Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Welcome to Growing Grace. I'm so glad you're listening today. i pray that God will use this message to bless you and strengthen you, to help you in your walk with Christ. As a matter of fact, that's what we want to look at today from Genesis chapter 12. We're moving from our previous study of the life of Noah to a character study of Abram, Abraham.
Speaker: Focusing our attention on chapter 12, I want to focus on God and the way he led Abraham. Abraham followed him, but Abraham followed the Lord on a new road.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, we'll see later as we're going through here that Abraham was willing to go out into uncharted territory for him. But see what happened about 4,000 years ago, ah he heard God's voice calling him to leave everything familiar and step out into the unknown,
Speaker: For him to obey would mean following God on a new road, a road of faith in God's promises. Chuck Swindoll writes about Abraham, aside from Moses, no Old Testament character is mentioned more in the New Testament than Abraham.
Speaker: James refers to Abraham as God's friend in James 2, 23, a title used of no one else in Scripture. Believers in all generations are called the, quote, children of Abraham, end of quote, Galatians 3, 7.
Speaker: Abraham's importance and impact in redemptive history are clearly seen in Scripture. So I'm excited to introduce you to Abraham if you've never spent time really studying this man.
Speaker: But let me start with Genesis 12, verses 1 through 10. 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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: 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 the to go to the land of Canaan.
Speaker: When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: From there, he moved into the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I 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.
Speaker: 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. So why we just stop there? And I think it's enough for us to get a feel of what's happening.
Speaker: But Abraham was first mentioned actually a few verses before where we started in Genesis chapter 12, verse one. If you were to read 11, 26, you would see that's when he first comes up. And then in 11, 28, he says, Abram's father Terah lived in Ur, a city in the southern mesopotamian Mesopotamia, situated on the Euphrates River, halfway between the head of the Persian Gulf and the modern-day city of Baghdad, Iraq.
Speaker: But the passage says, Terah took his family and left for the land of Canaan, but settled in Haran in northern Mesopotamia.
Speaker: More about that in a moment. But why don't we see what are the ways of God? what In what ways did God guide Abraham? What was it that he was called upon to do?
Speaker: So let's break it down and look at these verses very closely and very carefully. Verse one begins this way. Now the Lord said to Abraham, go from your country.
Speaker: Go from your country. You know, the way of God is often a way of movement. not monument, resembling a highway through life more than a parking lot in life.
Speaker: This is why we hear God call, get out of your country. Abram was summoned to leave the comfort zone of ur It was a very comfortable city. It was known for its luxury, but it was also known for moon worship.
Speaker: And so God was calling him out of the paganism and calling Abram to follow him. This was most definitely a command to follow, not an option to consider.
Speaker: Obviously, it was going to involve change, lots of change. And that's why many people pull back, because God is a God whose way is the way of movement and change.
Speaker: So would you be willing to follow God if he wanted to change something in your life? Let's move to the second thing that we see, even in the same verse, chapter 12, verse 1, but going to the next part of the verse where he says, ah go from your country and your kindred and your father's house.
Speaker: Whoa, wait a minute. What are you saying? Why would God call Abram to to separate from his relatives and his hometown? You see, secondly, God's way is not only the way of movement, but his way is also sometimes the way of separation.
Speaker: I got to thinking about it very carefully, and I thought, well, These are possible reasons why God was calling Abraham to leave his family, to leave his hometown and so forth.
Speaker: for For one thing, perhaps they were going to impede his spiritual growth, or perhaps he would impede their spiritual growth.
Speaker: Maybe it was a loyalty test for God. Abram, would you choose family over me or me over family? Perhaps they did not hear the call that God had issued to Abram, and so he wasn't going to stand there and wait and try to convince everybody.
Speaker: Maybe they did not see the vision of why they needed to leave, and so it could have been difficult. So right off the bat, God says, "'My way is a way of movement, but my way is also a way of separation.'" But there's a third thing that's mentioned in the same verse. If we read right to the end of the verse, most men would probably pull back at the next clause in this calling.
Speaker: He says, to a land that I will show you. Wait a minute, to a land that I will show you? So that means he's leaving without knowing where he's going.
Speaker: So the third thing is God's way is sometimes the way of the unknown. Surely God would not expect a man to make a major move in life without knowing the exact destination.
Speaker: Well, perhaps it's a good time to review Hebrews 11, verse 8. It's often referred to as the the hall of faith. Here's what it says.
Speaker: By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out.
Speaker: not knowing where he was going. Isn't that strange that God would expect that of him, that God would ask that of him? But it's all because God doesn't always show us all of the plan.
Speaker: Sometimes he says, take this step and I will show you the next part of the plan. So these words to a land that I will show you, they speak of faith.
Speaker: He's calling forth faith that Abraham would walk with him and follow him simply by faith, not because he knows all the details.
Speaker: See, there is an element of mystery. The idea of a nomadic journey is ahead, because if you don't know the destination, then you're simply following God each day, one step at a time, I suppose.
Speaker: But there's also the necessity of waiting, right? Because I'm sure eventually there will be a place, but he doesn't know where that place is. And so he will have to wait until God shows him.
Speaker: But there's also a dependency for further revelation because he says to the place that I will show you. So you're going to have to stay close to God, Abraham, or you're not going to know where which way which way to go, which direction.
Speaker: And it's also personal guidance. Did you see that? Let me read it one more time. To a land that I will show you Huh, that's amazing, isn't it?
Speaker: Well, I thought that it tells us three things right off the bat in one verse that God's way will include. But let's go to verse two, and I think we'll pick up another one here, the way of promise.
Speaker: The Lord next says to Abraham, I will make you a great nation. Much of what God says in verses two and three are promises that he makes to Abraham.
Speaker: Now, he's not saying that he's going to make a great nation of me. Maybe he's not saying he'll make a great nation of you. But he was promising this man named Abraham.
Speaker: He was saying, Abraham, I'm going to make a great nation from you. Can you think of any other biblical characters to whom God made a promise?
Speaker: I think there are several. And what we have to realize is he's showing us his way through scripture. He is a promise maker and he is a promise keeper.
Speaker: And if you think about it, A promise is something that you cannot see now. If someone makes you a promise, it's something that will happen in the future, right?
Speaker: But notice that element of possibility. God will make it happen, not Abraham. He says to Abraham quite clearly, I will make you a great nation.
Speaker: He doesn't say, Abraham, you get busy, buddy. I want you to have lots of babies and lots of kids and so forth. He doesn't say that, does he? But he also lets him know that there is a plan, that God has a plan.
Speaker: God has a specific plan in mind for Abraham, Israel, and the world. And I thought that was just amazing. They said, I will make you a great nation.
Speaker: But you know, he also introduces us to another way whenever we begin to follow God and do things the way that he wants. Not only will we discover his way includes promises,
Speaker: His way may include some unknowns, some things he's not going to show us right away. His way may involve you having to separate so that you're not near where your parents, where your brothers, your sisters live. And then the way of movement, you know, his way is not that parking lot.
Speaker: His way is more like a highway. And so just because you know his way Today, you know tomorrow, you may not be be still there.
Speaker: So you have to keep following God and what he wants. But let's look at verses two and three for yet ah another way. I think God's way is also the way of blessing.
Speaker: There are several times in scripture that God blesses people, right? This is because His way is also the way a blessing.
Speaker: Do you know that bless or blessings in the Bible, they refer to God's favor, God's goodness, God's grace given to people.
Speaker: Do you know that it occurs over and over again in many English translations of the Bible as many as 400 times. So just sometime do a study on the word bless or the word blessings.
Speaker: It's just constant. For example, even when you look at what God promises ah Abraham, he includes some blessings. So let me read these two verses and then break it down into different types of blessings. For example, he says, I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you Isn't that The word bless, blessing blessed,
Speaker: 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 blast isn't that amazing the word bless blessing or blessed Used five times in two verses. So what is God saying?
Speaker: I think God's revealing something. And God's saying, my desire is I want to bless this world. So let's look at some of the blessings that he makes to Abraham. You know, one is he said, I will make you a great nation.
Speaker: Do you believe that there are national blessings that are promised to Abraham here? I do. I believe they're national blessings, and I believe God fulfilled those.
Speaker: What about personal blessings promised to Abraham? You know, he says to him, Abraham, i will bless you. Whoa, I think that's that's really significant. When God says, I've got a plan for you, and I'm going to bless you personally.
Speaker: Wouldn't you like to personally have the blessings of God come your way? But then there's something else that it goes beyond Abraham's lifetime. It's like eternal blessings are promised to Abraham because because he says, I will make your name great.
Speaker: If someone's name is great, then it's like their name lives on beyond their life. But also just because they're great, let's say in your one town, your one county, your one state,
Speaker: You're one country. It doesn't mean it'll be everywhere. But he said, I will make your name great. I wonder if people all around the world have heard the name Abraham.
Speaker: There's also relational blessings promised to him when he says, I will make your name great and you shall be of blessing. So in other words, Abraham, I'm going to work in your life and other people who come into your life, they're actually going to be blessed because of what I'm going to do, not only in you, but through you.
Speaker: Wouldn't it be great if God said, I'm going to bless people through your life? I believe God can. And I believe that's why he actually goes on to give some ministerial blessings that he promises to give to Abraham.
Speaker: He said, I will bless those who bless you. And so it's like, whoa, now we got a lot of blessings circ circulating, right? And then there's spiritual blessings promised to Abraham when he says, I will curse him who curses you.
Speaker: I'll bless those who bless you. I'll curse him who curses you. So he's talking about spiritual things here. We're not just talking about financial blessings, although those might be a blessing that he might send our way.
Speaker: But I think the idea here, it goes way beyond material things. I think it's spiritual blessings. And of course, there's international blessings. He says, in you,
Speaker: All the families of the earth shall be blessed. Wow, isn't that incredible? I think that's so amazing that God is saying, Abraham, down the road through one of your descendants, I'm gonna bless everybody on the face of the earth, all the peoples, all the the nations and the people groups. Wow, that's powerful. And of course, we know that happened through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker: But let's go to another thing. You know, there's a lot of depth in the words found in Genesis chapter 12, verse four. So Abraham went and as the Lord had told him.
Speaker: i think that's another thing we can learn from Abraham is that he obeyed. You know, I think that God's way is also the way of obedience, the way of obedience. If one continues to study the life of Abraham, it will be obvious that he wasn't a perfect, sinless man.
Speaker: He simply was not. But, The motion of his life was forward in obedience, not backwards in rebellion.
Speaker: For example, if you just track him, if you just follow his footsteps through scripture, you'll see... all kinds of different things related to obedience. For example, if you go back and you look in chapter 11, verses 26 down through 32, you're going to notice something.
Speaker: You'll notice that, wait a minute, didn't God tell Abraham that he needed to separate from his father? And now you see his father, Terah, he's leading the way. And so it's like, wait, what's going on here?
Speaker: In other words, here's the story in short. Delayed obedience happens because Abraham must have shared with his daddy about God speaking to him and calling him to go to this other land.
Speaker: So his dad said something to the effect, Abram, you don't know this land like I do. I've been here longer than you. ah tell what, you get behind me, son, and I'll lead the way.
Speaker: And he did. His daddy led them all the way to Haran. But guess what happened in Haran? It says in chapter 11, verse 31, they settled there.
Speaker: They settled in Haran. That wasn't Canaan. This is not, he's not there yet. He's not to where God's promising in him. And so there's this delayed obedience because he's letting daddy call the shots in his life.
Speaker: And so when did they leave Haran? Well, unfortunately, I'll tell you when it was. Verse 32 of chapter 11, the days of Terah were 205 years and Terah died in Haran.
Speaker: That's when things picked back up. See, there was delayed obedience because... Like it or not, Abraham, he wasn't perfect. And so his obedience in this was a bit delayed. And so everything stood still for a certain amount of time in Haran until finally dad died.
Speaker: And then it's like, okay, time to go on. But unfortunately, when you go to chapter 12, verses four and five, you'll see he took somebody else with him.
Speaker: And Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son. Oh my goodness. Wait a second. So now we have not delayed obedience because they're moving, but we've got partial obedience.
Speaker: Have you ever done that? Have ever tried to say, okay, I know God wants me to do this and I'm going to do it, but I just need to do this also. And so we give him not delayed obedience this time, but partial obedience.
Speaker: But then remember, he said he wanted to leave it all behind. You know, he said, leave your your ah country, your kindred, your father's house to the land I'll show you.
Speaker: He said, I'll take care of you. But then he has a little bit of cluttered obedience because I don't know if it was from Ur or if it was from Haran, but down in chapter 12, verse five, Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brothers,
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: Oh boy. You know, sometimes I think we just, we just collect too much stuff. There's too much clutter in our lives these days. And for Abraham, he he fell into the same thing.
Speaker: i mean, Ur was prosperous, yes. And then Haran was prosperous as well. And they picked up quite a bit, but he just couldn't leave it behind. there in Haran. Got to take the yeah U-Haul, maybe as several caravans of camels or donkeys or whatever they had. But there was also challenged obedience because in chapter 12 in verse 6, guess what happens when they finally get into that area where God was calling them?
Speaker: Abraham passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Oh boy.
Speaker: So now he's got challenged obedience. There were enemies in the land of promise. Hey, obedience always requires deliberation and willingness and commitment and surrender.
Speaker: Obedience always requires that tenacity. We'll need God's strength in order to go forward. We'll need something else, which brings me to not the way of obedience,
Speaker: but the way of surrender. Verses seven, eight, and nine. Abram demonstrated that the Lord's way is also the way of surrender. Have you ever just surrendered to Christ?
Speaker: I believe when we get saved, we we say to the Lord, okay, I can't work out my own salvation here. I'm gonna need what Jesus did for me on the cross. I need the atonement of the Lord. And so we have to say to God,
Speaker: I surrender all. Well, what did what did God do to help Abraham surrender? And how did he offer it to God?
Speaker: Well, the first thing we see is he surrendered to an actual person. and Verse seven says, then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring, I will give this land.
Speaker: So Abram built there an altar to somebody. Guess who he built the altar to? The moon gods? Nope. It says he built the altar to the Lord.
Speaker: That's right. He surrendered to a personal plan. know, God had appeared to him. God told him what he wanted to do. So he said, okay, God, like that song we used to sing a long time ago, have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Speaker: You're the potter, I'm the clay. surrendered to an actual person, surrendered to a personal plan, but he also surrendered to a spiritual place.
Speaker: He spirit surrendered to a spiritual place. And so I thought, okay, he's saying, okay, this is where you want me, God. This is where I'm going to dwell. Okay. but he also surrendered with a special prayer.
Speaker: And I think that prayer is included in verse eight. From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel, pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I on the east.
Speaker: And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Ah, Abram was a man of prayer. He calls upon the name of the Lord.
Speaker: And I wonder if part of his prayer was, Lord, I'm laying it down. I surrender my future. I surrender my present. I surrender my wife, Sarah. I surrender to you, my my nephew, Lot.
Speaker: I'm giving it all to you, God. Wow, what an incredible man, this man, Abraham, following God in the way of surrender. But then the last part of verse nine says, and Abraham journeyed on, still going toward the Negev.
Speaker: So God hadn't told him to stop yet. So he's still moving. He's still surrendered. That's where he marches off the page. But then you see in verse 10, something else, something that we're not expecting sometimes. It can catch us unaware. You know what i'm been referring to?
Speaker: God's way is the way of testing. Look at what it says. 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.
Speaker: I don't see where God led him to go to Egypt. He just chose to go to Egypt. See, the Lord gave Abram two tests, two tests to deepen his spiritual growth, a poverty test in chapter 12, verses 10 through 20.
Speaker: But also if you go into the next chapter, 13, verses 1 through 18, not only a poverty test, but a prosperity test. His adversity test examined his actions when placed under pressure,
Speaker: His affluence tests examined his attitudes when allowed to prosper. How would you do if you were following God and his way went through a way of testing?
Speaker: Are you being tested right now? Does that mean that God doesn't love you? Does that mean that God has abandoned you? No, not at all. It means that God is deepening you in your walk with him. He's helping you grow spiritually.
Speaker: He wants to strengthen your faith. So just know that God's way, well, we've seen through the life of Abraham, it's a way of testing.
Speaker: It's a way of surrender. It's a way of obedience. It's a way of blessing. It's a way of promise. It's a way of the unknown. It's a way of separation and a way of movement.
Speaker: Would you like to follow the Lord? Why don't we close with the word of prayer and let's just commit our lives to him. Let's just surrender to him just like Abraham and say, Lord, here I am.
Speaker: I'm here to follow you. Even if it's a new road, it goes beyond my experiences. I still wanna follow you. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for how inspiring the biblical character of Abraham is.
Speaker: Thank you for leaving it here in your word so that we could learn from him. And as we've been learning from Abraham, we've been learning some things about you and the way that you led people, the way that you worked in their lives.
Speaker: And we want you to work in our lives. We want you to guide us. So lead us and guide us, O Lord, for your glory, for your namesake. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening to Growing in Grace. God bless you
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
