When we began our study in the book of Genesis, I mentioned the literary structure of the book. It seems to be organized in sections around a very important Hebrew word, Toledoth. And that word simply means generations of or descendants of, perhaps. And really since Genesis 11, 27, we have been in the section covering the toledoth of Terah. Now Terah, as you recall, was the father of Abraham. And so we've been, of course, focused on the life of Abraham for many, many chapters. But this is all part of this same section of the book. And so tonight we come to the end of the toledoth of Terah. We also come to the end of Abraham's journey of faith. We're going to see the final days of Abraham chronicled here in this section of Scripture. And so we're going to read now verses 1 through 11 in Genesis 25. Then again, Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah. and she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Midan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were Asherim, and Latushim, and Lumen, and the sons of Midian, Ephah, and Epher, and Hinnok, and Abida, and Eldah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward unto the east country. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, 103 score and 15 years. And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. there was Abraham buried and Sarah, his wife. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac dwelt by the well Lehiroi. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word. It is precious to us. And even as we come to a section of scripture like this that seems to record historical facts for us, I pray, Lord, that You would help us to see why You have put this in our Bibles. Help us to consider and reflect upon the life of Abraham. We may learn from his life and his example. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you look there at verse 8, it says that Abraham breathed this last and he died essentially fully satisfied at a ripe old age. And that's what I call finishing strong. A lot of people talk about finishing strong. Athletes will talk about finishing strong. If you're running a long race, let's say a marathon, you want to finish that marathon strong. How about students in school? You're in the middle of the semester, and you get to those midterms, right? And it just wipes you out, and you're wondering, how in the world am I going to make it to the end of the semester? Well, the goal for any college student is to finish strong at the end of the semester. There's even a website, I discovered, called finishstrong.com. And if you have some money, they'll be happy to take it from you because they have some Finish Strong items that they want you to purchase, okay? You can get a Finish Strong t-shirt and a wristband and so forth. And the slogan they have on their website says, wear the gear and live the attitude. Well, you do not finish strong in the Christian life. by wearing the gear and having the right tude. No, you finish strong in the Christian life by having faith and keeping that faith. You finish strong in the Christian life if you fight the good fight and finish the course and keep the faith, like the Apostle Paul declares. And so faith is the key. Faith is the key. And so the great lesson we have really from Abraham's life is this, the key to finishing strong is living a life of faith like Abraham. I'd like us to do something a little different tonight than I normally do in a sermon. What I'd like to do tonight is kind of zoom out and get a nice big picture of things. I'd like us to go back. and do a review of Abraham's life. We're coming to the end of his life here in chapter 25, but let's review a little bit about Abraham's life and let's especially point out to ourselves those moments of great faith and those moments where maybe faith wasn't so great. And then at the end of this review, I'll kind of summarize with a few key takeaways that we can take away from Abraham's life. And so let's do a review of the life journey of Abraham. And for us in the scriptures, that begins in chapter 11, verse 26, when we're first introduced to Abraham as the son of Terah. And if you want to flip back, we'll go through and I'll highlight a few scriptures as we go. In chapter 11, verse 26, he's introduced to us as Abram. Now, probably the Hebrew pronunciation would be Avram, and it means exalted father. And so he's introduced to us as Abram. And Abram took Sarai as his wife and Abram's brother Nahor took Milcah as his wife. And they traveled together with their father Terah from Ur of the Chaldees over to Haran. And it was in Haran after Terah died that God called Abraham. And we have the call of Abraham recorded in chapter 12, first few verses there. And God calls Abraham to leave his family in his homeland there, and to journey out to a land yet to be revealed to him. Look at chapter 12, verse 1, 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 show 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, By the way, God's still doing that to the descendants, for the descendants of Abraham. And then these shall all families of the earth be blessed. Tremendous promises that God gave to Abraham when he was called to go forth. And here we see Abraham's first faith response. God tells Abraham to go and he went. He responded in faith. He went. to a land yet to be shown to him. That took a great step of faith. And so as Abraham journeys along, he comes to the plain of Morah. We see here in 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. So at this point, Abraham is not only obeying the Lord, What else is he doing? He's worshiping the Lord. This too is an act of faith, to worship God. It's an expression of faith. Well, Abraham kept going further south until he came to Egypt. And here in Egypt, there in Egypt, we see the first failure, really, of faith. Abraham failed to trust God to protect him from the Egyptians, and so he instead concocted a little deception. He told them Sarah was his sister, which is a half-truth because she was his half-sister. But it was a deception. And that put the future matriarch of God's people in great jeopardy. She was in a compromising situation. It was only the grace of God that delivered her and protected her from defilement. Then we come to chapter 13. Abraham and Lot journeyed back to Bethel, back northward to Bethel. And between the two of them, they had too many possessions for the land to hold, too many flocks and herds. And so there was contention amongst their herdsmen. And so Abraham said to Lot, you know, this is too crowded here. Let's go our separate ways at this point. You pick where you want to go. If you say right, I'll go left. If you say left, I'll go right. And Lot on that occasion chose unwisely. He chose to pitch his tent towards Sodom. And that was a very bad decision. But Abraham lived in Canaan. And it was there that the Lord confirmed the land promise that He had made to Abraham. We see this in chapter 13, verse 14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. In other words, He's saying to Abraham, Look in all directions as far as the eye can see. Verse 15, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. and built there an altar unto the Lord." And again, we see the Lord giving direction to Abraham. He says, arise and walk through the land and it would appear that that's exactly what Abraham did. He arose and he walked through the land and he believed God and he acted on his faith and he truly believed that God was going to give him all of this land, give it all to his descendants. His faith caused him to fully obey God and to worship God. Again, we see another occasion of worship here on Abraham's part. And so we would conclude from this that a right faith response always involves obedience and worship. You can learn that from the life of Abraham. Then we come in chapter 14, there Lot and his family were captured by the army of Ketolaomer, king of Elam. You remember that occasion and he's taken away, captive. And Abraham heard the news and he assembled what I called a special ops force, right? 318 armed men, small band. And they used special tactics, a nighttime raid and it was successful. They defeated the enemy, they liberated the captives, they recovered all of the spoil. It's a great victory. On the way back home from this victory, Abraham encounters a mysterious figure. Remember that? Who was that mysterious figure? Do you remember? Melchizedek. Melchizedek, king of Salem, king of peace. And it was Melchizedek who declared in chapter 14 and verse 20, And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he, Abraham, gave him tithes of all. See, God had orchestrated the whole thing. It wasn't Abraham's prowess that gave the victory. It was God who gave the victory. God preserved human life. God alerted his servant, Abraham. God gave his servant courage. And God gave his servant victory. It's all of God. And Abraham, an affirmation of Melchizedek's blessing, gave him tithes of the spoils. And there's a lot we can learn from that later on in Scripture, but we don't have time to delve into that tonight. Later on, Abraham, also still on his way home, encounters the king of Sodom. And the king of Sodom offers Abraham to keep the spoils of war. But Abraham declines and he declares in chapter 14 in verses 22 and 23, Abraham said unto the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatch it, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich. Now realize that this too was an act of faith on Abraham's part. Abraham kept on believing that God was going to be the one to bless him. God was going to be the one to prosper him. God was going to keep his promises to Abraham. And so he would be abundantly blessed of God and not by means of some pagan king. Abraham was not going to allow the glory that belonged to God to be shared with this pagan king. In Genesis 15, then, we come to a place where God affirms his promises to Abraham. But on this occasion, Abraham is compelled to ask God, where is the seed that you promised? We noticed as we were studying along how the tension keeps building and building. Where is this promised seed? Months, years are ticking by. Still no promised seed. On this occasion, God takes Abraham out to see the night sky, and He says to Abraham, can you count the stars, Abraham? I was out just the other night, it was a clear night, and just right there at our house in the driveway, and I looked up and I saw all of those stars. I thought of this passage. We can't count those stars, can we? They're still counting those stars. Can you count the stars, Abraham?" Genesis 15 verse 5, He brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, count the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham believed God. That's faith. He took God at his word. He believed God. And Abraham had a faith that was approved by God. God reckoned it to him for righteousness. And then as we come to the end of chapter 15, we come to what I call the theological high point of the book of Genesis. It's the inauguration of the Abrahamic covenant. Remember that? Once again, we see God tell Abraham what to do, and Abraham does it. He prepares the animals just as God had commanded. And in the midst of several remarkable prophetic declarations, God says this, and it's important to note this from verse 15 to tie it into the passage we're looking at tonight. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And you recognize that that little prophecy that we probably read right past on that occasion finds its fulfillment in chapter 25. Then as we move on beyond the covenant ceremony, we get into chapter 16. And it's in this chapter that Abraham and Sarah become impatient with God's timetable. And Sarah suggests that Abraham have a son by her handmaiden Hagar. This was not in God's plan. This was not God's will. Hagar's son Ishmael would not be, nor ever would he be the son of promise. And so we're forced to admit that on this occasion there is a lapse of faith on the part of Abraham and Sarah. But even in these tragic circumstances, we see the mercy of God. And you remember how Hagar runs away from Sarah, but the angel of the Lord appears to her. Hagar tells her to go back, but also gives to her a great promise that God would bless her son, her son Ishmael. Then in chapter 17, We see God confirm His covenant with His patriarch Abraham. He gives to Abraham the sign of the covenant. Of course, we're talking about the sign of circumcision. And this was to be a perpetual sign for Abraham and all the male descendants after him. God's chosen people would be identified by this sign, the sign of the covenant. It would serve as a constant reminder that they were the covenant people of God under the covenant given to Abraham. And once again, Abraham demonstrates his faith with action. Once again, God tells him what to do and Abraham just goes and does it. That's the obedience of faith. And then we come to chapter 18. Sarah and Abraham are now well advanced in years. And they learn firsthand that God is the God of the impossible. Think about their circumstances. Sarah and Abraham would have a son, God says, despite their age. Despite Sarah's barrenness for those many, many years, and despite the fact that her body was now well past the age of bearing children, nothing's impossible for God. And through the lens of the New Testament, we came to understand that Sarah and Abraham both believed God. They came to believe God. that God was promising to give them a son in their old age, they believed him. Both Abraham and Sarah had the faith to believe that with God nothing is impossible. And also in this chapter we see Abraham's faith in God as the righteous judge over all the earth. He intercedes for Lot's family who were living in Sodom and Sodom was under the the imminent judgment of God. Abraham kept interceding on behalf of Lot and his family and the whole city of Sodom. Abraham firmly believed that God would do the right thing. That's another attribute of true faith, to believe that God is always going to do the right thing. We come to chapter 18 and verse 25. where Abraham says to God, that be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? This is the expectation of faith. The answer is yes, he will always do right. Abraham had faith in the righteous character of God. We need to have that kind of faith. Well, in chapter 19, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed and Lot is delivered and rescued from the city. Divine deliverance in chapter 20. Chapter 21, we witness another lapse of Abraham's faith as he again resorts to deception. He tells Abimelech, the king of Gerar, that Sarah is his sister. Haven't we been here before? You know, repeating the same mistakes. And God, again, intervenes and mercifully delivers Abraham and Sarah. And finally, in chapter 21, Isaac, the son of promise, is born. Finally, finally, the son of promise is here. One day, Sarah sees Ishmael mocking Isaac, and she goes ballistic. Remember what she said to Abraham, cast out this bond woman. I mean, she's really mad. But God again intervenes and provides water for Hagar and Ishmael at just the right time. What a merciful God. Faith believes that God is a God of mercy. And then we come to chapter 22 and this is, of course, the great test of Abraham's faith. It's a test of faith unlike any other, really, where God asks him to take his son. his only son, his son Isaac whom he loved, and to offer him as a burnt offering unto God. Abraham again obeys, and there's an eagerness in his obedience. He gets up early in the morning to start his journey. And they start out and then they reach a point where he leaves the servants behind and just he and his son Isaac are going to go on. He basically tells his servants, stay here, we'll be back. And we observed on that occasion that that was a great statement of faith. Again, looking at that passage from the lens of the New Testament, we see that Abraham really believed that if he went through with it, that if he offered his son, God could raise him up again from the dead. What great faith. Faith to believe that God is the God of the resurrection. That's the kind of faith we ought to have. Remember on that occasion that God stopped Abraham even as the knife was poised in the air and Jehovah-Jireh, God provides a ram to be offered up in Isaac's place. What a beautiful picture that we have of the substitutionary death, the death of Christ in our place. And once again, on this occasion, the Lord confirms the covenant promises. Look at chapter 22 and verse 15. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hath not withheld thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Have we heard that before? God is again confirming His covenant promises to His chosen patriarch, Abraham. And all this is being confirmed in response to Abraham acting out his faith in obedience to God, doing exactly what God had asked him to do, even to the point of being willing to offer his only son such faith to trust in God. Then we come to chapter 23 and it records yet another act of faith on Abraham's part. Sarah dies and Abraham desires to bury her. And he determines to bury her in the cave of Machpelah which was before Mamre. Yes, it's the same cave. It's the same cave where Abraham is going to be buried and where other patriarchs are going to be buried too. It's just this little scrap of land in the middle of the promised land and it seems to foreshadow the ultimate fulfillment of the land promise given to Abraham. It was the only scrap of land that Abraham owned. It was a piece of land that he paid full price for. It was his. No one could take it back. And it was given to him, really, by the Lord. Then, last week, we considered chapter 24. A marvelous story and a drama that unfolds over 67 verses. The story of how the servant of Abraham finds a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's own people. This really was one final act of faith on Abraham's part because in requiring that the wife of his son be not from the Canaanites but from his own people. Abraham was recognizing that God was going to give his descendants this land. And God was going to remove the Canaanites. And Abraham had the faith to believe that all these things would come to pass. So Abraham demonstrated his belief in God's promises. Another act of faith on Abraham's part. And alas, we come to chapter 25. It's the end of Abraham's journey of faith. If you think about it, you reflect back on all that we've covered, all that we've reviewed tonight. God had promised to bless Abraham. We come to chapter 25 and we see that He has blessed him. God had promised to give him seed And he has seed. Isaac has been born, the seed of promise. God had promised to give him land. Well, he's got kind of the first inkling of the land there, Cave of Machpelah, foreshadowing the ultimate fulfillment of the land promise. God had promised to make him the father of many nations. Now we see that beginning to be fulfilled here in chapter 25. with all these sons of Keturah, you say, why is this in the scriptures? Well, this is fulfillment of the fact that Abraham was the father of many nations, not just the nation of Israel. All these other people groups, and if we had time, we'd try to track them out. Some of these names we can't figure out who they belong to, but others of them we can figure out. And these are the people groups that basically lived around, surrounding, in some cases encroaching upon the promised land. In fact, I used to work with a woman who was from Syria. And we were talking, I was trying to share the gospel with her, and we got to talking one day and she looked at me and she said, you know, I'm from a group of people that are descended from Ishmael. Ah, nations, father of many nations. We're seeing the fulfillment of that promise. God had promised to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham's seed. We've only seen a little bit of that as we've gone along through Abraham's life. We saw some fulfillment even as Abraham dwelt in the land of Philistia and God prospered him and he was recognized as a prosperous man and God brought blessing even to the Philistine people there at that time just because Abraham dwelt among them. So we come to chapter 25 and it's the end of Abraham's journey of faith. He died in chapter 25. It's recorded here. But his legacy of faith lives on to this day. Again and again throughout the rest of the Bible, Abraham's legacy of faith is mentioned time and time again. Abraham is held up as the great Old Testament exemplar of faith for us. We ought to have the faith of Abraham because he was a man of great faith. And we see that Abraham finished his life strong. And the key to finishing the Christian life strong is to live a life of faith like Abraham. So what can we learn from Abraham's life of faith? Well, so many lessons. I don't have an exhaustive list here tonight, but I have three general things that I'd like us to consider. What can we learn from Abraham's life of faith? Well, first is that we must come to know Abraham's God. That's first. We must come to know Abraham's God. And what's interesting is throughout the scriptures, God repeatedly refers to himself as the God of Abraham. This is really interesting. God reveals himself to Isaac as the God of Abraham, thy father. God reveals himself to Jacob as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. God reveals himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see what's happening here? And when Moses asked God, whom shall I say hath sent me? God answers him, tell them I am has sent you. The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you. Even the prophets later on declared that they speak on behalf of the God of Abraham. In the New Testament, Jesus and Peter refer to God as the God of Abraham. What's the point here? Well, we need to get to know the God of Abraham, don't we? It's the same God. The same God who did all of those things for Abraham is the God whom we know and love and serve. The same God. And we must come to know this same God. We must study the scriptures to see how this God has revealed himself to people throughout the centuries, to the patriarchs, to the people of Israel, to the prophets of God, to his people. How has God revealed himself? Well, let's get into this book. Let's study. Let's discover not just the book, but the God of the book, the God of Abraham. So the key to finishing strong is living a life of faith like Abraham. We must, number one, come to know Abraham's God. The second general lesson I think we get from Abraham's life of faith is that we must come to know Abraham's seed. That seed promise is very important. And we come to understand if we study our Bibles that it's not just about Isaac, is it? No, it goes on down through the line, Isaac and Jacob, and on down through the line all the way to Christ. Christ is the ultimate promise seed. And so we need to come to know Abraham's seed, the ultimate fulfillment of the seed promise in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.16 says, Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ." There it is very clearly stated in the Scriptures that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the seed promise. He's the one who was promised all along. It is through Christ that God blesses the nations. Amen? It is through Christ that we obtain redemption and eternal life. It is through Christ that we have access by faith to the very throne room of God. And it is through Christ that we become adopted sons, children of God, and spiritual children of Abraham. So the key to finishing strong is living a life of faith like Abraham. We must, number one, get to know Abraham's God. Number two, we must come to know Abraham's promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And number three, we must come to have Abraham's faith. I mean, he's the great example in the Old Testament of faith for us. And this is pointed to many times in the Scripture. I want us to look at a few passages in the New Testament that point back to the exemplary faith of Abraham. Turn over to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 speaks of the great faith of Abraham. Romans 4, and I'll just read verses 16 through 22. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations. Before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, raises the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. God speaks things into existence. Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, He, Abraham, considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness." Pretty strong and lengthy reference to the exemplary faith of Abraham, a faith that God approved of and God imputed it to him for righteousness. Turn over to Galatians chapter 3, another reference to the great faith of Abraham. Galatians 3, verses 7 through 9. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. Are you a child of Abraham? Are you a child of faith? Then you're a child of Abraham. And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. Now who's the heathen? That's the Gentiles. Hey, that's us. and scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed." You recognize then that what God said in giving that blessing to Abraham, that in thee shall all the nations be blessed, that is the seed of the gospel. I mean, that fits into God's plan of redemption. That's how all the people of the nations can come to redemption in Christ. It's the fulfillment, Christ is the fulfillment ultimately of that promise. In verse 9, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Do you want to be blessed? Do you want God's blessing in your life? Here's the key. have the faith of Abraham and be faithful like he was. And then Hebrews 11, turn over to there, Hebrews 11. Our Sunday school, we recently concluded a study through Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith. And of course, Abraham is mentioned there because he had great faith. Hebrews 11, he's actually mentioned twice. Look at verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went." Now that's a reference all the way back to the call of Abraham. He went out in faith. Verse 9, "...by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles and tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That's faith. And then look down at verse 17, another mention of Abraham. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, put to the test, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure. And so would you not agree that Abraham was a great man of faith? Great faith. He walked by faith and not by sight. He took God at his word. He believed God. He believed that every promise that God made to him would be fulfilled. He trusted God with his whole heart. His faith was the real deal, the genuine article. It was the real thing. And it was a great, strong faith. He really walked the walk of faith. And he finished strong. The key to finishing strong in the Christian life is to walk the walk of faith like Abraham walked. To have a life of faith like Abraham. And the lessons we can get from this kind of big picture view of things is that we must come to know Abraham's God. How well do you know God? How much have you studied your Bible? Do you know it all? If so, come see me after the service. I'd like to talk with you. I have a few questions that I can't seem to answer. No, we're all still growing in our knowledge of God, aren't we? And so use this, the life of Abraham, as an encouragement that we might get to know the God of Abraham even better. Do you know Abraham's promised seed, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ? I trust you know him as your Savior and Lord. We must know him all the more. We must know his teachings and his commandments, and we must endeavor to do them if we claim to love him. For Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And so we must come to know Abraham's promised seed, and we must come to have Abraham's faith. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you essentially have that faith of Abraham, and you are a child of God and a child of Abraham, spiritual child of Abraham. But, of course, we can ask the Lord to help us to grow in our faith, that our faith might be stronger. How strong is your faith? If God said to you, I want you to just leave and go to a place and I'll show you where you need to go later, would you do it? Has God called you to a mission field, young person? Are you willing to go? If God were to put your faith to the test and have you to sacrifice something, something you really love, something that is really important to you, would you be willing to do it? Would you be willing to trust God that He would restore it to you somehow? He would bless you for it? How much faith do we really have? Could I, would I be willing to offer my only son to the Lord like Abraham? Wow. And so let us pray that God will increase our faith. May we have the faith of Abraham. May we believe God's promises like Abraham did, and obey God's commands like Abraham did, and worship God with our whole heart like Abraham did. May we have the faith of Abraham. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the life of Abraham, a life of faith. Thank You for His great faith. Lord, we also thank You that You have preserved in the Scriptures even those times when there was a lapse of faith. That just puts real flesh on this man. He was a real man with frailties and failings like all of us. I suppose in some sense it gives us hope. Hope for us when we have failed You that there is yet a future for us. that Your promises still hold toward us, that You will be good toward us, that You will cause all things to work together for good. Lord, I pray that You will help us to grow in our faith. Oh, Lord, I pray that we would not stagnate, that we would not say, well, we've arrived and we have enough knowledge. Oh, Lord, no, I pray that You'll help us to want to know You better, to want to know our Lord Jesus better. and to endeavor to grow in our faith. We may trust You more and do more for Your glory. And so, Lord, I pray that You'll help us to use these great lessons from the life of Abraham, apply this to our lives, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.