Abraham-Following and Failing, Part 1

We've entitled today's message, Abraham Following and Failing. We'd like to think that we are faithful followers of God and while we want to follow Him faithfully, most of us fail Him miserably in our lives. And so today and next week as we spend time in the remainder of Genesis chapter 12, I hope that you'll be greatly encouraged by looking at the father of our faith, Abraham, in what happened in his life that marked him as a man of commitment, that marked him out as a man who was called a friend of God.

But at the same time learning from this man's mistakes because he did make mistakes like we all do. He failed and we fail as well. And we can learn a lot from his life. We can learn a lot about what God does in the life of a man who fails God. And so these lessons the next two weeks are designed to be of great encouragement to you, that you would understand what God wants to do in your life as a follower of Him and how God wants you to be committed to Him and not to compromise. And I'm afraid that we find it so easy to compromise our standards, to compromise the truth of God's Word.

And we'll see what happens in Abraham's life in Genesis chapter 12 that would cause him to compromise his commitment. But today we want to look at Abraham following God, looking at his commitment.

And there are four things that mark that commitment in Abraham's life. But before we go there, I want you to understand God's call upon you to follow Him. God calls us to follow Him. God wants us to fall in line with who He is. That's always been the call of God. I want you to follow me. Be as I want you to be. And for that, just as a brief introduction, I want you to turn with me to the book of Mark for a moment.

Mark's gospel helps us understand a little bit about what it means to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and what's involved in that. Listen to what Mark says. Verse number 16, And as he was going along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately left the nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat, mending the nets.

And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow him. By way of introduction, there are three things you need to see about following God that he demands from us. The first is this.

Encompassed in that command to follow me is that you must leave your ways. You must leave your ways. The text says that Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets. James and John would immediately leave their father. Specifically in this context of Mark chapter 1, they had to leave their future security and their family stability. Two things that reign paramount in our lives is our destiny, our security, our future, and our family. And yet these men would immediately drop what they were doing and follow Jesus Christ.

He wants us to leave our ways. Not that our ways are bad. I mean, being a part of your father's business is not a bad thing. Being a part of a business, being a fisherman, was not a bad thing. It was a good job to have. But God wanted no rivalries in his life. He wanted to make sure these men were committed to him, hook, line, and sinker. Pardon the pun on the fisherman take there. But he wanted to make sure that these men followed him. They had to leave their ways. And number two, they had to learn his will.

Follow me, he says. I want you to follow me. Now listen, everybody follows somebody, right? Everybody's following somebody. And we usually follow people, number one, we admire.

And number two, we follow after our ambitions. Which usually fall in line with the individual we admire. So Christ, in his command to follow him, wanted them not only to leave their ways, but to learn his will. That is, I want you to learn that I am the one you are to admire. And all your ambitions must be centered on me. For if at any time you admire someone else more than me, you won't learn my will. If at any time you aspire to something greater than what I have for you, you won't learn my will.

Therefore, make sure that I am your life's ambition. Make sure that I am the one that you admire. You know, Peter and John and James could have sit back and said, well, who is this guy? What do you mean, follow me? Where are we going? Could you give us a little detailed explanation as to where we're going to be journeying? Is this for a day? Is this for a week? Is this for a month? How long are we supposed to follow you? There were no questions. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Immediately.

A lot of times we like to take a detour. We want God to be able to set out for us all the plans, map it out for us, so that we don't have any questions that all of our questions are answered. But immediately, they would leave behind those things that would give them security and stability. Because God wants you to be secure in him. Wants you to be stabilized in him. Steadfast in him. Not dependent upon your family. Not dependent upon your job and its security. But on him alone. Follow me, he says.

Follow me. Leave your ways. Learn my will. And then thirdly, live as I want you to live. Live as I want you to live. He says, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. I want to make you into something. Now that's a very significant phrase. I want to make you. You see, God wants you to live as he wants you to live. He doesn't want you to live as you want to live. He wants you to live as he desires. Because he has a plan and purpose for your life. So therefore, you must begin to understand his will as you leave your ways that you would be what he wants you to be.

God wants us to follow him. And that's the command throughout the Bible. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Do what I want you to do. Obey me. Serve me. Long for me. Leave your ways. Learn my will. And live as I want you to live. That basically is what it means to follow God. The Bible says in Proverbs 24 16 For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again.

It's almost as if the Bible predicts our failing knowing that we are but dust. Knowing that we have a sin nature. But the righteous man when he fails he rises again by the grace and the mercy of God because he calls you to follow him. It was William Goldsmith who said Our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. And that's true. That's why the righteous man when he falls rises again to serve the living and true God. Peter did. Abraham too would follow. He would fail.

He would rise again. So we should learn from their examples. The Bible says that these things are written for our instruction that we might learn what it means to serve the true and living God.

With that by way of introduction turn back with me if you would to Genesis chapter 12. We'll pick up our narrative in verse number 4. So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. Now Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abraham took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and all their possessions which they had accumulated and the persons which they had acquired in Haran. And they set out for the land of Canaan. Thus they came to the land of Canaan. And Abraham passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem to the oak of Moreh.

Now the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to your descendants I will give you this land. So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pinched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abraham journeyed on continuing toward the Negev. Four things I want you to see about the commitment of Abraham.

Four things that mark a man's commitment. Four things that characterize those who don't fall but follow. Four things that need to be examined every single day in our lives. Commitment's not something we do much anymore. Most people are not committed to their jobs, committed to their marriages, committed to the Lord, committed to their church. Commitment is not a word we like to talk much about today. We kind of flippantly use it. But strong commitment, which the Bible speaks of, is characterized by four key qualities.

And the first one is this. Dedication. Dedication. It says, So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him. This man was dedicated. He was submissive to what God had said. The mark of a dedicated man is that he is submissive to those in authority. And those of us who are believers understand that God is our authority. This man was dedicated not only personally but even his whole family. He took Lot, his nephew. He took his wife. He took his possessions. He took everyone that he had acquired at Haran.

Everything a part of his household was encompassed in this man's dedication. That reminds us that everything that we have needs to be dedicated to the Lord. Our wives, our kids, our possessions, everything that we have. Abraham dedicated everything to God. Everything he had went with him. Everything was part of the commitment. Job would say, I have made a commitment with my eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman. Our eyes need to be committed to the Lord. Our energy needs to be committed to the Lord.

Our emotions need to be committed to the Lord. Our enthusiasm needs to be committed to the Lord. Everything about us needs to be committed to the Lord. Our money needs to be committed to the Lord. It's all dedicated to him. It's all his. And Abraham would lead by example. How about you? Are you dedicated to the Lord? We heard Joy saying earlier about, I surrender all. We sing those words. I'm not so sure we should sing that in church as a corporate body because I'm not sure that everybody in the church pew is surrendering everything to the Lord God.

We like to hold things back, don't we? We want to dedicate a certain amount of things but not dedicate all things. We'll dedicate a little bit of our money but not all of our money. We'll dedicate a little bit of part of our lives but not all of our lives to the Lord. So Abraham went forth as God had commanded. God said it. Abraham did it. He was dedicated to the Lord. I'm dedicated to following you. I'm dedicated to doing what you have asked me to do and take everything that I have with me because that too is dedicated to God.

Number two. Second key component. Number one is dedication. Number two is determination. Determination. Notice the phrase in verse number four and Abraham went forth.

Later down he departed. Verse number five he set out. Verse number six he passed through. Verse number eight he proceeded. Verse number nine he journeyed on continuing toward the Negev. All those words speak of the man's stamina. His steadfastness. This is why I believe that when God called Abraham he was obedient to God and I've said to you before that there were some commentators who believe that when Abraham tarried and harangued and when he took his father with him that he disobeyed God and yet Hebrews 11 spoke against that.

Hebrews 11 verses 8 to 10. James 2 speaks about Abraham being a father of obedience and that his life was one that obeyed the Lord God. So I don't see him as a man who disobeyed God mainly because when he did compromise the text gives us the full detail of how he compromised his life. So I don't believe that Abraham disobeyed God. I believe he obeyed God. He is not condemned in Scripture for taking his father. He is commended in Scripture according to Hebrews chapter 11. And this intuitiveness, this stamina that he portrays his determination speaks highly of this man's desire to follow God to the end.

And that's what he did. He was a determined man. The reason we don't see much commitment today is because we don't have much determination today. We want to quit. We want to throw in the towel. I mean it was 600 miles from Ur the Chaldees to Haran. It had been 15 years since he received his call. That's a long time. And now in Haran when I believe God would call him again he steps out and does exactly as God had designed him to do. He was a determined man to fulfill the will of God. To learn the ways of God.

He was a man set on doing what God had said. But there's something that speaks to this man's determination in verse number 6. It says that little phrase, Now the Canaanite was then in the land. And it says then in verse number 7, And the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants, I will give you, oh I will give this land. What land is that? That's the land where the Canaanites were. Now archeology has exposed to us several things about the Canaanite people. Things so gruesome and so bad that we can't even speak of in a mixed audience this morning in church.

They were so bad. They were far worse than our society is today. They were probably the worst society in the history of man. The Canaanite people. And God said to Abram, this is your land. Abraham could have said, this is it? But look who lives here. You've got to be kidding me. You want me to occupy this land? This is the promised land? Look at those evil, wicked, vile people out there.

How can they be here as well? This is not a good working relationship, Lord. Maybe you've got another land. Maybe there's another place to go. We're a lot like that too, aren't we? God calls us. We obey. And all of a sudden we say, this is it? This is what you called me to do? The Bible says, whoso findeth a wife, findeth what?

A good thing. Six months down the road we say, this is the good thing that we found? This is what you call good, God? You're a good God and this is what you call good? You've got to be kidding me, God. There's got to be something better than that or this or her. And so our commitment begins to wane because of a lack of determination to fulfill the plan of God and the call of God upon our lives. Abraham was a man determined to do what God said. Determined to do it. Why is that? Because he had his eyes fixed above.

Hebrews 11 speaks of that. We'll look at that in a moment. He had his eyes on a builder. On a city whose builder and foundation was God. Do you know why you and me lack determination? In our jobs. In our marriages. In our churches. In our relationships. Do you know why we quit? Do you know why we walk out? It's because we don't recognize the coming of our God. We don't relish the fact that he's going to return. Determined people look to God for his return. Knowing that he brings his reward with him when he comes.

Dedication. Determination. There's a third key component and that is devotion. Devotion. It tells us twice that the man built an altar. He built an altar. He gets to the land and dwelt by the immoral wicked Canaanites and what does he do? He builds an altar. Why? Because all the pagans got to know who he serves. All the pagans have got to see that he lives to honor one true God. And not only did he build an altar but he pitched his tent. Two things that mark a man's devotion. One is his worship. Two is his citizenship.

His worship is defined by the fact that he built an altar. He was devoted to his God. He wasn't going to compromise. He didn't have it in his mind, you know, maybe I'm going to compromise today. No, that wasn't a part of his plan. His plan was to show everybody his devotion to God. He worshiped the one true God. And number two, he pitched his tent.

Why? Because he wasn't a homeowner in Canaan. That's why. He knew that he was just passing through. He was a pilgrim. He was a soldier. He didn't pitch his tent because he was a drifter. There's a difference between a pilgrim and a drifter. A drifter has no vision. A drifter has no goals. A drifter just kind of wanders aimlessly from place to place. But a pilgrim has a vision. A pilgrim has a goal. And this man's citizenship was not here but there. He wanted everybody to know that there was more to life than what was in the land of Canaan.

He wanted everybody to know that what was more to life was the God in whom he served. That's why the Bible over in Hebrews 11 talks about this fact about the life of this man, Abraham. It says this, He was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God. In verse number 16, But as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. This man knew his citizenship was in heaven.

Therefore he would worship the God of heaven and serve Him only. The commitment of Abraham is seen, number one, in his dedication.

Number two, his determination. Number three, his devotion. And number four, his dependence. His dependence. Look what it says. It says at the end of verse number eight, And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. There's his dependence. He built an altar and he called upon the name of the Lord. He called upon His God. He called upon the promises of God. He looked to His God. He lived a life of dependence upon His God. Is that not the mark of true commitment? Is it not true that whenever we begin to compromise in our lives, in our marriages, in our homes, in our jobs, it's because we don't live a life of dependence upon God?

We are dependent upon our own selves to make it. We are dependent upon someone else to come through for us instead of depending only upon God to do what only God can do. Abraham built an altar, called upon the name of the Lord, demonstrating that he was dependent upon His God for all things. Why is it Abraham would fail miserably? Here's a man who outlined his commitment through his dedication, through his determination, through his devotion, through his dependence. Those are the four key components that make up a committed life.

Those are the four things that we need to examine in our lives to make sure that, yes, Lord, we are going to follow You faithfully. We are not going to fail You, Lord. And yet, what is it that would take Abraham, our father of faith, who followed his God, to all of a sudden turn and begin to compromise his commitment? For that, you come back next week and we'll let you know. Let's pray together.