Abraham's Faith, Part 1

We trust that you've come to adore the King of Kings and Lord of Lords this morning. One of the ways we do that is by honoring His Word and understanding what His Word says and living in obedience to that Word. That's what the men and women did in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11. And so if you have your Bible, turn there with me if you would, please. Hebrews chapter 11, and we're going to look at the fourth hero in the Hall of Faith.

We've already looked at Abel and we've looked at Enoch and we looked at Noah. And today we're going to look at Abraham this week and next week.

And then in the new year, we'll look at Sarah and then look at Abraham once again, as the writer of Hebrews picks them up once again.

You know, Abraham is mentioned 10 times in the book of Hebrews. Moses is mentioned 11 times. In fact, there's more about Abraham and Moses in the Hall of Faith than any other character. In fact, in the New Testament, Abraham is mentioned 72 different times, while Moses is mentioned 79 different times. And that's because these are the great pillars of Hebrew faith. You have the great patriarch of the faith, which is Abraham. You have the emancipator of God's people, which is Moses. And they become the two men in which Israel hangs everything upon.

And so the writer of Hebrews is going to accentuate them in the Hall of Faith to help us understand how these two individuals lived a life of trusting obedience. They are the ones who believed absolutely in everything that God said and behaved accordingly to what God said. So Hebrews 11 verse number 8 reads as follows, By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive foreign inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Now to set that in context, turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Genesis. As we have with Abel, Enoch, and Noah, we go back to the book of beginnings, the book of Genesis, to get the commentary on what is taking place in Abraham's life. And so in Genesis chapter 12, it begins this way, Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you.

And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you. And the one who curses you, I will curse. And you, and in you, excuse me, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Abraham, or Abram, went forth as the Lord had spoken to him. This morning I want to look with you at the call of Abraham. For Abraham was was called by God. Now none of us would do what Abraham did, go to a place not knowing where we are going.

If you came to me or went to your friends and said, listen, we're going to, we're just going to, we're just going to leave California and we're just going to go not knowing where we're going. But when we get there, we'll know that's where we're supposed to be and don't have a job, don't have a house, don't have any family there. We're just going to go not knowing where we're going. We would think that you would think that the elevator didn't go to the top floor. We would think that you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic, that you just really didn't understand exactly what was happening in life.

But this is Abraham. God calls him. He's going to go out from where he is to a place that he knows nothing about. Now it's going to be a thousand miles away, a thousand miles. He's not going by car, train, or bus, or even bicycle. He's going to the back of camels. He's walking. And so he's going to travel a thousand miles. So you got to think about the distance. You got to think about the desert because he's in Ur the Chaldees, which is east of the great river, the Euphrates, which is the eastern boundary of what will be the land of Israel.

And so he's on the other side of the river. He's got to travel through the desert. He's got to travel a far distance. And it's not going to be very comfortable. It's going to be very uncomfortable. It's going to be hot and dry and windy. But this is his journey, going out, not knowing where he was going to end up. That's why the Bible is very clear when it says, by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed. Let me begin this way.

Abraham's call was a personal call. It was an individual call. It was specific to the man, Abraham. Now this is important because Genesis chapter 15, Nehemiah chapter nine, and the book of Acts tell us that he was in a place called Ur of the Chaldees. It says in Acts seven, verse number two, and he said, hear me, brethren and fathers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and said to him, leave your country and your relatives and come into the land, which I will show you.

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him moved to this country in which you are now living. So Abraham was in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans. That's very important. Why? Because we know that Abraham and his family were idolaters. They were pagan worshipers. How do we know that? Book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 24, verse number two, Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel from ancient times, your fathers lived beyond the river.

Now the river is the Euphrates river. Why is that important? Because the word Hebrew means to cross. So Abraham became a Hebrew when he crossed the river, the great river Euphrates. In other words, Abraham wasn't a Hebrew until he crossed the river. What was he? He was a Gentile, just like you and me. Now it's hard for the Jews to grasp that, that Abraham, the father of this nation, was at one time a Gentile. He wasn't born a Jew. He was born in sin, like you and me, separated from God and was a pagan worshiper.

For the Bible says in Joshua 24, your fathers lived beyond the river, namely Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor and they served other gods.

Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his ascendance and gave him Isaac. Verse 14, now therefore fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served, which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So we know that Abraham, his father, Terah, they were idol worshipers. They were pagan idolaters and God did something unique and special in the life of Abraham. Now some will say Genesis 12 says you got to leave your father's house, but the scripture is very clear that Terah came with Abraham. So did Abraham disobey God by taking his father with him or did he obey God? Because his father would die in Haran and then he would move on to the land of Canaan.

So what was Abraham doing? Well, it very well could be that Terah also gave his life to the Lord as to why Abraham would bring his father with him into the land that God had called him to go. The Bible never says in Hebrews 11 or Genesis 12 or Genesis 15 or Genesis 17 that Abraham at any time disobeyed God when it came to the call of God upon his life to move from Ur the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, but that he fully obeyed by faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed. So we can assume that Terah somewhere along the line gave his life to the living God.

Now how was it God called him? How is it we know the Bible says by faith, right? Faith is believing in what God has already said. So God had to say something to Abraham. All right. He had to have the word of God to obey. You can't have faith unless the word of God's involved. So by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed. So how is it God made his word known to Abraham? How would he know this? Well, Acts 7. If you've got your Bible, turn to Acts 7 and it tells us, it says in verse number two, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Iran.

Wow. The God of glory appeared. Well, what is that? The God of glory appearing to Abraham? Well, if you go back to the Psalmist in Psalm 29, it says this, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters. Verse three, the God of glory thunders. So the God of glory appeared to Abraham. The Bible tells us in Psalm 29 that the God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

Verse seven, the voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. In other words, when the God of glory speaks, he thunders. Now you, you know about thunderstorms, right? Well, not necessarily. We live in Southern California. We don't get very many thunderstorms, but if you grew up in the, in the Midwest and on the East coast, like I did, there were all kinds of thunderstorms. And when the thunder began to erupt, you knew that God was doing something upstairs.

You just didn't know what he was doing, right? Maybe he was switching the furniture around in heaven. I was loud. Well, if the God of glory thunders, we understand that there's something loud about how we speak. So this is important. Why? Because he was an idolater. He was a pagan worshiper. He worshiped gods that did not speak. He worshiped gods that could not hear. He worshiped dead gods. So the Lord was going to make a, a unique impact on his life by helping him understand that there's something different between the idols that he worshiped and the true and living God.

That the true living God speaks. The true living God thunders. He has a voice. And when the God of glory appeared to Abraham, he would speak to Abraham. Think about that. Now we know what glory is. Glory is the presence of God manifested in brilliant light. Remember in Luke chapter two, verse number seven, and the glory of the Lord would, would shine all around the shepherds, right? It was the manifestation of, of God. The presence of God manifested in brilliant, shining light. So here is Abraham.

Maybe he's worshiping at one of his altars. Maybe he's just walking through the day. We don't know. But the God of glory appears to Abraham shining down upon him and all around him. And the glory of the Lord speaks to Abraham and tells him, you got to go. You just keep going. You just keep walking till I tell you to stop. And Abraham, by faith, obeyed the call of God upon his life. This was a very personal call to Abraham. God was doing something unique in Abraham's life because God was going to do something very unique in the life of the entire world.

The call of God upon one man would affect the entire world. Now think about this. When God calls you, God has a plan and a purpose that God is going to use you for his glory and for his honor. God was going to use Abraham in such a beautiful, incredible way. Now remember, Abraham is 75. When he's called. 75. He's not a young pup. He's up in years. And so he's going to live a while. He's going to live at least to 100, right? Till Isaac's born. It's going to be 25 years until the seed of promise arrives.

But more about that in weeks to come. But the bottom line is that when God called Abraham, he obeyed. It was a personal call. When God calls you, it is a personal call. So wait a minute. The God of glory doesn't thunder around me. I haven't heard the voice of God thunder in my life or the voice of God shatter the cedars of Lebanon in my life. How does the God of glory appear to me? Well, that's a good question. And it's an honest question, right? Because listen to what the Bible says in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse number 18.

We all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. We with an unveiled face are looking into the perfect law of liberty. The word of God is like a mirror and we are beholding the beauty, the brilliance of the light of God in his word. The Bible says, and we're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the spirit.

In other words, listen, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We know that in the beginning, the word was with God and the word was God. We know that that's Jesus Christ, the word of God incarnate. Well, when the word of God incarnate dwelt among us, we beheld his glory, but the word is an explanation of the, of the deity of Christ. And the word that we hold in our hand is an explanation of the deity of Christ. And so the glory of the Lord is manifested through his word. And so whenever we preach the gospel to people, we are preaching the glory of the Lord to people that they might understand the beauty of his brilliance, to understand the glory of our God, that they might fall in submission to him.

As we sang just earlier, that we might come and adore the living God. Abraham heard the voice of God and by faith, because faith is trusting obedience, trusting what God has already said, obeyed. It was a personal call. Just like when God calls you, it is a personal call, but it was also a predetermined call. Do you ever think about that? It was a predetermined call. It wasn't that God was thinking, now you destroy the earth with the flood and Noah and his family are repopulating the earth. And now Abraham's born.

He's looking around trying to figure out, okay, who can I use to be the father of the Jewish race? Who is it I can choose? Oh, that guy right there. I'll choose him because his name means exalted father. I'll choose him. No, it's not how God works. God had ordained this from eternity past. This wasn't something he just came up with since the flood and thinking of a new way to reach the world with the truth of who he is. Nope. This was always the plan. This is the way it was always going to be. So the call of God upon Abraham's life, like your life and mine, is not only a personal call, but it truly is a predetermined call.

In other words, God predetermined in eternity past to call us to himself. The Bible says in the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, consider your calling.

Verse 26, there were not many wise according to the flesh or many mighty or many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen the things that are not so that he may nullify the things that are. In other words, I know I'm not mighty. I know I'm not wise. I know I'm not rich, but I'm kind of one of the guys that are despised.

I'm a foolish thing. I'm one of the ones that are not. That's who I am. And that's who God chooses. I mean, he doesn't choose any wise or any noble or any mighty. No, he does. But he says this, so that no man may boast before God, but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Abraham was chosen by God, not because Abraham means exalted father. Abraham was chosen by God because in the eternity past, this was what God did.

And when eternity intersects time, like it did in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham is called by the glory of God. Now, for some of you, this might be a little difficult to grasp, but you need to understand, as Jonah said in Jonah 2 verse number 9, salvation is of the Lord, right? Salvation is not of man, salvation is of the Lord. So the Lord does the calling, the Lord does the choosing based on his predetermined foreordained will. The Bible says very clearly in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one, these words, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

In other words, you and I were chosen in Christ before the world was ever created. Before there was an Adam and an Eve, before there was a Cain and Abel, before there was an Enoch and a Noah and an Abraham, we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blame us before him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will. He chose to adopt us not because we were smart, not because we were strong, not because we were pretty, not because we were wealthy, but because of the kind intention of his will.

It goes on to say these words, it says, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times that is a summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. Also, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. Very important to understand this. Abraham was God's predetermined choice.

If you're here today and you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, it is because of God's predetermined choice. In eternity past before the foundations of the world, God wrote your name down in the book of life. It's there forever, never to depart, because we are saved according to God's kind intention, the grace of the living God. Peter says it this way, 1 Peter 1, he says, we're chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father. The Bible tells us in Romans 11, 36, that all things are from him, through him, and to him.

Everything is about the true and living God. And I know that in our humanity, we have a hard time not playing a part in our salvation. We have a hard time with that. And some will say, well, wait a minute, didn't we receive Christ? Didn't we believe in Christ? Yes, you did. You did. In fact, over in John's gospel, in John chapter 5, it says, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. This is verse 39 of 5. It is these that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life.

You search the scriptures, but you are not wanting to come to me. You are unwilling to do that, that you might obtain eternal life. He goes on to say in John chapter 6, these words, he says, for this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds a son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day. Someone said, well, see, I got to believe. And you do, you must believe. But verse 44 says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

And then it says in verse number 47, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. Well, wait a minute, I'm so confused. I thought that no one can come to the Father unless he's been, or to Christ, unless he'd be drawn by the Father. And yet it says, I got to believe in him. It's me who believes. What is it? Both are true. And you got to be at ease with that. You got to be at ease with the tension that scripture is there, because it's all about trusting obedience. God's sovereignty, human volition seem at odds with one another in scripture, but they're really not.

Why? Well, let me say it to you this way. The call of God always commences with God. It just does. John 15, 16, you did not choose me. I chose you. So the call of God in salvation always commences with God. Remember Jeremiah chapter one? God tells Jeremiah, before you were born, I formed you. Before you were in your mother's womb, I consecrated you as a prophet. Everything was done before you were even an inkling of thought in the life of your parents. God had a plan for Jeremiah. And so we know that the call of God, when it comes to salvation, always commences with God.

We also know that it always comes one way, through the gospel of God. If the call of God commences with God, it comes through the gospel of God. Listen to 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verse number 13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel. So God, the call of God commences with God, but only comes through the gospel of God.

Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by word concerning the Christ, right? So we know James 1.18 talks about, we've been born again through the truth of God. Everything comes from God. So we understand the call of God commences with God, comes through the gospel of God. Hey, listen to this, the call of God is always conceived by the grace of God. Listen to this, Galatians one, verse number six, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ. Verse 15, but when God who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace.

So the call of God commences with God, comes through the gospel of God, and it's conceived by the grace of God. You see salvation's all about the Lord God. How about this? That call that commences with God comes through the gospel and is conceived by grace. Are you ready for this? Is always clarified by good works. Always. How do you know you've been called? Well, there's something that clarifies your calling. You can say, yeah, the Lord called me. Everyone can say, yeah, God called me, but stay in Ur of the Chaldees and still remain a pagan worshiper.

Well, no, God might've called him. Many are called, few are chosen, but he didn't obey, right? He had to follow what God said, and he did because he was chosen in him before eternity. And so we understand that God's in complete control. But listen to what Paul says in the book of Titus, the second chapter.

Titus chapter two, verse number 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. So if the call of God is conceived by the grace of God, well, when the grace of God appears, it instructs us to do something, to live a godly life. God's grace is very instructive. God's grace does not remain dormant in your life. It's actively working in your life. Verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself, a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

When God redeemed you, he redeemed you that you might be absolutely over the top, anxious, zealous to do what God's called you to do. It's clarified by good works. That's very important to understand. All the people in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of faith, their call was a personal call. It was a predetermined call that commenced with God that came through the gospel, the word of God, and was conceived by the grace of God and always clarified by good works for God. But there's two more.

The call of God compels us to be grateful to God. Paul would say, I thank my God that he counted me worthy, putting me in the ministry. He would always give thanks to his God. Remember the psalmist in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits, who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

I said to you earlier today in our prayer time, Isaiah 43, 21, the people I have formed for myself will declare my praises. It compels me to be grateful. I mean, you could think of all the things going on around about you today, and they might be all negative, but if you're born again, there's this compelling desire to give thanks and praise to God for the saving work of God in your life. That call, that's a personal call, that's a predetermined call, is a call that commences with God, comes through the gospel of God, conceived by the grace of God, is clarified by good works toward God, and compels me to give thanks to God.

But one more, the call of God commissions me to go with the gospel of God. It commissions me. Abraham was commissioned by God. Why? He was going to be a father of a nation, a nation that was to present the true and living God to all the people around him that worship false gods, that there is a true God that lives, a true God that reigns, a true God that saves. That's the God you need to come to. That's the God that we serve. And there would be this seed that would come and bless the nations of the world, which of course we know is going to be the Messiah, and He would come and certainly bless the nations of the world.

But Israel was the vehicle, the Jewish nation was the vehicle by which the world would understand the true and living God. The call of God always commissions us to do something. To do what? To go with the gospel. As the Father has sent me, John 20, 21, so send I you, right? Go into all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, right? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They might understand the truth of all that God is.

That's the call of God. Have you received that call? Have you obeyed that call? It is a personal call. It's a predetermined call. It is a purposeful call. Abraham was called with a purpose, right? God had a means by which He would present Himself to the world. And Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jewish faith, the great patriarch of our faith, right, is all about how it is He was to present in the land of Canaan to pagan people who the true God really is. He had a very purposeful call. God didn't call him just to go someplace, settle down, have a nice life.

No. He called him with a purpose. God called you with a purpose. Think God saved you just to leave you to your own devices? Think God saved you just to say, you know what? Good luck. Hope you make it to the end. No. God saved you. And God has called you to a specific arena by which you live out your spiritual existence so that all those around you will know and hear the call of God upon their life, because you're going to preach to them the gospel. You're going to live before them the life of faith.

That's what you're going to do. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed. By faith, you and I, when we are called, we obey. We repent of our sins. We turn from dead idols to serve the true and living God, because all of us at our core are idolaters. Before we're saved, we worship ourself. We worship something else. Maybe it's our possessions. Maybe it's other people. Maybe it's prestige. Maybe it's power. We're all involved in worshiping something. We're all idolaters, so God has to save us from our idolatry, worshiping other gods, that we might come and worship the one true God, the Lord himself.

That's why God saves us. So it's a very purposeful call. In fact, in the book of Acts, the ninth chapter, it says this about Saul, Acts chapter nine. These words are given to us. The Lord said, go for he that is Saul is a chosen instrument of mine. God had met Saul on the Damascus Road, and the glory of the Lord would shine all around, just like it did with Abraham. There was this big brightness, and there was this voice that would thunder, because the glory of the Lord was there. And God spoke to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Right? Saul was converted, and the Lord says, this man is a chosen instrument of mine. Do you know that when God saved you, he said, you are a chosen instrument of mine. We are a vessel of the living God. God chose us. That's why 1 Peter 2 talks about we being a chosen generation. We are a holy nation, right? But we are chosen instruments of the living God. Think how great that is. You are here today, and you're recognizing over again, being reminded over again that I've been chosen by the true and living God for his glory and for his honor.

And the Lord says to Ananias, you tell Saul that he's a chosen instrument of mine. That's a personal call. That's a purposeful call. That was a predetermined call. He says this, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. Here's his purpose. He's going to bear my name, not just before the sons of Israel, but actually before kings. If you understand that he was able to go eventually before Caesar while in Rome, he fulfilled the plan of God for his life. For I will show him how much, listen, he must suffer for my name's sake.

Do you understand that the personal call upon your life to salvation is a predetermined call? It's a very purposeful call, but it will be a painful call because all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It was painful for Abraham. He had to travel a thousand miles. He had to travel a thousand miles and face the dangers of the wilderness, the dangers of the desert. It wasn't easy. He didn't live on an easy street. And as soon as he arrived in Canaan, what happened? There was a famine in the land, right?

Famine in the land. And if you've been with us for any moment of time, you know that I truly believe that he disobeyed the Lord, went down to Egypt because he never called upon the name of the Lord to seek his will. He just went because he thought that was the right thing to do for his family. No one wants to, you know, rebuke him for that. But when you realize what took place in Lot's life, his family's life, Sarah's life, Hagar's life, you realize that he made a choice that affected his family forever, affected the Middle East forever.

See, but it was a painful call. But as painful as it was for Saul, for painful as it was for Abraham, listen, it was a perfect call simply because it was a permanent call. Very important. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, Romans 11, 29. God never says, why did I call that guy? I should have made another call to somebody else. No, never says that. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. This is a perfect call.

Why? Because God in his sovereignty is going to perfect you. He is going to make you just like him. He is going to give you a perfect glorified body. It is the perfect call. It is a permanent call. So it was for Abraham, so it was for Saul. And so it is for you, and so it is for me. So I ask you this question, have you been called by the true and living God on this day? If you are here today and you are listening to the call of God upon your life, do not leave without letting one of us, some of us talk to you about the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.

That is the greatest decision you will ever make because it truly is designed by the true and living God. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you for today, the opportunity we have together. You are a great God. You are majestic, and you are to be glorified in and through our lives. Lord, may we leave this place energized for the glory of your kingdom and the purpose that you've called us to accomplish. For your name's sake, in Jesus' name, amen.