Key Truth: God’s mission is to redeem and restore His people from sin and death to abundance of life by faith alone as provided and nourished by His promises and presence.

Introduction:

Q: What has the biggest impact on your obedience to God’s Word?

“…this calling of Abram is a signal instance of the gratuitous mercy of God. Had Abram been beforehand with God by any merit of works? Had Abram come to him, or conciliated his favour? Nay, we must ever recall to mind,…that he was plunged in the filth of idolatry; and now God freely stretches forth his hand to bring back the wanderer. He deigns to open his sacred mouth, that he show to one, deceived by Satan’s wiles, the way of salvation.”

John Calvin, Genesis

God’s Calling and Promises: Go and I Will:

Genesis 12:1-3

“What is being offered in these few verses (Gen. 12:1-3) is a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world, now set in train by the call of Abram.”

William J. Dumbrell, Covenant and Creation: An Old Testament Covenantal Theology

Q: How has the Lord blessed you (i.e. the power to live an abundant and effective life)? How has your being blessed affected those around you?

The Land of Canaan, The Land of the Cursed Seed:

Genesis 12:4-6

“Abram’s destination is ‘the land of Canaan’. There is an irony about this because Canaan was apparently the region settled by the descendants of Canaan, the cursed son of Ham (9:25)….God has decided to bring the seed of the woman right into the midst of the seed of the serpent, and to preserve his people.”

John D. Currid, Genesis: Volume 1, Genesis 1:1-25:18

Q: Has the Lord ever called you to a difficult place and asked you to see it with redeemed and hopeful eyes?

God’s Presence and the Altars of Evidence:

Genesis 12:7-9

“One sees here the difference between the conduct of the men of this world, and that of the Lord’s servants. The former no sooner find a fruitful plain, than they fall to building a city, and a tower, to perpetuate their fame. The first concern of the latter is to raise an altar to God. It was thus that the new world was consecrated by Noah, and now the land of promise by Abram.”

Andrew Fuller, Expository Discourses on the Book of Genesis

Q: How did the Lord reveal Himself to you and evidence His presence in that difficult place to which He called you?

Application:

Genesis 12:1-9 teaches us that:

-God desires to redeem and restore His people from sin and death to abundance of life

-God’s promises provide for and nourish obedience in faith

-God is with us on the journey

“The call of Abram is the beginning of God’s answer to the evil of human hearts, the strife of nations, and the groaning of brokenness of his whole creation. It is the beginning of the mission of God and the mission of God’s people.”

Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission

Benediction:

Revelation 5:6-10