Abraham's life demonstrates that true faith is characterized by obedience to God's call, even when the path is unknown. The sermon traces Abraham's journey from Ur, highlighting his obedience in leaving his homeland and kindred at God's command, his sojourning in the land of promise as a pilgrim, and his enduring faith in God's promises despite his advanced age. The core lesson is that faith is not merely belief but active trust demonstrated through submission to God's will, leading to a life lived loosely to worldly possessions and focused on the eternal city. Ultimately, Abraham's example calls believers to a similar obedience, trusting God's promises and seeking heavenly foundations.
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Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. Those were the costs. Here are the compensations. And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth 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.
Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Verse six, and Abram passed through the land onto the place of Sycambe. onto the plain of Moray, and the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Under thy seed will I give this land, and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from fence onto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east.
And there he built an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there. For the famine was grievous in the land. Thirteen in one. Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hayai, unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first.
And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. The land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle and the Canaanite. and the parasite dwelt then in the land. Verse eleven, then Lot chose them all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves of one from the other.
Verse thirteen, but the men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners were for the Lord exceedingly. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever, and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land and the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee.
Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Now we shall turn to the New Testament to Hebrews chapter eleven for a short reading there. Commencing at verse of chapter eleven of Hebrews. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and when he went out, and he went out not knowing whether he went, By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. It is time, dear friends, for me to make an explanation of a statement I made the other morning, that there's a pattern that develops in this chapter concerning the heroes of faith. There's a very clear outline that you can find, and it is, first of all, the link of faith with the pleasure of God, pleasing God by faith.
And that is from verse one to verse seven. Now the second stage is faith linked with pilgrimage. And that is from verse eight until verse ten. The third stage is faith linked with promises, from ten or eleven until nineteen. And another stage is link of faith with predictions, twenty to twenty-two.
That refers, of course, to Isaac, Joseph, Jacob and Joseph who predicted certain things. And the final stage is faith linked with preference. This brings in Moses, Rahab, and that host of martyrs who preferred the eternal things to the temporal. Now it remains with us this morning to complete the three that we mentioned yesterday and then to speak a little about Abraham and pilgrimage.
Yesterday we pointed to Abel and here it was faith and relationship. a man accepted by God on the basis of blood. Enoch pointed to companionship, a man in agreement with God, walking with God. And the third, the one with which I want to deal now, Noah, a man in activity for God.
And here it is a man entering into the divine mind and the divine purposes. Activity for God. Now we are told that Noah warned of God, built an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is through faith.
And I believe, dear friends, that the sequence is complete. These three show how faith does please God. God responded to each one of these three in a remarkable way. And our friend Noah is saved from the flood, from the deluge, from the judgment that fell upon a corrupt a vile, an evil world. He was warned of God.
That was how God communicated with him. A solemn and sober fact is made known to Noah that God is going to visit in judgment. And he acts in faith Which means that he accepted that warning. And it means also that he was in perfect agreement with it. That he said amen to it. Judgment is always God's strange work. And I think the strangest hallelujahs in the Bible are the hallelujahs.
that associate with judgment. In the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, we are told of a great voice in heaven saying, Hallelujah. The great whore has been judged. That's not where you'd have expected Hallelujah, is it? The great whole has been judged, and then the eye is turned upward. True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord. There's no work of God but brings him praise.
There's nothing that God does that's amiss. God must act in compliance with his own standards and his own standards are in keeping with his own character. You can see that at once, dear brother. So that if God chooses to come in to judge the world, if he pours fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, we must say hallelujah. Have we got into the mind of God like that?
Do we say amen to God's strange work? I know there's a little revulsion in certain hearts against such an attitude, but it's not a hallelujah with a feeling of gladness that the people are judged. It's a hallelujah that God has been vindicated and that God has honored himself and honored his character. In faith, then, this man accepted the warning of God.
He's entering into the very mind of God. And then he reared a refuge. He built an ark. And this meant the salvation of his heart. They were gathered in. I like to think, dear friends, that God delights to save. And that is a special interest in the family. There is no vicarious faith. But there is a victorious faith.
Now let me explain myself. A victorious faith would mean that the mother, the father could believe for their children. But that's not in the book. That's not the kind of household salvation that our New Testament tells us about. But there is a victorious faith. And I remember the case of the four men who brought a fifth man, tore up a roof, let him down at the feet of the Lord Jesus. And we are told that when Jesus saw their faith, and I believe that was the faith of the five.
The faith of the five. But my own dear mother used to remind us that she had claimed a promise. She had let hold upon it before her God. And she was one who had deep concern about the salvation of her family. And her promise was, thou shalt be saved and thy house. She didn't live to see that. We leave that all with God. But we believe that God will honor her faith.
And while there cannot be vicarious faith, there is victorious faith which God ever sets his seal upon. Be encouraged then. Are the children in? Have we got discouraged in prayer? Let us remember that this God is a God of love as well as of justice. He reared a refuge. But he built a monument. He raised a monument.
Every hammer blew. every sound of the timber being brought together, the workmen and the noise and the bustles over a hundred and twenty years during which was raising this remarkable vessel. There was a message in the vessel itself There was something being conveyed to the spectators. They saw a monument, and it was a testimony for God.
I believe, dear friends, we can quite fairly refer it to ourselves. As we build Christian character, as we seek to be built up upon our most holy faith, as we seek to put truth within our hearts. Somebody said something about this truth becoming a part of ourselves and a part of our very bodies. Well, I agreed heartily, as that was said to me yesterday.
I didn't quote it properly, but I believe, dear friends, divine truth in the inward parts will work out and will make itself manifest. And there will be in the Christian life that has formed something that will testify for God. People will feel the impact of it. And so we are building day by day. And then when we come together collectively, we're raising a monument. I've heard brethren in this assembly thank God for the lighthouse that is here.
And it took me to the second chapter of the Book of Revelation and the third chapter, where the seven churches in Asia are spoken of as lampstands. That's what a local assembly is intended to be, a light bearer. And the only light that we can bear, dear friends, is the light the Spirit of God brings through the Word of God. So that seven times in those two chapters we have the words, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
And what he said to one of them, you see, he said to all of them. For it says, let him hear what the Spirit saith, not to you as a church, but to the churches. And the messages are for all the churches, all the lampstands. We have a dear brother at home, and quaintly he tells of how in his school days, and that wasn't yesterday, perhaps sixty or seventy years ago, he went to school with a turf under his arm. Now some of you might never have seen a turf, a piece of peat from the bog.
with which fires were kindled in our part of the world. And the way to bring heat into that schoolhouse was each one of the school children would bring a peat with them, and that was the contribution for the day to the heat of the schoolhouse. And the fire was lit and the peats were burned. Do you bring your peat to give warmth to the assembly?
It depends on me, upon you. Just what warmth exists among God's people? You must have a very good bulb somewhere close by for You certainly have warmth and thank God for it. Don't let any of us spoil it. Still continue to bring your peat. Away in Australia in the backwoods, there was a log cabin where meetings were held. And in the darkness of the evening, the preacher made his way to this log cabin.
Arriving there, everything was in darkness. It was very disappointing. But he looked out at the door and in the distance he could see a light bobbing up and down, and he knew somebody was coming. By and by the light bearer arrived, and he immediately went over to a shelf that was along, right along the side of the log cabin, and he put his light there. and he was followed by the rest of the congregation, every one of them having his lamp or her lamp. And they placed it along the shelf until the place is flooded with light.
That, dear friends, is what God has as an ideal for us. Not one of us failing to contribute warmth and light so that the whole benefits thereby. I was thinking about Daniel, those who were opposed to him, the presidents and the princes. They said regarding him, we'll not find occasion against him.
accept him the law of his God. And if we abide by God's principle and have a nearer to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, we may be opposed by the world. There may be those unsympathetic, but remember You'll have God on your side. And if God be for us, who can be against us? Now a little look at Abram.
Abram, we are told, when he was called to go out onto a place, which he should after receive for inheritance obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. And by faith he sojourned, dwelling in tents. He looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now here is Abram's response to a cause. And that's obvious. But what is not so obvious is that it is also a reaction to a divine appearance.
He had left home and kindred. He had left his own nation and empire. He had said goodbye to the superstitions and idolatry of his people. He had come out at the call of God. But there was more than that to it, dear friend. For the Acts of the Apostles records the words of Stephen that the God of glory appeared to Abraham. when he was in Mesopotamia.
And it was that vision, together with the call of God, I believe that begat the faith that he exercised when he moved out and became a pilgrim, a sojourner, became a temporary resident in the land which afterwards was to become his by inheritance. God would vest this thing in him and give it to his seed and ultimately give him the seed, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And so there was the obedience of faith. I think, dear friends, we sometimes almost fear the word obedience. Why should we? Obedience. Why should we fear it? His commands are not grievous. Is that true? Then why should we be afraid of anything He asks us to do? Faith's response should be a ready one.
Ready, my God, thy will to see. Open my heart, illumine me, spirit, divine, precisely what is here. Wings for a bird are not weights. That bird would be helpless without the wings. But see her spread her wings and soar into the sky. That's like the commands of God being obeyed.
Wings are like the sails of a ship. She can't get along without them. If it's a sailing vessel, she needs sails. And your faith in conjunction with God's command are the sails of the vessel. And so, beloved friends, the Lord Jesus Christ not only calls us to the rest of salvation, He says, Come unto me, and I will give you rest.
And we found sweet rest when we came. But He also said, Take my yoke upon you, my yoke. the Yuki bore. See him harnessed with it. See him bowing to it, submitting to it. When I think of our beloved sisters appearing in a meeting like this and showing their respect to the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ I think, well, there's Christ-likeness, submission.
They take the place of silence while the brethren voice, the mind of God, by the Spirit of God, and show their submission to the divine will. And we think, dear friends, of this man's obedience in that light, a submission to God himself, a submission that honors the Word of God and the will of God and the Spirit of God.
So by faith Abram obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether he went. Here's an expression of faith. I like to think of what somebody else has said, that Abraham believed God when he knew not where. And Abraham believed God when he knew not how. And Abraham believed God when he knew not why.
He goes out not knowing whether he went. The path is obscure. He only knows that God has said, set your face in that direction and move forward. And this he did, believing it to be God's way for him. And then God told him he would have a son. And he was an aged man and his wife was naturally beyond the bearing of a child he believed God when he knew not how and then one day God said to him give me your son your well-beloved son put him on the altar and he brought him to the altar he led him there I'm sure within his bosom many, many fears about the business of putting Isaac there
and binding him, and then lifting the knife. When God intervened and said, Stay your hand, now I know that thou fearest God. since thou hast not withheld from me thy son, thine only son, from me. This, dear friends, I say, was a response to a revelation of God himself, the God of glory. This man turned his back upon whom and kindred upon the greatness of the land and empire to which he belonged, because the glory of God had been seen by him, and he went out not knowing whether he went.
But he knew the one who had made himself known to him. He had seen his glory, and that was enough. Has thou heard him, seen him, known him? Is not thine a captured heart? Will you this morning will I choose the better part and follow in the path of simple obedience to the divine will.
Now this morning we saw that this path of pilgrimage meant for this man certain tests and then with the tests came triumph and victory. The first test was the test of want. The second test was the test of prosperity. The third test was the test of delay. He was in the land with the evidences of the pilgrims.
He had a tent, but he always had an altar. The Lord appeared to him and he built an altar there. And I read with you several times that he built an altar there. Now the tent I look upon as being on the earthly level, but the altar It's something that's from earth to heaven. The one is horizontal, the other perpendicular. The tent is the mark of the man who's dislocated from normal society, the world around him.
He's a temporary resident. He's a pilgrim, he's a sojourner. And dear friends, the having of the tent, in Abram's case, points to you and me as living loosely to the world around us. The tent has no foundation. It has simply cords and stakes. But here's a man who's looking for a city which has foundations.
See the difference. And that has its spiritual counterpart. Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, our Commonwealth, our citizenship. is up there where the Savior is, where Christ is. Our life is hid with Christ in God. And because of that we should be living loosely to things of time and of sense.
And I believe as we get older, These things begin to show themselves in their real character, don't they? Are vain and empty, are unsatisfying. Even the accumulation of years doesn't satisfy your heart. There are greater riches than these. There are possessions we have. There are things we own, and yet we would gladly let them go, as we think of the one who's coming to receive us and take us to be with himself forevermore.
Some of these things have their right place, their legitimate place, their necessary place. But the heart's not set on them. We have seen the God of glory. We've seen the Christ of God. And as the hymn writer put it, I've seen the face of Jesus. It was a wondrous sight. He smiled upon you in grace and pardon. And your heart was one. And earth idle.
What of them? Ephraim shall say, What of I to do any more with idols? He looked for a city which has foundations, whose maker and builder is God. The mighty architect has made arrangements for your eternal bliss. And all that glory of Emmanuel's land was centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, Christ, He is the phantom, the deep sweet well of love. The streams on earth I've tasted, more deep I'll drink above, there to an ocean fullness His mercy doth expand on glory, glory dweller in Emmanuel's land. Shall we pray? Loving Lord, we pray as we go forth today that some word of thine will abide with us.
something will comfort, strengthen, cleanse, sanctify, sustain, feed thy dear people that not one of us will have an empty heart as we leave the building. May the Lord Jesus be very real to us as we walk with him today. May we be true pilgrims, may we be sojourners living apart and yet making our impact upon those around us, a testimony for thee and for thy glory and praise.
Thus we commit us to thee, thanking thee that Thou art able to keep us from stumbling and to present us faultless before the Father's presence with exceeding joy. We give thee our thanks in that peerless name. Amen.