THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Genesis Chapters 5-22)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Kevin Pendergrass.
Welcome to the Gospel of Christ. This is the second lesson in our study of the Book of Genesis. In today’s lesson we will be looking at a very important character in the Bible. We can say that about a lot of characters in the Bible, but Abraham plays a very special role in the Word of God. Abraham came to be known as the father of many nations. But for right now I want to call him Abram, because that is what he was called where our lesson begins.
Abram was called by God. This is where we begin our lesson. Sometimes you will hear people say, “I found the Lord.” Salvation begins with God, not man. In other words, God always makes the first move—just as He did with Abraham. In John 3:16 the Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It is not like humanity formed a “salvation committee” and petitioned God for help. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God found Abram, and Abram chose to follow God. Just as Abram was called by God, so we are called by God today. But listen carefully to what I am about to say. We are not called the same way that Abram was called. Throughout the different dispensations of time, God has communicated to His people in different ways. Hebrews 1:1-2 teaches us that today, under this dispensation, we are called by the Lord through His Word. That is how we today are called. In 2 Thessalonians 2:14 we are taught that we are called through the Gospel. God will not come to your house tonight, knock on your door, and say, “Here I am; you need to follow Me.” That will not happen. We are called as Abraham was called, but in a different way. We are called through the Gospel.
Once Abram was called by God, did he answer that call? In Genesis 12:1-3, look at the promises that God made to Abram if he would follow Him.
“Now the Lord had said 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 I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”
Here we see promises being made to Abram—if he followed God’s calling. God told Abram that He would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great. He also told Abram that in him, all the families of the Earth would be blessed. But God told Abram that he had to leave his country, leave his people, leave his father’s household, and go to the land that God would show him—a land about which he knew nothing! Abram did not even know where he was going. But God would show him if he chose to follow God.
Place yourself in Abram’s shoes. He was being asked to forsake everything in order to follow God. Suppose you were in the prime of your life, you had a good job, you had a home that you liked, you had friends whom you admire, and you had neighbors who respected you because you were an outstanding, valuable part of the community with a great future. Now, all of a sudden, God, Whom you’ve just met, wants you to leave that and forsake your family, your friends, your country, your home, your business, and your security in order to follow Him. Does God expect anything less from us today? Does God expect us to follow Him and give up everything in order to do so? There may be different things that we have to give up. Today we may not have to give up our friends because our friends may be followers of Christ. Today we may not have to give up certain things. But we do have to put Christ first. Matthew 6:33 tells us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” In fact, in Matthew 16:24 Jesus taught, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus said that if anyone wanted to follow Him, that person had to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. This might mean, at times, even leaving behind family members (or watching your family forsake you if you take a stand for truth). In Matthew 10:34 Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.” Of course, He was talking about a worldly mentality of peace where everyone will always simply “agree to disagree.” Jesus said that was not what He came to bring. He said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (vss. 35-36). He meant that He came to bring truth and salvation. But there would be few who would accept it, while the majority rejected it (Mt. 7:13-14). Just like Abram, we must forsake everything that is in our way of the Lord so that we can follow Him properly. The first point, then, is that Abram was called by God. To sum up this point, the writer of Hebrews said, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). We see, then, that Abram was called by God.
Now let’s move on to our next point, which is that Abram sinned. So far in this lesson we have learned that Abram was a man who had put his faith and trust in God. But now we are going to see where Abram left God out of the picture. Temptations often follow blessings. When we do the right thing, that’s when things happen negatively to us. We sometimes wonder why, and say, “God, I’ve done the right thing. Why are you allowing this to happen to me?” But we should not question God. Rather, we must follow Him and put our trust in Him. Unfortunately, as we are about to see, Abram did not do that. As a result, he sinned. In Genesis 12:10 we read that “there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.” The place where God took Abram was experiencing a famine. Thus, he left and went to Egypt because the famine was so severe. Verses 11-13 state,
“And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, ‘Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, “This is his wife”; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.’”
Abram no longer trusted in God at this point. Where is God in the picture? It’s not that God left. It’s that Abram was not going to God any more. Abram was not calling on the Lord any more to see what he needed to do. Abram started leaning on his own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us that we are to trust in God, and not lean on our own understanding. We are to acknowledge God in all His ways so that He will direct our footsteps. We must lean on God and His way, not our way. I want to emphasize Genesis 12:12-13 again to show you that Abram not only was fearful of dying, but he also convinced Sarai his wife to lie for him.
“Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
Abram told Sarai that she was so beautiful that the people in Egypt would be jealous of him and would kill him if they found out that Sarai was his wife so they could take her. Abram told Sarai to lie and say that she was her sister so that everything would be OK. But what happened? Verse 14 says, “So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.” Abram was correct in his conclusion that the Egyptians would think that Sarai was beautiful. Verses 15-16 go on to say,
“The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.”
Did you notice that Abram left God out of the picture? We, however, must act by faith, not by fear. Abram and Sarai followed through with their plan. Perhaps you thought that “when push came to shove,” Abram was not going to follow through with it. But he did. He convinced Sarai to lie. In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul was writing to Timothy to say, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” God has not instilled fear in us. If we have fear for doing the right thing, it is our fault or because of our allowing others to influence us. It is not because of God. God has not given us a spirit of fear. We cannot act by fear; rather, we must act by faith. Abram had it reversed because he was acting out of fear and his own understanding and knowledge instead of his faith and trust in God. So what happened when Abram and Sarai lied? Did terrible curses immediately come upon them? Were they struck dead? No. In fact, Abram was temporarily blessed. At times God will allow a deception to cause temporary happiness. Now Abram was not blessed by God, but he was blessed in a worldly fashion. In Genesis 12:15-16 the Bible talks about how the princes of Pharaoh saw Sarai and commended her to Pharaoh—and how Abram ended up being treated well for her sake. Abram ended up getting lots of sheep, oxen, and donkeys. But it happened because Abram and Sarai sinned. What is the lesson here? Is it: “Sin, and you will be blessed”? No! The lesson is that even though we may at times sin, we might end up having some happiness for a short period of time. Hebrews 11:25 talks about “the passing pleasures of sin,” and how sin is enjoyable for only a short period of time. You may be thinking, “I’m a bad person, but good things are happening to me, so that must mean that God accepts the way I’m acting.” That is not true. God did not accept Abram and Sarai’s actions, even though their deception brought about a temporary happiness. It didn’t last long, however. As we continue reading we see that God cursed Pharaoh with plagues, and then sent Abram and Sarai out of Egypt. The good thing is that Abram and Sarai ended up repenting. Abram built an altar and made an offering to the Lord. Then he was back in fellowship with the Lord. When it feels like God is not there anymore, or when we read biblical passages and wonder, “Where is God?,” God has not moved. We have moved away from Him. We can always turn back to Him if we are willing to do the right thing. So, point number two is that Abram sinned.
Now let’s move on to Abram’s character. We’ve already seen a little bit of it concerning how he put his faith in God, then sinned, and then repented. But now we are going to see how Abram was a great peace maker. In Genesis 13:1-6 we read,
“Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.”
Abram and Lot were traveling together because they were relatives. But the time came when they could not travel together because they had too many livestock. This caused strife because of Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. What did Abram do? Did he say, “I’m going to do what I want to do, no matter what”? No, Abram did not do that. Abram saw that this was not a matter of salvation. It did not affect the way that they worshiped God. It did not affect the way that they lived their daily lives. Abram knew that ultimately this did not matter. So he became a peacemaker. Genesis 13:8-11 says,
“So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.’ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.”
Abram was a peacemaker. He told Lot that if he chose the right side, he would go to the left. Or, if Lot wanted to go to the left, Abram would go to the right. Abram was willing to be a peacemaker. He said, “We are brethren; let this strife cease.” In Matthew 5:9 Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Are you a peacemaker? We need to be peacemakers who are looking for a godly type of peace, not a worldly peace.
Why did Abram and Lot have to separate? It was because of their money and their possessions. Money oftentimes causes problems. In 1 Timothy 6:10 the Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” It is all right to have money. But if we desire it so much that we love it, and if we work for it our entire lives and put it before everything else, then it will cause evil in our lives, just as it did with Abram and Lot (which is why they had to separate). Fortunately, however, Abram was willing to be a peacemaker. This is a part of his character that we see here. He did not want there to be strife between brethren. Neither should we.
Now let’s look at the next point. Earlier I talked about Abram was known as “Abram.” He is not known as Abraham until now—in Genesis 17. Abram’s name was changed by God to Abraham. In Genesis 17:5 the Bible says, “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.” The word “Abram” meant “exalted one.” Back then, names meant something. Today we may not name a child something because it means something. We simply give the child a name because we like it or because it sounds good. But back then names had great significance. Abram had been exalted. Now he was going to be “the father of many nations.” God made that promise to him in Genesis 12 if he would be faithful.
This teaches us that there is importance in a name. When we are changed from a sinner to a saint, and when we are baptized into Christ and converted (Gal. 3:27), we are given a new name. Acts 11:26 says that that name is “Christian,” which means “Christ-like” or “one who follows Christ.” There is a great important in that name. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
Let’s look a little more at the character of Abraham. We see that he is an intercessor on behalf of the city of Sodom. He is someone who wants people to do the right thing and go to Heaven. We need to have that same type of character. Abraham wanted people to follow God. What should we want? We, too, should want people to follow God. We should not have the mentality, “I’m right with God, so I don’t care about anyone else.” We need to make sure, of course, that we are right with God. There is no doubt about that. But we also need to be concerned about other people. In Genesis 18:16-33 the Bible says that Sodom had become so wicked that the Lord was going to destroy it. But Abraham interceded. He asked God if He would destroy if Abraham could find 50 righteous people. On the surface, that may not seem like very many. “If I can find 50 righteous people, Lord, will you destroy Sodom?” The Lord say, “No, if you can find 50 righteous people, I will not destroy the city.” Then Abraham asked God, “If I can find 45 righteous people, will you destroy the city?” God said, “No, if you can find 45 righteous people, I will not destroy the city.” This went on to 40, 30, 20—and all the way down to 10 righteous people. Abraham asked, “If can find 10 righteous people, will you destroy Sodom?” And the Lord said, “No, if you can find 10 righteous people, I will not destroy the city.” This tells us something not just about Abraham’s character, but also about God’s character. God is longsuffering. He does not want people to go to Hell. He does not want people to be lost. In 2 Peter 3:9 we are told, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” This shows us the nature of God. He wants people to be saved. But we have to make the decision to follow Him. Unfortunately, there were not even 10 righteous people in Sodom. Thus, the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. One of the major sins was homosexuality. In Genesis 19:5 the Bible says that the men of Sodom “called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.’” These people wanted to engage in homosexual-type acts. This was one of the sins that plagued Sodom and Gomorrah! Throughout all ages, God has condemned homosexuality. Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Leviticus 18:22, 1 Timothy 1:10, and other passages condemn homosexuality. God has always hated homosexuality, just as He hates all sin. If you are listening today and you are a homosexual, you can change. Do not say, “I was born this way.” You were not born that way. You have chosen to be that way and to sin, just as you do with all other sins. It may be hard. And you may still be tempted. But you can overcome that. In 1 Corinthians 6:11 the Bible says, “…such were some of you.” Homosexuals can change. And they must change if they want to go to Heaven. Genesis 19:24 says that the Lord rained brimstone and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the cities. Even though Abraham did everything He could, and even though the Lord did all He could, not even 10 righteous people could be found.
Now I want us to look at Abraham’s biggest test. In Genesis 22 we read of Abraham having to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. To give you some background, Genesis 21 tells us that Isaac was the son for which Abraham and Sarah had been waiting basically all their married lives. They had waited and waited and waited for a son. Now, finally they have a son. Genesis 22:1 says, “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” That one verse shows us that while God will not tempt us (Jas. 1:13), He may test us. He will allow us to go through trials. He will test our faith to see how strong we are. He told Abraham to take his only son and offer him as a sacrifice to God. When we read Genesis 22, we see nothing in the text to indicate that Abraham doubted God or forsook his trust in God. In fact, everything in the text shows that he trusted in God, and that he was willing to do anything the Lord asked—even to the point of sacrificing his only son. In Genesis 22:10-13 we read,
“And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’”
Now God knew that Abraham feared God, and that he was willing to do whatever it took to be pleasing to God. Abraham is a wonderful character in the Bible. He is a person from whom we can learn so many lessons. Abraham ended up being faithful to the Lord throughout all of his days. In Genesis 25:8 we find a verse that should motivate and encourage us. We should want this verse to describe our lives. “Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.” Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all say, “I want that to be said about me” I lived many years. I fulfilled those years the way I was supposed to. I died at a good old age, and I was gathered to my people”? The most important thing was that Abraham followed the Lord.
What is our conclusion? Abraham was called by God. We are called by God, too, through God’s Word. We have to answer that call through our obedience (Heb. 5:8-9). The Bible teaches us that Abraham sinned. We sin, too (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). We, like Abraham, need to repent of our sins. We have to follow the Lord like Abraham did. Abraham was a peacemaker. We, too, need to become peacemakers in God’s kingdom. Abraham had his name changed. We, too, receive a new name. Abraham interceded, and Abraham passed his biggest test to prove that he was willing to follow God. Are you a Christian? Have you followed the Lord? These are principles that we can learn, and that we must apply to our lives. The Bible says in Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” If you have yet to obey the truth, we pray today that you will obey the Gospel of Christ.
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
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1. In Genesis 12 we see Abraham being called by God. How, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:14, are we today called by God?
2. In Genesis 12:1-3, what demands did God make of Abraham?
3. According to Hebrews 11:8, what caused Abraham to answer God’s call?
4. What demand does Matthew 6:33 make of us?
5. What did Jesus teach in Matthew 16:24?
6. What important point (or points) was Jesus making in Matthew 10:34-38?
7. According to Matthew 7:13-14, how many people will ultimately choose to follow Jesus?
8. What sin did Abraham and Sarai commit in Genesis 12:11-18?
9. According to Hebrews 11:25, what does sin offer us?
10. What does Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us to do that Abraham chose not to do?
11. What happened in Genesis 13:1-6 that brought strife between the families of Abraham and Lot?
12. According to Genesis 13:8-11, what action did Abraham take to resolve the strife discussed in Genesis 13:1-6?
13. What does Matthew 5:9 teach us that we should be in order to be pleasing to God?
14. What does 1 Timothy 6:10 teach about “the love of money”?
15. What does the name “Abram” mean?
16. According to Genesis 17:5, why did God change Abram’s name to Abraham?
17. What “new name” is found in Acts 11:26?
18. Describe what was going on in Genesis 18:16-33.
19. Describe the “bartering process” through which Abraham went in order to try to save the city of Sodom.
20. Describe the end result of that bartering process, so far as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were concerned.
21. According to Genesis 22:13, what test did God give Abraham?
22. How did Abraham respond to that test?
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