Abram's Departure
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. God spoke, of old, in the Person of Christ. In today's study the Lord spoke to Abram. During Abram's life, he had several interviews from Heaven. It was Jehovah, the Lord Jesus, who spake with him.
The Lord spoke unto Jacob on two memorable occasions. On each of these occasions, Jacob was given gracious promises, concerning the things to come.
The Lord appeared unto Moses and instructed him relative to his delivering the people from Egypt.
After the death of Moses, the Lord appeared to Joshua and encouraged his heart.
The Lord manifested Himself to Manoah's wife, and, afterward, to Manoah himself, telling both of the birth of Samson. Thus it was that God of old spoke in Person to His people.
2. God spoke in. dreams and in visions of the night. There is a striking statement in the Book of Job, which says, "God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep faileth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." Through dreams God spoke very definitely unto Nebuchadnezzar, and more particularly unto Daniel. God may still speak in this manner.
3. God spake unto us in Jesus Christ, during our Lord's earthly ministry. Christ definitely said that the very words which He spoke were the words of the Father. It will become us to remember this truth, Christ was the revelation, not only of the Father's works, and will, but also of His words. It is thus that, in Christ, we see the Father, and learn to know Him.
4. God speaks unto us in His Word. The Bible contains God's message to men. This we call the revealed will of God. It is true that whatever God may reveal unto us in any other way, such a revelation will never be contrary to His written words.
5. God speaks unto us in the still small voice of our inner consciousness. He still gives to saints a conviction of heart as to what they should do. We become assured that we have obtained His Divine leadership, when, in obedience to His will, we have "rest" in our spirit.
6. God speaks unto us in His judgments. The storm bore a tremendous message to Jonah. It even made him confess: "I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." Doubtless, all of us have heard the voice of God in His judgments.
I. GET THEE OUT (Genesis 12:1)
1. A call to give up lands and country. God said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country," When we think of the depths involved in this command, we think not only of our "fatherland," but we think of everything that appertains unto us in the way of possessions.
The giving of a tenth unto God does not mean that the nine-tenths belong unto us, apart from Divine control. All that we are and have is His, and everything should be held subservient to His will.
2. A call to give up kindred. God said unto Abram, "Get thee out * * from thy kindred, and from thy father's house."
Jesus Christ said, "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me," We must be willing to place our dearest friend or relative upon the altar of our sacrifice.
3. A call to give up plans. Abram, no doubt, had his own plans, which had, perhaps, inadvertently grown up in his mind, and which had become a part of his very being. He builded air castles the same as we build them. Let us all place our plans upon the altar and yield up our dreams, whenever it is God's call.
II. GET THEE UNTO (Genesis 12:1)
God never orders us out, until He is ready to lead us in. "Whatever He asks us to give up, He has something better in His hand to impart. Let us study some of the good things which God had in mind for Abram.
1. He was called into a new revelation of God's will. This was no small matter. God spoke unto Abram as one speaks unto a friend, face to face. God took Abram into His confidence, as well as into His fellowship. He told Abram His purposes, and revealed unto him His plans. He explained unto Abram the things which He was about to do. This was a supreme joy to this father of his race.
2. He was called into new possessions. He gave up his "land," but into his hand God delivered another land, far richer and far greater than the one which he yielded.
When he "went out," he received a land which still belongs to him and to his children; a land which is theirs by the decrees of God, and which they can never lose through the vicissitudes of life.
The. deeds to that land are safeguarded in the archives of Glory. Even as we write, after an elapse of more than three thousand years, we find Abram's seed about to enter into their full Palestinian possessions.
III. I WILL BLESS THEE (Genesis 12:2)
1. A personal blessing. Some one may say that it did Abram, personally, very little good for his seed to inherit the land. That he, himself, got but little returns for leaving his father's house. Not so. God told Abram, "I will bless THEE." Abram, himself, was not only a partaker of God's blessing during his earthly sojourn, but he, personally, is still a partaker of every blessing, which God vouchsafes to his seed.
2. A great name. God said, "I will make thy name great." The name of Abram has been honored and revered throughout all generations. At this moment, his name still stands out among men above the name of any ancient king or potentate. His name ranks in honor with that of Moses, and Elijah, and David, and Daniel. It far outclasses the glory of any of the other mighty men outside of God's holy Seers who lived in the ages past.
3. A great nation. What nation is like unto the nation which has sprung from the loins of Abram? Unto this day, the Jews remain a mighty people. This is true in spite of the fact that for the time being their national integrity has been broken off. Because of their sins they have been scattered to the ends of the earth. In spite of all this, they are still a nation despised among all the nations, and yet a distinct, unamalgamated nationality.
Not only are they distinctively national, while they are indisputably international but they are also great. The Jews hold the financial status of the whole world in their hands. They are kings in commerce, in education, and in political prowess.
IV. I WILL MAKE THEE A BLESSING (Genesis 12:2)
1. The law of getting and giving. God said, "I will bless thee, * * and thou shalt be a blessing." In saying this, God uttered a spiritual law that pervades all those who hold close relationship with Him.
The Lord never intended for us to "get" and "cling" to anything. He wants us to get and give. Our hand must be unclinched and open.
There is a verse which reads, "Let him labour, that he may have to give."
Jesus Christ said, "The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them." Shall we receive from His hand of all good and perfect gifts, and then refuse to give as He has given? He who withholds his bounty and his blessing from another, will become greatly impoverished.
2. The extent and blessing of a single individual life. When we stop to think of how far the reach of Abram's life has gone, we are amazed. It seems to us that no one on the earth, at this hour, fails to receive some direct or at least reflex influence from Abram's life.
That life the life of Abram, will not cease its benefactions until its waves reach the shores of the eternal ages to come. Even there, its story, the story of that one, blessed life, will thrill all Heaven with song and rejoicing.
V. I WILL BLESS THEM THAT BLESS THEE, AND CURSE HIM THAT CURSETH THEE (Genesis 12:3)
1. We have before us a God-guarded life. God seemed to take Abram in His arms and say, "No one can set upon you to hurt you. He that would bless you, will be blessed; but he that would curse you will be cursed." It was this sense of protection that must have brought to Abram a marvelous sense of security.
God knows His sheep and He goeth before them. He guards them from the wolves which would devour. When the hireling fleeth, He comes to the rescue.
2. We have before us a God-guarded nation. The children of Abram are sheltered under the same pledge and promise which was given to their father. During all the centuries of their vicissitudes, as they have been driven from pillar to post, God has been with them.
We believe it is literally true that the nation which has cursed Israel and trodden her underfoot mercilessly, has been cursed; while the nation which has opened her arms and heart to the Jews, has been blessed.
VI. SO ABRAM DEPARTED (Genesis 12:4)
1. A faith without sight. The true believer walks in this quality of faith. Abram went out not knowing whither he went. While he did not know the way, he knew the Guide. While he did not know the end of his journey, he knew that his journey would end in joy.
Is it not true that all of us who know and love the Lord, are marching with songs of joy and gladness toward a Country which we have never seen, and a land of which we have never known? Unto this hour, God has told us but very little of the eternal ages which lie hid from our eyes in the aeons to come. We know just this, that the exceeding riches of His grace will be made manifest in His great forevermore. Thus, we also journey with the faith of our father Abraham, unto a Land that He will show us.
2. A faith with works. Abram believed God, and he went out not knowing whither he went. How the words ring out, "So Abram departed"!
Faith is a living, pulsing, vibrant expression of trust. Faith believes and obeys. The lame, the halt, the maimed, the blind believed God, acted upon their faith, and were healed. Faith is the eye that looks, the hand that takes, the foot that walks. That is the faith that gets the blessing.
VII. GET THEE OUT * * AND I WILL (Genesis 12:1-2)
1. In the realm of grace everything is apart from works. Grace operates upon the unworthy. It begins where our worth ends. It is by grace that we have been saved, and not of works, lest any man should boast.
2. Grace, however, operates in conjunction with faith. The faith which makes grace active is a faith that launches out in sacrifice, and service, and faithful living. Grace finds us with nothing at all to recommend us; however, immediately that grace touches us, a faith is implanted in the heart, a faith that is the gift of God. That faith is the faith which obeys.
3. God's additional blessings are conditional blessings. After grace has implanted faith in the heart, God stands aloof and says to His child, "Get thee out * * and I will." We truly believe that many Christians are shorn of God's best in their lives, simply because they are unwilling to walk by faith; they are afraid to go where God tells them to go, to be what God wants them to be, to say what God wants them to say, and to do what God wants them to do.
As we close we wish to make a vital suggestion. The Lord is coming one of these days, and He will bring. His rewards with Him. Those rewards, in their sweep and sway, will depend entirely upon the extent of our obedience of faith.
AN ILLUSTRATION
"' John Cassian makes mention of one, who willingly fetched water near two miles every day for a whole year together, to pour it upon a dead, dry stick, at the command of his superior, when no reason else could be given for it. And of another it is recorded, that he professed that if he were enjoined by his superior to put to sea in a ship which had neither mast, tackling, nor any other furniture, he would do it; and when he was asked how he could do this without hazard of his discretion, he answered, The wisdom must be in him that hath power to command, not in him that hath power to obey.' These are instances of implicit obedience to a poor fallible human authority, and are by no means to be imitated. But when it is God who gives the command, we cannot carry a blind obedience too far, since there can be no room for questioning the wisdom and goodness of any of His precepts. At Christ's command it is wise to let down the net at the very spot where we have toiled in vain all the night If God bids us, we can sweeten water with salt, and destroy poison with meat, yea, we may walk the waves of the sea, or the flames of a furnace. Well said the Virgin, 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' My heart, I charge thee follow thy Lord's command without a moment's question, though He bid thee go forward into the Red Sea, or onward into a howling wilderness.