Abraham and Us

One of the things that I remember, and we have some here that are Ambassador College graduates from Pasadena, that was a school teaching theology. And I remember in our sophomore class, now you have to remember the term sophomore means a wise moron. So after the first year, they think they know it all. And so sure enough, the Bible instructor in the second year, he said, I have a research project for you. And you have to look in the Bible. And the subject is Job and I. So we had to read the book of Job and apply it to ourselves. What lessons did you learn? So you had to write an essay on that. And what you learn, of course, is a bit about self-righteousness and how to avoid it. Because Job followed God very faithfully, but he had this issue about feeling self-righteous, that he was in such a way that he didn't deserve any of the illnesses and things that he had gotten. And he couldn't see that there was self-righteousness in him. And then, finally, in chapter 41, he says, now I see myself and I repent in sackcloth and ashes. And so I think all of us kind of learned, hey, we better watch out. I think because you're studying the Bible and knowing these things that somehow you're going to be better or more righteous than others.

And I was reading about Abraham this week and thinking that we could also talk about Abraham and I. Because there are so many lessons from Abraham and how to apply them. Things that he went through that we have gone through and will go through. And so it's a subject that we are going to cover today. Go into the life of Abraham, why God esteemed him so much, and what lessons can we learn to apply from the life of Abraham? Now, of course, there's a lot there, so I want to focus on one of the aspects of Abraham's faithfulness. And that was when God promised him an heir.

And of course, he was all excited. Sarah, or Sarai at that time, was very excited to think, oh, God has promised we're going to have a child and the descendants. Probably she'll get pregnant by this year or maybe the next. God didn't tell him when. So let's go to Genesis 12 and see this saga, this adventure in the faith that Abraham had to go through. Genesis 12, starting in verse one, it says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So he said, you're going to be a great nation. Your children are going to multiply and become a great nation. At this moment, they were childless. They didn't have children. And so at this age, he was 75, Sarai was 10 years younger than him. So they were up there in age. Even if people lived longer, it was still a time when you were already over having children. And then it goes on to say in verse 6, Abraham passed through the land to the place of Chechem as far as the terabith tree of Mora, and the Canaanites were then in the land. So he arrived the land of Israel. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, to your descendants I will give you this land. And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And so Abraham was following God, keeping his commandments.

And he built an altar there because God had appeared to him and gave him this great promise.

And so Abraham would go and he would worship God, offer sacrifice. He wasn't following the false gods of the world. He was following the true God. And so he was certainly thinking, well, Sarai, who became Sarah later, I'll just mention Sarah's name, not to confuse anyone, he said, my wife Sarah, she's got to get pregnant soon or else it's going to be too late.

In chapter 13 verse 14, he goes down to Egypt.

In verse 14 of Genesis 13, now about two years had transpired. No pregnancy, no child.

Notice verse 14. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward, and westward for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.

And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you. Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt by the terra pith tree of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord. So again, he was faithful, he was doing what God wanted, but no child. And he's getting older.

Sarah's getting way too old to have a child. And then in chapter 15 in verse 1, time continues on. It says, verse 1, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram, in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. So he was human.

Quite a number of years had passed. And of course, they were looking for that child.

Nothing happened. Probably his wife was nagging.

When is this going to happen? You received this promise from God and nothing's happened.

And so he goes on to say, verse 4, And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, that servant Eliezer, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be.

And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it for him for righteousness.

So he didn't turn his back on God. He didn't question God.

You have a right to place your complaints, but you're faithful. You're going to continue having faith at what God promises is going to be fulfilled.

Then in verse 13, then talking God, we were mentioning that nobody's ever heard the voice of God the Father.

So this was the word that was here, talking. Then he said to Abram, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterward, they shall come out with great possessions.

Now, as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace, and you shall be buried at a good old age.

So you're going to be buried along with your ancestors, but in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So God gave the Amorites about 400 years to repent, change their ways before they were going to be pulled out and just pushed out and destroyed.

Goes on to say in verse 18, On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt. That's all the way the Nile to the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the populations within it.

He just said that this was a covenant that he did. Let's go to verse chapter 16 verse 1.

Now we're going to see Sarah's impatience.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, See now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.

Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abraham's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife after Abram had dwelled in the 10 years in the land of Canaan.

Now instead of 75, Abram was 85. And here we have Sarai already 75 years old.

So he went into Hagar and conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived her mistress, he became despised in her eyes. So this caused a big problem because Sarah, being desperate to have a son, resorts to another way which was common in those days since Hagar was property of the family. And so that's a way the child would actually not belong to the servant. It would be like the wife would have had it, this proxy type pregnancy. And so this all happened and Abram was 86 when he had Ishmael. And then in chapter 17 verse 1, it says, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me and be blameless, and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.

So nothing had happened between Abram and Sarah for her to get pregnant. Then Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be a father to many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between you, me and you, and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. And I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abram, as for you you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. They shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. And then what did Abraham reply? He thinks in chapter 17 verse 15, then God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name, and I will bless her and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples, shall be from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old, and shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, oh that Ismael might live before you. He sort of thought, it has to be Ishmael. And so you see again Abraham was human.

He knew his biology and that of his wife, and so he's thinking, well my descendants are going to descend from Ishmael. But what does God say? Then God said, no, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. So God is saying, oh my promises were the son that was going to come from you and Sarah.

And then Abraham had all of his servants and himself circumcised.

In verse 24, Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh.

And then it says, verse 27, and all the men of his house born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him. So in chapter 18, we see now that God has to assert himself before Abraham and Sarah because they just thought, well, it's going to be through Ishmael.

Notice, starting verse 9, so he took butter and milk and a calf which he had prepared and said it before them and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. Then they said to him, where is Sarah, your wife? So he said here in the tent and he said, talking now again, another visitation from the word. These are called Christophanes in the Bible, which means the appearance of the word in the Old Testament. I will certainly return to you according to the time of life and behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him. I didn't know women did this. That day Eve's drop.

Have you ever, you know, you're talking to somebody and all of a sudden, oh, yep, somebody was eavesdropping. Okay.

And it says, now Abram and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. She'd already gone through her menopause. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also. And the Lord said to Abram, why did Sarah laugh? Because God can see things and hear things. Saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. And he said, no, but you did laugh.

So again, the Bible doesn't pull its punches. You see human beings and also having weaknesses and giving in to impulse not to be blamed for something.

And then in chapter 21, finally it happens. Verse 1, at 100 years of age, and Sarah, 90 years of age, 25 long years they had to wait. Verse 1, the Lord visited Sarah and he had said, as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. So God keeps his promises. It's just many times we want to rush things. We want to do it on our timetable.

But I'm not with me because that's what Isaac means. It means laughter.

She also said who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, for I have borne him a son in his old age. In other words, she didn't have some servant nurse. She actually was miraculously able to produce the milk and take care of the whole baby, the whole thing.

And then in chapter 22 comes a big test. Verse 1, I came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. This was probably the child was maybe 13, 14, and said to him, I talked about Isaac, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. In very precise instructions. Well, Abraham said, No, I'm sorry. I can't follow you. I can do everything except that, but not my son. No, he didn't. What did he do? Verse 3, So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, long time, was he going to cut out? Was he going to say, No, let me follow these Canaanite gods or whatever, easier religion. This is too tough of a sacrifice. No, it says, After the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder. So it's a lad. It's not a child. He was already able to walk all this and climb. And I will go yonder and worship. And we will come back to you. We will come back to you. So he knew one way or the other God was going to work things out. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife. And the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son.

Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide. And he actually named the mountain.

God will provide later for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together.

And just going to verse 10, it says, And Abraham laid the son, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me, the most precious thing that he had. And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The Lord will provide, as it is to this day, and the mount of the Lord shall be provided. And that's there in Jerusalem. That's Mount Moriah. That's where Jerusalem is. And that's where the temple and that's where the eventually Holy of Holies took place and everything else.

Continuing on, and the angel of the Lord. Notice, because in the Bible, sometimes it's talking about this word that came. It wasn't God the Father. He's still waiting for this plan of salvation to finish. He put all authority under who is now his son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is carrying it out. That doesn't mean God is passive. They work together. Jesus said, my father is working. I'm working. But God is the one with the overall plan. But Jesus Christ is the one that's executing it, carrying it out. Then the Lord, angel of the Lord, called to Abraham a second time out of heaven. He said, by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as a sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice to see its faith and obedience.

And so this is the culmination of all of these years of waiting, of suffering, the ups and downs of human nature and of course the wife trying to say what's going on, why don't you use my servant and all of these things to show us that just like Job and I we can learn a lot about self-righteousness by seeing what Job did following God and God was very pleased with Job. It was just this little thing you had to tweak, that self-righteousness.

And so he put him through and Abraham was going to be called to such a high position in the kingdom of God and he's going to be the father of the faithful and we're all going to be spiritual descendants that we're all as we're baptized it says we are descendants of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3 21 22 and so God had a great calling. Notice in Genesis 25, I mean Genesis 26 verse 4 faith plus biblical works not man's works not what theologians design it's it's God's laws that he expects to be respected although that's not the only thing we need Christ's sacrifice for forgiveness and his guidance and Holy Spirit. Notice Genesis 26 verse 4 it says and I will make you this your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws yeah Abraham was a Sabbath keeper when he set up the altar there'd be a time on the Sabbath that he would go there and this is something that from the first week when God blessed the Sabbath day it's been continually going on and Abraham was a Sabbath keeper he was keeping God's commandments and statutes which have to do with feasts and Sabbath days and so now let's go to the New Testament about this faith of Abraham and what he had to put up with all of these 25 years notice this is Romans chapter 4 goes even deeper into the spiritual lessons Romans chapter 4 verse 16 this is the example that Paul is saying that these blessings are not just for the physical descendants of Abraham Gentiles if they follow the same faith of Abraham if they continue to keep the commandments and submit to God's way of life they are also part of the blessings and heirs of the future notice verse 16 it says therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise talking about Abraham's promise might be sure to all the seed not only to those who are of the law which are the physical descendants but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written I have made you a father of many nations not just Israel in the presence of him whom whom he believed God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did who contrary to hope in hope believed so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken so shall your descendants be and not being weak in the faith he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was counted accounted to him for righteousness now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but also for us it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification and as a result we have the great verse one of Romans 5 that follows it therefore having been justified by faith not because we're of a certain race not because we're just a commandment-keeping people having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ so yes we have to obey but we also need the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and through his help him living in us that's the way we can make it into the kingdom verse two it says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God so we can be at peace it's so important let's go to Hebrews chapter 6 now Hebrews chapter 6 Abraham's example is again used of his faith we believe it was Paul who wrote the epistle it's not mentioned directly but everything points to this Hebrews chapter 6 verse 9 it says but beloved we are confident of better things concerning you yes things that accompany salvation though we speak in this manner for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end you have to persevere and talks about the patience of Abraham his perseverance his endurance his faithfulness despite the circumstances all going against that realization it says and we desire each of you to show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end that you do not become sluggish or lazy but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises continuing it says for when God made a promise to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying surely blessing i will bless you and multiplying i will multiply you and so after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise so again Job's great value to our spiritual lives is that we can be doing things right but don't get self-righteous don't start judging others and thinking you're superior or that we deserve the kingdom or something like that whereas here it is Abraham's patience endurance not ever throwing in the towel no matter what we're just going to continue just like those 25 long years he just kept i know God is going to fulfill it i don't know how he's going to do it but he will do it and i will be there for him i'm going to go up to that mountain if i have to sacrifice my son which was the ultimate it says verse 16 for man indeed swear by the greater and an oath for a confirmation is for them an end of all dispute does God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath so this is what is mentioned and then let's go we start wrapping things up in Hebrews 11 verse 1 this is called the faith chapter and actually you could call it the faith and works chapter because all of these had to obey God they weren't just believing in God and talking about God they were putting it into action that's why it says in verse 1 now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen i like the way the good news bible translation has it says to have faith is to be sure of things we hope for to be certain of things we cannot see so it's that certainty we're gonna get there we're gonna be part of God's kingdom no matter what happens we're not gonna give up we're not gonna turn back and betray our faith in verse six it defines faith too it says but without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek you yes we do our part God's faithful he cannot go against his own promises so that gives us peace but that doesn't mean it's easy going many times it's an uphill battle against ourselves against the world satan and all of the deceits going on as well and then continues here in verse eight says by faith abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going again he risked his job he risked everything just to obey God walk in the faith we have all had to do this where you just have to leave the nets behind and just follow God I think everybody could talk about it and how sometimes you have to leave father mother family friends to follow God and know he will reward you he will bless you I'm a living example of that at 17 just leaving everything and getting all my persecution in my own home and from my friends but you know God opened that red sea you're able to get over to the other side and be able to do things his way and not my way continuing on it says by faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised so even though physically thinking she didn't believe it was going to happen physically she said God said so I'm going to put my part in this and one of the things that we teach in the churches do everything like it depends on God but do everything on your side like it depends on you because God's not going to do our part and we can't do God's part that's the way it works continuing here in Hebrews 17 it says by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said in Isaac your seat shall be called concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which he also received them in a figurative sense you know in his mind Isaac was dead he was going to fulfill God's will even to that and if and in his mind he said well God will resurrect him because even if Isaac is dead God can resurrect the dead that's faith by faith then let's go to Hebrews 35 talking about that same faith women received their dead raised to life again others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they were looking for that kingdom they wanted a better resurrection to be there in the first resurrection that's what it's talking about and then in verse 39 it says and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith yes they obeyed persevered did not receive the promise the promise of that kingdom of that taking over the land where God would establish his kingdom God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us so God's waiting until the last person is called and baptized and receives God's Spirit before Christ comes back and then they will be part of that first resurrection all the way from righteous able Abraham and others they will all be resurrected together with those saints that are still alive and so it's not going to be oh well I'm going to resurrect the Old Testament saints first and then later the New Testament no he's not do it all so God is waiting for that first resurrection in Hebrews 12 verse 1 continuing it says therefore we also since we're surrounded by so great a weight a cloud of witnesses let us aside lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and there's always a weakness there and we have to block out we have to expel we can't give room for the devil and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God so we can say that you can reduce Abraham's faith to this motto the motto is found in Revelation Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 this is what people God's people have done throughout the ages revelation 14 verse 12 it says here is the patience the term means endurance of the saints here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus they have both things we need to have the same two things that's what Abraham had he had faith in God the one who would later come and sacrifice himself here on earth and he did his part he did his part God did his part and they are gonna all these people faithful to the end are going to be part of God's kingdom so with that we learned something about Abraham and I