You can turn with me in your
Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 11. That's Genesis chapter
11. We're going to look at Genesis
11, 27 through 12, 20 this evening. I know several months back we
looked at Genesis 14. We're going to go back in time
to see the call of Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. So you
can turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 11, verse 27, and
we will read all the way to 12, 20. Begin reading in verse 27. This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and
Haran, and Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father
Terah in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram
and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was
Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of
Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But
Sarai was barren. She had no child. 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. So the days of Terah were
two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. Now the
Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family,
from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your
name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 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. 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. And so they came to the land of Canaan. 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. 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. 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. And there he built
an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram
journeyed, going on still towards the south. Now there was a famine
in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for
the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when
he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife,
Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore
it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say,
This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you
live. Please say, you are my sister, that it may be well with
me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.' And so
it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw
the woman, that she was very beautiful. And the princes of
Pharaoh also saw her, and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman
was taken to Pharaoh's house. And he treated Abram well for
her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys,
male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the
Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because
of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and
said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me
that she was your wife? Why do you say she is my sister?
I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is
your wife. Take her and go your way. So
Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with
his wife and all that he had. Amen. Well this here in Genesis
11 verse 27 is the beginning of the life of Abram. Perhaps
we need to understand the overarching context a little bit before we
dive right in. But if you remember in Genesis
6 through 9 we see the flood. The flood comes upon all the
land and God in his mercy in the Noahic Covenant dials back
the common curse, which sets up the platform for saving grace
to come through the Noahic Covenant, or under the Noahic Covenant,
or with the Noahic Covenant. That is, the common grace serves
as a platform for saving grace. And then we come to the Tower
of Babel in Genesis chapter 11. We see that the people want to
ascend to the Lord, climb to the heights of God, and God then
judges them. And He scatters all the people.
Rather than having one language and one speech, God gives them
many different languages so they would not understand one another. He punishes them for what they
have done, and He scatters them over the face of the earth. Perhaps as we're reading through,
then we have to ask ourselves, what's going to happen next?
Q Genesis 1127, where God begins to unite all the families of
the earth in Abram. So 1127 begins the life of Abram
and there's two important themes we must remember whenever we
read through the life of Abram. The theme of land and the theme
of seed. So those two things you must
keep in mind and hopefully we'll see that as we go through. But
the main thing we see in these verses in Genesis 11-27 to 12-20
is that God promises to bless Abram and in him all the families
of the earth would be blessed. This is the beginning or what's
part of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. But we will look
at this call of Abram under three headings this evening. We'll
first look at the line of Abram in chapter 11, 27, to verse 32. Secondly, we will see the promises
to Abram in 12, verses 1 through 9. And thirdly, we'll see the
deliverance of Abram in verses 10 through 20. So the line, the
promises, and the deliverance. Notice, first of all, the line
of Abram. Notice verse 27. This is the genealogy of Terra. Now, if you're reading through
Genesis, you'll see many times the author, Moses, includes these
sayings. These are the generations of.
If you want a good way to structure the book of Genesis, we should
use these structures. These are the generations of.
And usually they point forward. They're looking ahead to someone,
looking ahead to a person of great significance. And in this
case, it is Abram. What is the purpose of a genealogy?
It's to point out and show us where Abram comes from. And so
this is what we see. He comes from the line of Terah.
And we see that Terah, in verse 27, begets Abram, Nahor, and
Haran. And then we also see the information,
verse 27, about another man, Abram's nephew, named Lot. Then
we get further information about what happened to some of Abram's
brothers. And Haran died before his father,
Terah, in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. What's this
highlighting for us when he includes that Abram is from Ur of the
Chaldeans? He's highlighting for us where
Abram comes from, not only his family, but also the land in
which he comes from. Both his seed, that is his father,
and both his heritage, or his land, are pagan. Abram comes
from Ur of the Chaldeans. He is the one who is a pagan.
Joshua records this for us, or it's found in Joshua 24 verse
2, when the writer includes and describes where Abram came from,
after the people inherit the land. He says in verse 2, And
Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel,
Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and the
father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old
times, and they served other gods. Then we see even a further
recounting in verses 3-5 of what God did for Abram. The very thing
we're looking at in Genesis 11, 27-12, 20. And so Abram is a
pagan. He's from Ur of the Chaldeans.
And then we see how Abram and Nahor took different wives who
they are married to. Abram is married to Sarai, and
Nahor is married to Milcah. And then we see in verses 31
and 32 that Abram leaves this home. They leave Ur of the Chaldeans
and they go to Haran. Notice in 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. And so the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died
in Haran. So we see where Abram comes from.
We see he is from Ur of the Chaldeans. We see that he is a pagan. He is one who is probably unlikely
for one who would be an unlikely hero in the story. But in this
case, God calls him from Ur of the Chaldeans. But one important
piece of information that we skipped over is verse 30. This
is the center of the structure of verses 27 through 32. This
is what the author is highlighting for us, specifically wants us
to pay attention to in verse 30. He says, but Sarai was barren
and she had no children. This is setting the stage for
us. This is the rising action. This is foreshadowing the work
of God Almighty. As one writer says, someone without
children, the man had no one to perpetuate his name, and the
wife enjoyed little prestige and much frustration. So it was
a difficult thing to be a barren woman in the land of Canaan,
in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. And as we'll see as the story
goes along, there's going to be rising action. How in the
world will Abram have a seed if his wife is barren? That's
what we need to see here. But Sarai was barren, and she
had no child. So in verses 27-32 we see where
Abram comes from, and we went over that very briefly and quickly,
but I think something we see here in this section is we see
God's initiative when it comes to the salvation of the world.
Again, Abram worshipped other gods. Abram probably worshipped
gods made out of clay, made out of wood, made out of stone, anything
that you could form with your hands. He worshipped the false
gods. Yet God, in his goodness and
in his purpose for salvation, even in redemptive history, uses
this man in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed.
And God does it through a barren woman. You see, as one writer
says, the theme of God's purposes overcoming symbolic barrenness
recurs. It's not just with Sarai, but
Rebecca, not just with Rebecca, but Rachel, and Hannah, and all
these ladies who are barren foreshadow something even more extraordinary,
the virgin birth. namely Mary. When Mary would
come, the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and she would be the mother
to the Most High. All these things point forward
to Abram's seed through this barren woman. But we see that
God is pleased to work through this, that there's hope in the
midst of death. There's hope in the midst of
hopelessness. And as Bruce Waltke says, through
this childless couple, God will bring into being a new humanity
that is born not of the will of a husband, but by the will
of God. Throughout this story, what's
it highlighting for us? It's not anything man can do,
but what God does for His people. Because when it comes to human
actions, the deck is stacked against Abram and Sarai. It's
God's initiative. It's what God does. And even
the writer to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 11-12, says, "...from
one man, and him as good as dead." were born as many as the stars
of the sky." So it's God Almighty who works. God is the one who's
going to bring about salvation, and God does it through a pagan
man, from a pagan land, from a pagan father, and through a
barren wife as well. So we see here where Abram comes
from, and whenever we read these genealogies, that's what they're
highlighting. Where are certain figures from? So that's the line
of Abram where he comes from. Let's look secondly then at the
promises to Abram in verses 1 through 9. Notice God's promise in verses
1 through 3. Now the Lord had said to Abram,
get out of your country. from your family and from your
father's house to a land that I will show you." And so that's
what they do. You see, what happens in 11,
27 through 32, and even repeated in verse 4, is God calling Abram
out of Ur of the Chaldeans. He calls him to leave his country
and to leave his family. And so he says, I will bring
you to a land that I will show you. Now it's important, because
that's going to come back in verse 7. But He says, I will
go out of the land, from your father's house to a land I will
show you. But notice the promises of God. Verse 2, I will make
you a great nation. We should be asking ourselves,
how is that going to happen? Notice He says, I will bless
you and make your name great. How shall that be? And then he
says, and you shall be a blessing. And then in verse three, I will
bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses
you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is foreshadowing God's coming
grace, foreshadowing God's work in the coming chapters, foreshadowing
how God will work through this barren woman to bring a seed
to Abram. And notice what we see here. We see God's great grace. Because this comes on the heels
of Babel. This comes on the heels of God
bringing judgment upon the people for ascending to God. Ascending,
climbing to be equal with God. God, after He scatters them,
is going to unite all the nations in this Abram in this seed. As one writer says, Bruce Waltke
again, he had a lot of good things to say. The Lord has not spoken
to his saints since Noah. Now suddenly his creative word
to bless the tribes and nations, which he has scattered, redirects
the course of history. man's sin than God's great grace. And what we see here in verses
1 through 3 is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
even in the Old Testament. And this is quoted and referred
to in several places in the New Testament. Acts 3.25. Remember Peter and John have
just healed this lame man, and now they're preaching at Solomon's
portico. And then in 325, he says, "...you
are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made
with our fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families
of the earth shall be blessed." So he's preaching the gospel.
But even Stephen records this for us in Acts 7, verses 1-5. And notice verse 2 of chapter
7 of Acts. 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, and said to him, Get out of your country and from
your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you. And 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. And God gave him no inheritance
in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham
had no children or no child, he promised to give it to him
for possession and to his descendants after him. So he's highlighting
the gospel here. The gospel is proclaimed. But
perhaps most importantly, is in Galatians 3, verse 8. When he's describing Abraham
as that preeminent figure of faith, he says in chapter 3,
verse 8, and the Scripture, For seeing that God would justify
the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham beforehand,
saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those
who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. You see,
as theologians rightly point out, there's a national identity
to Abraham, that is a physical seed, physical descent, but there's
also a spiritual identity to the seed of Abraham. Not just
a spiritual seed, not based on physical descendants, but those
who believe on Christ Jesus. So anyone who believes on the
Lord Christ are part of the spiritual descendants of Abraham. And how
we think of them and how they work together is through the
physical seed, the Christ would come. And through the Christ,
through Abraham's seed, those who believe on Christ are part
of his spiritual seed. So the spiritual seed comes from
those who have faith in Christ Jesus. And doesn't Paul say this
in Romans 9? Those who are not of Abram, or
those who are not... Just because they are physically
descended from Abraham doesn't mean they are children of Abraham.
It's those who are part of the promise. So in the Bible, in
the Scriptures, there's a distinction between those who are Abram's
physical seed and spiritual seed. And in verse 7, we'll see how
the physical seed serves to serve the purpose for bringing salvation
for God's people. But again, we've got to ask the
question, who is the seed? It's the main question we ask
in Genesis. Who is the seed of the woman?
Who is the seed of Abraham in Genesis 12? And then even following
as well. But notice Abram's faith in verses
4-6. So Abram departed as the Lord
had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years
old when he departed from Haran. Again, setting the stage and
showing us how the deck is stacked against Abram. He's 75 years
old. Humanly speaking, there is no
way that they're going to have children. It's just not going
to happen, humanly speaking. So then notice in verse 5, So
he does what God requires. He trusts in this God, this pagan
believes on the Lord. And then notice in verse 6, Now the language here of pass-through
is going to be important, because it'll come up again in chapter
13. Passing through carries with it the idea of being a nomad,
carries with it the idea that you do not have a home, that
you set up your tent, you take it down, you move on again. You
set up your tent, you take it down, and you move on again,
because you do not have a permanent dwelling. I don't know about
you, but when I go on vacation after, you know, maybe a week
or two, I'm ready to go back home. What he's saying here is
Abram doesn't have a home. And that's going to be important
because in chapter 13 he's going to inherit a home. But nonetheless
here, Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem,
as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh, and then noticed the
language, and the Canaanites were in the land. Remember the
key themes, seed and land? We've seen an obstacle to the
seed, a barren woman, but now we see an obstacle to the land.
There's not enough land to go around in Canaan because the
Canaanites are still there. Again, the author is stacking
the deck against Abram and what he would do to highlight what
God would do. The purpose of our Lord God,
to bring salvation, the power of our God, and even further
to test Abram's faith in God Almighty. So, and the Canaanites
were there in the land. That's why these pieces of information
are there for us. So, Abram, they come to the land,
and notice what he does in the land, or notice what happens.
Verse 7, The LORD appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants
I will give this land. So even though they just said,
or the piece of information we have, the Canaanites are in the
land, God is going to be the one to fulfill His promises.
To your descendants I will give this land. God is going to fulfill
His promises. He will inherit the land of Canaan.
That doesn't happen for a very long time, does it? I mean, certainly
we see Abram inheriting it in verse chapter 13, but fully inheriting
it when his descendants possessed the land in Joshua, in the book
of Joshua. But notice what he says, notice
what he does. Notice he says, and there he
built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. He worships
God Almighty. He looks to God Almighty. This
altar carries with it an expression of gratitude, and it kind of
consecrates the promised land to God, even if the Canaanites
are still in the land. But Abram comes to this land.
He trusts God. God then promises to his seven
physical descendants will receive this land. There he built an
altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And then notice again
in verse 8, they continue to move on. 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. And there he built
and altered the Lord again, and called on the name of the Lord.
And so Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south, or
to the Negev. And so we see Abram builds another
altar, but again, it's this nomadic kind of text, this nomadic feel. He doesn't have a home to dwell
in. Abram is wandering, but God has
promised to still give him the land. But I think what we see
here again, as I've already highlighted, is the Gospel is proclaimed in
the Old Testament. I don't know how people don't
see God's grace in the Old Testament. I mean, it's right there. Genesis
3.15. After Adam and Eve sin against
God, there's the promise of salvation. After Genesis 12, when God judges
all the people of Babel and scatters them, we have grace offered and
the gospel offered and unity offered in Genesis 12. Sometimes
you just want to shake your head and ask people, have you read
the scriptures? Do you understand what's going
on or what it says? Because the Bible is very clear
that God does not change. He is the same and he demonstrates
his grace in the Old Testament. And I love the way Bruce Waltke
puts it. The One People of God consists
of two choirs. Old Testament saints sang in
anticipation of Christ's suffering and glory, and New Testament
saints sing in remembrance of His life, death, resurrection,
and ascension, and in celebration of His anticipated second coming
in glory. One people of God united together
with Abraham, who is our father. So we can sing that silly little
children's song, Father Abraham and many sons. I'm one of them
and so are you. So let's just praise the Lord.
That is legit because of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One
people of God consisting of two choirs. I love how he puts that.
But the gospel is present here in Genesis chapter 12. As God
promises in Abram, all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
But then we see in the third point the deliverance of Abram.
We see his faith waver a little bit here in 10 through 20. Notice
the circumstances of what happens. Now there was a famine in the
land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the
famine was severe in the land. Now there are three similar stories
with Egypt. There's Genesis 20 and Genesis
26. In a lot of ways we see the triple threat to the Holy Seed.
The difference with this one is there's also the issue with
the land as well in chapter 12. We see not only an issue for
the seed, but also for the land as well. God just said, I will
give you this land, and now there's a famine in it. God says, and
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed, yet Abram doesn't
trust in this moment. So they have this challenge.
A barren wife, 75 years old, Canaanites in the land, and now
a famine in the land. Thus he has to go to a neighboring
territory. Perhaps they would be more hostile
towards him. And thus he devises this plan
with his wife. Notice. Verse 11, And it came
to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said
to Sarai his wife, Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful
countenance. Therefore it will happen, when
the Egyptians see you, that they will say, This is his wife, and
they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you
are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and
that I may live because of you. He fears for his life. He plans
this deceit, which highlights a lack of faith. Now we should
see it's not a complete void of faith. You see there's a difference
between temporary faith and weak faith. Temporary faith and saving
faith. And under saving faith there's
weak and strong faith. And as we'll see as we go, Abram's
faith will grow by God's grace. But we see here, after God has
promised these things, his faith begins to waver. Waltke again,
in his first challenge to believe in God's fruitfulness when the
land is barren, Abram will fail to act rightly. And this is the
case with his devising this plan. He says, Sarah, you're very good
looking. All these men will find you very
good looking, and they will kill me because they like you. So
then this is what happens in verse 14. And so it was when
Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that
she was very beautiful. So they see she's very good-looking,
and notice even the princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended
her to Pharaoh. They whistled at her as she went
by, and then all of a sudden they tell Pharaoh concerning
her. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. But then
notice what happens in verse 16. Very interesting. And he
treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys,
male and female servants, and female donkeys and camels. What
does God say in 12.3? I will bless those who bless
you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed. That's why we call this
section the deliverance of Abraham. Because Abraham is wavering,
the seed is threatened, but God intervenes to protect Abram. You see, in a lot of ways, Abram's
concern is legit, but he didn't trust in his God. And Abram then,
which is interesting, receives these blessings, all these things
that he would need. And so his riches multiply in
verse 16 because of God's mercy, God's grace, God's protection,
but even further God's protection with the seed in verses 17 through
20. God is the one who protects his
promises. Notice verse 17. But the Lord
plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because Sarai,
Abram's wife. And then notice, and Pharaoh
called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me? Why
did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say
she is my sister? I might have taken her as my
wife. Now therefore, here is your wife. Take her and go your
way." Pharaoh recognized that she was being protected. He recognized
something. You see what we see, and he rightly
returns her to Abram. Verse 20, so Abram commanded
his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and
all that he had. I think what we see here is God's
great grace and God's promises to His promises, to hold fast
to His promises. Brothers and sisters, when we
lack faith, God is faithful. When we don't trust in our God,
even after He just tells us something, He is still gracious to us. If
I just told someone something and then they forgot two minutes
after, I'd probably give them a smack in the face. But God
Almighty is gracious and good that when we forget the promises
of God, He is comforting and kind. When we forget what's found
in Scriptures for us, when we read the Word of God and see
God's goodness to Abram here and forget the very things, God
is still gracious to us and protects us. Because you see, trust is
a lifelong endeavor, isn't it? Sometimes it's easier to obey
God than it is to trust God. And sometimes God's promises
are not always fulfilled in the timing that we think they should
be fulfilled. Let's change that. They usually
are never fulfilled in the timing we think they should be fulfilled.
Because God is God, and we are man. God is the one who governs
all things, and he does it for our good. And even when we think
about the story of Abram, do you notice as we read along,
we know the end of the story. But as Abram's going along, he
doesn't know the end of the story, does he? God says to him, in
you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. He doesn't
say how that's gonna happen. He says in verse seven, to your
descendants, I will give this land. He doesn't say how that's
gonna happen. And then as we go along, he's
asking, well, God, what am I supposed to do? I only have Eleazar as
my seed. And then we see him also engaging,
having Ishmael as a son, because God didn't reveal all what would
happen with Abram. He doesn't give Abram all the
information. And God does that because He
is God overall. And thus Abram wavers a little
bit, but God remains the one who is trustworthy. And what
we see here is that we mistrust God and not man. Gil says, with
respect to what Abram did in verses 10-20, it was done to
conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to
endanger his wife's chastity, as well as show great timorousness
in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of him. And
upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best
of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall,
and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for
which he is most eminent, as Abram was for his faith, and
yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins. We trust our Lord. We do not
trust men. And even the strongest believer
will have times where we waver in our faith. We'll have times
when we doubt. But nonetheless, God is gracious
to assure us, and comfort us, and strengthen us through His
Word. And the way that we primarily
should do that is have our eyes fixed on Abram's spiritual seed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. faith and trust in Him, knowing
that He is the One who reigns now. He has ascended on high. He is the One who is sitting
at the right hand of God the Father, and will make all His
enemies a footstool, and is with us as He sent us the Holy Spirit. He helps us and strengthens us
by the Holy Spirit, that we might resemble Him, that we might look
like Him, that as we battle and walk this life, we have strength
and vigor to do those things. Sometimes it's in the times of
greatest temptation where we sense the greatest evidence or
sensory evidence of God with us in our daily, in our battles.
John Patton highlights this, the missionary to the New Hebrides
or what's modern day Vanuatu. When he's fleeing for his life,
he talks about this moment where he's in the tree. He talks about
how he would love to have one more night like that of comparative
peace because as he's fleeing, as he's running, God is with
His people and strengthens them in the battles that they face.
God is gracious. God is good. He is the one that
we trust in, and Christ is with His people in the big things
and in the little things as well. He is a gracious and good God.
We must continually trust in Him, and it is a lifelong duty
for God's people. Well, in conclusion, we've seen
the call of Abram, and we see God's great grace through it.
It's God's initiative. It's nothing to do with Abraham.
He's a pagan. His parents are pagan. His wife
is barren. It's God is the one who brings
about salvation His way, and the way that shows His power.
Even as we think about the Gospel advancing in other parts of the
world, sometimes we think, there's no way humanly possible that
could happen except by God's grace and by God's power. When
we hear of the Gospel spreading further in Afghanistan or in
other parts of the world, it shows God's great grace. And
that's not to minimize, God is demonstrating His power in this
part of the world as well. When sinners are saved and the
Gospel is going forward, it's still God's great grace. But
humanly speaking, sometimes we think, how does that happen?
It shows God's initiative and power, as His gospel, which was
proclaimed in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New Testament,
is still being proclaimed day by day, Sunday by Sunday, as
the Word of God, hopefully Sunday by Sunday, as the Word of God
goes forth out into the world, that sinners might know the truth,
might know Abram's seed, and believe on And also, we just
talked about this for believers, God sustains His people. It is
a lifelong trust we engage in. We must look to Him always. Sometimes
that's difficult, but He is God. He knows what's best. He is the
Lord over all. We must trust in Him as the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and of God
over His church and His people, even now. Well, let us go to
our God in prayer. O Lord God Almighty, we thank
you that you are gracious and good, that we see your power,
we see your initiative, that you are pleased to save sinners
through Christ, through Abram's seed. We thank you, O God, that
he came, lived, died, and rose again, that those who look to
Christ might be considered sons and daughters of Abram. We thank
you for this. We thank you for your mercy,
that we see your grace even in the Old Testament. As you called
this pagan out of his land, that you called him and brought him
to a place that you would show him, and we thank you that you
appeared to him, and you showed him that land, and you are one
who is gracious and good and fulfills your promises. As we
see you fulfill your promises in the life of Abram, as we see
you fulfill your promises in the Lord Jesus Christ, when the
prophets prophesy concerning him, And we know that You will
fulfill Your promises now, that You will be with Your people,
that You will never leave us nor forsake us. And Father God,
that Christ will return again. Just as surely as He came, He
will return. We look forward to that time,
we look forward to that moment when we will get to enter into
that heavenly land. That spiritual land, the land
that is where there's no more sin, no more sorrow, no more
pain and no more suffering. We long for this, O God, and
we thank you that even as we think about land and seed, that
there is Abram's seed spiritually, but there's even a land spiritually
as well. We get to enter into that because Christ has entered
it. We get to enter in because of
what Christ has done. We always look to our Lord and
Savior, trusting in Him. And Father God, we thank you
that even now you help us and aid us and strengthen us by your
Holy Spirit, to be strengthened by your Spirit in the inner man,
as the Apostle Paul says. So we pray that you would strengthen
us by your Spirit in the inner man. Help us now to go out into
the world. We pray that you would be glorified
in all things, in the name of Christ. Amen.
