promised him. It's the same land you're headed for. You heard of a man who on the basis of a promise left his homeland to go somewhere else. And you remember that God had called Abraham to do all of this in order to accomplish this strange but rather exciting promise.

It was the promise that in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. What could that mean? Are we part of that promise? That's a good question. That is a good question. What could that mean?

Now, God's intention was not just to use this text that we just read in the life of his people as they headed for Canaan centuries and centuries ago. God intended for us in the 21st century to understand what he wants from us he wants us to understand something about himself something about ourselves something about our obedience and if we're going to know how God fulfills that promise and expects us to live in light of that we have to look at it from the perspective of the end of the story you see we're at the end of the story whereas Abram was at the beginning of the story we know more now from the end that than even Abram knew. And we have to look at that and see this whole text in light of the end of the story.

Now, it's important for us to see that. Suppose you read that great murder mystery, Pastor Tim and his horrible, terrible, awful day. Okay? As you read, you're carried along by the unfolding events as they progress and all these twists and turns in the plot until finally at the end, everything is resolved. You see how it all goes together. and then two years later you pick that book up again and you decide to read it.

My dear wife I think reads her books at least four times I don understand that But suppose you pick up that book and you going to read it again two years later Do you think it will appear different to you Yeah certainly it will You know now why. This time you're going to know what that visit to Mark the Barber really means and what that statement Jim Lynch said and all the implications of that because you already know the end of the story. The same thing is true here.

We're at the end of the story. These things that a promise here of greater significance than even Abram knew. And if we're going to understand that, we have to look at it from our perspective. It gains much more significance. Now, as we return to this history that we've been away from for a couple of weeks, we see that God, remember as we left off, God has judged mankind.

He's judged mankind for his pride and for his refusal to obey him. And they now live in a world of different tribes, different nations, and different cultures because in his judgment he confused their languages. Now the question is, is that the last word from God? Is the rest of the story going to be a story of chaos and hatred and confusion? Is that what the story is going to be from now on?

And the answer is no. For in fact, God has determined, having scattered all of the earth, now he has determined to bless all those families through this one man. He's going to redirect the course of history. He's going to begin the process of reclaiming man. In fact, in this verse, we read that this is where God begins the process of reclaiming you. You, who are sitting here, who have believed in Jesus, this is the beginning of that whole redemptive process where He is going to reclaim you for Him.

The process of providing that conquering seed. And in our text you see this. God accomplishes His purpose through people of faith. God accomplishes His purpose through people of faith. Now let's look at our text again. Verse 1.

Now the Lord God said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. Understand that God accomplishes His purpose by a command. He begins with a command. suddenly in the middle of Mesopotamia God calls Abram he communicates with this man Abram and he tells him leave your land leave your kin leave your father household and go to another place that I going to show you Now we have no idea how he called Abram at this point Could he have appeared to him Well it's possible, but later on in this text we see that he did appear to him later, and that seems to be something new.

So maybe he didn't appear to him, maybe he spoke to him in an audible voice, maybe someone came with this message, a person that we know nothing about. We don't know all we know is that God communicated somehow to Abram. We do know that suddenly God calls this moon-worshipping idolater and commands him to go to another land, to a place called Canaan.

Now it could be that God called him in Ur of Chaldees. We saw last time we were in the text that he was in Ur and went with his father Terah and then settled in Haran. And they were headed for Canaan. The question is, did God call him in Ur? And they started to Canaan and stopped for a decade or so? Or did he call him here in Haran?

Well, it appears that he called him in Ur, that they were headed that way to begin with. If you notice in your text, if you have an ESV, there's a footnote. It says, or had said. So in other words, now the Lord had said to Abram. That's a more accurate translation of the Hebrew at this point. The Lord had said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

It seems that it was in Ur. If he called him in Ur, if he called him in Haran, it doesn't make any difference. He commanded him to go. And notice this, and please notice this. This is an act of sovereign grace on the part of God. It's an act of sovereign grace.

It's an act of grace because God calls Abram into relationship with himself. The only one, the only true God calls him into relationship with himself without any kind of qualifications on Abram's part. Abram was an idolater. He didn't call forth God's love to him at that point. God in grace reached down to Abram and called him. Why Abram?

Because that's what God wanted to do. It's His sovereign grace. He's sovereign. The grace originates in God's purpose and will. Not in the recipient. By the way, why are you here this morning?

You're here this morning by God's sovereign grace. You're not... God didn't call you because He looked into the future and saw that you would be here. You're here because in His plan and purpose He wanted you here. And that is His sovereign grace. That is His sovereign grace.

God bestows His grace on those whom He chooses. And I will not question God on that. I will just thank Him. for his marvelous grace. And Abram was an idolater who finally found, because of God's sovereign grace, this one true God and began his relationship with Him. God chose to shower His grace on Abram because that's what He wanted to do. And He showered His grace on Abram because He had you in mind as well.

So in order to bless all the nations, it must begin with God. And so he commands an idolater to leave his kin, his father's house, and his country. Now God's grace to Abram finds expression in the promises that he makes to this man. Notice what he says. 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. Here are the promises. God promises him a great nation. God promises him a great nation. God promises him a great name. And through that great name, he will be a blessing.

God promises him honor and protection. He says to him, those who bless you, I will bless. And those who dishonor you, I will curse. So he promises him honor and protection. and then finally and most importantly God promises to make Abram a channel of blessing for all the families of the earth don't miss that before in the previous chapter God had scattered all the people of the earth and by the way they had wanted to make a great name for themselves isn't that true and what does God say God scatters them but then chooses one man and says I will make a great name of yours.

You see. So these promises of God express His grace But I want you to see this because I think this is absolutely essential Do you notice that God command is built on the promises Understand that God accomplishes His purpose by a command built on promises. His command is built on promises. Abram, I'm commanding you to leave your country, your family, and everything familiar to you.

And by doing that, I will bring all of these things to pass. I will make of you a great nation. I'll give you a great name. I will give you honor and protection, and you'll be a channel of blessing to all the nations. I'm commanding you to leave everything familiar in your life, and by doing that I will bring all of these to pass. Here is the grace of God.

Now here's what we need to see. You have to notice that our God is always gracious even when He commands obedience. God is always gracious even when He commands obedience. Sometimes we think, okay, God, I'll do it. You're so hard on us, but you're God, who am I? I'll do it.

God isn't that way his commands are built on his promises just think with me here are some commands from Jesus for us deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me is that all he says? no he says this, and the man who loses his life will gain it that command is built on a promise he says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you right here's the command you come and you take the yoke of discipleship on yourself wow that sounds hard no no you'll find rest for your souls when you do that right in ephesians 4 1 command walk in a manner worthy of the calling that you've received why because as he's already told us in that epistle because you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. You've been chosen by God. You've been adopted.

You've been redeemed. You've been forgiven. And you have an eternal inheritance with Christ. You see that God commands are always built on His promises When I was in Tirana Albania a couple of weeks ago I was asked by one of the Albanian pastors to meet with a woman from his congregation So during the question and answer time, where the three of us were going to have question and answer with the people in the conference, I went into another room with pastor, woman, her companion, he translated, and I heard the story of a woman who had 20 years of a difficult marriage.

Three years ago, I think it was three years ago, she came to Christ. And she's married to a Muslim background believer. Most of the people in Albania are of some kind of affiliation with Islam. And so instead of getting better, the marriage got worse because she was determined to follow Jesus. And she told me about how difficult it was and what was going on in her household and what was going on in her marriage.

And after listening to her, I told her that Jesus called her to love her husband. Because Jesus calls us even to love our enemies. And right now, he was an enemy. And she needed to love him. And we looked at Luke chapter 6 and all the things that Jesus says, all the difficult things that Jesus says about loving your enemy. And we sat together and we came up with a plan.

How are you going to love your enemy, this enemy that's the closest to you? We planned an offensive campaign of loving her enemy at home. but that's not all I told her there was more to this than just obeying Jesus difficult commands to love I said to her this remember what Jesus says in John chapter 10 verse 10 he says this the thief comes only to kill and to steal and to destroy but I have come that you may have life and life to the full I said you know what Jesus is saying there he's saying that if you love your enemy and do these difficult things your life will be better it may not get better at home but you're going to know what it is to serve Jesus and you're going to find the peace and the joy and the satisfaction that comes in being faithful a faithful disciple of Jesus you see God is not some distant harsh tyrannical deity demanding obedience in order to accomplish his purpose. Rather, he is a gracious sovereign.

Listen now He is a gracious sovereign who commands much but promises more Never forget that He is a sovereign who commands much but promises more So when you read the commands of God, you remember Abram. God said, I want you to leave everything that's familiar to you and go somewhere that you don't know. but I'm going to do these things because of it. So God accomplishes his purpose by command built on promises.

But that's not all. You need to understand that God accomplishes his purpose by command built on promises believed by you. You got to believe those promises. so what does Abram do here it's clear isn't it he leaves his family he leaves his country he leaves everything familiar to him now that is more difficult we read it and we go wow yeah wow he left I want you to put yourself in his place he's 75 years old he's 10 years past retirement he's 10 years into retirement when this comes Leave everything.

Leave everything. He's not young. And you know what? He has a nice, prosperous, comfortable, stable life right now. It's really, really a good life. And it's all thrown off for a journey to another land, right?

Can you imagine that? How would you? I want you to think about you chucking your retirement, leaving the home that you've spent all this time working on so that you can enjoy in your retirement, right? And it's the way you want it to be now. It's the way you want it to be now, right? You're living comfortably, you have a secure income, and God says, go to Albania to a country that doesn't know you, and you don't know its language, which by the way is not easy to learn and I want you to do that right now wow but God you've blessed me why would you take all this away well maybe he wants to bless you more by taking all that away but the point is this is what Abram did He left all of that.

He left all of it. Not only that, but he has to gather all his possessions and all his people and move. Now, I don't know, sometimes I think the only reason why I've been here for 30 years, this isn't true, but this has crossed my mind, I hate to move. I can't imagine gathering all this stuff we've accumulated and moving it. That's just terrifying to me.

I've been on this campaign lately to say we need to burn half of the stuff we have. But you walk around your house, you walk around your house this afternoon, and you look at all the stuff you've accumulated, all the stuff tucked away into this corner that you haven't touched for six years other than the dust around it. And this over here on this shelf that's been up there for ten years, and you've done nothing with it, but that's there.

It's just... And think about packing all of that and moving. And not moving with a truck, but with mules and camels. Right? Now, why does he do all this? How is such radical obedience possible?

You know why? Because he believes the promises of God. That's the only answer to why he does this. He actually believes the promises of God. Abram is a man of faith. He leaves everything that's familiar to him in obedience to God only because he believes the promises of God.

That's what motivated his obedience. That's what motivated this radical obedience. Listen, God says He's going to make a great nation of him. What do we know about Abram? he has a wife who cannot bear children but he believes God he goes to a new land with no connections there on the basis of a promise that God will give him honor and protect him from all his enemies he hasn't seen it but God says that's what's going to happen he goes to a place where people know nothing of him on the promise that God will give him a great name for blessing hadn't seen any of it but God said so faith motivates this total and ruthless abandonment of his past This is why Abrams called the man of faith He uproots everything only on the basis of what God has said.

That's it. we need to understand that God accomplishes his purpose by command built on promises believed by you what motivates your obedience are you a person of faith do you believe what God has said I look at my own life and I say Lord I'll be honest with you folks when I stand before the judgment seat well what I call the shepherd's judgment because I believe that all shepherds are going to stand before Jesus and give account of how they took care of the sheep. And I'll be one of them. And I think it's not going to be the things I did.

It's going to be the things I didn't do that I'm going to regret on that day because of my own fear. How about you? Are you a person of fear or a person of faith? And I don't say that flippantly. I don't say, oh, so go out and be a person of faith. if we need to call upon God and cry out for strength, to be people of faith, to be like Abram here, who left everything familiar on the basis of some promises from God.

That's what motivated such radical obedience. But you know what? That's not the last expression of his faith. As you read on, what do we see? We see that he traveled all the way through that country. Well, let's read it.

So Abram went, as the Lord told him. probably the greatest understatement in scripture so Abram went as the Lord told him good night I pulled everything up I left everything familiar I left everything I know and love to obey God and Lot went with him Abram was 75 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 When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah. At that time, the Canaanites were all in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. Abram travels to the land of Canaan and he heads for Shechem. Shechem's kind of up here in the north. This is a sacred place. The word place there is the Hebrew word for sacred site. It has a reputation because of a tall oak tree there.

The pagans of that day thought the tall trees were where you met with the gods because they reached into the heavens and this is the place of revelation. Mora, that's mentioned here, to the oak of Mora. mora means teacher so it was probably a site for pagan oracles what do the gods want us to do we go to the oak of mora near shechem and we get our directions from god and although now a believer in jehovah in yahuwah abram used what was familiar to him in worship and there god appeared to him for the first time, most likely, and makes another promise that his descendants would someday possess that land, thus confirming to Abram, this is where I wanted you to go. But again, Abram surely knows the insurmountable obstacles to that promise.

Again, your descendants, my descendants, my wife can't bear children. but I believe you. As for this land, what has the text told us? The Canaanites lived there. This is going to be my land? It's got all these people in it. And you're giving it to me and my descendants.

A wife who can't bear children and the people who are already here. How's that going to happen? But he believed him. And he announced his faith in the promise by building altars in key places in the land. This doesn't tell us everywhere he stopped, but it tells us some important places where he stopped, because there he built altars. And those altars say, Yahuwah Jehovah Lord I believe your promise of this land Now remember in the culture of that day the deities were inseparably connected to the land And so this is a way for Abram to announce, this is a way for him to announce that his God, Yahuwah, is the Lord of this land, and that he has a right to it, even though he's only a sojourner.

By building those altars, he is saying, you know what? Jehovah owns this land and he promised it to me. That's what he's saying with those altars. And so it is that God begins to accomplish his purpose of blessing the nations through this man of faith. Adam's, I'm sorry, Abram's step of faith changes forever the course of history and opens a door now that will never be closed. so what do we understand from all this what's this whole story about it's this understand that god accomplishes purpose through people of faith god accomplishes his purpose through people of faith now listen god began to bless the nations through Abram, the man of faith.

But he actually accomplishes the blessings of nations through Jesus Christ, the ultimate man of faith. Do you see that? It was the faith of Jesus that motivated his radical obedience to leave the glories of heaven and to come down and in obedience to His Father die a shameful death on the cross to purchase you. How did Jesus endure the agony of Gethsemane when He said, Father, if there's any other way, take this cup from Me.

How did He go from there to not My will, but Yours be done? How was it? It was by faith. The writer to the Hebrews, if you want to look it up, look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 3. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 3. The writer to the Hebrews says about Jesus that he is the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Who for the that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. How did Jesus make it through? Here's how. He believed the promise of God that there was joy on the other side of the cross and that there was glory in being seated at the right hand of the Father. And He believed that promise and that faith motivated him to do the unthinkable, to die in our place, separated from his Father, whose love he had known from all eternity, now to experience his wrath.

How did he do it? He did it by faith. He believed the promise of God. And then we find that Jesus gathers up these promises, all of these promises, and fulfills them in himself. turn to Galatians chapter 3 verse 16 because Galatians chapter 3 verse 16 actually quotes Genesis 12.7 actually quotes Genesis 12.7 and the Apostle Paul writes this Galatians 3.16 now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring we just read that I'm giving you this land.

And to his offspring. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. So Paul is saying that this finds its greatest expression in Jesus How so you might say What about the promise of a great nation Well 1 Peter 2 verse 9 Through Jesus we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a what?

A holy nation. We are the nation. What about the promise of a great name and through that greatness He'll be a blessing? What does Philippians 2 tell us? Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow. In heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

There's a great name. Jesus has it. And there's great blessing for those who recognize it. What about the promise of honor and protection that is where God says, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who dishonor you. 1 Peter 2 again. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the Word as they were destined to do. That is to say, if you believe in Jesus, you are blessed. If you do not, you are cursed. what about the promise of the channel of blessing for all the families of the earth again galatians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 listen to this and the scripture foreseeing that god would justify the gentiles by faith preach the gospel beforehand to abraham saying in you shall all the nations be blessed so then those who are of faith are blessed along with abraham the man of faith What is he saying there The Gospel of Jesus is what fulfills that blessing to all the nations It is Jesus given to us in the Gospel.

You see, Jesus fulfills all these promises, and they are ours through Him. Which makes me say this, because of Jesus then, we become people of faith, obeying the commands of Christ motivated by faith in His promises. Again, God says rejoice in tribulation. Rejoice in tribulation. Do you find that hard? I do.

But God commands rejoice in tribulation and hardship. That's what He commands you to do. Why? How can I do that? You can only do that if you believe that he uses them to form you into the image of Christ. If you believe the promise that he's going to use all of your hardship to make you more like Jesus.

What about the command, glorify God tomorrow in your work? You say, oh, surely God doesn't command that. I mean, I've got to glorify God at work? Yeah. But you won't do it unless you believe His promise that you'll receive an inheritance from Him as your reward. Colossians chapter 3.

Don't work for men, but work for the Lord. And your reward is this. You get an inheritance from Him. What about this command? Believe in Jesus. Believe in Jesus.

Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Why would anybody do that Why obey that command Why Because there are promises There are promises that life will be better for you now and that there eternal life yet to come It's the only reason to trust in Jesus, because of the promises that are made. we all know we have to obey God don't we but how are you going to obey him the only thing that will drive you to obeying God is faith you believe his promises and that's what we should be people who believe the promises of God. Just like Abram.

Just like the Lord Jesus. You believe. You're going to be a person of faith. That's the way we... That's what distinguishes us from everyone else. We believe because God said it.

There's no other reason. I trust Him. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Abraham. Thank You that he is the exemplar of faith, the one who walked by faith. God, help us to see that You accomplish Your purposes today as we believe Your promises.

God, we thank You for the many promises You have made. And even in a few minutes as we come to this table, again hearing your promises and believing them. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.