We're in a series called Working Through Unbelief. And that will become more apparent to you in the coming weeks. I know that the title at this moment in time doesn't seem to fit with the series of the few sermons that I've preached thus far, but it will. What we're doing here is we're setting the historical context for what we will see when the people of God refuse to go into the land that God promised and oath. We need to begin at the beginning of how that came about. Where did the proposal come? Where did the idea come from? And what were the parameters surrounding that? Tonight, we're gonna be looking at this land of Canaan that they are going to go into. We're going to look at how God promised the land to them and how he did so because he had a particular purpose for them in taking that land, residing in it, and bringing him glory through doing so. But this morning, I want to continue on looking at the introduction, if you will, of where the idea of going into this land came from. Last Sabbath day, we saw that it began with God. All things begin with God. God created the heavens and the earth. He gave life to man. You and I are here because God has given us life. It's a very simple truth, but it's a very profound truth. Because everything in life flows out of that. If you recognize who God is as your creator, then that will lead you to seek after God, truly seek after Him, and to hear what He has to say. We saw that God spoke to Abram, verse 1, chapter 12. The Lord said to Abram, God spoke to Abram. It's astonishing when you think about it that God speaks to men and women, and He has spoken to us through His Word, that the Creator of all things declares verbally the words which will give us an understanding of who He is, who we are, our need, and the way of everlasting life. It's a remarkable fact. and yet we live our lives just taking it as an assumption. But we should never ever take lightly the truth of the speaking of God and the therefore incumbent necessity upon us to hear and respond. We saw how God gave to Abraham seven promises, promises that speak of a personal relationship Promises speak of a purposed relationship, and they speak of a protected relationship. God said, I will be your God. Of all the peoples of the earth, God chose this one man to begin this new chapter in the history of the world. One single, solitary pagan. a man called Abram. And he said, I will not only be your God, I will protect you. Those who bless you, I will bless. And anyone who dishonors you, I will curse. And then he told him that he had a purpose for him, that he would have him go to a land that he would show him in due course. Is that not the three key elements of all that we need in life? To know God personally, to know God's protection of our lives, and to know that God has given us a purpose. There's a lot of sadness in people's lives not due to a failure to understand that God would come to them personally. They just see God as some huge entity. They don't actually understand that he is personally there. And many people would crave to feel protection and refuge and safety. there God offers it. And many people today are living purposeless lives. Have we ever been in a generation in the history of the world where people are living with no purpose? No purpose. Those who are under the age of 16, many of them have been fed a picture and a testimony of life that means that you don't have a purpose. You've evolved from nothing. If you're a boy, you can call yourself a girl. In fact, you don't have to call yourself a girl, you can call yourself the dog or the cat. You can be what you want to be. I know some of you are smiling, but it's true. You don't have to dig too deep online to find that there are an increasing number of 12, 13, 14 year olds, and maybe even younger than that, who are saying, I'm no longer a boy, I'm a girl. And by the way, I'm not a girl, I'm an animal. It's really, really sad, disturbing. And why it's disturbing is because it shows the lostness, the lostness of this generation. So God speaks and God gives his promises. Let's see then how Abraham responds. The first thing we see is that Abraham hears. The second thing we'll see is that Abraham believes. And the third thing we'll see is that Abraham obeys. Abraham hears what God has to say. We're not told how God speaks to Abraham, but he does hear. And so we see that he has a choice to make. I mean, he could have avoided it, could he? No, he couldn't really, God was speaking to him. But you can't avoid God speaking to you. You can't avoid it. You can be in the house of mercy each Lord's day, morning and evening, and not listen to the word of God. You can hear it, but not listen to it. You can hear it as words flowing in one ear and out the other, but you don't really grasp it for yourself. Abram hears. How do we know that Abram hears? Because Abram responds. And we'll look at that in a few moments, how Abram responds. The warning of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark's gospel chapter four verse 24 is pertinent when he says to those hearing him that they're to pay attention to what he has to say because he says, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you and still more will be added to you. In other words, if you have the privilege of hearing the word of God, you will be held accountable for the hearing of the word of God that you've applied yourself to. There are many people today who don't have that privilege. There are many, many millions of people in the world who will never have what you're experiencing this morning. Never once in their life. And I'm not just talking about those who are living in distant areas of the Amazon forest or islands that yet have to be found by man, although there probably aren't too many islands, but there are small communities of individuals and islands where they are known about, but they have not been interacted with. deliberately because the thinking is if we go there, they will bring the disease to them and we'll wipe them out. So let these people just alone. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the millions of people who are seeking after idols and false gods, who are being taught that which is not true, who will not hear the lamp and the light. They will not hear of the joy of hearing God's word. It'll be something that we'll never ever hear in their lives. We have had A phenomenal privilege. Even some of you boys and girls who are still very young, you've had a phenomenal privilege. In your life, you've heard the word of God preached. You've heard it preached. And we will all be held accountable for it. Because why is it so important? Because it speaks to us from God. It is God's word to us. God spoke to Abraham, and Abraham listened to what God had to say. We need to hear the word of God, not simply as an audible experience, but we need to hear it as it comes to our minds and our hearts. And we need to prepare ourselves for the hearing of the word of God. We need to prepare ourselves for the hearing of the word of God. That takes place on a Saturday night, that takes place on a Sabbath morning. And the physical preparation is required in sleep, but there's also spiritual preparation required in the seeking of the help of the Holy Spirit, that he might illuminate this truth to us. that this lamp and this light would come to us by the power of God's spirit. That it wouldn't simply be as the words of men, as Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonians, chapter two, verse 13. The first letter that Paul wrote to Thessalonians says that these words are not to be received. When they receive the word of God, they accept it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God. which is at work in you believers. You have to understand that when you come to the Word of God, whether as an individual in your family or in public worship, that what you're being exposed to is the living, inerrant, powerful Word of God. You have to ask. You have to ask individually. You have to ask for yourself, for the Spirit's help to enable you to understand it. You can't just appropriate in terms of your academic ability. It doesn't come that way. That's what the wonderful thing about the Word of God, and it speaks, and it speaks to our children, or it speaks to even those of us who are older and maybe losing some of our faculties. It speaks to us because it is mediated by the power of the Spirit. The voice of Jesus comes to us. Powerful reality. Abraham hearing, Abraham believes. When he hears the word of God, he believes that what God is saying to him is true. He did so not having seen the work of God before. This man was a pagan. He didn't understand who God was. He was one who worshiped many gods. That was his background. He didn't have the upbringing that many of us have had. He didn't have the instruction that many of us have been blessed with. His background was one which was marked by pagan idolatry. And yet, as Paul writes to the church of Galatians, Galatians chapter three, he says, just as Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. He's addressing the issue there in the church in Galatia over the fact that they are discussing and saying that it is the law of God that's preeminent because the law of God is preeminent. then there must be circumcision as a necessity for the life of the Gentiles who are coming into the church. And Paul, in addressing that very important and significant point in the life of the early church, particularly in Galatians, says to them, you've got it wrong. It wasn't about righteousness attained through obedience and works. It wasn't that Abraham circumcised Isaac and Ishmael and the others in his household, and therefore because he circumcised them, that he was attributed to him that he had done the law of God and right, and that everyone in the Old Testament who circumcised their child, their male child that is, were doing that which was right, and therefore because of their doing that which was right, then it was accounted to them as righteousness. No, he says, Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed what God told him. Now the outcome of that was obedience in the act of circumcision. But belief came before the obedience. And so Abraham believed. And Paul goes on in that passage in Galatians, he says, knowing that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Those of faith. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations of the world be blessed. Did you just think that was a statement? Remember when I read that this morning, I double read it, I repeated myself. That all the nations of the world be blessed. That wasn't just a statement of truth. That was a statement of the gospel. Because how have all the nations of the world be blessed? They're blessed by the sound of the gospel going forth. They're blessed because the good news has been proclaimed. What is the good news? The good news of new life in Jesus Christ. Because the gospel has gone forth and the work of the spirit has empowered that gospel and the voice of Christ has been heard. Many people in many nations of the world have come to faith in Jesus Christ. That doesn't negate what I previously said, that there are millions of people in many nations who have not heard. That's why we have to be constantly focused and praying that the word would go out through all the world. Abraham heard this. He heard that God said that I will bless you and bless all the nations of the world before you. And he believed that. This one solitary man in Haran, this pagan who did not know God, heard what God said. Having not traveled far from where he lived, and he believes that the whole world, the whole world, and the families throughout the world, nations across the entire globe are going to be blessed, are going to be blessed through him, by the work of God in his life. Put yourself in that man's shoes. How credible does that sound? How plausible Does that come across to you? Does that not seem beyond the boundaries of possibility? How can all the nations of the world be blessed through me? How is that going to become a reality in any way, shape, or form? And yet, Abram believed it. He not only heard it, he not only processed it, he believed it. That's why Paul finishes off that passage and says, so then those who are of faith are a blessing along with Abraham, the man of faith. And tonight we're going to look, as I look at the land that was filled with pagan, worship, the land that was promised, the land that was purposed. We are going to spend a few moments looking at why Abraham believed what God said to him. Why he believed. Why did he believe? What was it that caused him to believe? God spoke to Abram. Abram heard and Abram believed. Unbeliever. You've heard the word of God, but have you believed it? Are you like the man that is written about in John's Gospel, chapter five, who's at the pool of Bethesda? He's been an invalid for 38 years, a place of healing. Jesus asked him a very strange question. This man who's there at the place of healing, a place where many invalids are, and many people with various disabilities, who want to go into the famously stirred pools that they might be healed. And Jesus asked this man a very simple question. Do you want to be healed? Strange, isn't it? The man would say, well, of course I want to be healed. That's why I've been sitting here. I've been an invalid 38 years, and I've been coming to this pool every day, this pool of healing, I'm with these people, and I really want to be healed. What is Jesus saying to him? He's saying to him, I see where you're at. I understand that you understand that this is a place of healing, but I'm asking you personally, do you actually want to be healed? And Jesus is testing the man's heart desire. You see, you can be in the house of mercy. You can be in the place of worship. You can hear the word of God and you can sit and say, well, that was, I enjoyed that. What he had to say today, I thought that was quite interesting. But this doesn't come to you as something that's interesting. This doesn't come to you just to give you some form of entertainment for an hour and 15 minutes on a Sabbath morning or an hour on a Sabbath evening. This comes to you as a living and errant word of God, as a challenge to your soul. Do you understand your need of God? Do you understand your need of salvation? Do you understand the reality that you're a sinner? Has the truth of that actually enveloped you? Have you become aware of your need? The gospel you see was to be preached throughout the world. That was a promise to Abraham. You've heard the gospel, but are you listening? And if you're listening, are you hearing? And if you're hearing, are you going to believe? Or are you just gonna continue to sit and hear, but not believe? It's a very sobering question because there's a consequence to not believing. It's just not that God is ambivalent. It doesn't matter. Well, you can believe if you want to. You don't want to believe, that's your choice. It's your life. I've given you the life. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll let you believe. You can believe if you want. If you don't want to believe, well, that's all right. If you continue in your unbelief, if you continue and you're hearing but not obeying through belief, then you're storing up for yourself tribulation and eternal separation from God. Do you think that having sat in this place of worship for how many months or weeks or years, that God is going to say to you on the day of judgment in the person of Jesus, it's okay. You were there. I saw you there. You were diligent. You were active. You were consistent. You were there all the time. As Jesus is going to say to you, that's good. I was pleased to see it. And you know what he's going to say? He's going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. And the reason why he never knew you is because you would not submit to his call upon your life. to believe in him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Yes, you believe in God in general, but you don't believe in Jesus Christ as your substitutionary atonement savior, that he alone has paid the price for your sin. Would you not believe that today? Would you not come to him by faith today and repent of the reality of who you are and say to him, yes, yes, I believe. I believe, please set me free. And what of us brothers and sisters in Christ? Is there an issue in your life and mine? A hard providence, a trial? And God in his word has said to us time and again, trust me, I am your refuge and I am your strength. I am your good shepherd. And we hear it, and we sing it, but we don't accept it. We don't believe it. We don't own it. Yes, we take a sense of sensory encouragement from it. but actually laying into it, laying in and owning, and saying, yes, God, in the midst of the trials and difficulties, like we read in Psalm 119, there was verses 105 and following, where he says, in affliction, when the enemies and the wicked are laying their snares upon me, yet I trust in you. I will lay hold of your word. I have resolved to live by the light of your truth. Many times in our lives are we so coming one way and yet going another way, double-minded. God is clear, he's unequivocally clear. I am God, I am sovereign, I know all that's going on and I know that I am working all things together for the good of those who love me and are called according to my purpose. Do you believe the reality of what God is saying? Or do you say, yes, I know that, There is no place for but. There's only place for belief. There's no place for questioning the authority of God and his word. and laying your life into it, it's irrational to say, I believe in God, that God knows all things, and then to turn around and say, but in this situation, because of the circumstances, I am going to take my own counsel. How can we take our own counsel? We have finite ability. We have emotional disability. We of mindset that is not certain even today whether we believe in the things that we hold to and yet in reality we are working our lives through and difficulties and trials. Why do we think that we can know better than God? Are we not better suited just to say, God, you are right and I will believe. I will believe. I will take your word of truth. And this belief of Abraham leads to obedience. We see in verse four that Abraham went. As the Lord had told him, that's the obedience, and Lot went with him and he was 75 years old when he departed. He takes Sarai, his wife, he takes Lot, his nephew, and he takes the servants he had acquired in Haran. And he, Sarai, Lot, and these other people leave. They don't know where they're going, but they leave. It's a decision that's gonna have huge ramifications for their lives and reverberate around the entire history of the world. How did Abram believe? There are different types of obedience, aren't there? There's reluctant obedience. I'm doing this because I have to. I don't have another option. It's just, he's my employer, he's told me to do this, I'm going to do it. My mother or father has told me to do this, I'm just going to do it. I don't have an option. It's just what I'm going to do. That's reluctant obedience. There's willing obedience. Okay, I can see the reason for doing this and I understand that. I will play my role. I will go along and I will do it. You've explained why I see the point of it and I'm going to do it. Then there's wholehearted obedience. I'm in this. Not only am I willing to be part of it, but you can count on me no matter what. I not only understand what's been asked of me, but I'm going to make it a priority in my life. That's the type of obedience that Abraham was involved in. wholehearted obedience. There was nothing reluctant. There was nothing willing. It was wholehearted. Abraham is taking his wife, his family, and he's leaving from Haran and he's going out not knowing where he's going to go. He's going into a territory lived in by people who were notorious for their callousness and their cruelty. This wasn't a nice environment that he was taking his family into. These people emigrated down from the northeastern region of the countries above them, modern-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia. That's where they'd come down from. That's where their ethnicity was from. And they lived in this land. It was a modern, civilized, cultural land, but there was, as I say, a callousness about them. Shechem that we read that he goes to. Verse six was an important Canaanite city in Palestine because of its location between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebel. It was a significant city. History of Israel, it would become a significant city because here is where Jacob bought land. Here is where Dinah was violated by the local Hivite Cheets son. Later we see that it would be the place where King Solomon's death. The 10 northern tribes of Israel would revolt against Solomon's son Rehoboam and install Jeroboam as the king. And then it would be a place where it would decline after the fall of Israel in 722 to the Assyrians. So here is a city that has huge significant importance, both in the Canaanite history and in future Israelite history. And Abram comes to an oak. It's called the Oak of Morah. It's a large, strong tree. It means teacher. It was a prominent place in Canaanite pagan worship. This dark country, this dark nation. And here is Abram. And we read in verse 7, that having left Haran and come into this country, that God meets him. First time, first time that God has met anyone in person other than Adam. God meets Abram in person, and God specifies the promise in more detail. He tells him, this is the land that I'm going to give you. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your offspring, I will give this land. God has said, I am with you, and here he is with them. God is saying, I'm going to give you a land. God's now saying, here is the land. What does Abram do? What do we read Abram does? What does he say? What does he do? He builds an altar. Think about that. What is Abram saying? What's an altar? During the week, there was a report in BBC News about a Belgian farmer who had moved the French border from Belgium by 7.5 feet. He didn't literally move the French border. He moved a stone that marked the border between France and Belgium by 7.5 feet because it was blocking his ability to drive his tractor around the field. A local historian found it moved 7.5 feet from where it should have been. There was a lot of comedic statements between the French government and various mayors and the Belgians and everybody said this is funny, but it'll have to be moved back. regardless of how inconvenient it is for him. But we're not going to take any charges against him for moving the border. But this marker marked the border. And rather than saying, well, he can keep it out of his face, only 7.5 feet, it doesn't really matter. This man needs to be able to drive his tractor around this field. They said, we'll enter into conversation with the man and he will move the stone back to where it should be. It's a marker. It's saying there's a historic, demarcation line between these two nations, a stone. What is Abraham doing in raising an altar in pagan Canaan? What's he doing? And he's not doing it somewhere inconspicuous. He's not doing it in some little backwoods place where nobody would see it. He's doing it in outside Shechem, a hugely influential Canaanite city, beside a renowned pagan place of worship. He's laying down a martyr. And he's saying, this territory has been given to me and the people of God by God. Is that not remarkable? Right in the midst of this pagan world that he's living in, he's saying, this is God's. And I don't care who I'm surrounded by. I don't care what they're saying. I don't care what they're doing. God has promised this land to me, my descendants, and all those who will walk in the way of righteousness. And he doesn't just do it once. We read in chapter 12 that he goes to Bethel and Ai verse Verse eight, what does he do between Bethel and Ai? He builds another altar, and there he prays. And in chapter 13, he builds another altar. In chapter 22, he builds another altar. And if you mark where those altars are, you'll see that it's on a circular route around the land that God has promised. It's as though he is marking off the territory. saying, this land belongs to God and he has promised it to me. Does that not encourage us today? We look at the world around us today and we say, what can we do about this pagan world that we're living in? As our government makes legislation the legislation that is pernicious and heinous in the sight of God. And we feel so, I'm not talking about the current situation, I'm talking about their laws in terms of life and birth and who men are and who men, women are and the end of life. And it's so easy for us to say, what can we do? There's nothing we can do. They have all, everything at their power. They have the legislation. They break it with impunity. They'll make their own rules. They discuss among themselves what they're going to do, how they're going to do it. There's nothing straight and true about the nation that we live in. And we as Christians just have to accept that. That's the reality. And here is this one man who has heard the Word of God and the promises of God. about that he's gonna be the father of many nations. And he doesn't hear it and he doesn't laugh at it. He doesn't scoff at it. He doesn't think it's nonsense. He believes it. And when he believes it, he doesn't keep it to himself. He doesn't just say, this is something that I will guard for myself. He actually goes out into the pagan world and he lays a physical marker in the ground, which says in the faces of the pagan world, this is God's. Every time you do worship in your home, you're laying an altar in your home to the world that's saying this home is governed by God. Every time, man, you take out the word of God and you read it to your family and you pray over that word and you give a few words of explanation, you're saying to the world, you're saying to this nation, you're saying to your community, they can't see it. But God sees it. God sees it. You're saying this home belongs to God. Is it a perfect home? No. Are there difficulties in the home? Yes. Are there times when there are tears and difficulties? Of course there are. But we're not talking here about perfection. We're talking about obedience. in the power and strength of Jesus Christ. And this church, physically built in this location, to which the people of God gather, and to which more of you will gather in the coming weeks, this is saying not just to this community and this city, it's saying that we believe in the things of God. Well, who cares? Who's really watching us? Who's seeing us? That's not the point. The point is that we're laying the marker in the sight of God. We're bringing the altar to God and we're saying, God, we are declaring the truth. Let God deal with it. Did Abraham ask for a huge gathering so that they could see him build this altar? No, he didn't. He built it in a visible occasion. He knew that it would be seen. He built it. He didn't scurry away, but he built it. And then he left. And so they would come and they would see that altar. They would see the altar. That altar would speak of what? That altar would speak of a perspective and a view of life different from their pagan worship and their pagan idolatry. It would speak of the truth of God. Did they know what that altar meant? Of course they probably didn't know what the altar meant. Who built this thing? What is this? But God knew what it was. Abraham knew what it was. As the people of God came to this place in future generations and they saw There are the stones that Abraham built. One man believed and obeyed. We're laying the Word of God into our homes as altars so the truth is established. We're laying the Word of God into this life of this church so the truth is established. And may, through our humble and inadequate efforts, may God use us to see more congregations established in this province as altars in the midst of the paganists around us that speak to the truth and the power of the word of God spoken and the promises declared. It doesn't matter if they won't listen. If it doesn't matter if they won't bring us in and sit in council with us. It doesn't matter whether they laugh or mock at us. It doesn't matter. What matters is we hear, we believe, and we obey. That's what matters. Let God deal with the consequences that comes from our obedience. Let him bring the blessing that he wants to bring. Our responsibility is to do what he tells us. Our responsibility is to stand before him with honesty and integrity and say, I have heard, I believe, and I will live and obey as you have commanded me. And as we do, he will build his church. for His own glory, in His own time, by His own power, but for all eternity. Let's pray.