Take your Bibles and turn in them with me to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 12. We'll read the first 20 verses. Our focus will be on verses 4 through 9. We'll also read from two passages in the New Testament, but first our Genesis passage. It's found on page 11 in the Pew Bible. Genesis 12. Now, children, we'll read here about Abram. Later, his name will be changed to Abraham, and that comes up in our New Testament reading. It's the same person, Abram and Abraham. Genesis 12, though, beginning at verse 1. Here now, congregation, the very words of God. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him." Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran. And they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country in the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going, toward the Negeb. Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife, then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake. When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. And he had sheep and oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go. And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him. They sent him away with his wife and all that he had. Now let us turn in the New Testament, the book of Galatians, chapter 3, beginning at verse 16. It's found on page 1,237, Galatians 3, beginning at verse 16. Now children, as we read this, listen for the word Abraham, but also offspring, and how the apostle Paul interprets and applies the passage that we read from Genesis. Galatians 3, beginning at verse 16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. This is what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. But God gave it to Abraham by a promise in verse 26. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Then let us turn to Hebrews chapter 11. We'll begin reading at verse 8. It's found on page 1,284. Hebrews 11, beginning at verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Thus far, the reading of God's Holy Word. Congregation, all that a person does, Christian or not, flows from what he believes. James writes in his epistle how true faith shows itself in deeds. Faith acts. But even for believers, we struggle against sin with little faith, weak faith, and we need to hear exhortations, exhortations to believe and also to act rightly by that faith. And that's what we find in our passage that is before us this morning. as I proclaim to you, put your faith into action. Put your faith into action. And first we consider from the first part of verse four, obedience from faith. Now we pick up this week where we left off. The Lord said to Abram, verse one, if you go back to that, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. Now here, verse four, so Abram went as the Lord had told him. and Lot went with him." Abram obeyed. That's how faith shows itself, striving to obey God's commands. The Scriptures are very clear that Abram obeyed the Lord. He went as the Lord had told him. That's obedience. This is obedience from faith. How so? Well, first, Abram believed. He believed that the Lord spoke to him. He had in his mind knowledge of what the Lord told him. The command did not come from his father, Terah. It did not come as a suggestion from his wife, Sarai. Lot, he didn't propose the journey. It was the Lord who commanded it. We don't know how often God spoke to people in those days. We don't know how Abram received this word from the Lord, what method God used, but it was clear he did receive this word from God. Abram knew what God required. Abram believed it was God who spoke to him, believed that it was the Lord who was commanding him to go. Abram didn't know where he was going at that point, but he obeyed. He turned his back on all that he had known, on the security, on the identity that he had in Mesopotamia and Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram turned from the idols he and his family had as the focus of their worship. By God's grace, Abram entrusted himself to the Lord and he stepped out in faith. He obeyed. Now let's be clear. Faith is not obedience. And obedience is not faith. But obedience flows from faith. We see that here. And that's not our interpretation only. Scripture tells us that. We read in Hebrews 11 verse 8. By faith, Abraham obeyed. By faith, Abraham obeyed. He was called to go out. They're linked in that way. Faith and obedience. Obedience flows from faith. One's actions demonstrate where one's faith is. By faith, you, I, we obey. Think if this building, if you believed this building was on fire, your actions would reveal it, wouldn't they? You would leave the building. If you believe that it's raining torrentially outside this building, your actions would reveal it. Most likely you would not leave the building until you had to. If you believe God is really speaking to you during this time of worship as the Bible is read and proclaimed, If you believe that the Son of God became man, that He fulfilled all righteousness by His life, suffering, death, and resurrection, that Jesus has brought a new reality of righteousness, of life, strive to live accordingly. We can go on and on. What you believe affects how you and I live. What we believe is revealed in our actions. So it was with Abram. He believed the Lord. The Lord was calling him to leave his homeland. He believed the Lord had authority to command him. He believed the Lord would provide for him as he had promised. Consider that last time. Abram believed. And so he obeyed. We read, Abram went as the Lord had told him. And Lot went with him. Now what do you and I do with this congregation? What is it that you believe? What do you believe about God, about man, about sin, about righteousness, about Jesus, about the Bible? What do you believe about your husband, about your wife, about your children, children about your parents? What do you believe about your work or your schooling or your future? What do you believe about liquor or about marijuana? What do you believe about how a boyfriend and girlfriend should relate, what they should do, what they should not do? What do you believe about marriage? What do you believe about meaning, value? What do you believe about worship? Believe the truth and live that way. Young people, young adults, you've been trained by God's grace in the true faith. What is it you personally believe? Making a public profession of faith is you're standing up publicly and saying, I really believe this. God has changed me and I want to live accordingly. believe, confess, obey, all by God's grace. People can say all sorts of things, and they do. But what they do, that's the outworking of what they really believe. Know what you believe, why you believe it. For what you believe, so will you act, so will you live. And that's part of the importance and the power of preaching. Preaching announces how we are to live, God's law. Preaching proclaims Christ and Him crucified and raised. Preaching proclaims, calls you to repentance and faith. Biblical preaching, if it is not to be legalism, must be rooted and bring out what is the object of our faith, that that's at the root of our actions, the root of our obedience. It's Christ. And God uses gospel preaching to create and strengthen faith from which God brings obedience. Don't settle for preaching that gives exhortations only with no gospel, not rooted in the gospel. What did we read in Hebrews? By faith Abram obeyed. Abram believed and by faith he obeyed. What about you? What do you believe? What does your life reveal? We find it here, but we find more. We move on then in our second point, walking by faith, from various verses here in our text, walking by faith. Now, Abram obeyed, but it wasn't a one-time event. The obedience that was from faith kept on obeying because the faith, by God's grace, kept on believing. Abram lived by faith, walked by faith. We see that in these verses. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran, and Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. From there he moved to the hill country in the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel in the west and Aon in the east. And then verse 9, and Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. Abram journeyed. He journeyed hundreds of miles from Haran to Canaan. Children, they didn't have cars, they didn't have moving trucks in those days. They walked. They rode camels, maybe donkeys, maybe other beasts of burden. It was slow, it was hot, it was dangerous. God protected Abram. He protected him as he walked by faith. Abram didn't go alone. He took those who were of his household, those who were connected to him. That's a theme we see throughout the Bible. God works through households. Abram went, as we read in verse 4, and Abram took Sarai, his wife, and all his possessions and people he had acquired. God works through households. Keep that in mind when we come to the next sermon point. But with these verses, we see that Abram made not only a one-time decision for Christ, a one-time confession or profession of faith, act of obedience, it was a life change. He kept to it. He left Haran and kept away from Haran. As our reading from Hebrews 11 makes clear, if Abram had been looking for an earthly homeland, he would have had opportunity to return to Haran, to Ur. Abram went and he kept on going. He didn't just stop at the border of Canaan. He came to the land, as we read in verse 5. Then in verse 6, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem. And then on to Bethel. And then all the way to the southern end of the land, to the Negev. He passed through the entire promised land from north to south. Now maybe you remember from our series through Joshua, Shechem, Bethel. They were important cities to Israel, figuring large in Israel's history. This is where that history starts for Israel, with Abram and his journey of faith. He journeyed from Shekel to Bethel. And in the midst of Abram's walking by faith, of living out this life change, we read something that at first you might say, well, why is that there? Look at the end of verse 6. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. The Canaanites, they were the people who lived there. They were the people whom Abraham's descendants would displace. They are the ones, remember from Joshua, that series, whom Joshua will destroy utterly. Remember, again, from Joshua, the destruction Joshua would bring upon the Canaanites. It was not ethnic cleansing as we talk about today. It had a religious component, ordered by God himself, that was unique in the history of redemption. It's not to be repeated today. It was religious warfare, haram warfare, if you remember that word from our Joshua series, devoting them to destruction. Those Canaanites are there in the land. When Abram walked through it, What did Abram do? He did not take up the sword against them, did he? He passed through. He waited. He patiently waited. He walked by faith in God's promises, walked the entire length of the promised land, walked by faith, walked in the midst of his enemies. Here was Abram, one man with some family, with some servants. Humanly speaking, he was no match for the Canaanites. They could destroy him easily. when thinking from an earthly point of view. But Abram's walking by faith. Faith in the God who was promised. Faith in the God who created the heavens and the earth. Faith in the God who has bound himself to Abram and bound Abram to himself in covenant. This is the Lord, Yahweh, at that time the Canaanites were in the land. Don't pass over that sentence, that statement. Mull it around. Meditate on it, then think ahead hundreds over thousands of years to what God Himself does. And see with the eyes of faith what it is the Lord calls you and me to. For in the fullness of time, God Himself came down to this land, the land of Canaan. And He dwelled in it, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus. He will come as God's chosen one, living in the midst of sinners, of rebels, those cursed because of their sin, sin against the Most High God. And what will Jesus do? Well, He will not conquer the land with force, with a sword. But for 33 years or so, Jesus would live, revealing His glory in unexpected ways. Those who looked Him to faith, and we like Abram, and in measure, like Jesus, are to live by faith. We don't take up the sword to cleanse the land, this world of unbelievers, of spiritual Canaanites. They are in the land even now, still, yes! But God will remove them in His time. In God's providence, we live side by side with Him. This is a tension. It is, and we'll come to that more. The antithesis is here. It's there with Abram. It's here with us. But the Lord preserves His people as we walk by faith, preserves us in the midst of these Canaanites. Don't live in fear. Don't worry what the world might do to you and your children. Abram, there at the border of Canaan, there are Canaanites there. He walked, he went, he lived by faith. There is great danger, yes. And throughout time, the world persecutes God's people. But trust God. Don't worry. But also, don't blur the distinction between the Canaanites, spiritually speaking, and you. The world and you, child of God. Live with that difference. Live with that tension. Walk by faith. Don't become a Canaanite. Don't live as a Canaanite. Believer, the Son of God has come and brought you out of that spiritual darkness, that sin. He has given you a promise that by faith you lay hold of. Even though we all live on the same earth, your homeland is different than theirs. It's heaven. By God's grace, your destiny is glory. Remember that. Believe that. Believe in Jesus always and walk by faith. All this land, this earth has promised us Even now, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ. He will return one day and remove all evildoers from the earth. He will powerfully cleanse the earth and renew it. This is yours. But right now it's ours by faith. In our time too, the Canaanite, so to speak, is still in the land. It's a profound statement we read there at the end of verse 6. But there's more as we move to our third point. There's faith strengthened, faith strengthened. Now what we read so far is profound, but there's something, if we can say so, even more amazing. First part of verse seven, then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your offspring, I will give this land. Now what's initially amazing is what's going on here even. The Lord appeared to Abram. This is the first time recorded in Scripture that God appeared to someone. That Word appeared. Not Adam. Not Enoch. Not Noah. Abram. The Lord appeared to Abram. God will appear to Abram again. Earlier in verse 1, the Lord promised to show Abram a land. Well, here's what we see. God does so much more than what He even says as we can understand it. The Lord Himself appeared to Abram. He showed Himself to Abram. Which gives us, again, a deeper understanding of what that original promise was to Abram. It's the same root verb in verse 1 in here. The Lord showing a land, the Lord appearing Himself. How did He do that? We don't know. Some might conclude this would be a great strengthening of Abraham's faith in and of itself. Many people say, well, if I had an experience like Abraham, of course my faith would be strong. If God would appear to me, show himself to my eyes or maybe my feelings, maybe a shiver or a sense of awe or whatever that religious feeling might be. No, we should not downplay that the Lord appeared to Abraham. It was amazing. To be in the presence of God is an awesome event. That's not all that was recorded. If the Lord appeared to Abram, it would have helped him, but only him and not us. God did something more. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, he spoke, he said, to your offspring, I will give this land. And it's especially with this speaking that Abram's faith would be strengthened. Why? Because God speaks a promise, a gracious promise. This is essentially the same promise God spoke to Abram earlier in verses 1-3. But here it's fuller, it's richer, it's more specific. And the Lord highlights two aspects of this blessing to Abram. Two aspects that will come up again and again that are woven throughout scripture. Offspring and land. Offspring and land. Let's briefly look at these. First, offspring. Here we find, remember we talked about household earlier, here we find an even stronger connection of God's blessing coming in terms of households, not merely individuals. It was back there in verse 2 when God promised to make of Abram a great nation, yes. Verse 3, when God promised to bless all the families of the earth, but it comes out so plainly here, to your offspring, I will give this land. God elects, God saves individuals, but He administers this in earthly households. He chooses individuals, but He administers this salvation in terms of households. Now, we live in an individualistic society in one sense, one that emphasizes the individual, but God here draws attention to households. God covenants with believers and their offspring, their seed, their children. Now we saw in the previous sermon, we see it here again, this time from what we read in Galatians 3, verse 16 through 17, that God has an eye even further off, an eye further on the Messiah. Galatians 3, verse 16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ. then the Apostle applies it to believers. In Galatians 3, 29, he says, And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. And so we don't have to wonder what God has in mind here. He tells us plainly using the exact same words. The promise is ultimately to Christ. And to us as we are joined to Christ through faith, there's the mention of offspring, a direct reference to the Messiah. Now incidentally, how the Apostle Paul interprets and applies this wonderful promise in Genesis 12 is a pattern for how we are to interpret and apply all the Old Testament. See how it points to Christ and then applies to those who are joined to Christ through faith. That's a basic way and yet a very profound way that as you read through the Old Testament, if you wonder, what does this mean? What am I to take from this? Fathers, as you lead your family in worship, as you read the Bible with them, don't just read the Bible, that's great, but go more, talk about it, explain it, apply it. Here's how you see Paul doing it. He says, it ties to Christ, and then it ties to us in Christ. Offspring. But in Genesis 12, we also read of land, offspring and land. God promised to give this land to Abram. And we know from Hebrews 11, God is in mind not only the land Abram could see with his eyes, but God is in mind so much more. That and more. That land renewed. Abram renewed. The new heavens, the new earth. How could this be a blessing? Unless Abram would somehow live beyond death, be raised from the dead. How could this be a blessing unless this land itself would be set free from its bondage to decay? to corruption, as the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8, verse 21. Romans 8, verse 21. And so what was hinted at at verse 3 becomes clearer, much clearer than in verse 7, when the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your offspring, I will give this land. It's an amazing promise. And then it comes to a sinner like Abram? And in Christ it comes to sinners like you and me? What amazing grace. Yes, grace. Grace alone, through faith alone, apart from all our works, so that no one can boast. Here is God's covenant promise. So much in this verse. And in the fullness of time, God sent his offspring, the offspring, his only son, Jesus, into the world, onto that land. And by Christ suffering the wrath of God against sin, by his dying for sin and rising from the dead, conquering sin, Satan, and death, the spiritual enemy behind the Canaanite foe, Jesus would bring righteousness and life to his people. And one day Jesus will return and he will raise our bodies from the dead and he will renew this land, all creation, and we will be in God's presence forever. Not just having Him appear to us, but living with us fully, perfectly. Such amazing grace God promises. Dear friend, do you know this? You've heard about Jesus. Are you trusting Him? And what does your life reveal? What does your life show? Are you striving to live for Jesus? That shows we're trusting Him. Yet our striving, our obedience doesn't save us, not at all. Only Christ saves, and He saves only through faith. But that faith shows up in living by faith, not sight, not pleasure, not money, not power. By God's grace, cast aside all your strength and effort and works and sin. and find in Jesus all you need for time and eternity, righteousness and life. That's God's promise. Trust Him, always. God strengthened Abram's faith by appearing to him, yes, but even more, speaking to him this gospel promise, offspring, land, salvation. And there's a further response from Abram. And we come to that in our fourth point. There's a testimony of faith. A testimony of faith. So Abram does something in response to God's declaring a blessing. We find that at the end of verse 7 and the end of verse 8. So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. Verse 8. There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Now why do this? Because Abram believed God's promise. God promised offspring while Sarai was barren. We read that before. God promised this land while the Canaanites were still in it. To the eyes of flesh, it's all foolishness. But to the one whose heart God has changed, to the one to whom God has appeared, revealed himself, created faith, to this one it's enough. The Lord has spoken. Let all else keep silent. Yahweh has promised, let us hear, believe, and worship. That's what we find here. Worship. The Canaanites, from what we know from archaeology, other parts of the Bible, they had altars to their false gods. Their idol gods. Abram would not offer worship to the true God on them. Abram would not send a mixed message about the God he worshipped and served, the God he believed. Abram was clear. As we read, Abram built there an altar to the Lord. Let the Canaanites in the land see it. Let the Canaanites hear what Yahweh had promised just now to Abram, offspring and this land. Abram wasn't afraid. He was strong in his faith by God's grace. And he made sure others knew about this God. He built an altar, visible, public, right there. He built another altar, visible, public, right there. We see that throughout time. We see it, what Jesus Himself did. In the midst of the fallenness of man, Jesus would obey His Father's will and He would be lifted up on a cross for all to see. And on that altar, Jesus would pour out His blood, His life, all the way to the end as an act of worship, an act of obedience. It's something Abrahams and our obedience don't do as a sacrifice for sin. To reconcile sinners to God. Jesus was not ashamed. Even to suffer publicly. To make a public statement there. And so it's for you and me yet today. We don't build altars to sacrifice on, no. Christ offered the perfect, the final blood sacrifice on a cross. Let no Christian church have anything resembling an altar. But Christianity is a very public religion. Now we think of China and their persecuted lands. There can be a measure of the church going underground, so to speak. But Abram was not in that situation, and we aren't either. And so our Christianity reveals itself. It reveals itself in a life lived by faith, striving to obey God. But it reveals itself in other ways. This morning, we welcomed persons into this congregation. We did that publicly. Lord willing, next week, some persons will publicly profess faith and some will be baptized publicly. We hold our worship services open to the public. That's good. We're blessed to be able to have built this building dedicated to the worship of God. Of course, we could worship in a school gym. We could worship in a barn. We could worship in homes. We could worship out in the field. The location itself does not matter in and of itself, but all things being equal, it's good in our culture to build a building. It's part of a public statement that there is a God. He's triune, He sent His Son, and He's worshipped here. He appears, not to the eyes, but He appears here in our midst by word and sacrament, by public statement that Jesus is king, that disciples of Jesus are being made here. Even the way this room is set up, it's the preaching of the word, it's the sacraments that are front and center, publicly displayed as important. In real estate, what do they say? Location, location, location, right? There's a measure of truth to that. Space is important. God gave this land. to Abram. He gives this world to his people. What statement would it be if a mosque was built across the street or on the other side of the parking lot? What statement would be made if there was a strip joint built there? What about a Russian embassy? What did Abram build? An altar. Twice. It was a testimony of faith. So what does that mean for us? We explored some applications. But let's consider our homes. When someone walks in, what's prominent there? Is it the television? Where's the family altar, as they would say in times past? Walk into your house, what does it reveal that's of value, that you value? Appearances can be deceiving. Hypocrisy can exist, certainly. But if you're walking by faith, how does that show up in your life, in your household? Striving to obey, yes, certainly, but also the space. Give thought to that. Make your life a public testimony to who God is, what He has done in Christ, what He is doing in your life, what He will do. Build your life publicly. around Christ. What do you do on Sunday? Well, God's grace, you're here. Wonderful. That's a testimony. But think of the various ways in your life that that can come out. Don't be afraid. Let there be a public testimony of your faith in God. Not so the focus is on you and your faith, but like that altar on God and His work, His promise. What all this shows us is that we are to put our faith into action. striving to obey, public testimonies, show forth who God is, what He has done, what He has promised, what He will do, where your hope and your homeland are. We who are believers, we who are sons of Abram, we're heirs of this promise, by God's grace, have your life reflected in all ways. May God receive all the praise. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for calling us out of darkness, for joining us to Christ, to share in this promise. It's not just for Abram thousands of years ago. Very much in Christ, it's ours. So we are called to obedience. We are called to make that known to the world. Give us the courage to do that, the faith to do that. Work that obedience within us, Lord. We can't do it on our own, but You do it by the Spirit of Christ. So we pray for that. We pray for Your Spirit. Increase our faith and may it bring forth much fruit for Your glory. And use that, Lord, in our lives for Your glory. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.