Today is the second message in our study of Genesis, on the life of Abraham. I’m getting my outline for the life of Abraham from Hebrews chapter 11. Of all the heroes of the faith that are showcased there, Hebrews 11 has the most to say about Abraham.
And so, taking my cue from Hebrews, we are looking at three significant events in Abraham’s life. Hebrews 11:8 says, “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. 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. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, [as many descendants] AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. ... By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten [son;] [it was he] to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED." He considered that God is able to raise [people] even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”
So according to Hebrews, last week, we looked at the call of Abraham, today we are looking at the events leading up to the birth of Isaac, and next week we will look at Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac.
Now there are a lot of events in the life of Abraham, and in some respects, I wish that we could take the time to study all of his life in detail. But that isn’t the purpose of this study of Genesis, so I must summarize a lot of those events. And at least according to Hebrews, these three events are most significant.But even so, what we are going to do today is try to cover 25 years of Abraham’s life in about 40 minutes.
Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abraham was about 75 years old when God called him out of Haran to go to Canaan. He had actually been called by God before that, when he was in Ur of the Chaldeans. But we don’t know exactly how much longer before that had been. It might not have been that long because Stephen in his sermon recorded in Acts says that Abraham was called by God when he was in Ur of the Chaldeans, and he uses the scripture in chapter 12 to support that, which says he was 75 years old. So for all intents and purposes, we will say that Abraham was about 75 years old when God called him.
Now I want to review for you the prophesies that God gave Abraham regarding having a son. God’s promise to Abraham was for more than just a son, it was for a land, and a nation and a blessing. But God gives this promise to him again and again, and over the course of that 25 years, God elaborates on those promises, providing more and more detail, until at last Abraham is given all the specifics of exactly how they will be accomplished.
I hope you don’t think it tedious to go through all of them. Because I think it is important to see the way God works, and the way faith works. And I say “faith works” deliberately. Because that is how faith operates. It operates by continuing in faith, by walking in faith, hoping in faith, being obedient in faith. Faith is not just an intellectual exercise. Faith is believing and obeying God’s word.
The first prophesy is in chapter 12: 1 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 in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
So in this prophesy, Abraham is promised a land, a nation, blessing, a great name, and that he will be a blessing. The idea of a son is inherent in the promise of a nation, because at this time he had no son. But overall, the prophesy is very general and sort of vague. But Abraham is obedient to it, and Hebrews speaks of Abram going out from Ur as going by faith.
When Abram arrived in Canaan, God gave him another prophesy. Genesis 12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Now God specifically says this land, and to your descendants. God gives Abram more detail as he is obedient and goes to the land God told him to go.
Immediately after that though, a famine comes on the land, and Abram has a failure of faith. He leaves the land God told him to go to, and goes to Egypt, thinking that’s the best way to avoid the famine. Logical perhaps, but he was not trusting in God to provide for him in the place that God called him to go. And trouble ensues as a result of his decision, which we will not revisit again. But suffice it to say that faith that gains approval with God does not mean that it is perfect obedience. We are not saved by perfect obedience, but we are saved by faith which is counted as righteousness.
That’s also the first time that we really encounter Sarah. Remember our text, Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” So Sarah has saving faith. She shows faith in leaving Ur of the Chaldeans with Abraham, leaving her family, friends and community that she had grown up in, in order to follow her husband.
Peter holds up Sarah as an example of a godly woman in his epistle, 1Peter 3:5-6 which says, “For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” Peter seems to equate faith in the case of a wife with being submissive to their husbands.
But the important point that needs to be made is that Sarah herself needs faith to be accepted by God as well. And both the author of Hebrews and Peter tell us that Sarah did indeed have faith, her own faith. She wasn’t saved by being married to a man of faith. She also needed faith in God, believing in His word. I think we see something similar happening very often today. Some men think that by being married to a sincere Christian woman, they will somehow get into heaven because of their wife’s faith. But that’s not the case. The only way you will get accepted into heaven will be because of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So Abraham left Egypt after compromising his wife, with his tail between his legs and went back to Canaan where he revisited the altar he had previously made to God. I think that indicates repentance on Abraham’s part for not trusting the Lord. Then you will remember he and Lot went their separate ways, with Lot choosing the well watered plains of Jordan which included Sodom, and Abraham going the other way.
And God spoke to Abraham again. Genesis 13:14-17 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. "I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. "Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
Now the Lord gives Abraham even more specifics about His promise of land and a nation. God shows him the length and breadth of the land, and says his descendants will not be able to be numbered. We don’t know how many years this has been since his initial call, but it’s probably been about 5 or 6 years by now, and yet Abraham owns no land, he is still living in a tent, and he still is childless.
One thing we should learn about faith in addition to obedience, is that faith is patient. Faith is waiting on God’s timing. We often think if we pray and ask with faith, without doubting, then God will give us our requests. But we expect God to act on our timetable. We oftentimes can’t wait five minutes for an answer, much less five years and still remain faithful. But Hebrews says by faith Abraham lived in the land of promise. It was promised to him, but his possession of that promise wasn’t yet realized.
We are promised eternal life as part of our inheritance. But we do not yet possess it fully. But we live in the land of promise. We live as if we possess it. That’s faith.
Then in chapter 15 we read, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir." Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Now God explicitly makes it clear to Abraham that his own body will produce a heir, a descendant, who will be multiplied like the stars in the heavens. More detail, more specifics, as Abraham walks in faith with God. And we have the testimony of scripture, which says that Abraham believed in the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham’s faith is the perfect illustration of salvation by grace through faith. Not by his works, not even by his obedience, but by his faith Abraham was credited with righteousness. This is the means by which all men and women are saved. Our faith in the Lord is the basis for God crediting us with righteousness. And as we saw in Abraham’s case, his faith isn’t perfect. His obedience wasn’t perfect. But Christ’s righteousness is perfect, and through a great exchange, our sins were transferred to Him, and His righteousness is transferred to us.
Hebrews makes it clear that when Abraham left Ur, he had faith. So at the first instance of faith, his faith was credited with righteousness. Salvation only takes faith the size of a mustard seed. Faith will be perfected as we walk with the Lord, but when Abraham obeyed by going out of Ur, faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. All that is required for saving faith is to turn and look to the Lord for salvation.
Well, God gives Abraham a dramatic illustration of the fact that His promises to Abraham are unconditional and unilateral. I don’t have time to go into it all today, but if you read chapter 15 you can get all the details of the ceremony which was designed to illustrate the irrevocability of God’s promises to Abraham.
And at that time, God gave even more specific promises to Abraham, elaborating in great detail upon the initial promises. Let me just read what God says. [God] said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." ... 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
I don’t want to digress into geopolitics here, but notice God says the land of Israel will be from the great river in Egypt to the Euphrates. I don’t know if that meant from the Nile or from the Red Sea. I assume it means the Red Sea. But that encompasses a lot more territory than what Israel claims today. It includes a lot of Lebanon and Syria and Jordan. No wonder those countries are not friendly to Israel today.
Then we read in chapter 16 that after Abraham had lived in Canaan for 10 years and there was still no son born to them, Sarah cooked up a plan to help the Lord keep His promises, and Abraham went along with it. Sarah had a maid named Hagar, and she hatched a plan to have Abraham go into her maid and have a child by her. Sarah encouraged Abram to take part in what was, in that day, essentially a surrogate mother arrangement. According to the popular custom, the child would be considered to be the child of Abram and Sarai, not Abram and Hagar.
But of course, this wasn’t God’s plan, it was their plan. And it was doomed to failure. Oh Hagar had a son alright, but that caused a rivalry and jealousy that Sarah and Abraham hadn’t foreseen. The scripture says that whatever is not of faith is sin. And Sarah and Abraham sinned against God and against Hagar in taking matters in their own hands. It is a sin very reminiscent of the sin of Adam and Eve. This is a good reminder that results are not enough to justify what we do before God. It's not right to say, "Well, they got a baby out of it. It must have been God's will." John 6:63 says the flesh profits nothing, but on the other hand the flesh can produce something. Doing things in the flesh may get results, but we may be sorry we got them.
The name of Hagar’s son was Ishmael. He is considered the father of the Arab nations. And as a result of this birth, there has been animosity between Arabs and Jews ever since which continues to this day. We aren’t going to take the time to study this subject today, but suffice it to say that Abraham and Sarah’s discouragement led to disobedience, which produced consequences and heartbreak for all concerned. And their sin has long lasting consequences upon their children and their children’s children.
Abraham was 86 years old when Ismael was born. And we are told nothing about what happened for the next 13 years. Chapter 17 starts with “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.” Pretty amazing. God was silent for 13 years, and Abraham was left to believe in God with no more validation, no verification, no evidence.
Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
But God appears after 13 years of silence without any apology, except to say that “I am God Almighty.” El Shaddai, God Almighty. We get it backwards so many times, don’t we? We think we can manipulate God to do our will, to serve us, to answer to us. But the Lord is God Almighty. God goes on to say, “Walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly." Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
I hope you see the way God’s prophesies use a form of progressive revelation. God has promised much of this before in a more abbreviated fashion, but now His prophesy reveals an even greater magnitude to His promises. Abraham will be a father of a multitude of nations. I think that includes a reference to us, who are by faith the children of Abraham.
God continues in vs 15 Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [shall be] her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be [a mother of] nations; kings of peoples will come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear [a child?]" And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” Now Abraham knows that God has promised a son by Sarah, who at this time is 90 years old, and he is 99 years old.
And then God gives to Abraham and to his descendants a sign of His covenant, which is the sign of circumcision. Circumcision is a cutting away of the flesh and an appropriate sign of the covenant for those who should put no trust in the flesh. Abraham had tried before to achieve God’s promises through the flesh by his attempt to raise up a son through Hagar. Now God was giving him a visible reminder that the flesh needs to be cut off if God is going to work in us.
Gal 5:16-17 says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” That principle was what God was teaching Abraham and his descendants through the sign of circumcision. And though we are not under the law of circumcision today, we should still learn the principle. That the flesh is opposed to the spirit, and what is of faith is by the spirit.
Then after a short time elapses the Lord appears once more to Abraham and also to Sarah before the promised birth of Abraham’s descendant. Three men appeared as he was sitting in the doorway of his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham must have recognized something about them as being from the Lord. He hurries to invite them to a meal, and tells Sarah to bake some bread, while he selects a calf to cook and serve them.
Chapter 18, vs9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "There, in the tent." He said, "I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear [a child,] when I am [so] old?' Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son." Sarah denied [it] however, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh.”
Much has been made of the fact that Sarah laughed when the Lord said she would have a child. Yet the author of Hebrews doesn’t mention that as a detriment to her faith. But her faith is given as a reason for being able to bear a child. But it’s possible that Sarah laughed with a certain degree of derision when she heard the Lord say that she would have a son by this time next year.
But you should remember that Abraham had also laughed back in chapter 17. I can’t say for certain that their laugh was in skepticism, but I do know that God’s promises defied reality. This couple was in their old age. Both of them were beyond the point of being physically able to do what was necessary to produce a child. So perhaps they laughed not out of skepticism, but a sense of incredulity. Either way, it’s not exactly indicative of a staunch faith. But we are told that they did in fact have faith. And I must assume that means faith in the supernatural ability of God to bring about what He says He will do. “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Well, a few things happen over the course of the next year, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But we will skip over that for now and go to chapter 21:1-7. “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
God had named the son Isaac, which means “laughter.” Perhaps it was meant as a gentle rebuke for the way Abraham and Sarah had laughed when God told them they would have a son in their old age. But now as that promise is fulfilled, the name Isaac speaks of the joy that having the son of promise would bring, as the blessing of God that was promised long ago was being fulfilled.
But I think the question God asked Abraham in chapter 18 is the one statement I want to leave with you though this morning. God asked Abraham, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” God is a God of impossibilities. What is impossible with men is possible with God. Salvation is not through the efforts of the flesh. Men cannot achieve their salvation through their own efforts. It’s impossible. But when the disciples asked Jesus, Then who can be saved? Jesus answered, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The supernatural birth of Abraham’s seed through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed, was fulfilled by the birth of Isaac, but it was also prophetically speaking of the descendant of Isaac, who would be the Messiah, through whom that blessing of salvation would come. He is the One who turns mourning into laughter, who brings the joy of our salvation. And by faith in Him who was promised by the word of God, we are credited with His righteousness.
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
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