God's Covenant with Abraham, Part 3

Genesis 12 is where we are. God's covenant with Abraham. We've talked about the call of God to Abraham. That's where we were the last two weeks together. Which leads us to main point number two and that is the command from God to Abraham.

God called him and then God commanded him and that commandment has two specifics you need to note. One is separation and the other is submission. When God calls you there will be a command that follows and that command will involve separation from the world and submission to the will of God. Let's look at it together.

Genesis chapter 12 verse number one. 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. To the land which I will show you. Abraham I want you to get out. I want you to go forth. I want you not to be where you're at but to be someplace else. Now listen very carefully. The reason we miss what God has for us and the reason so many times we forfeit the blessing of God upon our life is because there is someone or someplace we are unwilling to leave.

Very important. There's something we're holding on to that we don't want to let go or there is someone in our life that we hold more dear than God himself and therefore we begin to forfeit the blessing of God upon our life. In order for Abraham to experience the blessings that God wanted to have for him, in order for him to be a father of faith, he needed to step out on faith and believe that what God said for him was true. No matter what he thought about where he was or what he did, if God called him to go forth he needed to believe and obey the command of God.

Now separation is not a very popular topic. We don't like to separate from things or from people. Why is that? It's because we love the influence they have on us. We might not come out and say it that way but God knows the influence of specifics. Specific people, specific things. He knows about them and he knows if there is something in your life that robs you from being an holy influence he wants you to get away from that, to go forth from it. And in order for Abraham to be the kind of man God wanted him to be, he had to leave something.

He had to leave a place. He had to leave some people and he had to leave some practices. Did you get that? He had to leave a place, a country. He had to leave some people, his relatives, and he had to leave some practices, some things he used to do. All that very important in order for Abraham to obey the command of God. Separation from the world, submission to God's will is what God has commanded for Abraham. And you'll realize as we study this morning that God has that same call upon your life and upon mine.

Remember 1st John chapter 2? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Why is that? Because they're not of the Father, they're of the world. And because they're of the world, they're all going to pass away. But only he who does the will of God abides forever. And that's why we need to understand what God's will is for us. We need to understand what God calls us to do. God's Word lasts forever. But the things of the world, they don't.

And if at any time those things of the world begin to influence us away from God, away from God's people, God's going to command you to come out from them. Be separate from them and follow me. So let's look at some of the particulars of this separation that Abraham had to have.

He said, God did, go forth from your country. That's the place. The country was what? Ur of the Chaldees. A very polytheistic area. A place where people worshipped many gods. And God told Abraham, you need to leave that place. You need to get out of that place because there is too much of an unholy influence upon you. And therefore I want you to leave that place in order for you to be effective for me and I want you to go some other place. And we'll talk more about that in a moment. But he had to separate himself from a particular place.

Now note this. We will realize that there are things in our lives, places specifically, that we like to be at. Things we like to do that might rob us of being what God wants us to be. We've got to be careful. We associate ourselves with an unbelieving world for one purpose and one purpose only. And that is for the purpose of evangelism. To share with them Jesus Christ. God puts you in a in a world not to take you out of the world, but to insulate you from their influence. And God wants you in the world to be salt and light.

To share Jesus Christ with a lost world. That's why God has left you here. And God doesn't want that world to begin to rule your life. He wants you to lead the way. That's why church is important. That's why a body of believers is so important. That's why accountability with a body of believers is so important. That's why your fellowship with the believers is so important. You need that bond. You need that fellowship with other people of like precious faith. That you might grow deep in your walk with God.

And that people will pray for you as you embark on a ministry to an unbelieving world. That's so important for us to grasp. But for Abraham, God knew that there are things he needed to separate from. One was a place. Number two was people.

And number three were certain practices. Practices that he used to engage in before he came to saving faith. Things he used to do that would not be good for him to do any longer because they would mar his testimony to a lost world. Listen to what Paul says to those in Galatia. In Galatians chapter 1, verse number 4, And the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever.

Amen. God purchased us for Himself as His people, that He might deliver us out of a ungodly age, an evil age, that we might be His people, that we might live a different kind of life. That's why the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, We are to be holy as God Himself is holy.

And if you have been with us for any period of time, you understand what that means. To be holy means to be separate. To be separate, number one, from creation, for God is.

And number two, separate from corruption, for God is. We, because we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land, are separate from every other part of God's creation, because we are now His possession. And we now become separate in terms of corruption, because we don't want to align ourselves with the evil system of the world. And so therefore we separate from the practices of the world that take us down the wrong path, that keep us from experiencing the blessing of God. That's why James said in James 4, 4, that if you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God, right?

Because God doesn't want you to be in friendship with the world, because what, what likeness does light have with darkness? What likeness does that which is ungodly have with that which is godly? Nothing. And so God calls Abram to separate from the world, and number two, He calls him to be submissive to the will of God.

Just because God says to leave, it doesn't mean necessarily that if we leave physically, everything will be alright.

For there are many people who leave physically, leave outwardly, but they don't leave inwardly. They hang on to the world. Is that not true? Abraham obeyed the command of God. He understood His call. If you understand the call of God, it's a lot easier to obey the command of God. If you don't understand God's call upon your life, it makes the command of God harder to obey. So number one, there was a separation from the world.

Number two, there was submission to the will of God. Listen to what it says. Genesis 12. Abraham, go forth to the land which I will show you. Now this is very important. It's very perplexing, because God didn't tell him where he was going. He said, Abraham, you just got to go to a land, and I'm going to show you what that land is. And Abraham said, well what is that land? If you tell me where it is, I can call triple-a, and they can map out the shortest route there for me, and I can know how to get there.

But poor Abraham, he didn't have triple-a, and God didn't tell him where he was going. And that's the perplexing thing about it. To be a man or woman of faith means you got to take risks. You got to be able to step out of faith not knowing where you're going, not necessarily knowing how long it's going to be to get there, or what it's going to take to get there, but you're willing to do it because God said go. You might not understand it, but God said it, and you do it. How many people do you really know like that?

Abraham was that kind of man. He stepped out on unfaith, and one of the reasons God doesn't tell us where to go is because he knows that if he told you, you wouldn't want to go. So he didn't tell you. Abraham, go forth to a land. What land, Lord? Don't worry about that, Abraham. I'll show you. And so what happened? He traveled 600 miles to Haran, for Ur of the Chaldeans was 600 miles from that place, and Haran was not the land of Canaan. It was not the land of promise, which goes to show you that whenever you step out on faith, it's going to be a long time maybe before God gives you the final answer, and it's going to be a hard work to get to where God wants you to be, because God is going to test your faith.

Let me read to you the writer of Hebrews' account of this whole incident. Hebrews 11, just follow along as I read. By faith Abraham, when he was called, 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. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine telling your wife and kids we're leaving. Well, where are we going, honey? I don't know. God just says time to go. Well, where are we going to sleep tonight? Don't know. God didn't tell us that.

What are we going to do for money? Don't know. God hadn't show us that either. But Abraham, that's the way he was. And 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. You see, the issue for Abraham was not where he lived, but for whom he lived for. See that? The issue for Abraham wasn't where he lived. It's who do I live for?

I live for the one who is the master architect of all things. He looked forward to the promise, believing. Look what it says down in verse 13. All these died in faith without receiving the promises. Abraham died without ever receiving the promise that God gave him. Wow. Seems like he got a bum deal. I mean, here he was looking for a promise and he didn't get it. It was all done for not. No, not at all. He was a great man of faith. Read on. But having seen them, and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Did you get that? Why is it they were men and women of great faith? Why is it, verse 13 tells us, because he didn't belong here and they knew it. Why is it we're not women and men of great faith? It's because we don't understand that we don't belong here. And we want to be here. But Abraham knew that this is where he didn't belong. That he was an alien. That he was a stranger in a foreign land. That there was another land. A land that God had given to him and God had promised him. And that was with God alone and living with God.

And that's why he was a great man of faith. He was not comfortable where he was. And our problem is we're too comfortable right where we are at. And therefore we don't see. But see Abraham made it clear, the text says, these people made it clear that they sought another country. I wonder if people that you know or people who know you know for without a shadow of a doubt that you don't live for the here and now.

They know that. They know you're not stockpiling your treasures for now because they know. They know you know that you're gonna leave it all behind. They know that you're investing in eternal dividends because that's where your future is. They know because they see you just passing through. Your tent pegs are not real deep. Like Paul's in Philippians chapter 1, where he says his desire was what? To depart and be with his master. A phrase that deals with the tent pegs. He knew that he was just putting his tent down in one location and going to another and putting his tent down in one location.

Why? Because he had another home. He had another land. He had the promised land with the promised King, the Messiah. That's where he was going. So he was just passing through. Most of us live as if this is all there is. Yet these people, he was 11, they made it so clear. Clear to me, clear to you, and everybody who saw them, that there was something else more valuable than what was right here. And that was a promise of Almighty God. So much more to say, but let's finish Genesis 12 verses 2 and 3 this morning and look at the consequences for Abraham.

These are so good. Look what it says. And I will make you a great nation, verse 2, 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. Seven blessings. The number of completion, the number of finality, the number of perfection. Seven blessings that God wanted to give Abraham and translated, seven blessings that God wants to give you if you're willing to separate yourself from the world and submit to the will of God.

If you respond to the call of God and to the command of God, these blessings are for you. Let's look at them together.

They're outlined in your bulletin. Says, I will make you a great nation. I'm gonna make you a great nation. I got a plan for you Abraham and that plan centers around a nation. A nation that I'm going to make great. Now this is very important because there are people today who say that Israel has forfeited their right to any land because their sin. Really? Listen to what Leviticus 26 says. Verse number 40. If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers in their unfaithfulness which they committed against me and also in their acting with hostility against me I also was acting with hostility against them to bring them into the land of their enemies.

Or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac in my covenant with Abraham as well and I will remember the land. I will remember the land. Now that covenant is the same covenant that we're reading about in Genesis chapter 12. God gave the same covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And then he says for the land shall be abandoned by them and shall make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them.

They meanwhile shall be making amends for their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances and their soul aboard my statutes. Yet in spite of this when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them breaking my covenant with them for I am the Lord their God but I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations that I might be their God I am the Lord. God says I got a plan.

That plan will be fulfilled in spite of Israel's rebellion. But number two he says I'm gonna bless you.

I will bless you. I'm gonna provide all your needs Abraham. How's he gonna do that? God didn't tell him. God didn't tell him where he was going and God didn't tell him how he's gonna provide all of his needs. God said I'm gonna bless you. There's gonna be a provision for every single one of your needs. That's why David could say the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not want for anything. Why? Because God's my shepherd. He's gonna take care of me. What do I have to worry about? Philippians Paul said in 419 my God shall supply all your needs.

I'm gonna bless you Abraham. And then thirdly not only am I gonna bless you but I'm gonna make your name great.

Can you imagine that? I'm gonna make your name great. Contrast this with the people at the Tower of Babel who wanted to make a name for themselves. And then he says what? And so you shall be a blessing. Wow what power. I'm gonna make your life powerful Abraham. I'm gonna make you a blessing. I'm gonna bless you that you might bless others. And then he says and I will bless those who bless you. God says I'm gonna make you such a blessing that you're gonna bless other people.

And those who bless you I will bless. That's why we as Christians love the Jewish people. We know God's got a plan for them. We know God's got it made a promise to them. We know God has a special place in his heart for the nation of Israel. And we love the Jewish people. We know that God wants to do what God wants to do in and through their lives. And so we pray for the salvation of Israel. We pray that God would do a mighty work for them because God's not finished with them yet. And God has preserved them to this very day and will preserve them even in the midst of the tribulation with the onslaught of the Antichrist, the false prophet, and the dragon.

God is going to preserve the nation of Israel to the very end because God has made a promise to them and he will curse those who curse his people. God's gonna protect you. God wants to protect you more than you ever realize. That's the way God is. And then lastly, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Can you imagine that? God says, I got a promise.

A promise to bless the rest of the world through your seed, Abraham. Through your seed. And if you know the story of Abraham and Sarah, Abraham had a plan. Sarah had a plan to help God out. Sometimes that happens, doesn't it? We don't see God doing a great work so we want to help him out a little bit. Remember Abraham said, oh may Ishmael be the man. That was Abraham's way of saying, God let me help you out a little bit.

We had Ishmael here through Hagar and we know it was immoral, but you know we're gonna help you out anyway. And God says, no Abraham.

That's not how it works. When you're 99 years old, I'll take care of everything. But not till you're so old and your wife is so old that everybody will think it's impossible. But God would give him a boy. If that boy would come to seed the Messiah that would bless the entire world because of his presence. Are you a son of Abraham today? Are you a daughter of Abraham today? Then it says this, and the scripture foreseen that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, all the nations shall be blessed in you.

Genesis 12 is the gospel. For all the nations will be blessed through one seed, the Messiah. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. It says in verse number 26 of Genesis 3, excuse me, Galatians 3, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Let me ask you a question.

Do you believe in the promise of Genesis chapter 12? Have you received the promised seed? For earlier on in Galatians 3, Paul talks about the seed being Christ himself. How is God going to bless the nations of the world? Through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who would he use to bring his Son into the world? Abraham, the father of faith. I ask you this morning, have you received the promise? Do you believe in the Messiah Jesus Christ? Have you given your life to him? Do you understand the call of God upon your life?

Do you understand the command of God to follow him? Do you understand the consequences that God wants to bring upon those who are obedient to him? I trust that you do. Let's pray together.