TEMPTATIONS AND TRIALS: BECOMING A FRIEND OF GOD
Genesis 12:4-13:4
Attention:
Chippie the parakete --- Max Lucado story.
Owner was on the phone, vacuuming out bird cage. Accidently vacuumed bird. In a rush, she opend the vacuum cleaner up. Bird was covered in dust. Like any good owner decided to go and wash it off. Ran it under water. Seeing that it was wet. he got the hairdryer and you guessed it. Blew him dry. He never saw it coming.
When talking with the owner weeks later, the owner said, she doesn’t sing anymore. She just sits and stairs.
It’s not hard to see why is it. When you have been sucked in, washed up, and blown over, it’s enough to take the song out of any heart.
Some of you today, feel like Chippie. In life you feel as if you have been sucked in, washed up, and blown over. You have gone through so many difficulties that it seems that all you can do is sit and stare. You wonder in all of this: What is the Lord doing? I mean you chose to follow the Lord and gave your life to him, and now it seems that you have more problems than you started with? What is God up too? What is God doing?
Listen to me friend. What God is up to is this. God is not interested in stealing your song, but giving you a song. He is not interested in taking your joy but in giving you joy. He is not concerned about taking away your life, but giving you real life.
What God is up to is this. God is using the trials of this life to increase your faith in Him. The reason you are facing so many difficulties is so that you will learn to cling closer to God and to become more like him. He is purifying your faith.
Listen to me. Last week, we started a new series in the book of Genesis. We entitled it: ABRAHAM, THE FRIEND OF GOD. Last week, we saw that Abraham was called by God a friend of his. What better testimony can be given that when we pass off of this life, we can be called by God his friend. And we learned the secret of Abraham’s intimacy with God. He was called a friend of God, b/c he had faith in God. He was a man of God, b/c he was a man of faith. B/c of his faith he obeyed God, and he became one of God’s closest friends in this life.
The bible says that we can have a similar intimacy with God.
14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:14-15 (NKJV)
The idea is that as our faith in God is increased, we will begin to obey God and as we obey God, we become the friends of God. And as we do so, God doesn’t withhold his will for our lives from us but shows us his perfect will for us. So we need to become the friends of God. And the way we do so is by obeying him. Believing in him. Becoming a person who walks by faith and not by sight.
Listen, the way that God increases our faith is to test and to try our faith. He takes us through trials to test us, to cleanse us, to purify us, to increase our faith in him and dependence upon him. To simply believe in Him.
J.I. Packer writes this-----Grace is God drawing sinners closer and closer to
himself. How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, not yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy and to drive us to cling to him more closely.
I love it. He sucks us in, wets us down, and blows us over so that we might
be drawn closer to him. To know his power and friendship more closely. Troubles and trials of our own making and of his are not meant to harm us, though they are painful, but to benefit us.
So God in his love turns up the heat. I like the picture that is presented in Malachi 3:2.
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.
Mal 3:2-3 (NKJV)
God here is compared to a refiner. A purifier of silver. Now the idea is that we are the silver and the gold. And we are not completely pure. We must be cleansed, we must be purified. We must be made complete. What a refiner did back then was to take the gold and the silver and place it into extreme temperatures and fire so as to melt the metal. In so doing, as the fire touched the metal, the impurities of the metal would begin to come to the top. And the refiner would then scrape them off and the metal would be allowed to cool and then would be completely pure.
Now, here is exactly what the Lord does. When we come to know him, we are all full of our own ways and actions. And what God has to do as the master purifier is to turn up the heat. He must melt us. And as trials come our way, the impurities of our faith come to the surface. We are fearful, inadequate, have no answers ourselves. And as this occurs, God begins to remove the impurities from our lives. They can’t be removed without the fire. They don’t come to the surface without the heat. So he begins to remove them.
The question is, when is the process over. When does God take us out of the fire. How does he know when we are pure. The same way a refiner does. The refiner knows when the process is complete, when he can see his image in the metal. He knows then that it is pure. When God can see his image within us, the process is complete. We are pure in those areas of our lives and we are useful to God and intimate with God. We have become like him.
That is what the Lord is doing. It’s what he is doing in your life and in the life of Abraham. Abraham became the friend of God. But listen to me. That did not happen overnight. It was a process. When Abraham began, his faith in God was small. He didn’t become a giant of faith over night. But as God took him through the process of trials, he learned to believe in God and obey God and b/c of that, he was known as a friend of God. He became like God. So I want us to look at some of those trials. I want us to see the furnace of affliction that Abraham went through that helped him become like God and believe in God and become the friend of God. For just as he went through them, we will go through them as well. God will turn up the heat upon us as well.
I want us to see 2 circumstances that God used to turn up the heat upon Abraham to help Abraham’s faith to become pure.
Now, one the situations is a temptation and one is a trial. Both are used by God and God is in control over both of them, but there are some differences.
A temptation is a demonic device meant to defeat you. It is used of the devil to get you to pull of short of God’s will. God allows it and sets certain parameters over it---he will not allow you to be tempted more than you are able. But it is the devil that is tempting you. You will face them and must overcome and as you do, you are drawn closer to the will of God and the ways of God.
A trial or a test is a divine device meant to develop you. Situations that God brings into your life to develop your faith in the Lord. Its not a temptation, it’s a trial. God wants to know if you really are trusting in him or not.
We are going to see both a temptation and a trial. One God allows, one God brings and the purpose of both is to see the different circumstances that we will have to go through in route to becoming the friend of God. These temptations when overcome develop our faith and these trials when endure will increase our faith.
Now Abraham has decided to follow the call of God in his life. He has decided to obey God. Verse 4 says that he picked up and left. Just as many of us have decided to follow Christ and be his disciple. We have started down that road. Now, he had not gotten very far until he came to his very first temptation.
1. Walking by faith means we will encounter the temptation of partial obedience (vs. 4-9).
It was the temptation of partial obedience. Listen to me. You can mark it down. When you decide to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the moment you trust him, there will be the temptation to pull up short of what God wants to do in your life. It is the temptation of partial obedience. And listen, after every triumph is a temptation. This is a temptation for Abram. It is meant to ensnare him, trap him, and cause him to come up short of God’s will for his life.
Let’s look at.
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Gen 12:4 (NKJV)
Notice, Abram was 75, when he departed from Haran. Now, there is a problem here. The problem is seen as we look at Acts 7:2.
2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,3 "and said to him, ’Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 "Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. Acts 7:2-4 (NKJV)
When did Abram have an encounter with God. He had the encounter with God before he came to Haran.
Get the picture, God said to leave your resident, leave your family, leave your resources and go to a land that I will show you. Now, when we pick up Acts 7:2, we see Abram living in Haran.
Question, is Haran the land that God had called Abram to inherit. Answer: no. So why is Abram in Haran. Notice he is living there. Staying there. Scholars estimate that he lived in Haran for anywhere b/w 5 and 15 years. God had called him to follow him to a land that he would show them. Yet here is Abram settled down in Haran. The question is why?
The answer is found in Genesis 11:31
31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
Look at this. They left ur, on the way to Canaan. They stopped in Haran.
So why did they stop in Haran. Notice something. Who came along with Abram. His Father and Lot. Did God not say to Abram to get away from family and specifically your Father’s house. God told Abram, leave all of your family and your father’s house.
Listen, Abraham obeyed God, but he only partially obeyed God. He left most of his family, but he did not leave all of his family. He gave into the temptation of partial obedience.
And partial obedience caused a delay in Abram fully obeying the Lord God.
Now, noticed what happened. Terah is the one that actually led them. Now, I am not sure how that happened. Perhaps Abram came to his dad one day and said Dad, you know that God that shem talked about, and about the flood, and about the garden of Eden. Do you know that God dad?
Yes, son, I have heard of him, but we worship other gods now. Well, Dad, the one true God appeared to me. His image was full of glory. I couldn’t see his face, but his voice was as clear as you talking with me.
Terah: What did he say.
Abram: he told me to leave Ur, to leave my family and your house.
Terah: He did what?
Abram: I know it sounds silly, but that is what he said.
Terah: have you been drinking again
Abram: No dad, its true. It’s real, it’s no dream. I don’t know
much about where we are going, but I know God has said he will show me.
Terah: you can’t go just anywhere. What about money, protection,
security. This is nuts.
Abram: But dad, God said he would bless me and make of me a
great nation.
Terah: Now, I know you have been hullicinating. You’re sick, you
must have a fever.
Abram: Dad, I’m allright. I have never been better. I believe what
he said, and I am going to leave in a day or so.
Terah: You can’t be serious.
Abram: Dad, he’s real.
Terah: Abram, I believe you. You’ve never lied to me before.
Listen, I am not going to let you go alone. If God is in this, I don’t want to miss it. And we are taking Lot with us as well, I promised my brother that we would look after him.
Now, I know the Bible doesn’t give us that many details about this, but there had to be some strong discussions there. And somehow through it all, Terah—the man who served false gods, ended up in the driver’s seat. He took and led them to Haran.
It was in Haran that they settled down. Now, God said that he would show Abram a land that was his. And yet, Abram is living in Haran. He has partly obeyed the Lord. He left most of his family. He’s on the road of faith. Perhaps, looking at Haran he is thinking, I will stay here awhile and maybe I can determine if this is the place that God will show me.
So instead of following the revelation of God, he begins to follow his own reasoning. After all, it was nice to have Dad along.
Listen to me. Partial obedience will always come back to haunt you. You can mark it down. Partial obedience will rear its ugly head one way or the other. It caused Abram to delay God’s blessing upon him. Not only that but he brought Lot with him. Listen, Lot will give Abram trouble the entire time. He will have to go and get Lot after Lot was captured by some pagan kings. He will intercede for Lot as God is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He and Lot will have a problem b/w them b/c of finances. Everywhere Lot is mentioned, it is a problem to Abram. Listen, when God calls you to do it, he means what he says. And every compromise that we make will come back to haunt us later on. Partial obedience is still disobedience.
Partial obedience here begins to capture the heart of Abram. He begins to settle for less than God wants him to have. Abram begins to settle down in Haran. He’s traveled about 400 miles. However, he knows that the next part of the trip will be a difficult part. Right now, Haran is much like Ur. It is in the land of Mesopotamia. Thre they worship the moon god, SIN. There was plenty of commerce and it was a good city. It was the spot where caravans traveling to Canaan would fill up with water before heading out across the dry desert. The next part of the trip would be difficult. So rather than making it, he stays in Haran. His Dad’s there, its pleasant there. It’s been a difficult move but not an impossible one. Sarah is just now beginning to settle down. Terah his Father says it would be crazy to go any father.
So what’s the point. The point is this. His partial obedience is leading to full disobedience. He is getting comfortable in Haran. It’s like his faith is going to sleep. He’s gotten too comfortable. He can’t let go.
The problem is this: You can’t enjoy the blessings of God in Haran. God had said, I will show you a land. He began that journey, but he has stopped. Gotten comfortable, partially obeyed. His faith is not growing. He is enjoying it there. He’s comfortable. But he has pulled up short of what God wants for him. If he stops here, he will miss the blessings of God upon his life.
Listen to me. Many Christians are in halfway Haran. They have followed God only ½ way. They have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and begun to walk in his will. But somewhere along the way, they compromised on the will of God. they have gotten comfortable in their compromises. It’s pleasant, its comfortable and besides to follow God’s will means going into the wilderness and desert that is unknown. So they stop in Haran.
It’s a person that is saved, but will not be baptized. They are in Haran. It’s a person that knows God but has yet to let go of the world and follow only Him. It’s a person that has been called of God to go into the ministry, but having surrendered to that call they decide to go into business first and make some money and then they will respond to the call of God upon their life. It’s a believer who knows that it is not God’s will to date an unbeliever, but they have compromised. They have gotten comfortable. And to follow God any further means to let go of that relationship.
I remember very well the temptation to live in Haran. I was dating someone I knew that was not in God’s will for my life. His Word was clear. And I knew that to follow him, I would have to give it up. Turn my back upon a 10 month relationship, which to me at the time was the most important. I knew that to leave Haran I would have to give up engineering and go into the ministry. I knew that to leave Haran meant that the next couple of years would be filled with uncertainty and difficulty. I knew that to leave Haran would mean to say completely no to the ways of the world and to say completely yes to God. That’s Haran.
It’s holding onto the world and trying to follow the Lord at the same time. And you can’t. Your faith will die. Your relationship to the Lord will dry up. Some of you today, wonder, why does God seem so distant, what happened to my walk with him. Listen, you can’t manipulate God. God can’t bless you in Haran. He can’t bless you in partial obedience. You must leave Haran, you must follow fully the call of God upon your life.
If I had to guess, I would say that most churches are dead and not growing b/c the majority of its members are in Haran. They have yet to say, Lord wherever you lead I will go. Whatever job you want me to have I will have, whatever you want me to be, I will be. They know Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord.
That’s the temptation. To be satisfied with security and to allow the vision that God has for you to die.
Now, there are 2 main ways out of Haran. The best way is to leave. It’s to get up and go forward. But the Lord knows that it is difficult for us. He knows that we are stuck. By the way, God is patient with us. He knows its difficult. After a period of time, he does something else. So the second way is this: God will begin to cut us loose from Haran.
God in his love, will take what is keeping us in Haran and cut it off from us. God will work in such a way to nudge us back on the road of faith. How does he do it.
4 "Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.
Acts 7:4 (NKJV)
Look at that. At the right time, God took his father out of the way. It was only after his father died that Abraham continued the journey.
Now, maybe I am making to big a deal with this. Maybe Abram was a responsible son and took care of his father and maybe he didn’t disobey the Lord by bringing him. But whatever the case, it was after his father died that he was freed to continue on his journey. It was as if God said, it’s time to get going. It’s time to move forward in the will of God.
By the way, Charles Stanley tells the story of a young man that was working on staff at the church where he pastors---1st Baptist of Atlanta. The leaders had decided that they needed to cut that position and it was a difficult decision to make. They knew it was the right thing to do. When Charles Stanley went and talked to the young man, the young man said these words to him.
When you told me that I was losing my job, it sort of jolted me. It was right then that God said to me, “well, I guess you are going to have to obey me now.” You see God had called him to go to seminary 2 yrs ago. But he was comfortable. Had good money, a good ministry. And he said this was God’s way of saying, it’s time to obey Him.
That’s the way, he works.
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
He finally left Haran. It was then that the story picks up. It was as if his time in Haran was wasted. It was like God’s program for his life didn’t really begin, until he left Haran. He had to fully obey.
Now, what a difficult decision it was for him to make. You can hear the people around him tell him that he is crazy. The next track will be the most difficult. Across the wilderness, across the desert. Before, they traveled the Euphrates, like an interstate. But now, they were going on the side roads. Like walking through desert. I imagine the people are mourning and crying and telling him that you are as good as dead if you attempt to cross that wilderness without any form of protection and security.
Yet the call was inside of Abram. He must go. He had stayed too long. It was time to obey God. The same way when God calls you, you must go. You can’t look at the circumstances, you only hear the call of God.
5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
The Bible gives brief descriptions for traumatic events. He moved all of his family and servants, and came to Canaan. That is over several hundred miles. Not only that, but he would have come to Damascus. Sort of a watering hole. A place of refreshment. The first real place of dwelling since he left Haran. History has it that Abraham did stop there for a brief stay. One of his servants, his most prized one is Known as Eliazer of Damascus. But he didn’t stay there. He had learned from Haran, not to stop until the Lord showed him the land. He kept going.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Notice this scene. He comes into the land of Canaan. Notice what the Bible says, the Canaanites were then in the land. Why does it make this statement. B/c the Canaanites would have been intimidating to Abram. They were well established in the land. They were corrupt and immoral. They were excellent warriors. When the children of Israel spied out this land 500 years later, they said that the inhabitants were too difficult to overcome. Cities large and people strong.
So I imagine that Abraham’s faith began to falter a little bit. He began to fear. But notice what happens.
Verse 7---
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Look at this. What is happening here. Well God is reassuring him. God is building up his faith again.
Notice the LORD appears to him---when was the last time that happened. The last time that happened was all the way back in Ur as far as we know. He may have appeared in Haran to get him moving again. But the idea is this. Once Abram obeyed the will of God fully, God began to appear to him again. He began to bless Abram and to reveal more of his will to him.
He said in effect this is the land. God said, I will show you the land. Now God says what. I will give this land to your descendents. You will not only see it, you will posses it.
Do you see what is going on here? Listen every single act of obedience brings blessing. That blessing in many instances in understanding the will of God more in your life. God could not reveal his will to him until he obeyed the last directions God gave him. When he obeyed, the Lord showed up again. When he overcame the temptation of partial obedience, the Lord was waiting to bless him.
Listen. You obey to understand. You don’t understand to obey. Not only knows his will, but he has fellowship with him. It’s like a cold drink for his thirsty soul.
Every time you obey God, you will be blessed. But your blessing awaits until you obey. You don’t get blessed in Haran. You get dry, empty. It’s only when you obey, you get blessed.
God appears to him. Not only that but he is so overjoyed that notice what he does. He builds an alter to the Lord.
The only other time the word altar has been used in Genesis is when Noah was delivered from the flood. He was so overjoyed that he built an altar and offered sacrifices. Those sacrifices were blood sacrifices and he was showing that he would come to God in the right way, through the blood of a sacrifice and with the right heart. It was a thankful heart that he had been spared the flood.
Listen, Abram comes and he builds an altar. Perhaps offering a sacrifice as well. But the heart of it is this: He was so excited that God had been gracious to him. He was overjoyed at what God was doing in his life. He worships the Lord.
Listen, you can’t worship in Haran. You can’t worship until you obey God fully. Now, his spiritual life begins to get some legs under it. It is now that full fellowship with God is occurring. He is growing and understanding and walking in God’s ways.
Listen, worship is not what we do here on Sunday mornings. If you haven’t obeyed the will of God for your life, you haven’t had a fresh encounter with him. And if that is the case, you have nothing new to thank god for. You are unable to worship. A worshipful life flows from an obedient life. He drew closer to the Lord and he worshipped the Lord as this occurred.
Not only that but notice.
8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he 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 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
Gen 12:8-9 (NKJV)
Bethel, Ai---house of God and heap of ruins. He lived b/w the house of God on one side and the heap of ruins on the other. Sort of like what we do. Live in God’s house but live near a world of ruins.
Notice what he did. When he got to his home spot. He built another alter and called on the name of the Lord.
First time phrase is used sense Gen 4:26. The idea is that he began to seek the Lord more and more. He was developing a relationship with God. He was learning to walk by God’s leading. He was probably asking him for direction and wisdom for where to go and what to do. The thing that I want us to notice is that as he obeyed the Lord by leaving Haran and Ur, since that time his relationship with God is getting stronger and stronger. His spiritual feet are developing.
There are dangers in the land, there are enemies in the land. But this is the spot that God has called him too. He is living in a tent. He isn’t possessing anything but he will inherit everything in the next life. He is living a seperated life and he is leading a worshipping life.
And that is what we are called to do. We are called to leave Haran. The comforts of our own circumstances and fully obey God. As we do, we will live a seperated life. It will be difficult. It was not easy living in a tent instead of a home. He had few friends and allies. Yes as he seperated himself to God, God became real to him and he began to worship God. And God began to fulfill his will through the life of Abram.
Listen to me: are you living in Haran? What is your Haran? You know God’s will but haven’t followed it. Why not? Listen, you real adventure in life doesn’t begin to leave Haran and come to Canaan. I promise you it won’t be boring, plenty of excitement and more than anything else, your worship of God and relationship with God becomes real. It’s time to leave Haran.
As we see him overcoming the temptation of partial obedience. Everything looks great. He has passed the temptation. Next, he heads right into a trial. Sort of Like Chippie the bird.
2. Walking by faith means we will encounter the trial of
