Genesis 12:1
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
I wonder if you think of yourself as a creative person. I certainly don't think of myself as a creative person. In fact, I'm always amazed when people can take just raw materials of any kind in front of them and make something, right? Whether that's music, whether that's construction, whatever it might be. It's something that inspires me because I'm just not a creative person. This is never more obvious to me personally than at Christmastime. So, at Christmas time, I, like many of you families, I'm sure, watch my kids build gingerbread houses.
So, you get all the, you know, graham crackers, you get all the candies, you try and keep the kids out of the candy because they're actually supposed to be using them for the houses themselves. You get the frosting that's somehow edible but is disgusting all at the same time. You get all these things together, you kind of put it out there and you say, all right, kids, build something. And if your kids, or if you yourself are like my kids, then, you know, in just a matter of a few minutes' time, you've got this amazing construction. And yet for the four children that we have, four very different types of going about that construction.
So we've got the planner, the one who wants to have it all kind of planned out and, you know, maybe has even drawn out a sketch of what it should look like ahead of time. And you've got the one who just needs something glamorous and fashionable, something just very bright and glittery. You've got one who's just get this thing over with, right, just kind of throw it all together. And then one who's just trying to make it very traditional and actually look real. I'll let you figure out which one of our kids those four are, but those are accurate depictions of all four of them. They have just very different, unique approaches to creating, but they have a way that they create.
They have a way that defines even a little bit of who they are and how they create. Well, the Lord has a way that he creates as well. He has a very specific pattern, a very specific way of going about the act of creation. And that's what we're going to spend the next few minutes here together exploring, at least in some sense. Our text for tonight is Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. You can find that on the front of your bulletin. You also might be helped by turning to your Bible itself, to Genesis chapter 12, because we'll see some of the other verses there.
Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 says, Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. This is the very beginning of the story of Abram, who's later called Abraham in the rest of Scripture. And while it might seem abrupt, this one little verse itself, and maybe even just how the story begins, and perhaps if you read it one way, it's almost severe what Abram was called to do.
Even this very beginning of it has huge implications that reverberate throughout the rest of the storyline of the Bible. Just very, very important here. So what's happening to Abram is not just a story about a man a long time ago, right? In a distant land that just really doesn't have any implications for us. No, it's a foundational part of the story of, honestly, how you and I are in this building tonight. Why are we here tonight sitting, talking about these types of things?
Well, in large part, it has to do with this story that's beginning here with Abram. And we'll see some of that here in the next few minutes. But what I want us to focus on from this one short verse is this truth for the rest of our time. That God creates his people by his choosing and through his word. God creates his people by his choosing and through his word. And we'll see that, and we'll kind of break it down, not tearing apart that, but we're going to see how that fleshes itself out, even in this one short verse, in two different ways.
So first, God's initiative. God takes initiative here. And then secondly, his people's inheritance. So God's initiative and his people's inheritance. First, God's initiative. So the story of Abram really begins in the latter part of chapter 11. So if you kind of either scroll back up or look back up there in your Bible, you'll see that Abram comes onto the scene before chapter 12. This is where we're introduced to his father, Terah, and some other members of his family. And really what's important for us is that we see that Terah and his family, including Abram, leave from their homeland to journey to the land of Canaan.
So they're already out on their way, and on the way they actually stop and settle in Haran. And then here in chapter 12, I think what we're seeing is Moses backing up and giving us kind of the details of what led to that journey in the first place. there at the end of chapter 11. Well, why the focus on Abram? Why does the story kind of back up then and focus on Abram here at the beginning of chapter 12? Well, it's important because of the role he's going to play. And the rest of all of God's redemptive history, what Abram is going to factor in, in some incredible way. But more so, more so, and what's important for us this evening is that we're seeing something fundamental in what the Lord is doing. So in our verse, what is the Lord doing? But what does he do here in this verse, this one short verse? Well, what action is he taking? It's very simple. It's very straightforward, is it not? He speaks, right? That's what the Lord does. In fact, almost all of the words of this verse are just direct speech from the Lord to
Abram. He's directly speaking to him. But the Lord is also doing something else here. the Lord is choosing. You may not see it as clearly as speaking, right? You kind of have to look behind the text in some sense there, but the rest of the story of Abram and certainly the rest of the story of the Bible make it very clear that what's happening here is the Lord is choosing Abram, and not because Abram deserves it, right? He's got nothing on the rest of his family members.
He's not wiser than they are, he's not wealthier, he's not smarter, he's not in any way more worthy of being chosen by God. No, the Lord simply chooses Abram. Well, in light of that, I think there's two specific things that will be helpful for us to kind of dive down into. So the first of those is this, we can see God's sovereignty in choosing. Look, this whole section, this whole story of Abram begins with what? It begins with God's actions, not Abram's. God himself chose Abram. Abram wasn't seeking the Lord. You can't even give it a kind of another reading and saying, well, he was ignorantly seeking after the Lord. He just didn't really know the way, and so the Lord stepped in and showed him the way. No, this was, as we've even heard this morning, this appears to be a pagan man that the Lord just plucked out of history and said, I will now save you. The Lord, by his own will, chose to do this, and then he determined how he was going to use them in the
rest of redemptive history. Look, this is the drumbeat throughout Scripture, is it not? The Lord chooses his people. We saw this in Ephesians 1 clearly this morning, but it's not just a new testament teaching this is how it's been from the very beginning so for instance when god loves jacob and not esau later in genesis that's the lord choosing when god puts pharaoh in power and then saves his people from pharaoh's rule over them that's the lord choosing his people and not Pharaoh. When the prophets say that the Lord is the potter and that humans, that we are the clay, that's their way of saying yet again that the Lord chooses his people, or God chooses his people. Look, and this should not be cause for despair, right? Critics of this doctrine, even as
we kind of scratch the surface of this morning, would want to say, well, this should drive us to despair. This should drive us to hopelessness. This should drive us to fatalism. After all, your God chooses, what's the point? Why should you even care? Now, brothers and sisters, this is not a cause for that. This is a cause for rejoicing at God's mercy. If you're a Christian, if you are a Christian, then you know yourself to be a sinner whom the Lord has saved. Brothers, sister, the Lord of the universe chose to save you from your sins. That is all the reason in the world to rejoice.
You didn't earn it. You didn't cause it. And yet, he chose you. What a merciful and kind God we serve. Secondly, we see God's sovereignty in choosing. We also see his sovereignty in speaking. So in the story of Genesis, we've already seen in incredible ways the power of God's spoken word, right? From the very beginning, out of nothing, God creates everything by his word going forth.
Well, in our verse tonight, there's a command, right? Abram, go. Go out from your country. We see the command, but there's also a little bit of a veiled promise in there. But we have the benefit of knowing what's yet to come and where this is actually going. And what we know is that what's happening here, even in this verse, what's happening is that God is creating again. But this time, it's his new creation people that he's creating. And they're being formed. How? They're being formed yet again by his word going forth. Look, at first, in the very beginning, God speaks into the nothingness and everything is created. And here, kind of in a parallel fashion. He's speaking into the nothingness of a spiritually dead man who has a wife who's barren, and he's creating his people through them. He's a God who creates something out of nothing. He's done this from the very beginning. That's, in fact, why the author of Hebrews can look back on Abram and say, when talking about him, that God gives life to the
dead, and he calls into existence things that were not in existence. That's what would have to happen here? He's looking at Abram and Sarai going, there's nothing there. She's barren. And yet the Lord speaks, and all of a sudden a people are formed. Look, he does this work of creation time and time again. But most clearly here, he's bringing something out of nothing, and he's doing it by his word. Brothers and sisters, that's why we preach God's word. That's why we sing God's Word. That's why we read God's Word. That's why we try to pray things centered around God's Word. Your reading of God's Word, for instance, is not in vain. Brother, sister, your own individual private reading of the Bible is not some routine that you do. We actually believe that as you read God's Word, as you sit under it, the Lord is forming His people. And even more so when we gather
like this, like we've done right now, and we sit under God's word, we believe that this is not a mystical thing, but it is a supernatural thing, that God is forming you into his people, even tonight. Simply by speaking, God has power and authority to create. He brings life from the dead, and that's what he did for Abram. So that's what God's doing here in our verse. That's how he took initiative but he took initiative to do something so what what is that something well that's our second point for tonight it's his people's inheritance his people's inheritance is what we're starting to see take shape so the lord's command to abram is clear leave from your country from your kindred from your father's house that that emphatic repetition it's missing in our english translations but it's actually there the lord is making it very clear even as he kind of escalates the stakes that you're to leave from this and then from this and then oh yes even from
your family but leave it for what what is he leaving it for what is he headed toward well the text says that he leaves it for a land that the lord will show him he's not showing him yet not even really described it for him in any significant way and yet the lord tells him to leave all of that so that he can have this land that's going to be given to him as an inheritance. Man, that requires faith on Abram's part, especially because he's not even been told what this land is going to be like or where it is. That's exactly, in fact, why the author of Hebrews, again talking about Abram, can say that it was by faith that he left his land to go to this other land and to receive it as an inheritance. And this isn't even everyday garden variety faith, if we can even dare to say that such a thing exists. This is life-changing faith. This is a man
who has possessions and wealth and family and probably even some status. He's got to leave it. And leave it for what? Well, to trust the word of the Lord that he's heard, and that's it. He has a promise that there's a land that he's not yet received, and he's to go to that land. He hears from the Lord, and then he acts in faith, and he believes God. Like, this story may feel so ancient and distant, right? We don't have lands that we leave. We don't have farms that we're leaving behind to go to a new farm and go take our people with us. All of This just may feel so distant in so many ways from our minds.
But what we're seeing here, this pattern being set here, will have implications for the rest of history. Abram hears the word of the Lord. He's told that there's an inheritance for him. And then he believes God's word. At its most basic, that's exactly what happens when someone becomes a Christian. Right? They hear the gospel, they're told of an inheritance that is awaiting those who believe, and then they believe God's word.
Friends, maybe some of you need to do that tonight. Maybe you yourself are not a Christian, and you need to hear the gospel that there is a Lord who saves his people, that you yourself are a sinner, but yet Jesus died for sinners like you so that you, by choosing to believe in him, can be saved and given an inheritance. Maybe you need to do that tonight. But this whole pattern does not just stop at the moment of us becoming a Christian. No, it holds true for us in all of life in this age. Look, we may not always trust when we hear God's word. We may not always trust his word. If we're being honest, there are probably times when we don't even want to trust His Word. But always, when God has spoken, we should act in faith, and we should trust Him. You know the ways this plays out in your life, but here are a few. Maybe this will be helpful for you even this evening. Maybe there are things in your life right now that you are engaged in that you know that the Bible calls sinful,
says it's sinful, but you just don't want to trust the Bible on that. Friend, act in faith and trust God. Well, maybe there are actions that you need to take, not so much repentance, but actions that you need to take in your own life to square your life with the life that is holy, to look more and more like Jesus. But you're scared that doing those actions just won't be worth it. Friend, you need to act in faith and trust God. Or maybe there are even just patterns that you need to change.
You've let some patterns develop in your life that are not tending toward godliness and holiness, and in fact they're tending towards a life headed toward destruction. But you just think that you can't change that pattern. You think that that pattern will mark you as a Christian perhaps to the last day. Friend, you need to act in faith and trust God's word. Brothers and sisters, what's happening here with Abram at its core is the same thing that the Bible demands of each one of us.
Abram should trust God by obeying God. His faith and his obedience, they're actually linked together in a very important way here. So the way that he gets his inheritance is by faith, Yes, to be clear on that, it's not by works, but he still has to obey God. He still has to leave and go to this other land. And the way that we, as the readers of this text, know that Abram had faith is because we know that he obeyed God.
Look, a part of us, a part of you receiving the inheritance that's promised for you in the future is by obeying God today. you have a promised inheritance. It's as sure as anything in the universe. It is there for us. So you trust God today. You believe his word today. Look, friend, to say that you have faith, to say that you believe, and yet to not obey, is to call your faith into question.
I mean, that's in part, this is a little bit of a sidebar, but in part, that's why the Lord has given his people in churches the tool of church discipline. When someone says, I believe, and yet their life does not look like they believe because they do not obey, Christians, churches, have every right and obligation to question that person's belief in the first place. If your life does not match up with what you say you believe, churches should rightly say, that's not what a Christian does. You don't look like a Christian. You don't sound like a Christian. Brother, sister, you may not be a Christian. We're concerned for you. Friend, don't let that be you. If you say you believe, then obey God's word. This evening, remember that you have an inheritance. You have an inheritance. It does not matter how rich or poor your family is. You have an inheritance. And no, it's not a physical plot of land somewhere. It's not a massive amount of worldly wealth.
It's much better than that. It's salvation. It's forgiveness of sins. It's being made a part of God's people. It's being included in God's kingdom for all of eternity. God is creating his people by his choosing and through his word. And for those of us who are his people, we have an inheritance. And that inheritance, just like for Abram, is promised in the future. so then just like for Abram we walk by faith as we trust God's word let's be a people who do that even more faithfully this year let's pray our father we thank you that you are a God who has chosen us and plucked us out of our sin oh God you are merciful beyond our wildest dreams you are a God who is full of grace and full of ability then to pull off the plan to save sinners from
their sinfulness. Oh God, we give you praise for that. And yet we do pray that you would help us to be faithful. We pray that you would help us to trust your word and that we now would obey so that on that day we may receive that inheritance. God, thank you for your word this evening. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.