Here's the record. Here's where
we began. Genesis 12, 1 through 5. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I
will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee, and make thy
name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless thee, curse them that curse of thee, and in thee
shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed
as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abram
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife,
and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they
had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and
they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the
land of Canaan they came. Now, that's our beginning text. Let me introduce our subject
this way. that there are, you are aware,
there are two men and there are two names in the Old Testament
that the Jews so highly revered and held in high esteem. Probably these two names above
all other names or character that come before us in the scripture. We know that because in the New
Testament, they often invoke these two names again and again
in their religion and in their practice. Now, the two men and
the two names, of course, are number one, Moses. Moses, God's
man to give the law and to mediate. And number two, the name and
the person of Abraham. Let's look at Moses just for
a minute. Moses, the lawgiver, author of
the first five books of the scripture that we hold to be inspired. And the Jews referred to these
five books Collectively as the law or sometime as as Moses saying
Moses in the Moses in the law Commanded us as they said to
our Lord in John chapter 8 and verse 5 to the Jews Moses was
synonymous with the law as the law both moral and and ceremonial
came and was instituted by the instrumentality of Moses. And so they referred to them
as much as the law of Moses as they did to being the very law
of God. Now, of course, the Jew had become
very hypocritical in their interpretation and in their application and
in their keeping of the law of Moses which they claim to hold
in great reverence. They had corrupted that law by
the addition of the traditions of men and the customs of men
and such like. Matthew chapter 5 verse 21 through
verse 48 is a good picture of how they had corrupted and perverted
the law. But they always spoke Moses,
Moses in the law said. Now, the second name is that
of Abraham. Abraham, a man held in high repute
among the Jews. The Jew gloried in their physical
descendancy from Abraham. They boasted like this. We be
Abraham's seed, as they said to the Lord in John chapter 8
and verse 33. In verse 39 of that same chapter,
Abraham is our father, they said unto the Lord. Matthew 3 and
verse 9, they were quick to say, we have Abraham to our father. We are the descendants and the
children of Abraham. And if I might sort of paraphrase
the words of an old timer, that I was reading his commentary,
in all of these things he said, that'd be Spurgeon, in all of
these things they did falsely presume upon their ancestry. That because they were the fleshly
descendants of Abram, or of Abraham, that all the blessing and all
the promises that God had made unto Abraham were theirs on that
account that they were the offspring of Abraham. Now, it is true they
had his blood. It is true they had his circumcision,
but they had not his faith and his obedience or his eye for
the Messiah. Even the Apostle Paul did not
shrink back from using the term, Our Father Abraham, Romans chapter
4 and verse 1. And he adds this, as pertaining
unto the flesh, Abraham, our father, as pertaining unto the
flesh." Our, our father. He is speaking as a Jew and he
classifies himself here as a Jew and with the Jew, not in the
verse speaking of believers or of the spiritual fatherhood of
Abraham, as he soon afterward will do, Even if by our father
Abraham, he meant the children of God by faith, it would have
limits. But he mentions according to
the flesh. Abraham, our father, according
to the flesh. Now, Abraham being so prominent
a name and a person in the scripture and the claims of the Jew based
upon their descendancy from him, I think, therefore, that it behooves
us to consider this man at length in the light of the scripture
and what it reveals about him as a man, as a servant of God. So let's begin at the beginning. That's why I read this early
passage of scripture in Genesis chapter 12. Let's begin at the
beginning. Let's consider his nativity. Let's look at the genealogy of
Abraham. Let's look at his lineage, how
he descended, and here at his appearance in the scripture. And that will take us back to
Genesis chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, so you might want
to keep the scripture open at that place. Now, usually genealogies
are not very interesting. They're kind of dull and kind
of boring to a lot of people. The generation, however, is often
mentioned in the scripture. Generation, as scripture calls
them. Generation, being the descendants
of one or of another. The line of, as we might say,
the family of, the history of the family is a genealogy or
a generation. Therefore, the birth, the progeny,
or the history of the family, who begat who, and who is the
son of who, we often find in the scripture. Now, if you wish
to follow this, then turn with me and stay here in Genesis chapter
9, chapter 11 and chapter 12. Now, it's not of course that
we would read it all. There would not be time. But
we're going to refer to selected portion to find out the nativity
of the man Abraham and the things that are pertinent to his role
before God in and in the scripture. Thus, in the purpose of God,
how Abraham fit and the place that he occupied. God fulfilled
a purpose through this man, Abraham. and how he is brought before
us then in the New Testament in the same light and even his
relationship under the Gentile. Now, dropping back into chapter
9 of the book of Genesis, chapter 9 and verse 18 19 and the sons of Noah that went
forth from the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth and Ham is
the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah
and of them was the whole earth over spread. Now there was as
it were a new beginning. The population of the earth had
been reduced down to eight souls by and in the flood. Think about that. Of all of those
that were at the flood, only eight were preserved and brought
alive through the flood. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 20
also calls it a few, wherein few, that is eight souls, were
saved by water. Now those eight were Noah and
his wife, their three sons, and their wives, Because Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8. And God made a covenant with
Noah in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 18. Then in chapter 10,
and verse 1 of Genesis begins the generation, that is, begins
the descendants of the extended family, the familial history
of the three couples and of their sons being the sons of Noah. For unto them were born sons
after the flood, that is, them and their wives procreated to
repopulate the earth again After the flood in Genesis chapter
10 and verse 2 through 5 the sons of Japheth are listed Japheth
a son of Noah as well as their dwelling place it then in Hebrews
10 and verse 6 through verse 20 we have the genealogy a short
one and of Ham and of his son Canaan, and a brief account of
their doings, though it is a bit longer than that one given of
Japheth. Then in Genesis chapter 10 and
verse 21 through 31, We have the family history of Shem, the
other son of Noah. Verse 31, and their families
and their tongues, that is, their languages, their lands, and their
nation. In Genesis 10 and verse 32, there
is the summation of this, and I'd like to read it as we look
at it. In Genesis chapter 10 and the
32nd verse, these are the families of the sons of Noah after their
generation in their nations, and by these were the nations
divided in the earth after the flood." Now here, notice something
important. We have a brief genealogy of
Shem in the end of chapter 10. But in chapter 11 at verse 10,
Moses, the author, again gives the genealogy of Shem. But he does so in more or greater
detail. And he mentions periods of time. And he extends the genealogy
onto several generations of the offspring of Shem. But then notice something else.
We have a genealogy within a genealogy here in this passage of the scripture. For at chapter 11 and verse 27
he said, Now these are the generations of Terah. In the middle of Shem's
generation, a generation in a generation, the generation of Terah. Now, who is this man called Terah? In verse 24 and verse 25, he's
the son of Nahor, just one of the family of Shem, who was one
of the three sons of Noah. But again, Terah is the father
of a son called Abram, and it is here that the man that we
are studying today is brought before us in the scripture. Here
is the first introduction in the scripture to the man Abraham
that's so famous in Christianity, which is such an important man
in the scripture. And I think we can see that by
the space that scripture gives unto him and of his doing and
of his relationship unto God and the purpose of God and the
promise of God that was made under Abram and God's dealings
with the offspring of Abram. Now just this point before we
go on, we don't have time to go into it deeply and must pass
by it quickly and move on. But from these three sons of
Noah came all of the peoples of the world, the different kinds
of people settling in different places in the beginning and then
God's dealings with them. They were three fountains flowing
forth, reproducing themselves, and all the peoples of the earth,
therefore, coming out of thee. Then too, let us remember the
prophecy of Noah concerning his sons. You'll find it Genesis
9 and verse 24 through verse 27. Cursed be Canaan son of Ham,
blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and God shall enlarge Japheth. Now look at it again, if you've
never noticed it before. Cursed be Canaan, that is, Ham's
line. Blessed be the God of Shem. Remembering that Abraham came
out of the family of Shem. God shall enlarge Now we can
see how from Shem and his progeny, God's sovereign providence is
flowing toward the man that we know as Abraham in Christianity. Genesis 11, 27 through 32, Abraham
was born as a son of Terah. He took Sarai, that is, Abram
did, took Sarai as his wife, who was, we're told, a barren
woman. and went from the Ur of the Chaldees
into the land of Canaan. Now he at that time, that is
at his separation, dwelt among an idolatrous family and people. You think of the background of
Abraham, you might not think of him as having sprung up or
been bred in idolatry. But in Joshua 24 and verse 2,
it is very clear. Now, let's consider his calling
now. Not his nativity, but now his
calling. And not just his calling to salvation,
to be a private child of God, but his calling also to be the
father of many nations. There is a sort of matter-of-fact
statement that we find in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, unless we
look a little bit closer and a little bit deeper into the
matter. As we read, Now, the Lord had
said unto Abram, and I think that it more literally might
be rendered, the Lord said to Abram, told him to leave out
of his country and his father's house and his kin into a land
that the Lord would lead him to and would show him. And that
in Genesis 12, in verse 2, the Lord would make of him a great
nation, make him a great name, make his name great among men,
and make him a blessing. Make him a blessing on the other. Now, first reading, we might
conclude that Terah and his house immigrated by or from some sense
or motive or impulse of their very own for a better life or
to escape some troubles or a famine or something of that sort. Yet
Genesis 12, verse 1 and 2, finishes the reason why the family left
one place or another, which was the Lord had told Abram to leave
his country and his kin, and revealed that a special purpose
would be accomplished in Abram, and a special people would descend
from him who would wear the name Children God. Now consider some references
to this Abram from the New Testament now. Acts 7 and verses 2 through
verse 8. Stephen having been called before
the council to answer the accusation of that had been brought against
him in Acts 6, 13, and 14, that he spoke blasphemy against Moses
and against God and against their sacred place and the law, and
that Stephen was guilty of saying that this Jesus of Nazareth would
destroy this place and change the custom which Moses had delivered
unto them. Now Stephen speaks to that council
of some changes that God had made in his providence over the
history of the nation that were very evident and prominent in
the scripture. And notice that Stephen begins
at Abraham how the God appeared unto him. It was the same God
of glory that had appeared unto Moses. at the giving of the law
and at other time. It was the same God who took
up, put his glory in the tabernacle when it was finished later in
Solomon's temple. This glorious God instituted
a new era when he appeared to and called Abraham out from among
his land and his friend. Now the question might come in
our mind, why Abram? Of all the people there were
in that world at that time and that place, why did God fix upon
Abram? Well, was it because religion
flourished in the house and the family of Abram? Was it that Abram was a religious
and a good man and a worshiper of God? Abraham, from his call
on leaving long after his death, was to be the most important
and influential man in the scripture. A friend of God, 2 Chronicles
chapter 20 and verse 7. James chapter 2 and verse 23. And the father of many. So the
question comes back again. What had Abram to commend him
to God? That about all the people, of
all those that might have been chosen, Abram is fastened upon. Why Abram? What in Abram commended
him to God? And the answer is nothing. Absolutely
nothing. No merit of any kind. above any
of his peers or any of his contemporary. In fact, he was from a family
of idolaters. And I'm going to read it in Joshua
24 verse 2 and verse 3. And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus said the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood. Now let's consider this. The
other side of the flood. not the great Genesis flood,
nor their most remote fathers as Noah and Shem, but the other
side of the river, as we might imagine. And he identifies Terah,
the father of Abraham, and Nachor, and in verse 3, Joshua 24. and I took your father Abraham
from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave unto him Isaac. Thus Abram, as we know him first,
was born and bred in circumstances of idolatry. What's more, the
whole world around Abram lay in wickedness and in idolatry. There had been from some time
now no such revelation from God as when he stirred and moved
upon Abraham and called him out. But in that spiritual darkness,
in that day, in that era, the God of glory appeared unto Abraham,
as Stephen said. Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse
7, Thou the Lord who did choose Abram and brought him forth out
of Ur of the Chaldee and gave him the name of Abraham, Unquote
God chose Abraham God called Abraham and who among us denied
that it was an act of free and sovereign grace as one from the
past said this calling of Abraham is a signal instant of the gratuitous
mercy of God He had nothing good to commend him to God Unquote
I think I took that from Calvin. Still, as gracious as was Abram's
call by God from out among his people, yet God did not choose
him, God did not call him, God did not save him, to be only
a private individual, a servant and a worshiper of God only. Genesis 12, verses 2 and 3. I
will make of you a great nation. I'll bless you. I'll make your
name great. Thou shalt be a blessing. In thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. See much the same repeated again
in Genesis 18-18. Then in 22, 18, 26 and 4, and Paul also cites it
in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 8. Now, not only is Abram blessed
and is Abram changed, forgiven, and justified before God, but
others, many others of many nations would be blessed with, by, and
through Faithful Abraham Galatians 3 and verse 9 even Gentiles would
be blessed by and through Abraham Galatians 3 and verse 14 Now
to repeat, not only the blessing of God on him personally and
individually, but making of him a great nation and a people and
causing the blessings at last to overflow on the Gentile. Thus, it is clear, Abram was
not to walk before God or to serve only as a private individual,
though he was personally justified and a man of faith. But he was
to become the fountain of a new race, the establishment of a
covenant and promise it. And that extended beyond his
immediate family, his sons and daughters, servants, his wife,
and his children, and such like. Not only so, but in addition
to having fleshly children, Abraham would have a multitude of spiritual
children that would have the faith of Abraham. In a literal
sense, the people of the Jew were his fleshly descendants
and and that inherited the land of promise, that is, the land
of Canaan. While in the spiritual realm,
all believers in all places and all time are children of Abraham
and are blessed with a spiritual inheritance typified by the land
of Canaan of old. And God promised to make Abraham's
name great, and it was held in high esteem among the Jew. They exalted his name very highly. God caused the name of Abraham
to be revered among men. All Christians today hold Abraham
to be a famous servant of God. So do some religions that are
not Christian, like Jew and Mohammedans. God promised Abram a special
seed when as yet he had none and had a wife that was barren. Now those things come into play
and yet they stop not Abraham's fate or the purpose of God. God gave him a token and the
seal of circumcision. You'll find that in Genesis chapter
17. A token of the covenant, God
said this, quote, betwixt me and you, unquote. This is a token
of the covenant betwixt me and you. And I think that's important.
Not between you, me and the nation, but betwixt me and you. If you look at Romans 4 and verse
11, Paul mentions that and brings it up again. And God changed
his name. from Abram to Abraham. You have that in Genesis 17 and
verse 5. And then God changed the name
of his wife in Genesis 17 and verse 15 from Sarai to Sarah. Now, the name Abram, it seemed,
means a high father or a father of heights, we might say, while
Abraham means the father of a multitude. It means to be populous. in that
sin. And this in spite of his being
childless and having a barren or an infertile wife. And then
the name of Sarai is also changed. Sarai would seem means diminutive
And Sarah means prince or queen or lady or female noble. Thus God gives his chosen vessel
the name that corresponds with his calling. Abraham, father
of a multitude, a many nation. That made me think of the Lord
in Matthew chapter 1. verse 21 the angel said thou
shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sin so that his name corresponds both with his office and with
his work Spurgeon put it he is and And he does what he is called,
Savior. You remember also, God changed
the name of Jacob. Jacob, heel snatcher, supplanter,
to Israel, Prince of God. God changed the name of Saul.
He became known as Paul. So childless Abram called the
father of many and became the father of all them that believe. whether they be Jew, whether
they be Gentile, whether they did or did not have his circumcision
in the flesh, but having the better circumcision, that of
the heart, as Paul said in Romans chapter 2, 25 through 29. Colossians
2 verse 11. Philippians 3 and verse 3 saying
we are the circumcision we have the true circumcision which is
that of the heart now there is laid in the calling of Abraham
the fountain or the foundation of the race of Israel out of
the loins of Abraham a promised son by the name of Isaac from
him Jacob and ultimately from him Joseph that we read about
in Genesis. When Abraham appears in the book
of Genesis in chapter 11, then if you notice, the rest of the
book is a record of him and of his seed, the providential events
that took place which led to the fulfilling of God's word
unto Abraham. For example, if we look at Genesis
chapter 15, and read verses 13 and verse 14. And he said unto
Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they
shall afflict them four hundred years. and also that nation whom
they shall serve will I judge and afterwards shall they come
out with great substance. Now Stephen mentions this before
the council in Acts chapter 7 verse 6 and 7. This point about Genesis
chapter 15 which will come before us later. That is that it is
here in Genesis 15 1 through 6 that is written that Abraham
was justified by faith, which is strongly emphasized by Paul
in the New Testament, particularly in Romans 4 and in Galatians
the third chapter. It is following this that the
Lord foretells that the seed of Abraham would be down in servitude
in Egypt. There they would be severely
afflicted and then delivered and back with great substance
in their possession. Now, the first part of the prophecy
occurred when Joseph, by God's providence, was sold into slavery. But again, by God's providence,
Joseph was advanced to be the second in authority in the land
of Egypt. And it was he, in that authority,
that brought the house of Jacob, 70 souls, down into the land
of Egypt. And by and by, God raised up
Moses to bring them out or to deliver them. But now, of all
the things there are to consider about Abraham, we will consider
three passages in the New Testament in regard to Abraham. They are
number one in John chapter 8. They are number two in Romans
chapter 4. And they are number three in
Hebrews chapter 7. It was Brother Baker's message
on Melchizedek as a priest forever, where we run across Abraham,
where this fastened upon me and this subject caught me as he
spoke to us a good message on Christ as the high priest the
last Lord's day. But looking in John chapter 8,
here is a contention between Christ and the Jews, and it involves
Abraham's paternity. Abraham's name is brought up. And the Lord confronts the Jew
with the same awesome truth that Paul does in Romans chapter 9. that they're not all Israel,
which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children. That's in verse 6 and 7, Romans
9. For the sake of time, we have
to condense these words in John chapter 8. The Jews claimed their
paternity from Abraham and from God, and that it gave them special
advantages, and this one called a deadly error. Verse 33, they
said, We be Abraham's seed. A little Ebonics there. Verse
39, Abraham is our father. Verse 41, they say, we have one
father, even God. And the Lord challenges them.
Yeah, you are Abraham's seed. But if you were his spiritual
children, you would do the works of Abraham and you would have
the view of me that Abraham had. He saw my day and was glad. He rejoiced to see it. And so
the Lord rebuffs both their claim being Abraham's offspring and
being worshippers of one God and Father. They came short in
both of them. The Lord is telling them they
did not imitate Abraham and he tells them you are of your father
the devil. If God were your father, you
would welcome me, you would believe me, you would worship me, but
you are of your father the devil. Now, in Romans chapter 4, Paul's
use of Abraham here as the pattern of justification and that by
faith. And it is indeed an argument
that is a pearl of great price. He asks the question, what has
Abraham found? What has Abraham, our father,
as to the flesh, have found? What is it? What was the case
and the state of Abraham? If you look in the last verses
of chapter 3 of the book of Romans, there you will find that the
subject had been justification. And verse 2 of chapter 4, none
doubted that Abraham was a just man before God, that he was a
saved man. and that he received into God's
presence at his death. The question was, how was Abraham
justified? Upon what ground did God justify
the father of the Jewish race, whose sins were not imputed unto
him? Verse 9, the question is raised,
upon whom does this blessedness come? on the Jew only or upon
the Gentile also. Verse 10, How was faith reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness? Was it by circumcision? Nay. For in verse 10, through verse
12, his circumcision came after he believed unto righteousness
and circumcision was given as the seal or the token of the
righteousness of faith that Abraham had. Well then, if not by circumcision,
was it by or through the law? Verse 13 to verse 16 of Romans
4, no. Abraham was justified long before
the law Was ever given and beside the promise to Abraham was not
made through the law not in conjunction with the law but through the
righteousness of faith and the law works wrath and Look at Galatians
3 14 and 18. We won't read it now then the
third example comes out of Hebrews chapter 7 Abraham's actions are
brought forth by the Hebrew author to help him establish the superiority
of the priesthood of Christ, which is after the order of Melchizedek,
not after the Levitical or after the Aaronic order. In verse 1,
Melchizedek met and blessed Abraham after his slaughter of the king,
after his rescue of his nephew Lot, for Melchizedek was priest
of the Most High God. And Abraham gave Melchizedek
tithes of the spoils that he had gained in the victory. This
you will find in Genesis chapter 14 and verses 14 through 18,
speaking of the interaction of Melchizedek and of Abraham. Speaking of Abraham paying tithes,
this means, says the author of Hebrews, that Levi, the priest
who had a command to take tithes of the people for himself, actually
paid tithes Abraham, because he was in the loins of Abraham
when Abraham paid tithes unto Melchizedek. So Christ, therefore,
is confirmed by the actions of Abraham to be a priest after
the better order, that is after the order of Melchizedek. Now the point being, Abraham
being so revered by the Jew, when they reckon their father,
they should seek to be justified in one and the same way as he. They must be justified in the
same way that Abraham was, and that was by faith. Genesis 15
and verse 6. Should they hold the same view
of Christ as did Abraham, they should imitate his action or
else they are not the spiritual children of Abraham. So that only believers in Christ
are the spiritual children of Abraham. Paul tells us that in
Galatian. If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed and heirs according under the promise. As the Lord
said, the flesh profits nothing. Their flesh profits nothing. Thank God for Abraham and what
we find in him, the work, the promises of God, the typology
that is there, that even we are the children of Abraham because
we believe in the Lord.