Introduction. Abraham
the progenitor of the Nation of Israel had not only
an outstanding place in Ancient History, but he
has also a prominent place in the word of God. Of
the fifty chapters, in the book of Genesis, thirty
eight are centred on Abraham and his descendants
The Bible is essentially
the history of salvation. It tells of God's provision
for sinful men. It begins by making us aware, that
man is God's creature; and God made his world, and
when He made it was made good "God saw that
it was good"
The Bible then tells
us how man disobeyed God's word, and acted in independence,
and in defiance to God's will. Man thus became guilty,
ashamed, and unfit for God's Holy presence Consequently
the need arose, and the stage was set for a work
of Salvation. Putting it simply the rest of the
Bible tells us how God Himself acted to effect that
salvation.
God in His sovereign
grace has taken the initiative to bring back man
into a right relationship with Himself, and into
the full joy of man's true destiny eternal bliss
in His presence. God took a particular decisive
step in this work of salvation when He chose and
called Abraham.
Salvation would come
through the lineage of Abraham, in the person of
his greater son "The Lord Jesus Christ".
Abraham would be the father of all who believe.
Adam is the father
of the human race, the starting point of human history;
he is also the origin of man's fall into a state
of depravity. Adam sinned against God he acted in
defiance to His revealed word.
This caused him to
loose his place in the Garden of Eden. He lost his
Federal headship as the ruler of God's creation.
He lost the beautiful fellowship, which he had enjoyed
with his maker, and the sentence of death was pronounced
on him. The moment Adam sinned; sin became a Universal
problem, which has remained to this day.
Rom 5:123 wherefore,
as by one-man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned:
A Universal need
required a Universal Solution, a remedy was required,
and God in His Grace provided a Universal Saviour.
God himself provided a Lamb.
It is interesting
to note that before God called Abraham, He had always
dealt with men as individuals. God dealt with Adam's
sin on the grounds of shed blood. A sacrifice was
made and the Lord made a covering for Adam &
Eve using the skins of sacrificed animals to cover
their nakedness and shame.
In Gen 3:21 we have
the first mention of garments, of clothing and God
our heavenly Father was the Tailor. He is still
making clothing for His people to wear.
The Garments of Holiness, Righteousness, the garments
of sacrifice and praise.
After the fall of
Adam, there were those who had faith in God and
sought to walk in obedience to God shinning as lights
in the increasing darkness as sin-waxed worse.
Able was a good man--
a keeper of sheep, the first shepherd that we read
of in scripture. Abel brought the firstlings of
his flock as a sacrifice unto the Lord, and the
Lord accepted his offering. This man had offered
according to God's teaching, but he offered for
himself alone, his sacrifice could not avail for
another.
Enoch was a good
man "A man who walked with God". His was
a walk of Faith, a live of obedience, and God dealt
with him on a personal basis. We read of him, "He
was not for God took him" God translated him
to the realm of Glory via the sky.
Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. He built the Ark to the
saving of his household. Yet again, God was dealing
with man on a personal basis.
From the earliest of times God dealt with men as
individuals and on a personal basis.
In Abel we have a
picture of Substitution
The blood of a lamb was shed for the sins of man.
In Noah we have a
picture of Approbation
By faith Noah entered into the Ark of God's provision.
In Enoch we have
a picture of Translation
The day of the Rapture when Jesus comes to take
His believing people His blood washed Church home
to the place of many mansions.
In Abraham we have
a picture of new Revelation
God's choice and call of Abraham marks the beginning
of His special dealings with all men after man's
fall into sin, and after the flood waters of judgement
which fell because of man's sin; a beginning that
was consummated in his seed, in his posterity.
Friends, a right
living relationship with God, for all who believe,
through Sovereign Grace, Redeeming Blood, regenerating
faith, can clearly be traced back to Abraham.
Back to the Divine choice and to the Divine, that
was acts of Sovereign Grace.
1. Abraham's Country.
Gen 12:1 Now the
LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee:
This was the first
of the Divine appearance to Abraham and it came
while he was living in the ancient city of Ur. Ur
was one of the most important cities in the then
known world when God appeared to Abraham some four
thousand years age.
It was a busy commercial centre of Mesopotamia,
which was situated in the Persian Gulf, and was
bordered by the great river Euphrates.
The city covered
about four square miles, and had a population somewhere
in the region of 300,000.
History records and archaeology confirms, that many
of these people were highly educated. They were
proficient in mathematics, astronomy, weaving, and
engraving.
Furthermore they
preserved their ideas by writing on clay tablets.
Which have been invaluable to archaeologists in
reconstructing the social and religious life of
these people.
They had a good standard of living; their city was
prosperous, its seaport making it a centre of an
affluent society.
But like the rest
of the world "Ur" was Polytheistic.
The people worshipped many gods. The chief deity
in this city being the moon god who was worshiped
in the Temple Ziggurate
It was in the midst of this Idolatrous existence
that Jehovah appeared to Abram, and gave him a command
to leave his country, to leave his relatives, to
break away from his father's house, and go to a
land that the Lord would show him.
The story of Abraham
begins with God when He comes to an unregenerate
man with a word of Revelation, with a word of Command.
"Get the out of thy country"
The word of God broke through the darkness and the
deadness of Abraham's soul to speak to him about
a new place and a new people.
The God of glory
appeared to Abraham. He received a personal invitation,
and a Royal command. But there was also accompanying
divine undertaking. "And I will"
When the Lord, calls for "Faith" He always
quickly adds His "I will" Abram,
" I will show
thee a land"
"I will make thee a great nation"
"I will bless you and make you a blessing"
Heb 10:23 exhorts
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
This revelation called
for a response, it called for a statement of Faith
and it called for a Step of Faith. Abraham stepped
out in faith, he obeyed, he left Ur, not knowing
where he was going but he looked for a city whose
builder and maker is God.
Abraham's pilgrimage
began, where ours begins, with a vision of another
place. The Vision of a better land, a home forever
blessed with the presence of the Lord.
Beloved, God speaks,
we believe, faith dawns and real life begins. Abram
left Ur of the Chaldees. God had asked him to move
out from the place of condemnation.
It is useful to keep in mind the meaning of the
name
Ur of the Chaldees.. Ur--- means "Flame"
Chaldees means "destruction". The Lord
was telling Abram to leave the place of "Flame
& Destruction"
Today in the Gospel
of His saving Grace, God is still calling men and
women "to get out" to leave the place
of flame and destruction, to leave the place of
condemnation that they might become a new people
and travel on in faith to a new place.
God says to the sinner in Grace " trust Me"
and step out on the "Path of Faith"
It is a wonderful
to be a believer in Christ. It is also easy to misunderstand
what the New Testament means by this experience.
It is not that we believe Jesus Christ can do things,
or merely that we believe in a plan of salvation.
It is that we believe
Him, and whatever happens we will hang on to the
fact that he is true and Faithful. We prove our
faith by out commitment to Him. God says trust Me,
and faith responds.
Faith says to God.
Lead us heavenly
Father lead us
Over the worlds tempestuous sea
Guard us keep us feed us for we have no help but
thee
Yet possessing every blessing; if our God our father
be
1. Abraham's Country.
2. Abraham's Call
God's call and invitation to Abraham was like a
proposal of marriage. God came to Abraham as a man
would come to a woman and He virtually said, "I
want you"
Abram of all the people who are dwelling in Mesopotamia,
I want you to be my friend.
The Lord used the
isolating singular pronouns "you or thee".
God demanded, as the man who proposes to the woman
of his choice, that Abram should leave everything
else in order to become His.
He should leave his
own family to join another the people of God, to
leave his own home to live with Him as a pilgrim.
A. The Singularity
in the Call
Isa 51:2 "Look
unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare
you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and
increased him."
This was the "Call
of Grace" and the call of grace is always a
"Personal call, from a Personal God One who
is ever a personal Saviour.
B. The Clarity of the Commands in this Call.
Leave your country!
Leave your kindred! He was to go forth unto a land
that God would show him!
Abram was to go to
a place, which was not of his own choosing, but
to a place that was chosen and prepared by God for
him. God required that Abram would be completely
His; he was to leave all for Him. He was to dwell
in fellowship with Him and he was to walk the path
of Faith, which would lead him to an inheritance
that God had reserved for him.
God asked Abraham
to leave all to bring nothing with him but himself.
In one sense, he was to contribute nothing, and
yet in another sense, he was to give everything,
going forward to be wholly at God's command.
God, asked Abram to go to a place of His choice,
a place of whose character and worth, God was the
only guarantee.
Abraham knew nothing
about this place. In this place he would have no
familiar friends but One---"The Lord"
everything would depend on Him and on His unfailing
care and provision. But God undertook to bless Abraham.
Friends, what the
Lord requires of you and I whom He has called in
Saving Grace, is that we be prepared to leave all
and to follow Christ, depending on His unfailing
care, His provision, and His promise of blessing.
Someone has said
" The Kingdom of God is no place for people
whose faces are pointed one way and their feet is
pointed in another direction
God is not taking
people to heaven backwards or in retreat. He is
leading them forward. Sometimes the greatest problems
in the life of the Church can come from those, whose
face is set in one direction but their feet are
going another.
To enter the fullness of God's blessing, like Caleb
of old with must wholly follow the Lord.
Saying, Follow Follow I will Follow Jesus anywhere
he leads me I will follow on.
A. The Singularity in the Call B. The Clarity of
the Commands in this Call.
C. The Reality of the Promise in this Call
God undertook to
bless Abraham, giving to him a three-fold promise.
"I will bless you" "I will make of
you a great nation" " In you will all
the families of the earth be blessed"
The promise was for "Individual, National and
Universal Blessing.
Here, we have the
"I wills' of God". Which are the heavenly
seal of assurance and security. The "I wills
of God" are still available to all who will
step out on the path of total obedience and surrender
to Him and His will.
Our God will always
bless those who are prepared to walk the path faith,
claim His promises and take Him at His word.
Gen 28:15 The Lord
appeared to Abraham's grandson Jacob in a dream,
just to confirm the promise that He had made with
His friend Abraham"
Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all
places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again
into this land; for I will not leave thee, until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Behold, I am with
thee. Company for the Lonely/ Comfort for the sad,
a refuge for the helpless Behold, I am with thee.
Its music to make us glad
In the Great Commission to the Church the Lord said.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world. Amen.
One can hear the
call of God to walk the Path of Faith, but it is
not always easy to accept, for God's call be Disruptive,
Disturbing, and it can easily disobeyed. It was
not easy for Abram to leave a prosperous city, to
walk the path of faith as a pilgrim or to break
with his natural and national ties.
There would be times
that he would be filled with confidence; there would
be times when he would be filed with confusion.
There would be moments of Triumph, moments of defeat.
He would enjoy the mountain top experience. He would
also plunge into the valley of despair.
He would have his great moments of "Faith"
he would also have his moments of "Fear"
Abram through the Sovereign Grace of God had found
the path of faith now he must learn to walk the
Path of Faith. He would learn through experience.
That the God on the
mountain is the God in the valley
The God of the good time is the God in the bad times
When things go wrong he puts them right
For the God of the day is the God of the night.
1. Abraham's Country.
2. Abraham's Call
3. Abraham's Conduct
Gen 11:31-32 And
Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran
his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his
son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them
from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of
Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Friends, we find
that Abram's Obedience was only A Partial obedience
and this resulted in loss of further progress. This
whole venture of Faith grounded to a halt before
it progressed very far. Abram took Terah his father
with him and also his nephew Lot. The Lord had made
it very clear that he must leave the ties of the
flesh behind.
God cannot bless
were there is but partial obedience. God could not
bless Abraham neither can He bless us if there is
only partial obedience to His command. The child
is God is to be lead by the Spirit, but often he
is hindered in his walk by the flesh.
For a period of at
least six years, Abram dwelt in a place called Haran,
which is about half way to the land of promise.
There is no indication in scripture that the Lord
instructed Abram to live in Haran. Instead of going
forward with God in was stuck in the half way house
of partial obedience.
We would do well
to note the meaning of this word Haran. (Barren,
unfruitful, a place of ruin) For six years Abram
lived here and the Lord did not appear unto him
and there were no Altars of worship built in Haran
The Lord does not
fellowship with those who are dwelling in the Haran's
of this barren world. These were wasted years for
Abram, and we all have experienced wasted years
to some degree in our lives. Wasted years Oh how
foolish, we fail to go forward with God in faith,
displaying just a partial obedience.
The Author Tim Hansel wrote
I was almost your person today, Lord. Then I thought
what it would have been like if Jesus had done the
same thing.
What if God had almost revealed himself in Jesus
Christ? What if Christ was almost born and almost
lived and almost died?
What if the Lord
had said, "Ask and it will almost be given
you; seek and you will almost find; knock and it
will almost be opened to you"?
What if he would have said, "Come to me, all
who labour and are heavy laden, and I will almost
give you rest. If Jesus had told His disciples "For
whosoever would save his life will lose it, and
whosoever loses his life for my sake will almost
find it"?
My Almost Christianity
took on a much different light. I realised how many
times I had played the game of being one of Jesus'
"almost disciples."
I recalled how many times I had prayed almost believing
and walked through my days as if he were almost
risen, and almost trusted Him on "The Path
of Faith"
Sometimes, we can
fall into the category of "The Almost Christians"
I was almost yours wholly today Lord.
Gen 11:32 And the
days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and
Terah died in Haran.
There, has been a death in Haran, Abram's father
has died at the age of 205. There has been a burial
in Haran. Terah whose name means, "Delay"
has now been buried.
The Spiritual application
to grasp from this physical death is the teaching
of the New Testament, which tells the believer that
the Old Man, the old nature of the flesh must die
for this causes delay and hinders spiritual progress.
The Apostle Paul.
Eph 4:22-24 that
you put off, concerning your former conduct the
old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
And that you put on the new man which was created
according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
(NKJ)
The Old Man, that old fleshly nature must die it
must be crucified daily. The believer is to die
to self and to live completely for God. Paul could
say.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The old in Paul's life had been demolished and buried,
he was now building on a new foundation, and he
was building on Christ.
London businessman
Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property
he was selling. The building had been empty for
months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the
doors, smashed the windows, and had thrown rubbish
all over the place. As he showed a prospective buyer
the property he took pains to say, "that he
would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew
to correct any structural damage, and clean out
the rubbish".
The buyer said, "Forget
about the repairs when I buy this place I'm going
to build something completely different. I don't
want the building; I want the site."
That's God's message
to us!
Our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial
as sweeping a warehouse that is going to be demolished.
When we become God's children the old life is over.
He makes all things
new. All He wants is the site the to build on. There
are still some trying to "reform the Old,"
but God offers through redemption to build a new
edifice for His Glory" All we have to do is
give Him the "property" and He will do
the necessary "building."
In Ur of the Chaldees
Abram heard the Divine Call unto Salvation. At Haran
he learned something of the Divine Claim for Separation.
He had learned a valuable lesson and now he is on
the move again.
Gen 12:6 And Abram
passed through the land unto the place of Sichem,
unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then
in the land.
Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh
Sichem. The name
means "Shoulder, Strength, Service"
Moreh… the name
means, "the place of instruction" Abram's,
on the move with God he would find the Lord to be
his strength, and he would soon discover that when
he walked with the Lord in fellowship He would instruct
him.
Gen 12:8And he removed
from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,
and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west,
and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar
unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
Abram, has arrived
at Bethel
Hai.. Means "the
Place of defeat" Abram has now his back towards
the place of defeat! His face is towards Bethel,
Bethel: (the House
of God) the place for Adoration, it is there that
he builds an Altar and calls on the name of his
God.
Abraham is learning
that the "path of faith" calls for separation
unto the Lord. One must listen for instruction from
the Lord who ever says to His own "I will instruct
you and teach you in the way that you should go,
I will guide you with my eye.
Abram was learning
something of the "Adoration and Worship"
which was to be rendered unto the One who had called
him out of darkness into His glorious light.
Man's chief end is
to Glorify God.
