God's Covenant with Abraham, Part 1

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1 26 for consider your calling. Have you ever taken time to consider your calling? Consider your calling. If you were to read 1 Timothy 1 verses 15 to 19, you'd realize that Paul was a man who took time to consider his calling. In fact, if you read about the apostle Paul's life, every time he gave his testimony, he was talking about the call of God upon his life and the magnificence of that call because it was so profound. I wonder if that's the way it is with you this morning.

Today, we're going to look at the call of God as we study the life of Abraham. We're beginning another section of the book of Genesis. If you understand Genesis 12 1 to 3, you'll realize that the rest of the Bible is a testimony to those three verses because those three verses map out the plan of God for humanity. And it all centers around God's covenant with Abraham. God had an unconditional covenant with Abraham. It was a covenant about a land, a land given to a man and his people. It was a covenant about a nation, a group of people, and a covenant about a seed, a descendant that would bless the whole world.

And we want to study that covenant this morning and we want to look at three points. We're not going to cover them all today, but we want to look at, number one, the call of Abraham and then the command given to Abraham and then, thirdly, the consequences for Abraham.

It will take us a couple of weeks to get through these three verses, but they are very significant to our lives. We need to grasp them. And so today we're going to spend just time on the first point, the call of Abraham.

Let's look at it together. Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3. Now the Lord said to Abraham, 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 in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Three things about the call of Abraham. First of all, it was a personal call.

Second, it was a predetermined call. And number three, it was a purposeful call. The first thing you need to know is that it was a personal call.

It says, now the Lord said to Abraham, this was a very personal call to one man. When God calls you, it's a personal calling. It's not a group call. It's not everybody come on over here now.

It's I want you to come. I want you to come. I want you to come. This was a very personal call to Abraham. Now the question is, when did Abraham receive this call? This is very significant. Turn back with me if you would to the New Testament, to the book of Acts. To the book of Acts, the seventh chapter. In Acts chapter seven we have Stephen's defense. And as Stephen is proclaiming to the religious leaders about God's call upon the nation of Israel, and what God did to their father Abraham, listen to what he said in Acts 7 verse number two.

And he said, 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, depart from your country and your relatives and come to the land that I will show you. Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there after his father died, God removed him into this country in which you are now living. And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground. And yet even when he had no child, he promised that he would give it to him as a possession and his offspring after him.

Now if you take that in conjunction with Genesis chapter 12, you understand that God called Abraham when he was in the land of the Ur of the Chaldeans. That's where he was. Because when you read verse number four it says, 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. So you think that when you read Genesis 12, 1 to 3, the call of God came to Abraham in Haran. That's not true. It came to him while he was in the Ur of the Chaldeans, which is very significant.

Why? Because in the land of Ur were many idolaters. He called him from a life that worshiped other gods in order that he might worship the one true God. Very significant. His father was an idolater, which leads me to this point. Very significant. Abraham was a man called of God in spite of what his father did, in spite of how he was brought up. Abraham, as you read through the Bible, never goes back and says, You know, it's really hard for me to follow the Lord, man, because I was raised a certain way by my dad.

I get really tired of hearing those kind of things as a pastor. That we kind of pass off our commitment to God because of our past or my parents or how they raised me. Abraham was raised in a family of idolaters and God called him out of that and he became the father of a great nation. He became the father of the Hebrew people. It would be through the line of Abraham that there would come a seed that would bless the entire world because one man was obedient to the call of God in his life. How about you?

Are you obedient to the call of God in your life? Which leads me to this. There are some people who believe, and I was one of them, who believe that Abraham was disobedient when he took his father with him from Ur of the Chaldees, crossed over the river, and went to Haran where he is in Genesis chapter 12. I used to believe that. I used to think, and you can read many commentators who would affirm that, that Abraham disobeyed God because the text says, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house.

But Terah was with him in Haran. That's where he died. And so evidently Abraham must have disobeyed God because he didn't leave his father's house. He brought his father's house with him. And therefore there was a little bit of a compromise there and therefore Abraham wasn't really obedient to God fully. And there are many commentators who spend pages upon pages talking about the disobedience of Abraham in relation to the call of God in their lives. So whenever you want to know what the Bible says it would be best for you not to read a commentator but to read the Bible.

That's always a good thing to do. And so when I read Hebrews 11 verse number 8 it says, By faith Abraham when he was called, when was he called? In Ur of the Chaldees, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going. The Bible says that when Abraham left he obeyed God.

It's not the fact that he disobeyed God or the fact that he might have delayed in obeying God. The Bible doesn't say that. We might assume that but the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says by faith Abraham obeyed God when he was called of God.

That's very significant to me. Because I have preached before I think it was two years ago I preached on Genesis chapter 12 as an introduction to one of my sermons that Abraham had disobeyed God and emphasized this great thing about here he is our father of faith disobeying God from the outset. I was wrong. I changed my view. The Bible says he obeyed God.

So what's the solution about him bringing his father with him? If God said leave your father's house then why did he bring his father's house with him? Could it be that Terah came to saving faith? Could it be that he believed in the God of Abraham? Could it be that he realized that his son was obedient to the true God and therefore he too became obedient to the true God? That could be. I would tend to lean that way rather than the other way because the Bible doesn't say that Abraham disobeyed God.

It said that Abraham obeyed God. God called him and therefore he followed. Now if you listen to Psalm 29 verse number 3 it says this, The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. Isn't that good? 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. Verse number 8, The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The point being is that the God of glory appeared to Abraham.

Psalm 29 verse 3 tells us that the God of glory thunders. Remember the shepherds in Luke chapter 2. When the glory of the Lord shone round about them they were greatly afraid. Why? Because when the Lord of glory shows up he thunders. God made a very significant point to Abraham. When he was serving all the other gods who were dead, who couldn't move and couldn't speak, God came to him in a very significant way to help him understand that there is only one true God and he is alive. Let me ask you a question.

Has God called you this morning? You say, Well, you know God's not doing any thundering at my house. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 let me see if I can explain something to you.

It says in verse number 18, But we all with unveiled face behold as in a mirror, what? The glory of the Lord. Are being transformed to the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the Spirit. Whenever you open your Bible it should be like a dark thick cloud surrounds you because the Lord of glory is speaking to you. You see our problem is that we open our Bible like we open our Agatha Christie novels. We open our Bible like we open our Danielle Steele mysteries. We read it as it's just another book.

It's not just another book. The Lord of glory is here. And when you open it you behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That dark thick cloud that would come down over the tabernacle and the temple that would cause it to shake. Isaiah 66 verse 2. How many times have we quoted it? To this man will I look. To him who is of a broken and a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. The problem is nobody's doing any trembling. Why? Because when we open the book we don't see the glory of the Lord and then we wonder why we don't hear the call of God in our lives.

We wonder why we don't know where we should serve in the church. We wonder why we don't know where we should go, where we should live, what house we should buy, what car we should drive, what person we should marry, how many kids we should have. We don't know. Why? Because we don't behold the glory of the Lord when we open the word of God. I hate to harp on that but it's so important that we need to realize that when we open the word of God, God's speaking to you. It's a personal call. Have you heard his voice today?

Did you get up this morning and spend time in the word? Say, no, it's today's Sunday. Why would I get up and spend time in the word today? I'm going to church to do that. Do you spend time beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord? This would make the Bible so exciting. When God calls you, he calls you personally to himself. Second thing, it was through a predetermined call.

God chooses because it was part of his sovereign choice. Remember 1 Corinthians 1? Paul is trying to help us understand the calling of God. He says, consider your calling because there aren't many intellectuals called, there aren't many wise or powerful people called, and there aren't many people of nobility called. And then he says this, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame those people who are intellectual, 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, that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should 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 that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Very significant passage of Scripture because we have this tendency to say, you know, that person is so powerful. If God saved them, can you imagine the work that they could accomplish for the kingdom of God?

That person is so wise. If they just came to saving faith, all the intellectuals in the world would come to saving faith. That's not how it works, friends, because God has chosen not what we think to be his trophies of grace. I might not be of royal blood, humanly speaking, but today I'm of royal blood because of my king. I got some well-bornness in me. I got some nobility in me. I might not have very good English, but I got some nobility because I'm a child of the king, you see. I serve the king of kings and lord of lords.

And while I might not be wise and I might not be well-born and I might not be a very powerful person, I know that God has chosen me and therefore that encourages me from day to day to live as God wants me to live. God didn't choose me because of who I was. God chose me because he had a plan for my life and for my family. And he was gonna work that plan out in his own time, in his own way. But remember Romans 3, verses 10 and 11? No man seeks after God. There is no good in man and therefore no man seeks after God.

No man will ever seek after God unless God draws him to himself first. No man. Man is depraved. Man is separated from God. Man is enslaved by Satan himself. And therefore, therefore he will not follow God unless God draws him to himself. And those people he prepared beforehand not to be vessels of wrath, but to be vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy. What's it say in John 15, 16? You did not choose me. I chose you. That would be good for all of us to remember, wouldn't it? You didn't choose me. I chose you.

If left to yourself, you would never choose me, God says. I chose you. Important for us to grasp as we understand the call of God upon our lives. You say, well, how do I know I'm called? I'm glad you asked that question. For the Bible says over in 2 Peter 1, verse number 10, make certain about His calling and choosing you.

Make certain about His calling and choosing you. It says in Matthew 20, verse number 16, that many are called, few are chosen. So how do you know if you've been called and how do you know if you've been chosen? Four ways, or four things you need to understand. Number one, it all commences with God.

It all begins with God. You were prepared beforehand. So how do you know you've been prepared beforehand? Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul says this, 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, verse 14. And it was for this He called you, how? Through our gospel. The call of God commences with God. It all begins with God. There are many people who by the world's standards are great people, but that doesn't save them. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit of God, Titus 3, verse number 5.

That's how it is. So if you're thinking that you've been called of God and you're working your way to heaven and you're doing this because you think that's going to get you to heaven or you're baptized and that's going to get you to heaven or your church attendance or your good works or my prayer life or whatever's going to get you to heaven, you haven't been called. You haven't been chosen, because it's all by grace. It's all a work of grace. It's a work of God. God chooses you. It's a person who falls down before God and says, God, be merciful unto me, a sinner.

I realize I can't earn a status with you. I can't earn my way into your kingdom. I can't do anything to get your approval. So I humbly come before you, bow before you, and beg for your mercy. That's the person who knows he's been called of God because he can't do anything in and of himself. So how do you know you've been called? How do you know you've been chosen? It commences with God. It comes through grace. Excuse me, comes through the gospel. It's conceived through grace, and it culminates in good works.

It culminates in good works. You've already been in Ephesians. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God did what? Prepared when? Beforehand. Listen very carefully. If you're a born-again Christian, you've been called of God. The inevitable result of that is good works. You can't say you've been called of God and live a life of sin. It's incongruous to what the Scriptures teach. You can't say you've been called of God and not have a hunger for His Word. You can't say you've been called of God and desire not to associate with the people of God.

You can't say you've been called of God and say, I'm not going to exercise my giftedness. I'm not going to do anything in the church. I'm just going to live for myself. Because God prepared beforehand. When did He do that? In eternity past. That you would manifest the fact of saving grace in your life. If He prepared beforehand your salvation and you are saved, the natural byproduct of that is that He has prepared beforehand the good works that follow after salvation. They go hand in hand. That's how you know you've been called of God.

It all began with God from the very beginning. He is the creator, the sovereign God of the universe. And it comes through the Gospel of God as the Word of God has been presented so you hear the voice of God. So the glory of the Lord shines round about you. Because it's all about God anyway. It's not about you. It's conceived and through grace as you fall on your face before Him, receive the gift of God. Because you can't earn it. You can't have any merit toward it. And it culminates in the fact that you've served the living and true God.

You seek to honor Him with your lips and with your life. That's true salvation. That's the life of Abraham. A man who received a very personal call. Number one, because it was predetermined.

And number two, because it was purposeful. And we'll talk more about that next time as we understand more about God's call upon the life of an individual. The true believer in his heart says, yes Lord, thank you. Thank you for your saving work. Thank you that you took me from the life I was engaged in, transformed me to be the kind of person you want me to be today. Thank you God that you did that. And today as we come together to partake at the Lord's table, that's what we celebrate. The wonderful work of saving grace.

Let's pray together.