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[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. It has been good to be here. It's been good to be here. And thanks for that lesson.

[0:15] You know, the Christian life is a choice that we make. No one is forced to live this life.

[0:28] And so it is all dependent on our decisions. So recently I was reading the story of Abraham.

[0:47] And this morning that's where I want to go. I want to look at Abraham. But I want to start with a few different verses in the New Testament.

[1:05] Talking about Abraham. And, you know, in Jesus' day, the Jews, they wanted to have everybody know that they were sons of Abraham.

[1:23] And in the New Testament, then we read that Abraham is the father of faith. And here in Romans chapter 4, I just want to get a couple verses here.

[1:41] You know, I'm always challenged with this. And he's talking about Abraham. And verse 11 actually says that he might be the father of all them that believe.

[1:56] But then he's talking about Abraham and the trials that he went through.

[2:08] And we want to look at some of that today. But he says the God that Abraham trusted in is the God that in the end of verse 17 says, He calleth those things which be not as though they were.

[2:26] But Abraham. We'll start. We want to read. Starting in verse 18 in Romans 4. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead.

[2:53] So the three statements that always stand out to me here.

[3:21] Talking about Abraham, it says that he considered not. Abraham did not consider his own body.

[3:33] The deadness of Sarah's womb. He considered not that. And he didn't stagger. He didn't stagger at the promise of God through unbelief.

[3:47] But he was strong in faith. And it says he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform.

[3:58] And we want to look at Abraham. But just considering the many years between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise.

[4:12] And Abraham was faithful and he did not stagger. He did not doubt God. In Hebrews 11, it tells us.

[4:27] In verse 17. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son.

[4:40] Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seat be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.

[4:51] From whence also he received him in a figure. And we'll be looking at this in the book of Genesis. But here, the writer of Hebrews referring back to Abraham.

[5:09] And how he did not waver. How he offered up his son without doubting and without wavering.

[5:20] Now let's turn to the book of Genesis. We will start. We'll start in chapter 12.

[5:35] In chapter 12 and verse 1, it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee.

[5:52] And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee.

[6:06] And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. And Lot went with him.

[6:18] And Abraham was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran. Abraham took Sarah, 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.

[6:33] And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the plain of Morah.

[6:46] And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.

[7:01] And as we won't take time to read all of this, but if we would read all of it, every once in a while we see that Abram stopped, and he built an altar unto the Lord, and he worshiped God.

[7:18] But God had made this promise unto Abram. He said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.

[7:30] And he told him to go and to walk through the land and to see the land, because God was giving it to him and to his seed.

[7:42] Also, I want to notice in verse 1, when God said, Get thee out of thy country, it appears that he was obedient very expediently, very, very, you know, he didn't push it off, he didn't wait, he didn't, but he was obedient.

[8:09] And he said, God had chosen Abram and his lineage that the Savior would come.

[8:23] That's the promise that we have here in verse 3. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. God had chosen Abram that through his lineage and through his offspring, our Lord Jesus would be born into this world.

[8:48] So he told him to leave the land he was at and to go to a land that God will show him.

[8:58] And so he departed. And he took Lot with him, his brother's son. His brother had passed away earlier.

[9:11] In chapter 13, it says, Abram, well, he had gone to Egypt because of a famine, but now he was coming back.

[9:22] And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and gold.

[9:35] And it talks about how they traveled and they came. And then they were so rich in flocks and herds that there was not room for Abram and for Lot to dwell together.

[9:54] And so Abram gave Lot the choice. And of course, we know the story of how Lot chose the plains and there was lots of grass and so on.

[10:06] But he moved, he pitched his tent towards Sodom, which ended up being a bad choice for him. After Lot had left, in chapter 13, verse 14, the Lord said to Abram, Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward.

[10:38] For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

[10:57] Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.

[11:18] Again, Abram built an altar, and I believe that this was very, very common for Abram. He worshipped the Lord, and so wherever he went, he built an altar.

[11:34] He built an altar unto the Lord. He was raising up a testimony unto the living God. There, you know, he was dwelling in the midst of the Canaanites.

[11:47] He was dwelling there in the midst of a people that were worshipping idols. And in the middle of all that, Abram would build an altar and worship the Lord God.

[12:04] I will skip on to chapter 15. In between here and chapter 14, we have the account of Lot and how he was taken captive, and Abram came and rescued him.

[12:26] And Melchizedek, king of Salem, afterward came and brought bread and wine. And he was the priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abram. In chapter 14, verse 19, he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.

[12:50] We'll go on and we'll start in chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

[13:07] And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless. And the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

[13:25] And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou art able to number them.

[13:42] And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. You know, God again reaffirmed the promise.

[13:59] He reaffirmed the promise. And then he went on and he made a covenant with Abram. And it says that Abram believed the Lord.

[14:10] You know, though he didn't yet have any children, though he didn't, though Isaac was not yet born, and he was getting older, and Sarah was getting older, it says he believed in the Lord.

[14:24] And the Lord counted it to him for righteousness. Then we have the account of God making this covenant with Abraham.

[14:37] Yes, with Abram. And in verse 18, In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt and to the great river Euphrates.

[14:54] God made a covenant with him. And Abram believed him. Well, of course, in chapter 16, we have the account of Sarah giving him her maid, which I believe this was a distraction from the will of God.

[15:26] And later, Abram, he came to God when God again came to him. And he said, Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee.

[15:40] But God said, His covenant will be through Isaac. In chapter 17, Abram was 99 years old.

[15:57] There was probably 25 years or so since God had come and promised him a son. He says, I am the Almighty God.

[16:10] Walk before me and be thou perfect. I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

[16:32] Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee.

[16:44] And I will make thee exceeding fruitful and will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.

[17:08] And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

[17:21] And then he goes on and he brings the covenant of circumcision and Abram immediately followed through with this and was obedient in that.

[17:35] But let's go on and again in chapter 18, the Lord appeared again to Abraham and he came to him and notice in verse 9, the Lord said, Where is Sarah thy wife?

[18:04] And he said, Behold in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.

[18:16] And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

[18:30] Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also. The Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child which am old?

[18:48] Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son.

[19:01] You know, you know, all these promises and can you imagine all these years for 25 years and now even more Abraham had this promise.

[19:15] He had this promise and he always hung on to it. But can you imagine the doubts that the enemy brought to him, the questionings and the trials that he went through.

[19:33] But here God came again and he talked to him and he promised him that now the time has come. The time has come.

[19:46] Well, we have the account of Sodom here.

[20:07] You know, I believe that by this time Abraham knew the Lord God. You know, last Sunday we heard that God wants a relationship with us.

[20:25] We need to have a relationship with him and I believe Abraham had learned to know God. Abraham had boldness before God.

[20:37] Abraham interceded here. You know, and I believe the reason that he that he so interceded for for Sodom was because of Lot.

[20:55] But even in the end there were not he ended with he ended with ten people, right?

[21:05] and God said he will not destroy the city for ten but God could not even find ten righteous people in the city of Sodom.

[21:20] And so he destroyed it. However, he brought Lot out of it before he did that. But now we have so in chapter 21 and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken for Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God has spoken to him and Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him whom Sarah bare to him Isaac and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as God had commanded him and Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him you know finally finally the promise came you know finally the fulfillment of what

[22:30] Abraham had waited for all these years and he had trusted in God finally it came well now let's now let's look at this great test that Abraham went through in chapter 22 you know here we have the account of Abraham when he took Isaac when God commanded him to offer Isaac and remember we read in Hebrews that Abraham trusted God that God would raise up his son even from the dead if he would offer him up to him as he commanded so let's read here in chapter 22 God said to

[23:30] Abraham take now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of and Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and clave the wood for the burned offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him you know I just want to point out here that God came and he spoke to Abraham Abraham did not argue he did not push it off but the very next morning he arose he arose he saddled his ass he took he took a couple young men with him and Isaac and they left to go to the mountain that God had commanded him and on the third day

[24:32] Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off and Abraham said unto his young men abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you now notice what we just read you know we read this many times but but notice what Abraham said here he said I and the lad will go yonder and worship and then we will come again you know Abraham was being obedient to offer his son Isaac but he did not in any way even even acknowledge or think that he would return without Isaac he said we will come again unto you Abraham took the wood of the burned offering he laid it upon

[25:36] Isaac his son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said my father and he said here am I my son and he said behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together and they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here am I and he said lay not thine hand upon the lad neither do thou anything unto him for now

[26:45] I know that thou fearest God seeing thou has not withheld thy son thine only son from me you know could there have been any test harder than this one the son that Abraham had waited for for all those years the son that God had promised him there was no mistake God had said that through this son is the son of promise it is through this son that he will fulfill his promises to Abraham and now at the last moment before he brought that knife down the angel said lay not thine hand upon the land neither do thou anything unto him for now

[28:00] I know now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou has not withheld thy son thine only son from me you know God takes us through testings he takes us through trials does does God know that we love him more than anything else does God know that we will that we have everything on the altar does he know that he owns us and everything we have and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burned offering in the stead of his son and

[29:03] Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh as it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen and the angel of the Lord called on Abraham out of heaven the second time and said by myself have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou has done this thing and has not withheld thy son thine only son that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice so Abraham returned unto his young men and they rose up and they went together to

[30:03] Beersheba and Abraham dwelled at Beersheba you know Abraham passed the supreme test he passed the supreme test and you know do we pass the test you know sometimes we falter sometimes we might fail but let us remember Abraham in in the time of testing in the time when everything is hard in the time when God is testing us let us remember Abraham Abraham did not hesitate to obey he did not question God he didn't try to reason it away Romans tells us that he staggered not but he went on in obedience he was deliberate he was deliberate about it and and and he was fully determined he was fully committed to walk in the will of

[31:15] God he was fully committed to be obedient to God even to the point of offering his only son can we think can we imagine the love that Abraham had for his son you know can we also imagine can we also can we also think of the love that God had for his son when he sent Jesus to give his life for us I want to close with a couple verses in the book of James in James chapter one start reading verse two my brethren counted all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of

[32:42] God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him if we lack wisdom if we find ourselves lacking let us ask of God says that he gives liberally and he upbraideth not he but but look at verse six let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed you know have you stood on the shores of the ocean and watched those waves they're continually they're coming in they're going out there's there's no rest there's no there's they they just they just keep on they don't stay where they're at they just keep on there's nothing steady about them except their continual coming he says he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the

[34:00] Lord a double minded man is unstable in all his ways remember Abraham what does Romans say about Abraham it says he staggered not you know what he didn't you know if Abraham would have looked at at the human impossibilities!

[34:26] possibility of Sarah having a baby. And it says he did not stagger at the promise of God.

[35:09] He didn't waver. He wasn't double-minded, but he had his faith and confidence in God. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And it says he was fully persuaded. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. He believed, he trusted God, that he was able to fulfill his word.

[35:49] And in Hebrews 11, we have here concerning Sarah in verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age. Because she judged him faithful who had promised. Sarah, she judged God faithful. She judged

[36:54] God that he was able to accomplish what he had promised. She judged God faithful. She put her trust and confidence in God. And so if we will know God to the extent that we will have such a relationship with him, that we will trust him, and we will judge him faithful for the promises that he has made, we can trust him. We can trust him, can we not? Let us not waver. Let us not be double-minded, but let us trust him.

[37:42] She judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.

[37:59] God did fulfill his promise. God did keep his promise. Though he tried Abraham, though he tested him, though he waited until it was physically impossible for Sarah to have a son, then he gave her a son.

[38:24] Though he asked Abraham to offer his only son to him in sacrifice, and he did. Yet he stopped him before he slew him. But here in Hebrews, it says that Abraham accounted God able to raise him from the dead if he would have slain him.

[38:49] Do we know our God? Do we know him? Abraham knew the one he trusted in. He knew him in a way.

[39:14] I don't know. Hopefully we do too. Do we trust him? Do we trust him in the trials of life? Do we trust him in the hard things of life?

[39:29]  Let us be faithful, even as Abraham was faithful. Amen. Amen.