Now, Friends, if you have your Bible, you’ll want to turn with us today to the 12th Chapter of the Book of Genesis.  We’re now getting well on in our Thru the Bible Program and, as we said last time, we’re halfway through the Bible chronologically, but that is not actually true, of course.  We’ve finished 11 chapters of the Book of Genesis, and we are moving slowly this time because we’re going to be at this five years, the Lord willing!  We trust that you have “Notes and Outlines” to follow along with.  If you do not have them, write in and ask for yours.  

PROGRAM REVIEW TO DATE

Now we have concluded here the first 11 chapters and it might be well since this is a tremendous break here just to have a brief review.  In these first 11 chapters, we have seen four great events:  Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel.  These are tremendous events, and it’s in this section that we’ve seen that God has been dealing actually with the entire race of mankind; not so much individuals, but actually with the race of mankind.  All the way from Adam to Abraham, God had not appeared to anyone; only to Adam and to Abraham.  And God is dealing with the human race at this time; the entire universe.

CHAPTER 12 

GOD’S INDIVIDUAL APPROACH

Now there’s a radical change here at Chapter 12 and through the rest of the Book of Genesis.  We have something quite remarkable, and that is:  Now we have brought before us four individuals.  Now it’s no longer events, but God now is dealing with a man and, from that man, He’ll make a nation.  

And we have in this first section, Abraham, the man of faith, Genesis 12 through 23.  Then we have Isaac, the beloved son, Genesis 24 to 26, and then Jacob, the chosen and chastened son, Genesis 27 through 36, and then Joseph, suffering and glory, Genesis 37 through 50.  And these are the four patriarchs that are so important to the understanding of the Word of the God, and we’re taking up their story now in the rest of the Book of Genesis.  

You see, God now has demonstrated—and I trust that He has to your satisfaction—that He can no longer deal with the race because after the fall of man, you have the great sin of Cain.  And what was his great sin?  Pride.  I tell you he was angry because of the fact that down deep in his heart he was proud of the offering that he brought, and it was rejected and caused him to hate his brother.  You see, that leads to envy, and pride was the sin of the devil.  It is the sin of the mind.  And then at the Flood, that the was lust of the flesh.  We saw that the things were given the imagination of man and his actions.  Everything was to satisfy the flesh.  And then we saw the Tower of Babel, and that was open rebellion against God.  Now God had to bring the Flood to judge man.  If God had waited even another generation—and He’d been patient 120 years and from the day of Methuselah 969 years, God had been patient with the world, and they hadn’t turned to him.  And I’m confident that any person will say that 969 years is long enough to give anybody an opportunity to change their minds, and they didn’t change their minds.  They were now in open rebellion, asserting a will that is against God; none seeking after God.  And the Tower of Babel reveals that.

Now God is going to have to do something differently.  He turns from the race of mankind, and now He takes an individual and, from that individual, He’s going to bring a nation and, out of that nation, He’ll bring a Redeemer and, to that nation, He’ll give His Revelation.  Actually, this is the only way, apparently, that God could do it.  Or, let’s put it like this—if there were other ways, this is the BEST way because we can trust God to do the thing that is the best thing to do.  

Now when God called Abraham, you’re going to find out he’s the man of faith.  We said last time, we tempted to point out that Abraham was one of the great men that’s been on this earth.  And we were using, by the way, the secular measuring rod for that.  And I believe that today the world would accept that he was the world’s most famous man.  More people heard of Abraham than anybody that’s ever lived.  Three great world religions came from him.  There are men out yonder in that desert today that never heard of the President of the United States.  They never heard of who won the golf tournament.  They do not know who is the football hero.  Never heard of them.  They’ve heard of Abraham.  And the interesting thing is the heroes of today will be forgotten tomorrow.  For 4,000 years now Abraham has made the headlines.  He’s a pretty famous man, Friends.

And then if you want the measurement of the world, he was a generous man.  He was a wealthy man; tremendously wealthy.  He was the “John D. Rockefeller” and the “Henry Ford” and the “Paul Getty” and anyone else that you want to put in the list and Sheiks of one of these rich oil countries of the Middle East, all rolled into one.  By the standard of his day, he was a very wealthy man.  

But he was a man of faith, and I recognize that the world somehow or another doesn’t feel like that is the way that you measure an individual.  Well, that’s the way God measured him.  God said, “He’s a man of faith.”  And we’ll find as we go through here that that is the thing that is developed in his live.  Seven times God appeared to this man—and each time, to develop faith in his life.  He was not perfect at first.  Fact of the matter is he fell on his face.  God gave him four tests, and he fell on his face on all four of them, Friends.  But like Simon Peter, he got up and brushed himself off and started again.  May I say to you, if God has touched your heart and life, you may fall, but you’re sure going to get up and start over again.

GOD’S CALL OF ABRAHAM

Now we’re going to see that as we get into this very rich chapter here.  And this is very important, by the way, and we have here in Chapter 12 the call of Abraham.  And we’ll be following this all the way through the Word of God.  Now let me read here these first three verses because they are very important verses if you please.  Now, will you note:

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 shew thee:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  (Genesis 12:1-3)

“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 shew thee….”  Now that’s Number 1 of the things God promised to Abraham.  He promised him three things, and this is the hub of the Bible.  May I say all of it rests upon this three-fold promise.  And the Bible is just an unfolding, actually, of this three-fold promise.  God says “a land I’m going to show you and I’m going to give it to you.”  

The second thing God said He was going to do, Verse 2 now, Chapter 12 of Genesis.  “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.”  Well, God said He’d make his name great.  God’s done pretty well there.  

And God said, here the third thing:  “I’ll make you a blessing.”  God says, “I’ll make you a great nation, and I’m going to make you a blessing to all mankind.”  God brought from him a great nation, and it has probably the longest tenure as a nation of any people on this earth today.  No one can quite match them.  And then the third thing He said to them, “You’re going to be a blessing.”  Well, through Jesus Christ they’ve been a blessing to the world.  The giving of the Word of God, they’ve been a blessing.  

God’s made good, except that first one.  He said, “I’m going to give you that land,” and you look what’s having over there today, they’ve just got their toenails in the land, and they’re holding on by their toenails.  But they don’t have it.  Somebody says, “Well, God didn’t make that good.”  Let’s don’t put it like that, Friend.  Why don’t you be friendly toward the Bible, and give God a chance.  Some people don’t even give Him a chance.  

Now look at it like this.  Four thousand years ago, God said to Abraham three things I’m going to do for you.  Now two-thirds of them have been made good right to the very letter.  And because of disobedience, God said He wouldn’t let them be in the land if they were disobedient and if they’re away from Him.  And they’re away from Him today, by the way.  And as a result, why they’re having trouble over there.  Don’t say God’s not making good.  The fact of the matter is God’s doing exactly what He said He would do.  

Now the day will come when God’ll put ‘em back in the land; when He does, it won’t be a toe-hold.  They’re really going to have it all the way to the Euphrates.  They’ll be up as far as the Hittite nation was and all the way down river of Egypt, which is a little river in that Arabian Desert.  So that what we have here is a land they’ve never really occupied.  At the very zenith of their power, they occupied 30,000 square miles, but that’s not what God gave them.  He gave them 300,000 square miles.  They got a long ways to go, but they’ll have to take it on God’s terms in God’s appointed time, and the United Nations can’t do anything about it.  And the United States and Russia won’t be able to settle the problem.  

You know it’s very comfortable today where I sit.  I’ve come to the position that God’s running things, Friends, and it’s just nice to sit here and not be scared by the headlines in the paper and not to be disturbed by what’s going on in the world.  He’s in control, and He’s going to work it out His way!

ABRAHAM’S RESPONSE

Now God promised these three things to Abraham.  What did Abraham do?

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.  (Genesis 12:4)

“And Lot went with him.”  Oh, oh!  Already he’s disobeyed.  May I say to you, he took relatives with him.  He should not have done that.  And he took his Papa with him, Papa Tehra.  And God told him not to take them.  Now why did God want to get him out of the land away from his relatives?  Why it’s quite obvious when you go over to the Book of Joshua, and I’ll not turn to it today, but God said to Joshua, “I called your fathers, Abraham, on the other side of the Flood when they were serving other gods.”  Well, Abraham was in idolatry.  You see the world was pretty far gone at this time.  God had to move like this if He was going to save humanity.  Now the other alternative is He could have blotted them all out and started over again.  I’m glad He didn’t.  If he had, I wouldn’t have been here, because I arrived here a sinner and the fact of the matter is that sinners would have been blotted out.  But thank God, He’s a God of Mercy and Grace, and He saves sinners.

Now what we have here is this man taking along his nephew, and he took his father along.  And what happened?  Well, Abraham took Sarah, his wife; that was alright, of course.  (Verse 5:)

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Now we find this man spent in Haran a nice period of time, patting his foot, marking time, and delaying the blessing of God.  God never appeared to him until he moved up into the land; until he got separated from at least the closer relatives, and he only brought Lot with him.  Now will you notice, we have to come back and say this again in Verse 6.  He says at the end of Verse 5, “…and into the land of Canaan they came.”  Now Verse 6:

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Here is the fact the Canaanite was then in the land.  Now may I add this right at this point because it’s very important.  You know a great many people are going to say, “Well, this was the land of corn and wine, the land of milk and honey; everything was lovely.  Abraham left a terrible place, Ur of the Chaldees, and he came to a wonderful place.”  Don’t you believe a word of it.  That’s not what the Bible says.  This man Abram left a place we know today through archeology that had a high civilization.  I think maybe he might have had a bath in the house.  He had a very wonderful civilization.  He left that, and he came into the land of Canaan and the Canaanite was still in the land.  Now the Canaanite was not civilized.  He was a barbarian and a heathen if there ever was one.  And Abram did not better his lot by coming into this land.  That’s not the point.  The point is:  Will he obey God?  

Now he has obeyed God, and what happens?  Verse 7.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

And you’ll just have to pay attention to that.  Abram built an altar unto the LORD, and God appears to him the second time.  While he was in the land of Haran, the place of delay, God did not appear.  You see one of the reasons today many of us are not blessed in reading the Bible is because the Bible condemns us because we’re not living up to the light we have.  If we would obey God, then more blessing would come.  God does not appear to Abram until Abram’s ready to move out and obey God on the light he’s had.  Now God’s ready to appear to him.  

“He builds an altar,” and Abram is a real altar builder, by the way.  Everywhere he goes.  Notice Verse 8.

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.

Two things that he did now.  He got into the land, he pitched his tent—he bought him a house in a new subdivision and he moved in.  He’s going to retire in California, only it’s going to be in the land of Canaan.  He’s arrived.  He pitched his tent.  That’s what he lived in.  Then he builded an altar; that’s his testimony to God.  And everywhere Abraham went, he left a testimony to God.  

What kind of testimony do you have?  You don’t have to put a tract out in front of your house.  And you don’t have to write on the backend of your car, “Jesus Saves” and then drive like a maniac down the freeway; and there are some that do that.  My Friend, that’s no testimony at all.  May I say to you this man quietly worshipped God, and the Canaanites soon caught on to that, by the way.  

And Abram, we’re told (in Verse 9):

And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.  

That’s a good direction to go.  It’s warm there, you see; good weather.  And so this man is moving south.  He has itchy feet; he’s a nomad.  That was Abram.  

ABRAHAM’S LAPSE OF FAITH

Now we come to that blot in his life; the second one I should say.  

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.

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.  Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.  (Genesis 12:10-13)

Now Abram was in the land.  It was a place of blessing.  God never told him to leave.  But a famine was in the land.  And I think one morning Abram pushed back the flap of his tent, looked out, and said, “Sarai, it looks like everybody’s going to Egypt.  There’s a famine, you know, and it’s getting worse.  Maybe we ought to think about going down.”  And I think Sarai said, “Well, anything you want to do, Abram.  I’m your wife; I’ll go with you.”  And so a few days went by, and Abram talked to some of these travelers.  And one of them had come from up north of where he lived; he says, “It’s getting worse and it’s coming south.”  And Abram said to Sarai that evening, “I think maybe we better pack up and go to Egypt.”  Now, God never told him to.  When God appeared to him the last time, He said “This is it, Abram.  This is the land I’m going to give you and you’ll be a blessing, and I’m going to bless you here.”  But you see, he didn’t believe God.  He went on down into the land of Egypt.

And Egypt is a picture of the world in Scripture.  You’ll find that all the way through.  I think it’s still a picture of the world.  My opinion of it when I was there, and frankly, Abram went down there.  It’s amazing how the world draws Christians today.  And so many of them rationalize today, and they say, “Well, now you know, Brother McGee, we’re not able to come to church on Sunday night because we have to get up and go to work Monday morning.”  Well, believe me, everybody has to do that.  And it’s amazing that during the week on Thursday night or Friday night or Tuesday night, if there’s a banquet and they have a long winded program, a lot of music, and a lot of talk, that party doesn’t seem to worry about getting up and going to work.  It’s amazing how the world draws Christians today, and they can rationalize.  And I think if you’d met Abram going down to Egypt and said, “Wait a minute, Abram.  You’re going the wrong direction, the wrong way on a one way street; you shouldn’t be going this way.  You should be staying in the land,” he could have given you a good reason.  “Well, look, my sheep are getting pretty thin, and there’s not any pasture for them; the grazing land, not very much. And there’s plenty down in Egypt.  We’re going down there.”  And so they went down there.

But immediately there was a problem.  We have here something that’s quite interesting.  He’s going to have trouble actually with his wife.  And the reason is she’s beautiful.  And next time, I want to tell you about what one of the Dead Sea Scrolls—you know, at first the unbelieving scholar thought that he had found something that was going to disprove the Bible, and have you noticed how silent that the higher critics have become?  They just don’t seem to have found any contradiction in the Bible.  I want to give you next time how one of them confirms the Bible.  It’s quite interesting, and they thought it was something else when they found it, and that reveals the fact you better not listen to the scholars until all the facts are in.  Well, we’ll save that until next time.  And in the meantime, while we’ll be going on down to the Egypt with Abram because we want to go down and see what happens to him there.