Abraham - Life Lessons from Abraham

Well, have you enrolled in the school of faith? Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Are you learning to live by faith? It's so important that we do that, walking by faith and not by sight.

When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, automatically you were enrolled in the school of faith. Now you may not know that, but it's true. Life is the classroom, the Bible is the textbook. If you want to meet the faculty, read Hebrews 11. And the dean of the faculty is a man named Abraham. Abraham is the father of the faithful, the father of the believers. In Abraham, perhaps more than in any other man in the Old Testament, we find exemplified the life of faith. Well, you and I are in the school of faith, and there are some lessons we have to learn. 

For 100 years, Abraham lived by faith. He walked with God, and he wants to share with us some of the lessons that he learned. In fact, from Genesis 12-25, you find five basic lessons in the school of faith. Now we're going to be focusing on these lessons for several months because you and I need to learn what it really means to live by faith. First of all, in Genesis 12 and Genesis 13, God taught Abraham how to walk by faith, how to be in the place where God wanted him to be, how to respect boundaries. Walking by faith, Genesis 12 and Genesis 13. Then Genesis 14 and Genesis 15, he had to learn how to war by faith. The Christian life is not just a walk, it is a warfare. You find that in Ephesians 6. We are wrestling against spiritual enemies. 

Genesis 16 and Genesis 17, Abraham had to learn how to wait by faith. That's one of the hardest things in the world to do—just to wait on the Lord. And Abraham ran ahead of the Lord, and he learned some rather costly lessons. Walking by faith, Genesis 12 and Genesis 13; warring by faith, Genesis 14 and Genesis 15; waiting by faith, Genesis 16 and Genesis 17. And then in Genesis 18 and Genesis 19, working by faith. We're going to see Abraham the servant as he is serving the Lord. And then to close the study, Genesis 20-25, with a special focus on Genesis 22, how to worship by faith. That's the highest and holiest calling that we have: the worship of the Lord. 

Now all of this begins with God's call, with God's revelation of Himself to us. You find this in Genesis 12:1-4. Now the Lord had said to Abram, "Get out of your country, from your kindred and 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. 

Now we have a New Testament commentary on this in Acts 7. Stephen is giving his address to the Sanhedrin, and this is what he says. Acts 7:1-4. Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?" And he said, "Men and 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.' 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." 

Well, there are three facts that we must lay hold of if we are going to succeed in the school of faith. We have to notice here when God called Abraham, how God called Abraham, and why God called Abraham. Three very simple facts to get us started in the school of faith. You notice in Genesis 12:1, now the Lord had said. This is what God had said to him. When did God call him? He called him when he was living in sin in Ur of the Chaldees. In fact, it comes as a shock to some people to discover that Abraham and his family were actually idol worshippers before Abraham trusted the Lord. 

Joshua 24:2. You ought to look at that verse. Joshua 24:2. 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.'" That's interesting. Here is Abraham, the great exemplary man of faith, who before God called him was an idolater. Now this is the grace of God. God in His grace called Abraham when he was living in sin. When did the Lord call us? When we were living in sin. God doesn't call the righteous. Jesus said, "I've not come to call the righteous; I've come to call sinners to repentance." And Abraham was living in sin along with the rest of his family; they were idol worshippers. 

Jesus said to His disciples, John 15:16, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain." And Abraham did that. God called Abraham when he was living in sin. By the way, if you are living in sin now and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, God is calling you. God is not willing that any should perish. God who will have all men to be saved. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God wants to call you. 

I notice that God called Abraham in middle age. He was seventy-five years old when God called him. Now we don't know exactly how old he was when he left Ur and went to Haran, but when he finally took off to walk by faith, to enter the school of faith, he was seventy-five years old. He died at 175. So if you cut that in half, he was getting into middle age, wasn't he? You were never too old to start walking by faith. We are never too old to enter the school of faith. 

You know, there are books coming out now about career changes and how to make the most of the rest of your life and this type of thing. And there are a lot of folks who have the idea, "Well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, I've been this way all my life, I can't change now." When you read your Bible, you'll discover that age is no barrier to the grace of God. We're never too old to enroll in the school of faith. For 100 years, this man lived by faith. He wasn't always faithful, but he lived by faith, and God blessed him. 

God called Abraham after the Gentiles had failed. Do you realize that the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis cover a period of 2,000 years of history? In Genesis 1-11, you have the failure of the Gentiles. It climaxes, of course, in the building of the tower of Babel there in the book of Genesis 11. And God condemned that. God brought confusion to it. That's why it's called Babel, which means confusion. You see, God made man, man sinned. And then Cain kills Abel. And then Cain builds a civilization that is contrary to the will of God. And then the wickedness of man gets so great God has to wipe the whole earth clean, leaving only Noah and his family. And then even they fail. And then the nations begin to spread abroad. And then in Genesis 11, they get together and say, "Let's make a name for ourselves. Let's build a tower. Let's consolidate. Let's unite. And let's rebel against God's plan for our life." 

And God said, "All right, I'll just confuse all of that," and He did. Then what did He do? He called one man. He didn't call a committee meeting. In Genesis 11, you've got a great host of people working together to build a tower and make a name for themselves. Genesis 12, God calls one man, not many. In fact, Isaiah says something about that. Isaiah 51:2. He says to the Jewish people, "Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him." I called him alone. When God wants to do something, He gets a hold of a Moses or a Joshua, a David, a Simon Peter, a Paul. And then God goes to work. I called him alone. 

God called one man, not many. God called a man to walk by faith, not to depend on human effort. God called a man to believe the word of God, not to follow human plans. God called a man and said, "I'll make your name great." The people at Babel wanted to make their names great. Let's make our names great. God said, "I'll make Abraham's name great." When did God call him? God called him when he was a sinner, away from God, in middle age, after everything else had failed. And God makes a brand-new beginning. Is God calling you today? 

Now we're told in Acts 7 that the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. There were two experiences that Abraham had. He heard God's word—"Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out and I'll make you a blessing'" and so forth. He heard God's word, and he saw God's glory. Now that's important. He heard God's word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's Romans 10:17. It's a basic principle of life. 

Mr. Moody used to say, "I used to read my Bible and then close it and pray for faith. Now I pray for faith and open my Bible and read it." Why? Because in the reading of the word of God, the assimilating of the word of God, we grow in our faith. Romans 10:17. Now he heard God's word. And you're going to find throughout the life of Abraham, God speaks to Abraham and God appears to Abraham. He saw God's glory. In Acts 7, the God of glory appeared to Abraham. What a contrast between the God of glory and the awful idolatry in which Abraham was involved. At Ur of the Chaldees, they worshipped the moon, and here they had the idolatrous worship of nature. And then the God of glory appears to Abraham. 

He heard God's word, and he saw God's glory. It's interesting to note that when he heard God's word, God gave him promises and not explanations. God didn't explain the whole thing to him. He didn't say, "Now Abraham, you're going to wait this long and there's going to be a son born and you're going to make this mistake and do this and do that." No, God didn't hand him a roadmap. God didn't give him an atlas filled with maps. God said, "I'm going to bless you. Now you do what I tell you. Get out of your country. Get away from your kindred and your father's house. I'm going to show you a land." 

Abraham obeyed God when he did not know where he was going. Abraham obeyed God when he did not know even what God was doing. Now faith doesn't mean you walk around in the darkness. God gives you enough light for the next step. You want to know what's way down the road. No, you don't see what's way down the road. You just see a step at a time. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path," and we can just see enough ahead to make the right step. 

God gave him two commands really, when you read the scriptures in Genesis 12. "Get out" and "be a blessing." Genesis 12:2 says, "And you shall be a blessing," but in the Hebrew, that is an imperative. It's a commandment. So there are two commands given to Abraham: "Get out" and "be a blessing." Those are good commandments for us today, aren't they? Abraham trusted in the living God. He heard the word of God, he saw the glory of God. 

Alas, he delayed in obeying. That's the sad thing about it. When Abraham told his family, "I have seen the glory of God. There is a true God. I'm going to trust Him. I have heard His voice," they said, "You know, we're going to go along with you." That was the very thing God did not want. And so they all left except for Nahor. They went down to Haran and they tarried in Haran. And then Terah died. And then God reminded Abraham of his call, and Abraham left at the age of seventy-five. 

The whole plan was not revealed at once. And Abraham in his first steps of faith did not do too well. He delayed, he tarried. He bound himself to his family. In fact, he still took Lot with him. Of course, Lot had lost his father, so maybe Abraham was being sympathetic with him. When did God call him? When Abraham was in darkness and sin. How did God call him? Abraham heard God's word and he saw God's glory. And we need to do that today. 

Now why did God call him? Well, for three reasons. Number one, for his own personal salvation. God is not willing that any should perish. If God had not revealed Himself to Abraham, Abraham would have died and gone to hell. But God revealed Himself to Abraham. God spoke to Abraham. Abraham experienced God's grace, he saw God's glory, he experienced God's guidance. How good God was to Abraham. 

When I think of Abraham's experience, I sometimes think of what Paul wrote about the Thessalonian Christians in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. "For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols." Now Abraham did that. "To serve the living and the true God." And he did that. "And to wait for His Son from heaven." He did that. Jesus said, "Abraham saw My day and he rejoiced." So Abraham turned away from the old life and turned to the new life. God called him for Abraham's own personal salvation. 

Secondly, God called him for the salvation of a lost world. You'll notice in Genesis 12: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you; you shall be a blessing; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." All the families of the earth shall be blessed. Here is one man called alone going to be a blessing to the whole world. How is that possible? Through the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Turn to Galatians 3. In Galatians 3, we read in verse 8: "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached 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." Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac brought Jacob into the world. Jacob had the twelve sons of Israel, and through the nation of Israel came our Savior. God's call to Abraham was not only Abraham's personal salvation; it was salvation for a lost world. 

Thirdly, God called Abraham to be an example to us of how to live by faith. That's the important thing about Abraham for the believer. Once you've trusted Christ as your Savior, then Abraham says, "Follow me. I'll show you how to live by faith." How to walk by faith. That's the first lesson we're going to learn. You might want to jot this down. In Genesis 12 and Genesis 13, how do you walk by faith? What does faith do for you in your everyday walk? 

Well, Genesis 12:1-4, faith brings us out. And then verses 5-9, faith brings us in. And then from Genesis 12:10 to 13:4, Abraham backslid, but faith brings us back. That's Genesis 12:10 through Genesis 13:4. And then Genesis 13:5-13, faith brings us through. We go through problems and faith brings us through. And then Genesis 13:14-18, faith brings us on. Now these are the five ministries of faith, and these ministries can work in your life today. Faith wants to bring you out—bring us out of sin and out of darkness and out of disobedience, to separate us from that which is wicked. But that's negative. Faith also brings us in. God wants to put us where He wants us to be. And you find that in Genesis 12:5-9. Have you strayed away from the Lord and disobeyed Him? Then faith brings us back. Genesis 12:10 through Genesis 13:4. And then are you facing problems? As Abraham did, faith brings us through. Genesis 13:5-13. 

And finally, faith brings us on. God says, "Arise, walk through the land, claim your inheritance, claim your blessings from the Lord." Well, have you enrolled in the school of faith? Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Are you learning to live by faith? It's so important that we do that, walking by faith and not by sight. 

And now Father, we do pray that You will help us as we study the life of Abraham, because we want to know how to walk by faith. When we walk by faith, we bring joy to Your heart. When we walk by faith, we bring glory to Your name. And some of our listeners are having a difficult time believing today. Encourage us as we seek to walk by faith, I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.