The Call of Abram

The Call of Abram

10 August, 2025

Thesis: The call of Abram exemplifies God's sovereign initiative, requiring complete obedience and promising ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

Summary: The sermon, "The Call of Abram," introduces Abram as a pivotal figure in Genesis 11-12, highlighting God's sovereign choice of him from a pagan background to establish a godly line, contrasting man's rebellion at Babel with God's work through Abram. It then details Abram's call to leave Ur, emphasizing that God initiated this sovereign, demanding, and ultimately satisfying call for Abram to make a complete break with his past and follow by faith, despite personal doubts and a period of partial obedience in Haran. The sermon concludes by presenting the Abrahamic covenant—promising land, seed, and blessing—as God's redemptive answer to sin, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who provides a new people, a new place, and a new purpose for all believers.

Sermon

We’re going to be in Genesis chapter 11, beginning in verse 10 this morning, and we’re going to be looking through the genealogy on into chapter 12, where we get the Abrahamic covenant. The title of my sermon this morning is The Call of Abram. The Call of Abram.

Now, just a disclaimer: sometimes I may use the word Abraham just because that’s traditionally what we call him. But his name is technically not changed until several chapters over. So if I slip up and say Abraham, know that that’s the same guy as Abram. So we’re using the two interchangeably. This morning, we’re going to look at The Call of Abram.

Now, let us stand in awe of God’s sovereign call to Abram, a call that demands our hearts’ full surrender. This is not a story of human initiative but of divine initiative—God choosing, not us choosing. He called Abram out of Ur, not because of his merit, but because of His purpose. And He commands us, as His people, to obey His voice, to walk in His ways, and to trust His promises. This is the urgent call of the gospel: to leave our comfort zones, our idols, our complacency, and to follow Him. The world may mock, the flesh may resist, but the faithful response is obedience. Let us pray for the courage to hear His voice and the humility to obey.

Before we get into the word, let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the service thus far. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to sing praises to your worthy name. Lord, as we dive into the scriptures, we know that the word of God is inspired. It is inerrant. It is infallible. And it is eternally relevant. Amen.

And I pray, Lord, that we would hear your call just as you called Abram to step out in faith and to follow you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So by way of introduction, we looked at the first section in chapter 11, and we learned about the act of rebellion at the Tower of Babel and then the consequent dispersal of the nations. And once again, in the Genesis narrative, it appears that all hope is lost. Mankind has once again sinned and gone his own way. But once again, here’s a ray of hope: God raises up a godly line from Noah’s son Shem. And these men, as found in the genealogy in chapter 11, form the genealogy of the man named Abram, later Abraham. They’re also listed in Luke’s genealogy of the Messiah in Luke chapter 3.

So around 352 years after the flood, approximately 246 years after the Tower of Babel, a man by the name of Abram is born. He will be a pivotal figure in the history of redemption, and he will later be known as the father of faith. We’re going to see that he is born in a pagan culture in Ur of the Chaldeans. But Abram is sovereignly chosen by God. Abram is called to leave Ur and to go into the land that God will show him. And it’s through Abram that God will unfold His covenant purposes and fulfill His promises.

So Abram’s life marks a turning point in the Genesis narrative. Why is that? Because he will be the head, the father of the Jewish nation. He’ll be the heir of God’s covenant. And he’ll be the forefather of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

One thing I want us to note before we go into this genealogy: we see man’s work at Babel contrasted with God’s work through Abram. Remember at Babel, what did the people say? Let’s make a name for ourselves. But God turns it around and makes a name for Abram through the line of Shem, Noah’s son. Now, get this: the name Shem literally means name. How about that? So I guess when he was naming his son, he just ran out of names. And hey, name. Hey, you, whatever your name is, stop running around. Come over here. But God makes a name. He makes a name through Shem. And it’s through his line that true greatness would come.

Remember at Babel, man wants to build a tower into the heavens. He wants to exalt himself. But it’s through the line of Shem and Abram that God will make a great nation. Get this: Abram’s name means exalted father. At Babel, man wants to exalt himself. But through Abram, God exalts His men. At Babel, mankind gathered in defiance. They wanted to accumulate wealth and prestige, to revel in their power and influence. But God, in His infinite wisdom, chooses Abram. He makes him great. He makes him a father of multitudes through whom all the nations on the earth will be blessed. And in doing so, God makes His own name great. Because it’s through Abram that the Messiah comes. And through this Messiah, the gospel is preached to all nations, and people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will hear of God’s great name. They will be saved, and they will give Him the glory that His great name deserves.

We also move from primeval history to patriarchal history. Now, the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis are known as primeval history, and they cover approximately 2,000 years of human history. That’s a lot of time to pack into 11 chapters. Moses does a great job doing that. But starting in chapter 12, the narrative takes a dramatic shift. Chapters 12 through 50 are known as the patriarchal history. And here the narrative slows significantly, with the timeline compressing to focus on the lives of just four men: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And yet this section of the book of Genesis covers nearly four-fifths of the entire book. So why are the patriarchs important? It’s because through these men and their families, God begins to form a nation for Himself. And it’s through this nation that He will send the Lord Jesus Christ, who will bless all nations. He will be the Savior for all humanity.

Now, in Genesis 11, beginning in verse 10, he says, this is the genealogy of Shem. Now, I’m not going to read all this to you. I’m going to be gracious to you once again, okay? You thought I was going to read the whole genealogy, didn’t you? No, I’m not. We have Shem, and then we have his son Arphaxad, and then Selah, and Eber, and Peleg, and Reu, and Serug, and Nahor. And Nahor begot Terah. Verse 26: Terah lived 70 years, and he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Now, Genesis introduces us to another Toledot. Remember what Toledot means? It’s another generation, another generational record. And this generational record traces the line from Noah’s son Shem all the way down to Terah, who has three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And then in verse 27, we have another Toledot, the genealogy of Terah. It says, Terah begot Abram, and Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. Remember that name. He comes up again. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Remember this. And Sarai was barren. She had no child.

Now, why on earth is this important? Well, because all of these people are pivotal characters in this story. We meet Terah, who’s Abram’s father. We meet his nephew Lot, who gets in a lot of trouble, and Abram has to come to his rescue. And then we meet Sarai, Abram’s wife, who is barren. Furthermore, it’s no coincidence that there are ten generations from Adam to Noah. And then there are ten more generations from Noah to Abram. And this symmetry marks Abraham as the pivotal figure in the history of redemption. Just as Noah was a pivotal character in his time, Abram will be God’s chosen instrument to bring blessings to the nations.

Now, in the coming weeks, and it’s going to take several weeks to get through Abram’s story, we’re going to see him move from calling to crisis, and from covenant to commitment. He’s going to have great privilege, but like in Spider-Man, along with great privilege comes what? Great responsibility. He’s going to suffer great trials, but he’s also going to inherit great rewards. God will call him to leave Ur and to embark on a life of adventure and faith. Abram will leave behind the temporary comforts of the city, and he will dwell in tents. And ultimately, he’s journeying to a better country, a heavenly country, an eternal city whose architect and builder is God, the writer of Hebrews tells us.

Now let’s look first at Abram’s call. Here in chapter 12, verse 1, Abram finds the path of faith. “Now the Lord had said to Abram”—does anyone remember grammar school? That’s past tense. The Lord had already spoken to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So by the time we get here to chapter 12, we already know something about where Abram came from. He came from an impressive lineage. He descended from Shem and from Peleg and from Eber, from whom we get the name Hebrew. And he was around 75 years old when he got this call. And by all appearances, he had done very well for himself. He lived in the wealthy metropolis of Ur, which was one of the most advanced cities in its time. He was also married to a beautiful woman named Sarai. And he had already accumulated wealth and servants and livestock. Furthermore, Abram was no wandering nomad. He was a domesticated man of the city. He was refined. He was settled. But he was also deeply religious. No doubt he followed his deity. He had utmost sincerity. The Bible says in the book of Joshua that he worshipped the moon god, the patron god of Ur. He may have even been a man of standing influence in the city of Ur. But despite all of that, listen friends, Abram was still lost. He was a sinner. He was on his way to hell until God broke through and called him to leave it all behind and to follow Him.

Now Stephen preaches in the book of Acts, chapter 7. He says, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham and said to him, Go out from your land. Now I want you to look in chapter 11, verse 31. Let’s back up just a smidge and see where exactly Abraham is. It says, And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai. And they went out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But notice what they do. They came to Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. And once again, Abram remembers what God had called him to do: to leave Ur, to leave his country, to leave his father’s house, and to go to the land that He would show him.

What does that tell us? Well, first of all, we never read about Abram seeking after God. We never read about Abram thinking, you know what, maybe Nanna, which was the name of the moon god, maybe this moon god isn’t the one true God. We never read about Abram searching the scriptures because, you know what, there were no scriptures back then. But somehow, out of nowhere, God appears to Abram and introduces Himself as the one true God and tells him, leave it all behind and follow Me.

First off, friends, listen: Abram did not seek God. God sought after Abram. Grace interrupted his comfort. Mercy shattered his routine. God laid claim upon him and said, you are mine, now you follow Me. We notice that God initiates the call. We notice that the call of Abram was sovereign. God initiates it. Long before Abram sought after God, God was searching for him. Remember, Abram is a pagan idol worshiper in Ur until the one true God invaded his life. And without warning, without earning, without his own deserving, God chose him. And God chose Abram not because he was righteous, not because he was more deserving than anyone else in the city of Ur, not because he was a deeply religious or moral man. God called him according to His own purpose and grace. God initiated the call. God appointed the time. And God spoke the command: go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house. So God calls Abram to and for Himself.

Now let’s pause right there and let’s think about this. Now that’s one of the ziggurats in the city of Ur. That’s the big temple that Abram would have worshipped, the moon god. And I can almost imagine Abram making his way up those stairs, bringing his sacrifice to the false god. And somehow God speaks to Abram. He says, leave all this behind, Abram. Come and follow Me. Now that’s actually what it looks like today. They found the ancient city of Ur and they found that ziggurat, of course. That’s the same temple that Abram would have worshipped at. But long before Abram sought after God, God sought after him.

Likewise, friends, God elected us in eternity past, chose us for Himself, called us to Himself by the gospel. You see, friends, the calling of salvation is a sovereign call by a sovereign God. And just as Abram was called out of idolatry, we were chosen in Him and called out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Now I want to ask you, did God call you when you were saved? No. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. Did God choose you and call you because there is some goodness within you? Because there is some inherent worth in you? Were you better than the next person? Are you saved because of your own righteousness? Have you somehow worked and earned a spot in heaven? No, God called you by His own purpose and by His own grace. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and He called us for His own pleasure. The book of Ephesians chapter 1, verses 4 through 5 says, He chose us in Christ before the ages began, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself. Romans 9:11, though they had not yet been born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue. Friends, just as Abram was saved by grace through faith, so we are saved by grace through faith alone. Not of works done in righteousness, but according to His own mercy He saved us. Titus 3:5. He saved us and called us to a holy calling. Why? Because of His own purpose and grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. 2 Timothy 1:9. Furthermore, Jesus says, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. John 15:16.

God follows the same pattern. God initiates the search for sinners. He convicts us and He draws us to Christ. Because as Romans 3 teaches, there are none who seek God. Friends, left on our own, we cannot and we will not seek after God. Abram was not seeking after God. He was a pagan. He was living his own life in Ur until God called him.

How does God call us? Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He opens our eyes and shows us that we are sinners in need of a Savior. And only when we see ourselves as sinners will we ever appreciate Christ as Savior. Furthermore, Jesus says, No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him. John 6:44. Friends, we are utterly powerless to save ourselves. Remember when you were a sinner? What were you doing? Living life your own way, doing whatever you wanted until God broke through and called you and convicted you, made His grace irresistible to you. Friends, God initiates the search. God draws those, His elect, to Himself. The Bible says in Luke 19:10, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Like Abram, God chooses based upon His own prerogative, and then He relentlessly pursues the sinner. And then what happens after that? He effectually calls us by the gospel and He brings us into fellowship. Romans 8:30 says, Those He predestined, He also called. And those He called, He also justified. 2 Thessalonians 2:14: To this He called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So how does God call? Well, God calls us outwardly by the preaching of the gospel. And then God calls us inwardly by the convicting of the Holy Spirit, who brings the gospel to bear upon our hearts. And like He did with Abram, God sovereignly selects, He seeks, and He saves those who are His. Nehemiah told the people, saying, “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abram.” But then Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abram’s seed according to the promise.” So what is Paul doing? He’s tying Old and New Testament believers together. Just as God sovereignly chose Abram in the Old Testament, God sovereignly chooses, pursues, calls, and saves those in the New Testament who, like Abram, will listen and will heed the call.

Notice also, it’s a surrendering call. It was a sovereign call, but it’s a surrendering call. When God called Abram, He called him to make a clean break with the old life. He called him to leave Ur. Now, they’ve already shown you that. They showed you the pictures I had. But let’s talk about this Ur, this city. It’s an ancient city located in southern Mesopotamia. It’s near the Euphrates River. It’s somewhere around southern Iraq, about 140 miles southeast of Babylon.

As far as its history, it was a powerful city. It was the capital of the third dynasty of Ur. Not that you care. There were some mighty kings and rulers who came from this city. It was a city that was also advanced in technology. By the way, they found a huge library here with over 100,000 cuneiform tablets. They had detailed trade. They had law. They had religion. They were advanced in mathematics and astronomy. They were advanced in trade and agriculture. They were also advanced in their construction. They had massive industry. They had engineering projects.

Consider their religion—idolatry at its peak! Their main deity was Nana, the moon god. They ascended the towering ziggurat in Ur, a massive, steep temple, offering sacrifices and prayers to this false god. This structure still stands today, over 100 feet tall. Saddam Hussein himself attempted its reconstruction, believing himself the ruler of this ancient city, the new Babylon. Yet in this city of idolatry, God would call one man to a radical new way—Abraham, whose descendants would rise from this very place to fulfill divine purpose.

As far as his urban life, these people had massive homes. It was two-story homes that they found with around 10 to 20 rooms apiece. They had indoor plumbing, private courtyards, and baked clay pipes. And by the way, bathtubs were invented here in Ur of the Chaldeans. So if you enjoy taking a bath, thank Abram’s people of Ur. Ur had schools for scribes, courts for legal disputes, and a structured social hierarchy. But they also found tombs containing gold, jewelry, musical instruments, and finely crafted arts. Additionally, they discovered bodies of people who had been sacrificed to be buried with their kings, assisting them in the afterlife. So this is a wealthy, powerful city.

But God calls Abram to leave all of this behind and to go to where? A place I will show you. Now, I don’t know about you, but imagine putting yourself in Abram’s sandals. You have a massive house. You are wealthy. You’re married to a beautiful woman. You worship the moon god like your neighbors. You have all of this, and all these things in life going for you. And a God you’ve never met speaks with a voice you’ve never heard and tells you to leave it all behind. Would you go? Leave and go to a place you’ve never even seen. To walk by faith.

I mean, a lot of times we just read this and we think, yeah, Abram heard the call of God and he went. No, he’s leaving everything behind. He’s leaving everything he’s ever known and loved. He’s leaving a thriving, cosmopolitan, advanced culture. He’s walking away from wealth, from security, from family ties. He’s turning his back on the deeply ingrained, idolatrous society. He’s trading a comfortable civilization for a nomadic life of uncertainty and wandering. And he’s walking by faith. It’s a call to leave everything. A call to leave his home. A call to leave his heritage. A call to leave his past. Because now Abram’s going to have a new identity. His old life is no longer going to define him. And Abram is receiving a new identity and a new purpose and a new land. And the Bible says in Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abram obeyed when he was called to go out. And he went out not knowing where he was going.”

He was called to leave his family, his old job, his friends. He was called out of paganism to follow the one true God. And we think, that’s awfully demanding. But can I tell you, New Testament people, that Christ’s call is no less demanding. We too are called to a life of ultimate and total obedience. To go wherever He calls us to go. And to do whatever He tells us to do. In the Gospels, we find Jesus telling His disciples, Come and follow Me. And by the way, that was not a request. That was a command. Leave it all behind and follow Me. And Jesus calls us the same way. He says if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. And whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.

What is Jesus saying? He’s saying in order to follow Me, you have to cut ties. You have to cut ties with the old life. You have to say goodbye to the old sins. You have to say goodbye to power, to control, and sometimes to comfort. And you have to follow Me. It’s a life of total surrender—taking up the cross and saying, I have no more rights to myself. I belong, body and soul, to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am His slave. He is my master. I will go where He tells me to go. I will do as He bids me to do. It is a life all in for Jesus Christ. When Jesus calls someone, friends, He lays absolute claim upon them.

In Matthew 10, Jesus teaches that our love for Him must surpass our love for our family, for our possessions, for our careers, for our hobbies, for our homes, and for our lands. I want to ask you, do you love Jesus more than anything and anyone else? You need to ask yourself that. Am I willing to do whatever He calls me to do? Or is there something or someone holding me back, keeping me from living a life all in for Jesus? Because, friends, we can’t truly follow Him if we don’t love Him more than anything. So have you surrendered all? Are you following Him without reservation? Does Jesus have your total love and devotion? And are you willing to obey Him wholeheartedly?

Thirdly, it’s a satisfying call. It’s a call worth everything. Abram found that God was calling him to a life more adventurous, an identity more fulfilling, and a purpose far greater than anything that Ur had to offer. And likewise, friends, when we leave it all for the Lord Jesus Christ, when we give Him a blank check and say, Lord, make it out for whatever You want, we’ll find that He is far worth more than anything else this life could ever give us. He gives us a better land, a better inheritance, a better name, and eternal blessings in Himself. Jesus says anyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Friends, you can’t out-give God.

Now, let me make myself clear. To follow Christ, He’s not telling you to leave your spouse and your children behind. He’s not telling you—maybe He is, maybe He isn’t—to leave your job and to uproot and go somewhere else. But maybe He is calling you to do those things. He’s calling you to love your spouse, to love your children, but love Him more. He’s calling you to go wherever He tells you to go and to obey Him by faith. So I want to ask you this morning, how will you respond to God’s call? And let me make it personal, because as your pastor, I am to never assume that every person in my congregation is saved. I am to never assume that they have obeyed the call.

So maybe somebody in here needs to respond to God’s call to salvation. Maybe you need to leave your old life of sin. Maybe you need to leave your own Ur of the Chaldeans and start following Him. Maybe today you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit convicting you, telling you to step out in faith into the new life that Christ can grant you. Maybe He’s calling you to repent of your sins and trust Him fully and truly. Trust Him and Him alone for your salvation for the first time in your life. To give it all to Him in total surrender.

Believers, maybe some of you need to step out in obedience. Maybe God is calling you to do something for Him and you’ve been putting it off. You’ve been ignoring it. I don’t know what it is, but you do. Where and how is He leading you this morning? Maybe you need to step out in faith and obey a call that you don’t fully understand. Maybe you need to give up what is safe in order to pursue what is eternal. So the question isn’t: Is God calling you? The question is, will you go? Will you obey?

Now, Abram’s faith overcame doubt and resulted in radical obedience. I want to hit these very quickly. But Abram had every reason to stay in Ur and to make excuses. For one, he didn’t know this God. There were no scriptures, no covenants, and no ancient traditions to lean on. There was a voice he had never heard from a God he had never known. Think about it—yet he obeys. He didn’t even know where he was going. He knew, I just have to leave Ur. God gave no map, only a command, and then would lead him the rest of the way. But it starts with the first step. So maybe you’re looking for God to give you a roadmap—“Lord, give me a sign.” Maybe what you need to do is take the first step of obedience and do what He’s already told you to do. And then He’ll guide you the rest of the way.

He had experienced deep sorrow. Remember what happened in Haran? His brother died. He carried the weight of family loss, of grief, and of unanswered questions. Yet he still trusts God. Furthermore, he has no child. Remember God’s promise? I’ll make you a great nation. But he doesn’t even have a single son. And to top it off, remember Sarai? What does it say about her? She was barren. How on earth am I going to have a great nation when I don’t even have a kid? But yet he trusts God. The Bible says in Romans 4, he did not weaken in faith. When he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God. Abram believed, not because he had all the answers, not because he saw the outcome, but because he trusted God who made the promise. He was fully convinced that God was able to do that which He had promised. Romans 4:21. His faith wasn’t based on sight. It was rooted in trust. And even though the path wasn’t clear, he stepped out by faith. He obeyed and he went.

So friends, I want to encourage you. When you don’t know where you’re going, you can trust Him. When you carry deep wounds, when you’re wounded by life, and you’re asking God why, friends, you can trust Him even then. When the promise seems impossible, you can trust Him. Because God is still the promise keeper. He still keeps His covenant.

Now, I want you to understand something. Abram inherited the promise, but he didn’t see its full fulfillment. He died before he actually became a great nation. But we see the fulfillment. And we know that God kept His word, for He did make him a great nation: the nation of Israel. And they remain a great nation today. And through him, all the nations have been blessed because of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that God keeps His word. Therefore, Abram’s faith was not a blind faith, but it’s a faith anchored in God’s character. And it is impossible for God to lie. It is impossible for Him not to keep His word. Friends, time and time again, God has proved Himself to be a faithful, trustworthy, covenant-keeping God, worthy of our trust and obedience. So maybe this morning you’re waiting on the promise that seems impossible. Friends, you can trust the God who made those promises, that He is both willing and able to perform them. Maybe you’re struggling to believe in the midst of sorrow. Maybe you’re struggling with doubt. Can the Bible be true? Will God keep all of His promises? Can I truly believe all this? Friends, you can. It’s okay to struggle with doubt. It’s okay to have questions, as long as that drives you to the Lord. As long as your doubt causes you to cry out to God, who has the answers.

Let’s look very quickly at Abram’s delay. We see here in Genesis 11, verse 31 through 32, what I’m going to call the pit stop in Haran. It seemed like Abram was on the right track. He had left Ur and responded to God’s call, but he did not fully obey. Remember, God said, leave your country and what? Your father’s household. But who does he bring along with him? Dear old dad—Terah—and Lot, his nephew. And instead of going straight to Canaan, they stopped and settled in Haran. Now, the name Haran means parched, place of dryness. It also became a place of delay. Get this: Terah’s name means delay. How fitting. And that’s exactly what happened. They stayed there for a number of weeks and years until Terah died. And then, when Abram was 75 years old, finally he left Haran for the Promised Land.

My point of application is this: believers don’t settle for half-hearted obedience. Like many believers today, Abram’s stuck in the middle. He’s no longer in Ur, but he’s not in Canaan either. He’s living between the past and the future, between old comfort and new calling. And they are spiritually parched, fruitless, and lacking the vitality that could be theirs. They’re like Laodicea. They’re neither hot nor cold. They’re lukewarm. They’re tepid. They’re in the middle—no longer zealous or passionate. And the Lord says, I’ll spew you out of My mouth. Instead of going all the way, they stopped halfway. Instead of total obedience, there was partial obedience. Instead of urgent surrender, there was calculated delay.

I also want you to know this. I want you to know, friends, that partial obedience delays full blessing. Notice that Abram could not inherit the promises of God until he obeyed God fully. God could not bless Abram in Haran. He had to be in Canaan, the land of promise. And it wasn’t until Terah died that Abram could continue his journey into Canaan. What does that tell us? Sometimes it takes death for us to move forward. And I’m talking about spiritual death. Death to old sins. Death to the old life. Death to the old, I have to have control. I have to know everything that’s going on. I have to have power and call the shots. We are to put to death the old self and put on the new self. Remember, those who belong to Christ have crucified the old nature and its desires. Therefore, the cost of delay, as I tell my kids, partial obedience is still disobedience. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. When I tell them to clean their room, “I’ll do it later”—it’s like, you know what? That’s disobedience. You might obey later, but I told you to do it now. Likewise, believers, when God tells you to do something, partial or delayed obedience is still disobedience because you cannot walk in faith and progress in your Christian life while keeping one foot in the old life.

There’s also the delusion of delay. Remember, a lot of people think they can seek God on their own terms. They’ll say, well, on my deathbed, after I’ve lived a full life, then I’ll call on God. Then I’ll get right with Him. And they put off repentance and they put off getting right with God, and they presume upon His patience and they despise His long suffering. Friends, you are not guaranteed another chance. If God is dealing with your heart, know that today is the day of salvation. If God is calling you, just like He called Abram, you need to step out and you need to respond. You need to obey. Don’t delude yourself with delay. You need to throw yourself on this mercy today. You need to stop riding the fence. You need to choose this day who you will serve because God will settle for nothing less than total, wholehearted obedience. He wants you to go all in. And indecision is your decision. You’re either for Him or against Him. You’re either in the light or you’re in darkness. So I want to ask you a question, friends: what is delaying you? Is it comfort? Is it control? Is it the approval of your friends or family? Is it guilt over your past? And you say, well, I just will never be able to be a Christian. I’ll never be rid of that sin. Is it the cost of obedience? Is it your love for sin? Whatever it is, you need to bring it to the Lord. No matter the delay, Christ calls you to full surrender today. And don’t stop short. Press on in faith. Don’t be like Terah and settle in Haran. Be like Abram who continues to follow Christ.

Now we look at Abram’s journey. This is my last point. We see Abram go from delay to devotion. And this is known as the Abrahamic covenant. We’ll cover it quickly. Verses 1 through 3: the Abrahamic covenant. And it’s commonly summarized in three core premises: land, seed, and blessing. In short, God gives Abram a new place, a new people, and a new purpose. After Terah dies, Abram finally obeys God. And he travels to Canaan, the land of promise. And there he will experience the Abrahamic covenant and its blessings.

We can also think of the Abrahamic covenant as geographical, genealogical, and generational. God’s promise to Abraham is geographical because God promised to give him a place—a new land, the land of Canaan—which his descendants would inherit under the leadership of Joshua. God’s promise was genealogical because God will make Abram a great nation, and He will make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And God’s promise was generational because it would extend beyond time and the borders of the nation. And through Abram, all the nations on the earth would be blessed.

But what we see here is very interesting because we move from curse to covenant. And we have five promises of God to Abram. Now, listen to this very carefully because this is awesome. In the first 11 chapters of Genesis, God pronounces five curses. Remember, there’s creation, there’s fall, there’s rebellion, there’s the flood, and God pronounces five curses: the curse on the serpent, the curse on the woman, the curse on the man, the curse of Cain, and the curse at Babel. But here, beginning in chapter 12, which shifts gears and starts another narrative section in Genesis, God gives five promises and five blessings. What is God doing? Through Abraham and his descendants, God is going to reverse the curse of sin. God is beginning to write the story of redemption in its chapters as it moves through the life of Abraham. And here’s the five promises. God’s grace is answering the problem of sin. I’ll make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You shall be a blessing. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Those are five major promises, aren’t they?

So where sin had brought death and exile and division, God initiates a redemptive plan through grace. But notice that God did not give Abraham explanations. He gave him promises. He didn’t give him a map to follow. He gave him His word to trust. Furthermore, these promises are not demands but declarations. And these promises are not based upon Abraham’s effort. But they’re based upon God’s good tidings. They’re based upon God’s goodness. God Himself will fulfill these promises. Because these promises begin with the word “I.” God is making the promise. God will do for Abraham what Abraham cannot do for himself. Furthermore, these promises are unconditional. They’re not dependent on Abraham’s performance or his worthiness. What does Abraham do? He simply believes God. He takes God at His word. And he is accounted to be righteous before God. In other words, God said it. Abraham believes it. And God declares him to be righteous.

Once again, the five promises: I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. God is going to make a great name for Abraham. He will bless Abraham in order to bless other people. He will bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. And by the way, God’s covenant of blessing is still upon His people, still today. And through him, all the families of the earth will be blessed. We see that fulfilled in the New Testament when Peter stands up and preaches in Acts chapter 3. And he’s preaching to the Jews. And he said, God kept His promise to Abraham by sending the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only are the Jews blessed, but the Gentiles are blessed. Because the gospel is for everyone, for all people of all times. Jesus Christ, even though a Jew, He is the Savior of all humanity.

And let’s end here. Christ is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. All of these promises in the Old Testament, all of these covenants, they point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. They all find their fulfillment in Him. What is foreshadowed in Genesis is fully realized in the gospel. A new people. Paul writes in Galatians 3:16, he says, Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed, who is Christ. So at the heart of the Abrahamic covenant was the promise of a seed, a singular future descendant through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Paul teaches in Galatians that seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. He further preaches, if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Later he writes in Romans 4, he, Abraham, is the father of all who believe, those who walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had. In other words, if you place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God declares that you are righteous too. God declares that you too are a child of Abraham. And He includes you in the covenant and family of faith. Jew and Gentile alike are grafted into the vine of Israel, and they are made the house of God.

Number two, Christ fulfills the Abrahamic covenant in that He gives us a new place. Now, friends, the land of faith. The land of Canaan was just the foreshadowing of the true promised land, which is heaven. And it’s Jesus Christ, the greater son of Abraham, who ushers us in, not to a land here, but to a heavenly land. An eternal home—the one Abraham was truly seeking. An eternal city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He leads us to the new heaven and the new earth. The new Eden. The new Jerusalem. The place He has prepared for us.

Christ fulfills the Abrahamic covenant in that He gives us a new purpose. What was the purpose of Abraham? So that through him all the families on the earth would be blessed. This is a universal blessing in the gospel. And Abraham, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ. Because through him, the blessing of salvation flows to the people of every tribe, nation, and tongue. When we get to heaven, we’re going to see people who are in Abraham’s family by faith of all different races and ethnicities. All washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, made into one body called the church. And this covenant is sealed by the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus secures every promise to Abraham. And then He extends this covenant benefit to all who believe. He makes a new people in Himself, who are going to a new place and have been called to a new purpose in Him. Because in Christ every promise is fulfilled. In Christ, friends, we are made His people. We are brought into His place. We are given a new purpose.

So I’ll give you this one last statement in summary. In Christ, church, this is for you. Because you are Abraham’s seed by faith in Christ. You are a redeemed people. How does that make you feel? You are God’s own special possession. You are given an eternal purpose. Your purpose is to exalt the mighty name of Jesus. And you are going to a heavenly place, the true and better promised land.

So as they come and give us a hymn of invitation, perhaps you are hearing the call of God this morning: to step out and leave your old life and to follow Him by faith. Whatever it is that’s keeping you, don’t let it. If it be sin. If it be guilt. If it be fear of surrender. Don’t let anything keep you from following God’s call. He’s calling you to repent of your sins and believe the gospel. To trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived the life that you could not live, who died the death you deserve to die, and rose again on the third day.

Perhaps, believer, you need to step out in faith and obedience. Maybe God is calling you to do something. Friends, this morning, you can be a new person with a new purpose, going to a new place. This altar is open.