SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Abraham’s Encounter (vs 1).
(2). Abraham’s Obedience (vs 4-5)
(3). Abraham’s Worship (vs 6-9)
SERMON BODY
Question: Why study the life of Abraham?
Answer: Just consider these amazing facts & trivia:
(1).
• He is revered by the followers of world’s three great religions.:
• Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
• He is the patriarch of the Jewish nation,
• A spiritual father to Christians,
• And Moslems regard him as a mighty prophet.
• Over 3 billion people in the modern world;
• Cite Abraham as the ‘father’ of their religion.
• If you are wondering why, a spiritual father to Christians,
• i.e. Then the apostle Paul clarifies it in Romans chapter 4 verse 16,
• And says that because of Abraham's faith, he is the "father of us all"
• i.e. And again in Galatians chapter 3 verse 7.
• He refers to Christians as “Children of Abraham”
(2).
• An interesting point about Abraham is;
• All bloodline Jews of today are descended from him,
• Yet, Abraham himself was not born a Jew* but was Chaldean, a Gentile.
*Who was the first Jew? If by “Jew” we mean “Hebrew,” Abraham was the first Jew. If by “Jew” we mean “of the tribe of Judah,” Judah was the first Jew. If by “Jew” we mean “the first person in the Bible to be referred to as a Jew,” the nameless Jews in 2 Kings chapters 16—25 were the first Jews. Generally speaking, people today use the term Jew to refer to “a person who is of the chosen people of Israel.” With that in mind, Abraham should be considered the first Jew.
• Abraham became and is the founder of the nation of Israel.
• And is therefore considered to be the first Jew.
• In the Old Testament he is called; the “father of Israel” (Exodus chapter 3 verse 15).
In fact we have three names in scripture for Abraham:
• The “father of Israel” (Exodus chapter 3 verse 15).
• The “servant of God” (Genesis chapter 26 verse 24),
• And my favourite description God’s “friend” (Isaiah chapter 41 verse 8),
(3).
• He is mentioned by name 308 times in the Old and New Testaments.
• Aside from Moses, no other Old Testament character;
• Is mentioned more in the New Testament than Abraham
(4).
• He is the preeminent man of faith in the Bible.
• In God’s hall of fame (Hebrews chapter 11),
• Which is a list of names – great people of God form the Old Testament.
• There is more said in that chapter about the faith Abraham demonstrated;
• Than any of the other of the Old Testament characters mentioned.
• In the narrative account in Genesis;
• God will test Abraham’s faith 10 times.
(5).
• He is a man whose life changed the course of world history.
• Think about how your New Testament starts.
• That list of names (genealogies);
• I know it might seem as interesting as reading a telephone directory.
• But think again about how the New Testament begins;
• The first verse of the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel says:
• “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
• When Matthew wants to impress upon us the significance of who Jesus Christ really is,
• He links him with the greatest king—David—and with the founder of Israel—Abraham.
(6).
• Abraham had a radical idea, in fact he was the first person to teach;
• That idea or fact is that there was only one God;
• What we call today monotheism – there is only one true God.
• Before Abraham then, people believed in many gods.
• According to Jewish tradition, he was the son of an idol maker!
• Yet Abraham discovered and taught and followed the one true God.
(7).
• Abraham like many Bible characters had a name change;
• He started life as ‘Abram’
• That name means "Exalted Father",
• Which may have proven to be an embarrassment as he grew old without any children
• But one day God changed his name to ‘Abraham’ (Genesis chapter 17 verse 5)
• Which means, "father of a multitude"
• And despite his old age, he would live up to the meaning of that name:
• There are believed to be around 14 million Jews in the world today!
• And of course many, many more millions preceded them throughout history.
• That is quite a multitude!
• And as I mentioned earlier:
• Over 3 billion people in the modern world;
• Cite Abraham as the ‘father’ of their religion.
• So he left behind both a physical multitude of decedents;
• As well as a spiritual one!
Ok, trivia over, now let’s look at the story!
(1). God’s Encounter (vs 1).
“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you”
• In these studies we are travelling back in time;
• We are going back forty centuries,
• Back to a time long ago and far away,
• Back to a place most people have never heard of, a place called Ur of the Chaldees,
• Question: Anyone know where it is today?
• Answer:
• It was a large city on the south bank of the Euphrates river,
• 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) from Nasiriyah (Na-siri-ya)) in modern-day Iraq.
• Historians tell us that Ur was one of the most important cities of the ancient world.
• In Abraham’s day perhaps 250,000 people lived there.
• There was an ancient university there and a large library.
• Ur was known as a centre for mathematics, astronomy, and international commerce.
• It was like London or New York or Singapore.
Ill:
• It was also a centre of pagan worship.
• Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that most of the people or Ur;
• Worshipped the Moon Goddess called Nanna.
• We know from other places in the Old Testament;
• That Abraham’s family were idol-worshipers,
• Which means that he too at one time had probably been an idolater himself.
Note: How God Found Abraham
• As we break into the story Abraham is about 75 years old,
• Now don’t think of frail old man with a zimmer frame.
• In the book of Genesis people lived to longer ages;
• So when we meet Abraham he would be probably be considered as middle-aged.
• He’s appears to be a prosperous businessman;
• He is married to his wife Sarah and they have no children.
• As far as we know, Abraham is not looking for God at all.
• But God was looking for him.
• Above everything else, that’s the important point of our text.
• Abraham’s life changed when God found him and spoke to him.
• We are not told how God spoke to him,
• It may have been an audible voice or just a quiet whisper, we are not given the details.
• But this is the first of seven communications between God and Abraham,
• Recorded in the book of Genesis.
Ill:
• In a Catholic junior school the children lined up to collect their lunch,
• At the end of the line there was a bowl of red delicious apples
• Above the bowl was a sign, it said, "Take only one please, God is watching."
• Well, someone attached another note to the other end of the line.
• Where there was a bowl of everyone’s favourite chocolate bars,
• It read: "Take all you want. God is watching the apples!"
• TRANSITION: We are not told why, but we are told;
• God was watching Abraham, and now it was time to speak to Abraham!
• Verses 1-3:
The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 ‘I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.’
Now pause for a moment and let those words sink in!
• These words and this incident is a pivotal moment in the Bible and in all of history!
• Everything else that follows in Genesis chapter 12;
• In fact, everything all the way through the Old Testament,
• Including the coming into the world of Jesus Christ,
• The establishment of the church,
• And promise of Christ’s return in the book Revelation,
• All of it flows from this great promise to Abraham.
What is mind-blowing about this incident is this - just focus on this one thought:
• God found Abraham while he was still an idolater;
• While he was still living in a pagan culture.
• There is not even the slightest hint in our text that Abraham was looking for God.
• But God was looking for him.
Ill:
• Sometimes Christians use the expression, “I found the Lord.”
• That may be true…
• But never forget God found you first!
• Salvation begins with God, not man!
• He always makes the first move.
• The Bible puts it this way (Romans chapter 5 verse 8):
• “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
• In other words, “When we could not care about God, he cared for us!”
Question: Did you notice Jesus in verses?
Answer:
• Look again!
• He’s there all right, even though you won’t see his name.
• Look at the very last phrase of verse 3:
• "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
• Just think about it, because that is an amazing promise,
• How would one man like Abraham who lived 4000 years ago,
• Bring a blessing to all the peoples of the earth?
• Well we answered that question on our introductory remarks;
• Remember how Matthew starts his gospel (chapter 1 verse 1)
• In fact he starts the New Testament with these words;
• Jesus Christ is the “son of Abraham.”
• Abraham himself is not the blessing,
• But all the world will be blessed THROUGH his descendent;
• Who would be born in Bethlehem 2000 years later.
Ill:
• In 1927, in West Africa,
• A blood specimen was taken from a native man named Asibi,
• Asibi was sick with yellow fever.
• A vaccine was made from the original strain of virus obtained from this man.
• In fact, all the vaccine manufactured since 1927;
• By the Rockefeller Foundation and health agencies,
• Derives from the original strain of virus obtained from this one man.
• Carried down to the present day from one laboratory to another,
• Through repeated cultures and by enormous multiplication,
• It has offered immunity to yellow fever to millions of people in many countries.
• Through the creative imagination of science,
• The blood of this one man in the West Africa;
• Has been made available to serve the whole human race.
• TRANSITION: In another, more important way,
• The blood of another Man has been made to serve the human race.
• Jesus Christ the “son of Abraham.”
• Died on a cross and through his sacrifice, through his shed blood,
• Human beings can be made right with God.
• The Bible puts it this way (Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7):
• “In Christ we have redemption through his blood”
Now that is why some people call this the most important passage in all the Bible.
• God is telling Abraham,
• “I’m going to give you some land,
• I’m going to make you the father of a great nation,
• And I’m going to bless the whole world through you.”
• Now Abraham didn’t know how all of this was going to work out,
• But he didn’t have to. All he had to do was believe it.
• We get the benefit of looking back across history;
• And seeing just how amazing this promise of God really is.
• We know more about Abraham’s call than he ever did because we know about Jesus.
(2). Abraham’s Obedience (vs 4-5)
“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.”
Ill:
• A Bible translator living among a tribe of people;
• In a language that has never been written down before;
• He was struggling to find an equivalent word for “obedience” in the native language.
• One day as he returned back to the village;
• He whistled for his dog and it came running to him at full speed.
• One of the natives, seeing this, said to the man in the native tongue.
• “Your dog is all ear.”
• Immediately the Bible translator knew he had his word for obedience.
• TRANSITION: Obedience is both listening and doing.
• We see that demonstrated in the life of Abraham.
Note: God asked Abraham to do four things:
• Leave your country
• Leave your people
• Leave your father’s household
• Go to the land I will show you
• Wow! That is not easy;
• Abraham was being asked to forsake everything in order to follow God’s call.
Question: What would do?
Answer: Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes.
• You’re in the prime of life,
• You’ve got a good job,
• You have a home you like,
• Friends you admire,
• Neighbours who respect you.
• You’re an upstanding, valuable part of the community.
• You’ve got a good future ahead of you.
• The last thing you want to do is move.
Yet one day God speaks to you:
• We are not told how, we assume it was an audible voice;
• The one thing we know is that Abraham heard the voice of God.
• That voice says, “Go and leave everything!”
Ill:
Let’s play let’s pretend, maybe the conversation went like this:
• God: “Abraham, this is God speaking.
• I want you to leave everything and go to the land I will show you.”
• Abe: “Where’s that?”
• God: “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
• Abe: “Try me.”
• God: “It’s 1500 miles from here in a place called Canaan.”
• Abe: “Never heard of it.”
• God: “I know, and guess what else?”
• Abe: “What?”
• God: “I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.”
• Abe: “That’s impossible. I don’t have any children.”
• God: “Don’t worry.”
• Abe: “What do you mean, don’t worry?”
• God: “Just trust me.”
• Abe: “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to leave everything,
• Travel across the desert to someplace I’ve never heard of,
• And become the father of a great nation.”
• God: “Right.”
• Abe: “Is this some kind of joke?”
• God: “No.”
• Abe: “What am I supposed to tell my wife?”
• God: “That’s your problem.”
• TRANSITION:
• Well that was let’s pretend but I think that is how most of us would respond!
• We don’t have to play let’s pretend;
• Because in the New Testament book called Hebrews (chapter 11 verse 8);
• We are told:
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
• God’s direction for where Abraham was to go may have been vague;
• God’s promise to him were clear and kind.
• That’s always how it is in the life of faith.
• Many times we will be called to step out for God in faith;
• And you will be precisely where Abraham was;
• Having to trust, to believe God but not knowing what the future holds.
Ill:
• Faith is part of everyday living:
• e.g. When you are ill.
• You go to a doctor whose name you can’t pronounce.
• He gives you a prescription you cannot read.
• You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen.
• He gives you medication you do not understand --- and yet, you take it."
• Now, that is living by Faith!
• TRANSITION: Faith is part of supernatural living;
• As followers of Jesus we walk by faith and not by sight!
• There will be times when what we do does not make sense to other people;
• But if God has called us and asked us it makes perfect sense.
Ill:
• Before I went into Christian ministry;
• I was a self-employed painter & decorator.
• I worked hard to build up a business and had established a list of regular clients.
• When I felt God calling me into Christian ministry full-time,
• It made no sense to friends and family to give up a good business,
• And go into a work situation, working as a self-employed evangelist;
• That did not even guarantee me a weekly wage!
• But the God who calls provides (‘Jehovah Jireh’)
• And thirty years later I can testify that God has met my needs (not my greed’s).
Note:
• One important thing regarding the life of faith:
• You rarely see the big picture in advance.
• Even if you think you see it, you don’t.
• When God calls, he doesn’t always explain himself.
• He always tells you just enough to get you moving in the right direction.
• The rest is up to him.
Ill:
• When God leads he takes you from A to B, then B to C, then C to D;
• He never takes you from A to Z.
• It is a walk of faith, one step at a time!
• TRANSITION: God knew Abraham had this great quality within his make-up,
• God called and he obeyed.
• And Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8 says he “obeyed and went.”
• He may have doubted, but he went!
• He may have argued, but he went!
• He may have wondered, but he went!
• When God calls, the only proper response is to obey and go.
(3). Abraham’s Worship (vs 6-9)
“Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on towards the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued towards the Negev.”
• Notice what happened to Abraham when he finally reached the Promised Land.
• His journey from Ur of the Chaldees took him about 800 miles north to Haran;
• And then another 700 miles to Canaan.
• That is a lot of travelling!
• But eventually he arrived at a place called Shechem,
• Which is in central Israel in an area that we today call the West Bank.
• The Bible adds an ominous phrase at this point:
• “The Canaanites were in the land.”
• Think about that. the Canaanites were pagan idolaters;
• Who were the sworn enemies of Israel.
• When Abraham arrives in the Promised Land,
• The first people he meets are pagan idol-worshippers who will oppose him!
• It’s a reminder that living by faith is never an easy option;
• We are in a spiritual battle, so expect difficulties!
• Abraham had to face them, and so will you and me.
But notice that at precisely that point the Lord appeared to him again:
• Here the Lord reaffirmed his promise to give this land to Abraham’s descendants.
• In difficult times we hold on to the promises of God!
• Notice that Abraham built an altar and worshipped God there.
• Then he moved south and built another altar between Bethel and Ai;
• And the Bible says that he “called on the name of the Lord.”
Note:
• Abraham’s first act in the Promised Land;
• Was to build an altar and to worship God.
• That’s most significant because it tells that faith leads to action
• But it also leads to worship.
• That’s an important lesson we need to learn, isn’t it?
• In the Western world,
• One of the biggest challenges we find in hearing God’s voice;
• Is the ability to take time out to listen to him.
Ill:
• One of the really frustrating things in life;
• Is when you have to make an important phone call;
• You picked up the phone and dial the number only to hear the busy signal,
• Or get a ‘caller busy’ message on your phone.
• TRANSITION: Many times, God has wanted to talk to you and me;
• But too often he got a busy signal.
• The ever-pressing demands of a fast-paced life;
• Mean that prioritising time to pray.
• Often finds itself at the bottom of our endless to-do lists.
• And when we do find the time,
• It’s difficult to quieten our minds long enough to focus on what God is saying.
• Abraham made time for God;
• Let’s make sure we do too!
In Conclusion:
• When we first met Abraham, he was worshipping idols in Ur.
• As we leave him, he is worshipping God in Canaan.
• God called, he obeyed and stepped out in faith, not knowing where he was going.
• When he arrived, he worshipped God.
• This is the pattern for the life of faith:
• God calls, we respond, we move out, we arrive,
• And we worship God when we get there.
Ill:
• We sang that old, children’s song this morning on purpose;
• Yes, it has some very corny lyrics and actions;
• But the best part of the song is good and it goes like this:
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, and I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s just praise the Lord!”
• There’s a lot of good theology in those simple words.
• He is the father of those who live by faith.
• You and I are the sons of Abraham;
• If we step out in faith and follow God’s call as he did.
Note:
• God’s first call is always the same to every person.
• He calls you to turn from your sin and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
• Have you ever responded to God’s call?
• He’s calling you to leave your old life and come to Jesus just as you are.
• The new life you seek begins the moment you say yes to Jesus Christ.
• The greatest adventure you’ll ever know;
• Begins the moment you say yes to God’s call on your life.
Quote: D. L. Moody once wrote,
“Some say faith is the gift of God. So is the air, but you have to breathe it; so is bread, but you have to eat it; so is water, but you have to drink it.”
• Faith means taking God at his Word and then leaving Ur for the Promised Land.
• That is leaving the old life to live a new life for Christ!
• That journey begins the moment you say yes to God’s call on your life.
• God asks of us nothing more than he asked of Abraham:
• That we believe His Word and act upon it.
• You may say, “But my faith is weak.”
• I’m sure it is, but never forget God is strong.
• If you will put your tiny life into God’s mighty hand,
• He will guide you step by step.
• If you say, “I can’t see where I’m going,” fear not.
• The All-seeing God has charted your course and he will lead you to the Promised Land.
• Let’s pray!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=CUSirINHQIdYr6lMIpAQIBYIHav3An2y&forceSave
