The Call of Abraham

Father, sometimes even the good things that you promise us

frighten us at least a little bit, and sometimes a lot.

We thank you, Father, that you know our hearts,

you know what we're really like,

and we thank and praise you that knowing what we're really like,

that you love us.

And so, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would move gently

but deeply and powerfully in each of our hearts,

that we might hear the words of the Scripture,

that those words of your Scripture, in light of the Gospel,

might enter deep into who we are.

And we give you permission, Father, for your word to speak

and rule and heal and lead and guide in our hearts.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour. Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

So, this morning I might touch on some things

which are a bit painful for people emotionally,

so I ask that you sort of give me a little bit of grace,

given that some of the things I say might be a bit painful to some of us.

But we're beginning a new sermon series.

It's on the life of Abraham,

so we're going to be going from Genesis 12 to Genesis 22.

This week and over the 10 weeks that follow,

we'll finish, God willing, in the first Sunday of July.

And so, if you turn in your Bibles to Genesis 12, verse 1,

Genesis 12:1

Genesis 12, verse 1,

Genesis 12:1

we're going to look at a very, very simple text,

a very profound text,

and for many people, a very scary text.

And why is it scary?

Well, let's look at how it begins.

And actually, I'm just going to say one thing before we...

No, I'll read the text, then I'll read it again.

I'll make a bit of a comment about it.

Here's how it begins.

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.

And I will make of you a great nation.

And I will bless you and make your name great,

so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and him who dishonors you I will curse.

And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Now, just before this, in terms of the context of the book,

the first 11 chapters of Genesis,

in Genesis chapter 1 and 2,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

you have the story of the creation of the world

and the first humans

and sort of basically setting up

the fundamental Christian understanding of creation

and what it means to be human

and what it means to flourish.

And God saw that everything was good.

And in Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

we have the profound turning point in the cosmos

and in human life,

where evil and brokenness and bentness,

so to speak,

enters into the world

when Adam and Eve choose to exalt themselves over God,

to not trust his word,

to exalt themselves over God.

And there's this rupture,

this break that happens in humanity

and in all of creation.

And then there's other things that happen,

which we're not going to go into

between that moment and the end of Genesis 11.

But here's sort of the point.

Up until this point in time,

there are three judgments by God.

And there are five times

where God pronounces a curse.

So between sort of the first few verses

of Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

and the end of Genesis chapter 11,

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

you have these three times

where a judgment is issued by God

against human beings

and five times

where he curses things.

And I know that just even

for many of us listening to this,

the whole idea that God would pronounce a curse

is both sort of hokey

and childish

and also just somehow seems wrong.

And I'll explain in a moment

what that means.

But mindful of that,

what you're now going to see

is this turning point

in the rest of the Bible.

And in some ways,

what God says to Abram

in these three verses

sets the agenda,

the program,

for all of the rest of the Bible.

All of the rest of the Bible,

in a sense,

is going to try to unpack that

and develop that

and unearth that

and deepen that

and extend it

and fill it in.

So mindful of the three curses,

sorry,

the three judgments

and the five curses,

we now have this statement again.

Hear it again.

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.

And I will make of you

a great nation

and I will bless you

and make your name great

so that you will be a blessing.

And I will bless those

who bless you

and him who dishonors you

I will curse.

And in you,

all the families of the earth

shall be blessed.

This,

in the original language,

five times the word blessing

in some form

is mentioned

in the original language.

Now what's the scary part of that?

The scary part of that

is the very first things

that God says to Abram.

Look again at verse one.

Now the Lord said to Abram,

go,

go from your country,

go from your kindred

and go from your father's house

to the land

that I will show you.

He's told to go

and leave behind his family,

his country

and his kindred,

in a sense,

the larger clan or tribe.

And he's told to go to a place

that he's not even told

where it's going to be.

He's just told to go.

And if you're watching this

and you're sort of a seeker

trying to figure out

what the Christian faith is

or you're maybe looking here

for more ammo

as to why you shouldn't be a Christian,

well, first of all,

welcome if you're here

and welcome if you're here.

I just want to share with you

that Christians find this idea

frightening as well

because part of what it means

to be human,

but not the best part

of what it means to be human,

is desire to have

a lot more control

over things.

And so one of the fears

is that

if you actually sort of

launch yourself

in the Christian faith,

that it's just going to be

this open-ended thing

and before you know it,

like you get weird

and you get weirder

and you get weirder

and you get weirder

and you get weirder

because God just gives you

this command just to go

and he doesn't even tell you

all the steps

that he's going to give you.

He doesn't tell you exactly

what it's going to look like

and that on one hand

is sort of very frightening

to people

and it's frightening

at different times

to Christians.

But what's actually,

I don't know if this

will make it easier

and this is where I might,

I need your grace

because I might touch

on a couple of things

which are very

uncomfortable for you.

Some of the things

which are most key

to human flourishing

involve the same type

of step

into the unknown.

Now,

just before I give you

these examples

and I know that there are

people in the room

who long to be married

and haven't been able

to be married

and I know there are

people in the room

and people watching

who have been married

and their marriage

is either in the process

of dissolution

or has broken up

and it's been very painful.

And I know there are

people in the room

who would desperately love

to be able to have children

or more children

and haven't been able

to have children.

I know there are people

in the room

who have had miscarriages.

So I know that

this example

can be painful

to some.

But,

well,

I'll use a personal example.

When

I got to hold

Elizabeth,

my daughter,

my sixth child,

in my arms,

I didn't know

that five years later

I would spend

a couple of days

in the intensive care unit

of the children's hospital

watching her

fight for every breath

and not know

whether she was going

to live

or whether she was

going to die.

And I didn't know.

I mean,

she ends up surviving.

Those of you

who don't know me,

she survived.

Turned out she had

a very rare form

of pneumonia

that usually only

very elderly people get.

But somehow or another

it's very rare

for a five-year-old girl

to get this type

of pneumonia

that usually

only elderly people get.

And they were able

to treat it.

But, you know,

some 16, 17 years,

18 years later,

whatever,

I got to walk her

down the aisle

because she's going

to marry David.

And

just a couple of weeks ago

I got to hold

her fourth child

in my arms,

Levi,

the grandchild.

Now,

the point of all

of this is

that we all know

that there are areas

of human flourishing

that when you take

that first step

into it,

you have no idea

what's going to be

down the road.

And that's why

I shared

that in some ways

I know I'm touching

upon things here

which can be

very, very difficult.

So that one of the things

that's really important

for us to know

as Christians,

two of the things

which are very,

very, very wonderful,

profoundly,

emotionally important

for Christians.

From the outside

you might not realize it

but once the gospel

grips you

there are two things

about the gospel

and the biblical narrative

that are of profound

emotional importance.

And the first one

is that our flourishing

as human beings

doesn't depend

upon being married

or upon having children

or upon having

certain types

of professional accreditation

or having a large family

or any family at all.

that one of the things

which is so profoundly

beautiful and important

about the Christian faith

is that every individual

just by the virtue

of them being born

and becoming God's children

by adoption and grace

the possibility

of flourishing

is there.

Like real flourishing.

Like real flourishing.

In fact,

one of the things

there's this wonderful book

if you get a chance

to read it

by a scholar

who taught

at University of Edinburgh

he died

just a couple of years ago.

he wrote two books

before he died

on how on earth it is

that anybody

in the ancient world

would have become

a Christian

given that it involved

such a profound break

from your culture.

The man's name

was Larry Hurtato

and both of the books

there's a more scholarly one

published by Oxford University Press

or something like that

and a bit of a more popular version.

But you see,

one of the things

which was so profoundly important

to these

that the gospel brought

is that slaves

despite the fact

that they were profoundly constrained

were fully loved by God

and if you read

the New Testament

and you read it

and see that there's

this profound message

that even though

they're constrained

even though they're slaves

that Jesus loved them enough

to die on the cross

for them

and that given

even their constraints

it's possible for them

to flourish in that

and to be vehicles

by which the gospel

becomes known

and people are saved

and good is done

in the city

and God is praised

and women

who were profoundly powerless

in much of the ancient world

the gospel is profoundly

powerful to them

because they come to realize

that even though

there's all these limits

and from the outer view

they're unqualified

they're unsuitable

it's unlikely

that God would use them

but God uses women

he blesses women

and they're able to flourish

even in the midst

of constrained situations

and so one of the things

which is very powerful

about the Bible

is this profound message

that you are not

of more worth or value

if you're married

than if you're single

or of more worth or value

if you have children

than you don't have children

that there's this profound

flourishing

and gift of blessing

which every human being

in Christ gets

and they just get it

but at the same time

we acknowledge

well that

there are things

like marriage

that we embark on

and some of us

in the room

know the pain

of the marriage

that doesn't work out

and we know

that there are

I know that there are

people here

whose moms and dads

rather than loving them

abuse them

some in quite horrendous ways

but we all

if you think about it

for a second

if you think about it

for a second

if you were to meet

a human being

and they decided

that because of the fact

that there is a possibility

of pain

in a certain path

that they weren't

going to take

any path at all

and maybe they just spent

the rest of their life

because they had

a little bit of money

that having Uber

deliver food to them

and they never go outside

they never talk to anybody

they never engage

in anything

they never try anything

and by doing

all of those things

they never give

their heart to anything

and by doing all of that

they in a sense

they protect their heart

from any type

of being broken

but we would not

look at anybody

like that

and say that

they were flourishing

and so for many people

in our culture

who desperately

would love to have

a person they could spend

the rest of their lives with

but maybe they themselves

have been

you know

divorced

or their parents

were divorced

maybe multiple times

and there's a lot of

just

I mean

at the end of the day

the bottom line is

that the step

that will lead

to flourishing

involves

a step

in a sense

it's not a leap of faith

it's a step

into the darkness

at least it's darkness

because you can't see

what's beyond

that next step

or two

and part of what

we learn

actually

is that while you

step into that darkness

in things

which really are

connected to human

flourishing

what looks like

darkness on the outside

when you step into it

is actually

bright

but there's still

that next darkness

before the next step

that you need to step into

and you step into

and you step into

so in the Bible here

when we see the Lord

calling Abram

to leave behind

his family

his kindred

his nation

and to go in a place

where I don't know

on one hand

that's the exact same thing

that's required

for all human flourishing

and it's the exact same

type of thing

of being bound

to in a sense

to a path

that is also

key to flourishing

just as we don't

really think

that the person

who flourishes

is the person

who has a different

girlfriend every night

I mean I know

that goes against

the playboy philosophy

and I know it goes

against how most

of Hollywood

presents things

where the hero

or the heroine

has a different

boyfriend or girlfriend

every show

and they never show

any type of remorse

they never have

any type of

emotional breakdown

any type of

emotional wounding

any type of

hollowing out

or deadening

or anything like that

they just go from

one to one

to one to one

as if there's

no consequence to that

but in real life

if we were to meet

a person who had

a different girlfriend

every night

and they'd been

doing that for 20 years

we would not use

view them as an example

of human flourishing

most people wouldn't

the part of flourishing

is some types

of commitments

into darkness

which as you walk

turns to be light

and that's what

the Lord calls

Abram to here

he says

go from your country

and your kindred

and your father's house

well he can't go

if he has them

with him

can he

he has to leave

them behind

and he doesn't know

where it's going

to take him

God doesn't tell him

where he's going

to take him

so on one hand

it's very frightening

and part of the

frighteningness

is because it reveals

a little bit

about the fact

that we have

a deep

not fear of God

in a way

that's healthy

but a type of fear

of God

of the fact

that when we

at the end of the day

if it's God

that we're dealing

with

there's no way

getting around

the fact

that you lose

control

I mean in a sense

all relationships

is going to mean

you lose some control

I mean even parents

with little kids

you know you might

think you have control

but they poop

when they're going

to poop

they throw up

when they're going

to throw up

they cry

when they're going

to cry

they do all those

things whenever

they're going

to do it

and you just

have to deal

with it

it's your commitment

to them

and your love

to them

and it's part

of human flourishing

and that's actually

even here seen

in the text

and the thing

which we should

really jump out

at the text

is not the problem

with cursing

which I'll explain

in a moment

but the fact

that it's so

and use a big word

asymmetric

it's so unbalanced

God merely asked

Abram to do

on one hand

it's a very simple

thing

it's a very scary

thing

but it's a very

small thing

on one level

compared to all

of the good

that comes to it

that God does

look at it again

go from your country

verse 1

and your kindred

and your father's

house to the land

that I will show you

and I will make

of you

a great nation

and I will bless

you

and make your name

great

how is it

he's going to make

your name great

how is he going to

bless

he's going to

bless us

so that we're

a blessing

it's an image

in a sense

of that

it's like

an image

of where

not only

does God's blessing

going to come

into his life

to bless him

but that it

doesn't just

sort of become

he doesn't become

like a big

bloated blessing

you know

as if

you know

in those cartoons

where the hose

goes into a person

they just get

fatter and fatter

and fatter

you know

or the air hose

goes into a person

they get fatter

and fatter

and fatter

and they eventually

float away

that's in a sense

I mean

if anything like that

actually happened

it would be a form

of torture

to kill you

so it's not

as if the blessing

just comes in

and you just become

like this dam

this reservoir

this dead sea

this dead sea

of blessing

but he blesses you

so that it will

flow out

that you

are a blessing

to others

and verse 3

and I will bless

those who bless you

and him who dishonors

you I will curse

and in you all

of the families

of the earth

shall be blessed

you see this

piling on a blessing

that's very

incommensurate

so what does

blessing mean

blessing very simply

in the bible

is this

at least in this

particular type

of a context

a blessing

is that

it's the power

and the presence

of god

to flourish

that's what it means

it's the power

and presence

of god

to flourish

and to thrive

and it

and in the bible

it either

refers to physical

things

creational things

or to spiritual

things

and spiritual

things are also

created

but they're not

of this created

order

and it can

either be

creational

just like physical

or very just

merely human

so to speak

it can also be

spiritual

it can be both

and it's in a sense

a coming from god

of a type of presence

and a power

into your life

that causes you

to thrive

or to flourish

some of you get

emails from me

and I often

end them

I hope you're

thriving in jesus

and when I say that

I'm in a sense

saying I hope

you're being blessed

to be a blessing

because that's what

blessing in a sense

means

what does cursing

mean

well cursing

is the opposite

of it

and fundamentally

in the bible

I mean it's in a sense

a decision

that's made by god

but fundamentally

what it usually

means

is it means

in a sense

a removal

of presence

and power

that leads

to your diminishment

you know

it would be

as if

you know

to give you

an example

some of you

maybe have

known elderly

couples

and while

the couple

is still alive

they seem

to thrive

and then

the wife

dies

and all

of a sudden

you see

that the man's

life starts

to completely

and utterly

fall apart

you know

because maybe

it's because

of his wife's

involvement

in his life

that the house

is tidy

that there's

food in the

fridge

eats his

vegetables

there's a whole

pile of things

that allows

him to thrive

but his wife's

absence

means that

the natural

tendencies

towards being

slovenly

to being lazy

to just eating

fast food

those natural

tendencies

of his

just come out

and what you

see

is his

diminishment

not his

thriving

just a bit

of an aside

I think

it's still

the case

I don't know

how COVID

has affected

it

married

I think

something like

a man

who's married

lives

I don't know

10 years

longer

20 years

longer

something

crazy

it makes

no difference

to the length

of time

the wife

lives

but it makes

a big difference

to the man

I can see

from myself

I eat way

more vegetables

because I'm

married to

Louise

and I probably

would naturally

all by myself

and my diet

is definitely

more healthy

and I'm more

likely to actually

go see a doctor

all those types

of things

but you can see

that in that

example

a little bit

of what is

meant

it's not so

much that God

all of a sudden

starts throwing

things at you

to make things

bad happen to you

but by

in a sense

a slight

withdrawal

the natural

tendencies

of you

towards

diminishment

and destruction

begin to have

some type of

current

and weight

one of the

ideas which is

presented in the

New Testament

about the same

line is

it's almost

as if grace

is the rope

that binds

the boat

to the dock

there's a dock

on a river

and there's

current

and there's

a rope

that binds

the boat

to the dock

and what

happens is

it's almost

as if

the cursing

is where

God in a

sense begins

to let the

rope

loose

where it

has play

and the

natural

current

starts to

take the

boat away

and that's

what's behind

this idea

and you see

at the heart

of it is

if what has

caused us

to be

fallen

creatures

is our

separation

from God

then ultimately

true blessing

has to involve

reconnecting

to his presence

and his person

and to be

connected to his

presence and his

person is also

to be connected

to his power

for us to

thrive

whether it's

in physical

things

or whether

it's in

spiritual

things

and even

if you look

at it

it's a very

subtle thing

which you

can't actually

see in

English

very very

well

but when it

says to him

who dishonors

you I will

curse

sorry I will

bless those

who bless you

plural

to him

singular

who dishonors

you I will

curse

it's a

very simple

level at the

in the

in the original

language to

emphasize that

God's fundamental

heart is to

bless

that the

blessing in a

sense has the

greater weight

and the greater

distance

and that it's

not his heart

to curse

that his

fundamental

heart towards

you is to

bless you

it's why

I think it's

in the book

of Ezekiel

three different

times

that it has

this idea

and those of

you who do

morning and

evening prayer

from the book

of common

prayer

you'll get

this phrase

that God

takes no

delight in the

death of

God takes no

delight in the

death of a

sinner but

rather that he

will turn from

his wickedness

and live

and that captures

perfectly this

idea of the

blessing and the

cursing that his

heart is to

bless you his

heart is to

know you his

heart is to

have you receive

his presence into

his life his

heart is that you

will trust him to

leave and to go

and to trust him

as he leaves as he

leads you and

takes you that you

will trust him and

it doesn't mean in

your life that you

will never have bad

things or hard

things happen to

you but because

you know it isn't

as if blessing means

that you'll never be

stretched you'll

never be tested you'll

never have just

very very hard

things happen to

you but it means

that as you as

you come to these

things you have his

fundamental promise to

help you you have his

presence and his

power to help you

face those things and

deal with those things

which are very very

hard and very very

difficult and so in a

sense what you're

seeing here remember

what you're seeing

here in a sense the

pattern of the rest of

the Bible the program

of the rest of the

Bible the promise of

the rest of the Bible

these are all things

are unknown Abraham

doesn't realize of

course that him

taking these small

steps of faith will

down the ages culminate

in him becoming a

mighty nation becoming

the people of Israel

that the Torah and the

prophets would all be

revealed to his

offspring through the

years and that

eventually because

salvation comes from

the Jews that the

actual Messiah who will

be the person who is

the profound blessing

for the present the

future and the past

Abraham is going to

give birth to the one

who gives birth to the

one who gives birth to

the one who gives

birth to the one that

eventually will bring

about the Savior that

Abraham needs himself to

be made right with God

that this on one level

small step away from his

family his friends his

country in obedience and

trusting that God who has

called him to do this it

culminates in these

profound blessings down

the world down the road

so what happens in the

rest of the text the main

thing about it is you

wonder is there something

special about Abram well

that's sort of the

question is there

something special about

Abram well the rest of the

story these next 17

verses will help to make

that far more clear let's

look and see what happens

verse 4 so Abram went as

the Lord had told him and

Lot went with him Abram

Lot is his nephew Abram

was 75 years old when he

departed from Haran and

Abram took Sarai his wife

and Lot his brother's son and

all their possessions that

they had gathered and the

people that they had

acquired in Haran and they

set out to go to the land

of Canaan when they came to

the land of Canaan Abram

passed through the land to

the place at Shechem to the

oak of Moreh at that time

the Canaanites were in the

land then the Lord appeared

to Abram and said so he's

appearing to him at the oak

or the terebinth tree of

Moreh in Shechem and the

Lord appeared to Abram verse

seven and said to your

offspring I will give this

land so Abram built there an

altar to the Lord who had

appeared to them let's sort of

pause here one of the things

which are very important

about the Old Testament

stories which is why it's

important for us to read

them is that stories prepare

our imagination and sort of

our our mind to receive

abstract ideas it in a sense

that it prepares us to

receive these things it's one

of the reasons why I know

that parents of children you

I mean obviously the kids are

going to watch different

things on TV and other

places you know we've all

seen over the last little

while that you have to be

very careful about that what

you let your kids watch but

one of the most important

things that parents can do

for their children is to read

Bible stories to them like if

you're if your children are

just getting a diet of purely

Disney type stories and never

hearing Bible stories they're

going to be deeply impoverished

and it's going to be hard for

them to understand different

things in the Bible and here in

this very simple story God has

taken Abram to the very center

of the promised land to a place

where paganism is celebrated and

taught because more means teaching

so right in the very center where

Canaanite religion is celebrated and

taught in a sense pagan you is right

there and right in the center right

In the face of it God says I don't

care if if all those gods that are

being worshiped believe they control

and own the land in a sense today he

says I don't care if Apple thinks

they own everything I don't care if

Google thinks they own everything I

don't care if Disney thinks they own

everything I don't care if the

Supreme Court thinks they own

everything I don't care if Trudeau

thinks he owns everything I don't

care if the CBC thinks they own everything. I own everything. I'm giving you the land.

The land is yours. You see, in a very simple way, it's preparing us for this idea of God being

almighty and owning the whole, all of the earth, that he would lead Abram to the center of the

promised land where it's ruled by other people and paganism is celebrated. And God says,

disregard these gods. I am the true God. The land is going to be given to you because it's mine to

give, not theirs. But is Abram special? That was a bit of an aside. Look at verse eight.

From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent

with Bethel on the west and A on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called

upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. And Abram sounds

like just a very, very faith-filled, special type of guy. In fact, some of us might be saying,

well, George, the problem I have is that I'm not Abram. I don't have that type of faith. I don't

have that type of self-possession. My life is more fits and starts with more fits than starts.

I'm more the type of guy that I can take three steps forward. Yeah, but then I end up taking seven

steps back. I'm the type of guy that if you play snakes and ladders, I'm always getting the thing

that sends me backwards and very rarely climbing up. And so I can't relate to Abram. But we'll look

what immediately happens right afterwards in verse 10. Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went

down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt,

just one moment, one moment. God has just given the promised land. Abram's having a hard time.

Abram says, I'm just going to trust my reasoning and thinking abilities to sort this out for myself.

Abram says, I'm just going to trust my life. And he leaves the promised land.

He gets frightened by his circumstances. And it gets worse. Verse 11, when he was about to enter

Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a beautiful woman in appearance. And when the

Egyptians see you, they will say, hmm, this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared

for your sake. Now just pause. This is never good advice.

Like don't...

So Abram thinks he's going to solve this by his ability to deceive people. And in the process,

he wants to pretend he's not married to his wife. But one moment, how's God going to make a mighty

nation if he's not married? Like all of these promises, all of them just flee from his mind.

He doesn't consult God. He just depends upon his natural human reasoning.

And look at verse 14, and when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very

beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was

taken into the Pharaoh's house, which means his harem. Well, how is this plan going to end well

for Abram? Like we might say, what were you thinking? I mean, actually, what were you not thinking?

Like, how did you actually think any of this was going to work out?

And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. And he had sheep and oxen, male donkeys, male servants,

female servants, female donkeys, and camels. So Abram, with the consent of his wife, Sarah,

the two of them come up with this plan. It ends up that Abram gets very rich, but she ends up in the

Pharaoh's harem, and they're not in the promised land. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house

with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife. The Lord intervenes. So Pharaoh called Abram and said,

what is this you have done to me? Why did you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say

she is my sister, so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go.

And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Now, here's the thing. One of the things that you don't know in this text, and you know it from

archaeology, in the Hebrew, if you go back to the bit just before chapter 12, and you look at the names,

you can see that there's a connection to the moon god in all of them.

God only blesses the unlikely, the unsuitable, and the unworthy.

Abram was a moon god worshiper when God called him. A moon god worshiper. He wasn't like some profound,

it wasn't as if God looked around and said, gosh, look at Abram. He's so spiritual, he's so profound,

you know, he's so deep, you know, I just gotta have him on my team. No, it's not like that.

The thing about it is, and see, one of the persistent problems for us as Christians is,

it's very hard for us to accept that Jesus knows the worst about us, and dies for us knowing the

worst about us. But that's, remember, that's what we looked at last week. He died for our sins in

accordance with the scriptures. In other words, he looked at me, and he looked at you, he saw the worst in us,

and seen the worst in us, what it elicits out of him is love, and the love is not merited,

it's not worthy, it's a pure, complete, and utter gift, and God, purely and utterly, out of his mercy

and love and desire to give, he pours his love and his grace upon the unlikely, the unsuitable,

and the unworthy. And that's what Abram's revealed to be. He's a worshiper of the moon when God calls

him. He's a guy who's going to try to pretend that he's not married to his wife. He's a guy who's

going to try to figure out, to pretend that he's not married to his wife, they're going to work it

out together so they can make money, and they can be protected, and it's, and he's not listening to

God, he's not consulting God. He's not particular, and this is all, like, not, why is he, I mean,

the other thing about it is, as if we didn't talk about it beforehand, but it's in the part before

this, is that Abram's old, his wife, they've been married for many, many years, his wife is old,

they haven't been able to have kids, they worship the moon, by their very nature that he's going to

try to think of ways to lie and deceive, to get himself out of problems, he's going to forget what

God has said, he's going to do it, he is completely and utterly unlikely, unsuitable, and unworthy of God's

grace, as am I, and as are you. God never gives his grace to the suitable, the likely, or the worthy.

He only gives his grace to the unsuitable, the unlikely, and the unworthy, of which I am one.

And so we see the very, very pattern of the rest of the scripture and the very gospel itself is set

before us here in these very early words of the scriptures. I'd like you to stand.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we confess before you that we who are Christians, that we very, very quickly forget

your scripture, and we imagine that there are things about us that are really worthy, that

make you sort of need or have to give us grace, or have us on your team, or have us have you as your

child, that there's just things within us, Father, that sort of just compel that, or that somehow,

Father, that we easily fall into thinking that we've done some things for you that now put you in our

debt, and then you need to reciprocate and give us some blessing. And Father, we confess that there's

something deep within us after you have blessed us by giving us saving faith, that that's still there.

And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would gobsmack us with just the graciousness of grace,

the depth of grace, the depth of your love, that you never are in our debt, that you never weigh our

merits, that you are never in need, that we are always in need, that we are always in need of your love,

we are always in need of your grace, we are always in need of your mercy.

And that to be your child is to learn to be on life support from you for the rest of our life,

and that this is a good thing. Father, we ask that you bring home to us our profound need for grace.

And we ask, Lord, that you bring home to us ever more deeply our need to respond to what you are offering us,

that you would help us respond, respond in a way that accepts your grace, that trusts you, that trusts you with our future, our present, our future.

And we give you thanks and praise for all that Jesus has done for us.

We thank you for the way that Abraham has been used by you to be that first step that would lead to Christ, that would lead to us receiving grace.

And we ask that you make us deeply grateful and to trust you more and more, whether it's with our money, our sexuality, our time, our career, our past, our future, our place in culture, that you would help us to trust you.

That Jesus is our Savior and our Lord, that he is our hope of glory.

And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.