Abraham - 5/6/26 - Meadows Baptist Church - Pastor Charlie Branch

Welcome to the podcast of Meadows

Baptist Church of Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. We're so glad you joined us

today. If you enjoy today's message, be

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with your friends. Now, let's join

Pastor Charlie Branch with a word from

God.

All righty. Genesis chapter 12 tonight

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

if you have a Bible. Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

And uh

we'll look here again this evening. And

I've been looking forward to this today.

And uh I realized on this past Sunday

night I was preaching. I really didn't

finish my message. And uh I was thinking

about it. I posed the question uh on

Sunday night u concerning u why

rebellion brings confusion. I'll give

you the outline. I ain't gonna preach it

tonight. There's a whole another message

here uh that I didn't deal deal with,

but I'll give it to you. You might want

to write it down. Go study it for

yourself. But Genesis 11 where we

preached that on Sunday night. I my

outline was rebellion uh causes

confusion. Of course, Nimrod is

rebellion. And that confusion deals with

the tower that of Babel. That city Babel

means confusion. And Nimrod built that

city. And so, uh we titled that

rebellion why rebellion brings

confusion. And I put these thoughts in

my Bible here. Didn't preach them Sunday

night, but uh number one, rebellion

brings confusion because it's not our

design. We weren't made to be rebellious

against God. We were not made to be that

way. We were made to be obedient and

submissive to the Lord. And so

rebellion, number one, is not our design

from the beginning. God didn't make us

that way. We were made in his image. And

so number two, not only rebellion is not

our design, but number two, rebellion is

not desirable. You've never seen anybody

living in rebellion that enjoyed it.

That's right.

>> Amen. Um it's not a fruitful life. It's

not a faithful life. It's not an

enjoyable life. And so rebellion's not

our design. It's not desirable. And then

thirdly, I thought about this. It's not

only not our design and not desirable,

but it's not our destiny.

>> Right?

>> And uh I'll say this about that. When

God had to go and confound the language

of those people in that city, you know

what? God didn't want to do that.

>> And he didn't have to do that. But

because of their sin, he did.

>> Right?

>> They would have never had to do that if

they'd have just been obedient to God.

And you see tonight, you shape who you

end up to be. What? But what became

their destiny did not have to be their

destiny. Amen. And so there's the

outline that I gave you why rebellion,

amen, causes confusion. So maybe next

time I'll do a better job preaching.

Amen. But Genesis 12, let's look here

tonight and going to begin studying the

life of Abraham uh this evening. We'll

really begin reading in Genesis 11 and

try to lay out the background of his

life here in the text. Genesis 11 verse

number Let's begin reading in verse

number uh verse number 26 of Genesis 11.

Your Bible says and Tara lived 70 years

and begat Abram Nahor and Haran. Now

these are the generations of Terara.

Terara begat Abra Abram Nahor and Haran

and Haran begat Lot and Haran died

before his father Terara in the land of

his nativity in of the Caldes. And Abram

and Nahor took them wives. The name of

Abram<unk>s wife was Sarai. And the name

of Nahor's wife Milkeyi Mila the

daughter of Haran the father of Mila and

the father of Iska. But Sarai was

barren. She had no child. And Terara

took Abram<unk>s son. and Lot the son of

Haran his son's son and Sarai his

daughter-in-law his son Abram<unk>s wife

and they went forth with them from the

Caldes to go into the land of Canaan and

they came unto Haran and dwelt there and

the days of Terara were 205 years and

Terara died in Haran chapter 12 and

verse number one the Bible says now the

Lord had said unto Abram get thee out of

thy country and from thy kindred and

from thy father's house unto the land

that I will show thee, 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 them

that cursseeth thee, and in thee shall

all families of the earth be blessed."

So Abram departed, as the Lord had

spoken unto him, and Lot went with him,

and Abram was 70 and five years old when

he departed out of Haran. Father, I ask

you for just a moment, Lord, that you

would help us tonight. I thank you for

Bible study, but God, I just want it to

be what you want it to be tonight. If

you'd had me to preach, help me preach,

Lord. And I just pray you'd help me to

expound the word of God. Well, give me

uncction, liberty tonight. Cleanse me of

all sin. Father, use me. Make me fit,

God. I pray that you'll help me tonight.

Get all glory unto yourself. And I pray

for each individual that's here tonight,

Lord. I thank you, uh, God, for them

being here. I pray you bless them for

their presence. But God, I pray that

they would receive a blessing from your

word tonight, Lord. Some instruction,

Lord, to help them go on another mile,

some encouragement. Lord, I pray you'd

help us tonight uh to be obedient to the

word of God. Lord, you said obedience is

better than sacrifice. And so, Lord,

help us to hearken to the word of God

tonight. Lord, we love you. Thank you

for loving us in Jesus name. Amen.

Genesis 11 begins here the genealogy. It

began with the study of this city of

Babel in the text and then it leaves off

in verse number 10 with the generations

of Sheim. Now, if you know anything

about the Bible, the origin of Israel,

the godly family comes through the

Shemmites. And so, when you hear the

phrase, I don't know, you probably

already connected this, but we you hear

the phrase in our country a whole lot

today of anti-semitism.

And what that is is that Seemetic the

Seemetic people are Shim's children.

That's what that refers to. And so

people anti-Semites are people who are

against Shim's children. That's what

that means. And so Shim's genealogy is

given in chapter number 11 verse number

10 down through uh the end of the

chapter ending up with the death of

Terara, Abram's father in the text. Now

Abram of course in this text would go on

to be Abraham. Sarah, Sarah, his wife,

would go on to be Sarah. But this is the

beginning portion of Abram's life. And I

want to just lay the history of his life

out of this text. Try to draw

correlation and connect all of this

together. Let me say this tonight. The

first 12 chapters of the Bible encompass

some 2,000 years. What we've read about

here in chapter number 11 has

accomplished some 2,000 years of

history. And from Genesis 12 on through

the rest of the Old Testament would be

another approximately 2,000 years. And

so without these first 12 chapters of

the book of Genesis, you would miss a

big picture really where all the uh the

uh knots and loose ends are tied up

throughout the Old Testament. All the

principles that we find in the law of

Moses and everything that goes on from

that comes from these 12 chapters. And

so this beginning portion is important

and I definitely want to highlight here

Abram's life. I want to give you just

some things concerning Abram here in the

text. When Abram comes on the scene in

Genesis 12, the first thing that's

mentioned in Genesis 12 verse number one

is notice those first five words.

There's a word that comes from God. Look

what the Bible says. Now the Lord had

said, now to put this in a timeline

period, it's been 422 years since God

spoke to Noah in Genesis chapter number

N and verse number one. And so Noah has

been dead approximately 75 years or

maybe a little more than that at this

point in time because he lived 350 years

after the flood. And so to tie all of

this together, I want you to think about

this with me for just a minute. When the

earth was divided, when the languages

were scattered, according to the text,

Noah was still alive.

Noah was still alive. Noah was alive.

Sheam and Japheth were alive. You can

read that according to chapter number

10, if you notice in verse number 25 of

Genesis 10, the Bible says in in verse

25, "And unto Eber were born two sons.

The name of one was Pelleg. For in his

days was the earth divided and his

brother's name was Jockan. And so Pleg

was in that line of Shin. And that's

just a few generations down from Noah in

this text. And so Noah was still alive

at the dividing days in those days. And

you say, "How is that, preacher?" Well,

Noah witnessed everything that

transpired. And you think about this.

The sin that we preached on in Noah's

life, Noah watched the people that he

had saved off of the ark. He watched

them go down. You're

>> right.

>> And so what we discover in our text

where Terara is finding himself in verse

number 27, the Bible says in verse 27,

"Now these are the generations of

Terara. Terara began Abram, Nahor, and

Haran. And Haran begat Lot. And Haran

died before his father." Notice this. in

the land of his nativity. All right,

that's the land of its birth. Look at

this. In of the cowes. Now, if you look

up that land of the cowes, that is

literally another city in the plain of

Shinar. When you look at the text in

chapter number 11, verse number two,

those uh Babel people, amen, those ones,

those the people that had came there

with Nimrod, they f found a plane in the

land of Shinar. And so obviously

Terara's family when the dispersion took

place was not one of the families that

was sent out. Okay? And because in this

text the Bible said in verse number

eight that the Lord scattered them

abroad. So obviously Terara and his

children all I know this is deep. All

right? But just stay with me. Okay?

Terara and his children obviously stayed

right there in the city. They stayed

right there local to the plane of

Shinar. They stayed in this place. And I

want to give you a few things about

Abram's life. You see in this text uh

four things by way of introduction. I'll

give you one point. We'll be done. What

I notice about Abram's life. First of

all, we see in this land that he is

living here in the text is is that Abram

is already it's already presented to us

that Abram is living amidst blasphemy.

>> Right?

>> You say, how can you prove that? Well, I

can prove it scripturally by this text.

First of all, notice what the Bible says

in the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter

number 24.

This record is given.

Joshua chapter number 24 and verse

number two. All right. I'm going to give

you the proof from the wording in the

text, but this is Bible proof. You can't

argue with this. All right. Joshua 24

and verse two. The Bible said Joshua

said unto all the people, "Thus sayaith

the Lord God of Israel, your fathers

dwelt on the other side of the flood in

old time, even Terara, the father of

Abraham and the father of Nore." Notice

that last phrase, what does it say? And

they served other gods. So they're

according to Joshua, they're serving

other gods. But I can tell you from a

proof number one by their location,

they're living in of the Caldes. It was

a place of moon worship. When you look

up that word, it was a central point of

astrology. And uh I what's the other

word you you use for that? Soothsaying I

guess would be the word that you would

use. There was moon worship and

stargazing that went on here. Doesn't

that sound familiar with that tower that

whose top would reach unto heaven, amen,

to the skies. And so this land, this

whole plane of Shinar was engrossed in

this sin. And when you look up that

word, it doesn't only speak of a center

of moon worship, but it also means it

literally means a flame, a burning. Now,

what did we talk about that city of

Babel? They were making brick in verse

three, burning them thorly. The Bible

says it was a place of great industry.

Let me say this, the reason where our

country began to go off the rails is

when prosperity took hold of our nation.

You can go back and see the days of the

industrial revolution is when wickedness

began to run rapid in this land. You can

look at early society. Some of you may

know a little bit about this. I I

enjoyed studying it coming up. Not

because I enjoyed studying about sin,

but I remember studying about the

roaring 20s. Anybody ever heard about

the roaring 20s and everything that went

on in those days? the days prohibition

days and everything that went on that

all of that was birthed out of a country

who had become prosperous industrially

and what this land here represents is a

prosperous place. Yes, God dispersed the

people and so he divided them up, sent

them all over the face of the earth, but

this city still became a central point

for sin. And I remind you again, Babel

all the way through the Bible to the

book of Revelation, today's yet future

from us is still going to be a wicked

city.

>> You're right.

>> Still, it's system is still here.

There's going to be a Babylonian revival

in the end of the days. And that the

Assyrians, they're going to rise up

again. Amen. And reappear on the face of

the earth. I'm not preaching that

tonight. But what I'm telling you is

when this started, it did not end.

>> You're right. When wickedness took hold,

it did not end. And so Terara and his

family are living in this land of the

Caldes. It's a land Abraham was Abram

was dealing with blasphemy. So his

religious background is not good. Okay?

He's he's living amidst wickedness. But

I noticed this. Not only there's

blasphemy in his life, but I'll say this

to make matters worse. There's

barrenness in his life. Look what the

Bible says. Verse 29, Abram and Nahor

took them wives. The name of

Abram<unk>'s wife was Sarai, and the

name of Nahor's wife, Mila, the daughter

of Haran, the father of Mila, and the

father of Iska. But Sarai was barren.

She had no child. Now, it interests me

why that God puts that out there on the

very first. One of the first things that

he says about Abram is that Sarah was

barren. Well, you understand everything,

and I'm not going to get ahead of myself

here, but everything that has to do with

Abram's life, everything that God tells

him is hinging upon her barrenness.

You're

>> right.

>> And you understand barrenness in this

day was a lot bigger deal than it is

now.

>> You're right.

>> I'll say this, there's some families

that uh some ladies that are barren, and

it is a big deal to them, but our

country almost celebrates barrenness

anymore, seeming like. I don't

understand that. Amen. But when you look

at this culture, the only thing that

these ladies had to be honored because

women were not highly esteemed the way

that they are in our day and time or the

way they should be. I believe they are

in good bible believing churches. This

this time if she could not bear

children, she was rendered useless by

society. This is Abram's wife. So

they're living amidst blasphemy. His

wife is barren in the text and then

there's a barrier in his life. Notice

what the Bible says in verse 31. What's

that first phrase of verse 31? And Terra

what? Took Abram. He's got a daddy

that's got a hold of him.

He's controlling his life. All right,

don't lose that thought. Okay, notice

the text. Tara took Abram his son and

Lot the son of Haran his son's son and

Sarah his daughter-in-law his son

Abram<unk>'s wife and they went forth

with them from the Caldes to go into the

land of Canaan and they came unto Haran

and dwelt there. Now what happens in

this text is as they make a journey out

of the Caldes and to go unto the land of

Canaan would be several hundred miles uh

to leave the Caldes to get unto Canaan.

And so they go just a short distance,

probably uh 100 or so miles. I don't

know exact distance, but they leave the

Caldes and go unto Iran and they stop

there. And and obviously it's because

Terara in his old age according to verse

32. Look what the Bible says. And the

days of Tara were 205 years and Tara

died in Haran. And so uh Abram's father

has held him back. He's journeying to go

to Canaan. They're headed there, but his

family is holding him back. And if

that's not enough, he is living amidst

blasphemy. His wife is barren. His

father's a barrier barrier unto him.

Verse 32, you think about the brokenness

of his family.

He loses his debt.

He's already lost a brother. Notice the

text. Haran's already died. Nahor he

left behind in the cowes. And so the

family here in the text, according to

the text, he's lost everything except

his wife. And now he's got to take care

of Lot, his nephew. And so his family's

broken up. And you say, "Why are you

telling us all of that?" Well, this is

the story of Abram.

>> You're right.

>> This is his story. But you see, it all

begins to change in chapter 12. And I

just want to remind you tonight, where

you're at is not the end.

>> You're right. Right.

>> Amen. Just because your story is broken

right now, don't mean it's going to be

broken forever. Amen.

>> Notice the text. Now the Lord had said

unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy

country, from thy kindredom, from thy

father's house, unto a land that I will

show thee." Now, I want to deal for just

a few minutes tonight with the call of

Abraham here in this text. All right?

So, it's been 420 years since God has

spoken audibly to somebody. Genesis 9,

he spoke there unto Noah. And we know

that it's recorded on the pages of

scripture and and it is very well

possible that God spoke unto the people.

I don't know. He may have spoke unto

Eber or Pleg there in the text when he

divided the languages. I don't know. We

can't verify that. But we know it's been

some time since God has spoken to these

people. He's distanced himself because

of their sin. But the Bible says in

verse number one that God's speaking

again. Boy, aren't you thankful when

it's been a while? Amen.

>> Amen. When you ain't heard his voice in

a while, he's got something to say,

>> right?

>> And I'll tell you this, I'm thankful I

know his voice.

>> Amen.

>> He said, "My sheep know my voice."

>> And Abram here in the text, God calls

out to him for the first time. Of

course, we remember Abram's living in a

s amidst a sinful world. He's his wife

is barren. There's there's been great

anguish because of the death of his

father. And then I noticed this phrase

in verse number one. Now the Lord, what

your Bible say had said. It doesn't say

the Lord said. It said the Lord had

said. So what that reveals is that there

was a command that had been given unto

this man.

Now let me say this. All right. What do

we know from the Bible about obedience?

Delayed obedience is what? Disobedience.

Just because when when you think about

the fact that you've been commanded to

do something and and you're waiting. All

right? You're refusing to do that thing.

You're delaying. All right? The whole

time that you're waiting, you're in

disobedience.

>> You're right.

>> Well, I'll go on and do it. Well, you

can't get back all those days that you

wasted.

>> You're right.

>> You get what I'm saying? Well, what we

notice in this text here is that God had

already spoke to Abram. Now, there's

some writers that would want to argue

this fact, but the New Testament sheds

some light on this. Turn with me to the

book of Acts, chapter number 7.

Acts, chapter 7. I want you to listen to

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Stephen's sermon. All right. Stephen's

going to be stoned. We know the story.

Stephen's going to get stoned for

preaching the gospel. But thank God,

he's going to preach from Genesis to to

all the way to where he knows. Amen.

Before he gets stoned. Amen. And I like

it. Praise God. Genesis 7. Listen to

what he says. Look where he begins in

Genesis 7 verse number two. All right.

Genesis 7 and verse two. And he said,

this is Stephen speaking. Men, brethren,

and fathers hearken, the God of glory

appeared unto our father Abraham when he

was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in

Haran, and said unto him, Get thee out

of thy country, and from thy kindred,

and come into the land which I shall

show thee. Then came he out of the land

of the Chaldanss and dwelt in Haran and

from thence when his father was dead he

removed him into this land wherein ye

now dwell. So this reveals to us here in

the text that God had spoke to Abraham

back when he was in the land of the

Caldes. God had come to him and said all

right you need to get out of here. Well

the Bible says they make their journey.

But in verse 31 of Genesis 11, the Bible

says, "And Terara took Abram." Is that

not what your Bible said? And so the

reason I want you to wanted you to

remember that is because somebody had a

bigger control on Abram than God did.

>> You're right.

>> You got to be careful about who you let

get control of your life.

>> If you're not careful, your your

husband, your wife can get control of

you. Your children can get control of

you. You're

>> right.

>> And when God speaks, you know what you

do?

you locked down. Abram went as far as

Tara could go and didn't go any farther

until Tara was gone. And I noticed from

what Stephen said in chapter 7, look

what he says. He said, "Our father," he

appeared unto our father Abraham when he

was in Mesopotamia, that's the land of

the counties. He appeared to him back

there when he was in the plain of the

land of Shinar and spoke to him. God had

said to him to go, but you know what?

Abram didn't go because his daddy wasn't

ready to go. I wonder what's holding

people back in our church. I I wonder

what's holding you back from going all

the way with God.

>> You see, I don't know. You say, "Well,

preacher, this really is Abram's

salvation." Well, if you want to be

truthful about it, Abram's salvation

came the moment that God spoke to him.

>> Right.

>> And so, he was given a command to obey.

All right. He was given a command to

obey and we believe that Abraham

believed God. All right. We we do that.

All right. We believe that. We know that

according to Genesis 15 and verse number

six. And I understand salvation. The Old

Testament. I realize every bit of that.

But you understand it's still by faith.

>> Right.

>> Abraham had to believe the word of God.

I think Abraham believed when God came

to him when he was in, but he just

wasn't willing to go yet.

>> You're right.

>> Amen. I think he received it, but he

wasn't ready to put it in practice. And

you know what? I've seen people, there's

a young man that tonight, he's probably

about three years younger than me. He

grew up with him. He lived on my road.

And uh I remember we we grew up together

and uh played ball, rode bicycles,

four-wheelers, all that other stuff. We

grew up on the little farm over there.

And and he didn't have no family, bless

his heart. At one point, mom and dad

even tried to tried to adopt him

different things. It was just just a lot

of different stuff when I was growing

up. But I remember this young man, no

family, his great-grandmother was

raising him and and uh we he come into

our home, pretty much lived with us and

we took him to a revival meeting one

night and he got saved. I remember it

just like it was yesterday. I remember

watched him pray that night and it

wasn't probably I don't know, it was

just weeks after that. He disappeared.

I didn't see him no more and broke my

heart cuz I loved him. He was my friend.

But you know what? I I really believe

that boy saved. But I just believe

because he had no home life.

>> He had nobody to guide him. He had

nobody to give him aid when he got away

from us. He had no support.

>> You're right.

>> And so, you know what? He went out and

he's probably I don't know where he

could be tonight. I heard several years

ago that he was in jail for a time. I

don't know. But this is what I'll tell

you. I believe that boy's saved, but I

think there's a lot of people like that

that are saved. And I think this is what

happened to them. I think when they get

saved, the devil comes immediately and

he says, "All right, I'm going to ruin

their testimony."

>> You're right.

>> So, they can never do anything for God.

They'll spend the rest of their life

wondering. They'll spend the rest of

their life and won't. They'll be

miserable because of it if they are

saved. Amen. Somebody say, "Amen."

They'll go out there and they'll live

the rest of their life in that mess. And

they'll go to heaven when they die. But

the truth is, they never had a chance to

grow because something or someone held

them back.

>> You're right. I'm convinced there's

church people that sat in a church pew

their whole life that's allowed one

event in their life of bitterness to

keep them from going forward with God.

>> You're right.

>> You'll never do anything for God because

he's holding you. What is it that's

holding you? I don't know what that I

don't know why I'm on that. But but

Abram was held up by his father. Terara

had a grip on him. But when Tara died,

the Bible says in verse 12 and verse

number one, now the Lord had said the

call has been given. The place is

revealed. The call was given to him

while he was in. And we see Abram's

procrastination.

He waited. Why did he wait? Let me ask

you this. How long do you think Abram

waited?

Abram waited a long time.

Notice what the Bible says in verse

four. So Abram departed as the Lord had

spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.

Notice this. And Abram was what?

705

years old. He was 75 years old in the

text. And from what I've read in the

scripture, I can't remember exactly. I

tried to find it this afternoon, but I

think Abram lived to be somewhere

between 120 and 150. So at best, he's

already lived half his life,

>> and he spent a lot of it waiting. I

notice here in this text the place his

procrastination God told him, he said,

"Get out." Look at that. Get out of thy

country, from thy kindred, from thy

father's house unto a land that I will

show thee. What is God, what was God

telling Abram? He was saying, "All

right, you've got to leave the fields."

>> All right, that plain shower, you're

going to have to leave the fields.

You're going to have to leave the

family. Look at that. And from thy

kindred, Nahor was still there.

That family was left behind because you

understand Nahor's children were the

wives for Isaac and for Jacob. You're

>> right.

>> Nahor's children. Nahor's daughters.

They stayed behind. But God told Abram,

"Look, you're going to have to leave.

You got to get out." Look what Look what

the Bible said. From thy kindred, from

thy father's house, he had to leave the

fields. He had to leave the family. And

you know what? He did do that. But where

did he stop? He couldn't leave the

father,

>> right?

>> When a when when when when Tara got to

as far as he could go to Haran, that's

as far as Abram went.

And then I noticed this. You know what I

also didn't leave behind? Because he

didn't leave Tara. He didn't leave the

false religion either.

You see, Terara brought that with him.

>> You're right.

>> Terra carried that with him out of the

Caldes. And so it was present in their

lives. You understand that what'll

happen to you is God will speak. But if

you're not careful, you'll let that

brokenness, that barrier in your life

and that blasphemy will hang around.

What I found is a lot of times and

really all the time when there is a

barrier, when somebody, here's what

happens, okay? And I don't know why I'm

hung up on this, but I'm just going to

hang with it till God says get done.

When somebody gets stopped, you know

what happens in your Christian life when

you get stopped?

>> You don't sit still.

>> You're right. You're right.

>> There's no such thing as sitting still

in the Christian life.

>> Come on.

>> You know what you do when you stop? You

go backwards. You're

>> right.

>> Because when that barrier comes up, you

know what was along with that? All of

that blasphemy that his father had

raised them boys in. Remember, that was

the land of their nativity. This is who

they are. And so because he's still

there, he's still stuck with that, God

said, "You got to leave it all." You

say, "Preacher, what is that an image

of?" Well, it's just like when you take

that marriage vow. When that marriage

vow, what's it say? Forsaking all

others.

>> You're right.

>> Salvation, Christ, and the church. It's

the image of that marriage vow. And when

you come to him, what are you doing? You

leaving it all behind. Jesus said this.

If any man come unto me and hate not his

father, his mother, his children, his

wife, yay, and his own life also. What

did he say? He cannot be my disciple.

>> You're right.

>> He wasn't speaking in the sense that

you've got to hate your family. But he's

saying that you've got to love God so

much that it doesn't matter what anybody

else says in your life.

>> You're right.

>> And if you love God the way you're

supposed to, you'll love them in a way

you never could have.

>> You're right.

>> But Abram got held up. And because of

that, not only Abram was held up, but

you know who else was held up? Sarah was

held up.

>> You're right.

>> And Lot was too. Now, we could argue

that maybe Lot wasn't supposed to go

with him. But I think I think Abram

wanted to help Lot. I think Abram could

have helped Lot. And I think Abram's

mistake is what caused Lot's sin. But

I'm not preaching on that tonight. I'm

saying procrastination

held him up here in this text. It held

him up. He The father kept him. This

false religion kept him according to

Joshua 24 and verse two. They worshiped

other gods. His father served other

gods. That's obviously pinned somewhere.

Joshua wrote it down. And so I noticed

this. All right. And I'll be done this

evening. I see the the place of the

call. It was when he was there in the

Cales. I see the procrastination

of this call. Abram was not obedient to

go directly. But I'll say this. I think

if there's anything we could get from

this tonight, it's it would be this

encouragement. If the call is still

present, you need to go now.

>> You're right.

>> Look what the Bible says. Verse number

four. What's them first three words? So

Abram departed.

>> Yeah, he's 75 years old now, but you

know what? He's decided to go on. I know

a man right now, and I'm going to get

back to the text in a minute, but I know

a man right now running from the call to

preach his entire life. got on up in his

70s and and I remember telling me this.

I went and preached a revival in the

church he was in. He told me this. He

said, "You know, I've run from it my

whole life." He said, "I feel like the

best thing I can do is do it what time I

got left." Said, "I regret wasting all

them years, but this is what I know. God

didn't never take the call from me."

>> Amen.

>> And so, I'm going to do it what time I

got left.

See, the emphasis here is is that Abram

was still obedient. We know that God

used him in this text. And I'll say more

about that in just a minute. But when we

think about all that Abram's been

through, remember this, the blasphemy in

his life, the barrenness of his wife,

the barrier with his father, the

brokenness of his family. But then you

see after obedience and only after

obedience, what what does the Bible say

in verse two? and I will make of thee a

great nation

and I will bless thee.

You know when that promise came

when he obeyed.

>> You're right.

>> When he obeyed. Now you say, "Preacher,

but the Bible says God had already told

him that." Well, you understand Abram

never got a grip on that

>> until he walked away.

>> Amen. You see some things in your life,

you're ne it's never going to be really

real to you until you step in it. You're

>> right.

>> The reason why that so many people I

believe who are saved and they struggle

with their salvation, I say it all the

time, the reason they struggle with it

is because they've never stepped into

it. They're saved but they don't know

how to enjoy it.

>> Yeah.

>> Abram didn't get the effect of this

promise until he stepped out.

>> You're right.

>> He didn't know the blessedness that God

spoke of in this text. And the Bible

says, "I will make of thee a great

nation, and I will bless thee, and make

thy name great, and thou shalt be a

blessing." So much preaching in these

verses, you understand God is setting up

a people. Abram is the father of Israel.

But Abram is more than that. Abram is

the father of what you and I are doing

tonight.

>> You're right.

>> Turn with me to the book of Romans,

Romans 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

And this is how I want to begin our

study of Abram's life.

Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

The Bible says

Romans chapter 4 and verse number

Romans 4 · chapter mention

I really just need to preach the whole

chapter to you, but I'm going to give

you this. All right? and and we'll deal

with this at a later date. Romans 4,

Paul is describing to the church at Rome

faith and works. Now, many writers have

said that Paul in the book of Romans and

James in the Epistle James disagreed

about faith. But here's what I'll say

about that. When James was saying faith

without works is dead, he was not

talking about our salvation. And he was

talking about the outpouring of the of

the spiritfilled life in a Christian.

Paul said himself in Romans 5, he said,

"And the hope is shed and sh the love of

God is shed abroad in our hearts by the

Holy Ghost which is given unto us." And

so that faith in us is going to have

some evidence outside. You're

>> right.

>> Amen. If you're saved, there will be

some evidence of that. But Paul says in

Romans 4, he talks about works. And he

reminds them in chapter number three

that it's not by the deeds of the law.

He says in verse number 28 of Romans 3,

"Therefore, we conclude that a man is

justified by faith without the deeds of

the law." And so, it wasn't the keeping

of the law that saved anybody because

Abram was saved long before the law was

ever given. The law came by Moses. But

how was Abram the father of the faith if

it requires the law to be saved?

Well, the Bible says in Romans 4, notice

this. The Bible says in Romans 4 and

verse number one, "What shall we say

then that Abram our father as pertaining

to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham

were justified by works, he have to

glory, but not before God. For what

saith the scripture, a quote of Genesis

Genesis 15:6

15:6, Abraham believed God, and what?

And it was counted unto him for

righteousness. It was his faith. It was

not his works. It was not what he did

that saved him, but it was him believing

in the words of God. You're

>> right.

>> And his faith was evidenced by his

works.

He lived his life in obedience unto God.

Listen to what he says here in Romans 4

verse number 20.

Romans chapter 4 and verse 20. Skipping

Romans 4 · chapter mention

over so much truth here, but I I want

you to get this. Okay? Romans 4:20, the

Romans 4:20

Bible says verse number 19, he being not

weak in faith, considered not his own

body now dead when he was about a

hundred years old, neither yet the

deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered

not at the promise of God through

unbelief, but was strong in faith,

giving glory to God, and being fully

persuaded that what he had promised, he

was able also to perform.

He was convinced that God was going to

do what he said. You're

>> right.

And you know, the only thing that

Abraham ever saw

as a fulfillment of his promise, look

with me back in Genesis chapter 12

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

again. Everything that's revealed in

this text, and I wasn't going to deal

with this tonight, but I'll just briefly

touch on it this evening. He says, "I

will make of thee a great nation." Well,

that brings up a problem. His wife's

barren.

The promise that God gave to him, "I'll

make of thee a great nation." and his

wife is barren. He says, "I'll bless

thee. I'll make thy name great, and thou

shalt be a blessing." Everything that

God is saying to him, Abraham would

never see the land. He would never see

the blessing of God. He would never see

all of this coming into fruition. But

you know what he would see? He would see

that son.

>> You're right.

>> And you understand that the blessing of

God's promises, you may never see all

that they entail on this side.

>> You're right.

Some people in here know that very well.

I was thinking about that just today. I

think about your mom all the time,

Brother Steve. I think about the prayers

she prayed. She never saw them answered

on this side,

>> but she knows they're answered now.

>> You're right.

>> And I want to give you this tonight, and

I'm done. Okay, I told you I wanted to

really just tie this in with chapter 11

at first. I want you to notice verse two

again or verse number one. He says

number one, verse number one, he said,

"Get thee out of thy country, from thy

kindred, from thy father's house, unto a

land that I will show thee." Notice

that, "A land." Verse two, "I will make

of thee a great nation. I will bless

thee and make thy name great." What was

everything that the Babylonian people

were seeking for in chapter 11?

Look what the Bible says. Verse number

four. And they said, "Go to let us build

us a city and a tower whose top may

reach us reach us up unto heaven, and

let us make us a name, lest we be

scattered abroad on the fl." Verse two,

and they found a plain land of Shine,

and they dwelt there. Everything that

they wanted, they lost.

>> But God comes to somebody who's just

unsuspecting.

Oh friend, if this don't help you, you

don't have to remember nothing else I

said tonight, but you better not forget

this. God come to somebody who was not

looking for anything.

>> You're right.

>> And said, "Here, I'll give it all to

you."

>> Amen.

>> Them people that went seeking for it,

searching for it, trying to attain it on

their own. You know what God did? Said,

"You can't have it." That's

>> right.

>> Aren't you thankful? It's not of works,

>> lest any man should boast.

>> Right?

>> And when they started strutting their

chest out, talking about the tower,

talking about the city, talking about

the name of Babel, God left him in a

dismay and said, "It's just all

confusion."

>> But to Abram here in this text, though

his whole family was sinful, God says,

"I'm going to pick you out."

>> You're right.

>> You're going to be mine, and I'm going

to give you everything that they wanted

but couldn't have.

>> Amen. and I'll give it to you with no

cost to you.

>> Amen.

>> I don't know the greater picture of

salvation.

>> He's given you everything that you can't

even fathom.

>> That's right.

>> Do you realize that you don't really

understand the fact that all your sins

is forgiven?

>> Right.

>> That your life when it ends on this side

that this is just a a dot

>> in the universe of eternity.

>> You're right.

>> We have no idea

>> what is waiting for us. Amen.

>> And God says, "I'll promise it to you."

There's the land. There's the nation.

There's the name. You think about it.

We've got it tonight. We've got a land.

We've got a nation that we're part of.

The church of the living God,

>> right?

>> And we've got a name.

>> Amen.

>> A new name.

>> Written down in glory.

>> Right.

>> And it's mine. Amen. I'll tell you this.

All this stuff ties up a lot. Get a lot

closer than you think it does. I want to

encourage you tonight. Don't forget the

promise. You say Abram lived 75 years.

The Bible says 75. Can you imagine that?

I think about it all time. Say it all

the time. Probably Jeremiah preached for

70 years. Never saw anybody turn to God.

But you know what? He's seeing things

right now that we're going to be seeing

for long.

>> Amen.

>> We may not ever see things turn out the

way we want it to. But you just don't

know. You can you you can know this. You

can expect the unexpected,

>> right,

>> from God. Amen. God will show up and h

the cowes. Aren't you thankful for that?

Amen. He'll show up for those people

that's unwanted. Amen. For the most

part, unwilling. Amen. But I'm I'm

thankful for what little bit of faith.

Amen. He said, "If you just had faith as

a mustard seed." Amen.

>> Just believe. Amen. Trust the Lord.

Father, thank you for this time. Thank

you for this truth tonight. God, I thank

you, Father, that you chose to bless

Abraham. And Lord, we'll look at on next

time, Father. Know we'll look there at

his ministry and the missionary that he

was and God, what you designed him to

be, Lord, as the father of the Israel,

but the father of the faith. Lord, the

father of all that believe and trust in

you, God. May we just trust you, God. We

know, Father, there's days, Lord, it

feels like we can't track you, but God,

I know that we can still trust you. Help

us trust you, be obedient to you. And uh

Lord, I pray you'd help us take these

truths and apply them to our hearts and

lives. Lord, we love you. Thank you for

loving us. We ask it in Jesus name.

Amen.

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if you join us in person

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church. Our physical address is

2988

Stewart Road in Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. Our service times are Sunday

school at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning

worship at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 700 p.m. For more

information, visit us at

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.