Abraham the Friend of God

Tonight, I would like for you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 8 through 10. Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 8 through 10. Maybe you remember this wonderful chapter in the Bible of Hebrews chapter 11 that talks about faith and the great men of faith and women of faith that were in the past in the Old Testament.

And when we think about men of faith, we think perhaps about Abraham. And Abraham was the quintessential example of a man who had faith in God. And we want to put our faith in God. We want to put our faith in Christ.

And so, tonight we’re going to study Abraham’s example, and we’re going to think about what we can learn about our relationship with God, our walk with God specifically, as we imitate His faithful actions within our lives. The context of Hebrews chapter 11 is you have some Hebrew Christians who have been falling away from the truth. And so the writer is trying to exhort Hebrew Christians to faithfulness.

And he is talking in this book about the way of Christ being the better way. And Christ is a better high priest. He’s a better sacrifice. He’s better than Moses. And His way is the way of faith. And that’s the way that we want to walk.

And Abraham and others in the Old Testament exemplified this. And so Hebrews chapter 11 gives us those examples. And as we were mentioning, perhaps more than any other, Abraham represents what it means to be a faithful man of God.

When we look into the Old Testament and the New Testament, we find several descriptions of him. He was called the friend of God. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 7. Isaiah 41, verse 8. And James 2, verse 23. The friend of God. He was a prophet of God. Genesis chapter 20, verse 7. He is called Faithful Abraham. In Galatians chapter 3, verse 9. He was blessed of the priest Melchizedek. In Hebrews, as it mentioned in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 1. He was the one to whom the promises were made.

Galatians 3 and verse 16. He is the father of the faithful. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16 in Galatians 3 and verse 7. He is God’s servant. Psalm 105 verses 6 and verse 42. He had hope against hope. Romans chapter 4 and verse 18. And he believed God. And perhaps that’s one of the greatest descriptions we have of him. That Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Galatians 3 and verse 6 and James 2 and verse 23. And so as we think about Abraham tonight, let’s think about three aspects of his character as we think about the character of Abraham. We’re going to look at Abraham’s example of faith. We’re going to look at his example of family leadership. We’re going to look at his example of friendship. And then tonight we’ll draw some lessons from those things.

So first of all, Abraham’s example of faith. Consider his great trust that he had in God. Do you remember back in Genesis chapter 12 and verses 1 through 5 that Abraham, or Abram at that time, was called by God to leave where he was at and come into the land of Canaan, to a land that I will show you. And he says, I will make your descendants as the stars of heaven.

You know, it must have taken a lot of faith for Abraham to pick up and to leave most of his family and kindred, and then to make that journey up to Haran with his father Terah, and his father Terah passed away there, and in Genesis chapter 12, that’s when God called Abraham to leave Haran, and then to come down into the land of Canaan.

And so, in his relocation, he showed a tremendous amount of faith. We read in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 8 and 9, “…By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should have to receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he journeyed into the land of promise, as in a strange country.”

And it was a strange country to him. It was a different country altogether than he was used to. Be like one of us, you know, moving over to Europe or perhaps even to Russia or something like that. It would be a strange country to us. Now notice how he lived, though. Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. He lived in tents all his life that he lived.

Now, that’s interesting to me. I think it’s interesting that he had enough faith to go, but then he also had enough faith to live in a tent. Have you ever spent the night in a tent somewhere? My family and I, we like to go camping, and we like to spend our time in tents when we go camping and do tent camping.

And it will, especially in bear country, it will test your faith a little bit to know that there’s some grizzly bears out there or some black bears out there that could come upon the camp at any time. You know, you just don’t know. And so you say your prayers a little bit more diligently and you put your trust and faith in God in those situations. Abraham must have had a lot of faith to live like that.

He put a lot of faith in his relocation, a lot of faith in God. He also put a lot of faith in God in regard to the promise and the birth of Isaac. And you remember Isaac, the son that he had with Sarah.

And in Genesis chapter 15, that’s where we read of God’s promise to Abraham to bring a son from himself and from Sarah. You know, Abraham got a little off on this at one point. He thought that he was going to have to, his heir was going to be a member of his camp, one of his servants.

And then, of course, he came up with the idea, and so did Sarah, of having a child by one of his servants. And so Hagar had Ishmael. And God had to come back and tell Abraham, no, no, that’s not what I meant at all. I meant that you were going to have a child by Sarah. And so he put his faith in that.

Genesis chapter 15 and verses 1 through 6, the word of the Lord came to Abram and he said, Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your encouragingly great reward. And Abram said, I go childless here, verse 2, and you’ve given me no offspring. One born in my house is my heir. And so the word of the Lord came to him, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.

Then he brought him outside, verse 5 says, and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. Now look at the next verse. And he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. And so Abraham’s faith in God was strong. And in Romans chapter 4 and verses 17 through 21, we read about Abraham’s faith in God as he believes God.

What is God in regard to this promise that God made to him about his heir and about his descendants? Romans chapter 4, verses 17 through 21. I got Corinthians. Okay. Romans chapter 4. Notice what it says. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of whom he believed, he believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who contrary to hope, notice against hope or in contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be.

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convicted that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.

That’s the kind of faith we need to have within God. That what God promises, He is able to perform. And we need to put faith in God instead of, so oftentimes what we do is put faith in ourselves, and put faith in our inabilities, or doubt in our inabilities, or doubt in ourselves and what can be accomplished, because with God all things are possible.

So he loved God. He put his faith in God. He put his trust in God. And he put his trust and his faith in his willingness to obey God. He was willing to obey God. He was willing to do what God told him to do. He left his home and he went when God said go.

Think about the covenant of circumcision that God developed with Abraham and how painful that must have been and how difficult that must have been to go through. But God said, do it. And so he obeyed and he did it. He was 99 years old when God gave him that covenant of circumcision. And then he circumcised his whole house according to God’s command. And so he was obedient and he showed his obedience.

And in his willingness to sacrifice, he had such great faith. For example, when Lot’s men and his men got into a conflict with one another in Genesis chapter 13 and verses 1 through 13, Abraham said, We be brethren, let’s not let this divide us. Tell you what, Lot, you pick the land that you want and you go that way and I’ll take whatever’s left and I’ll go that way.

And so he was willing to sacrifice. He was willing to let others have their choices, their preferences, as opposed to him. And of course, he offered up his only son, Isaac, at God’s command. In Genesis chapter 22 and verses 1 through 18, we have the story of Abraham offering up Isaac.

And God said, when He told him, He said, take your son, your only son, the son whom you love, and take him to offer him up as a sacrifice before me. What great faith in God Abraham must have had in order to do that. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 17 through 19, the Hebrew writer comments on this and he says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, 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. And notice this. The Hebrew writer gives us some inside information here. He said that Abraham accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.

And so, the inspired writer of the New Testament gives us some information the Old Testament doesn’t give us, and that is that Abraham received a figure or some kind of signal from God that God would raise him up from the dead if He offered him in sacrifice.

But of course, we know that at the last minute, God spoke to Abraham and said, stop, don’t sacrifice your son. Now I know that you are obedient to me. And so Abraham is a great example of faith. And he put his faith in God. He put his trust in God. And he put all of his faith in God, even to the point where God said to sacrifice your only son, he was willing to do that. And so he gives us a great example of faith.

But then Abraham also gives us a great example of family leadership. His son no doubt respected his leadership. You know, Isaac could have rebelled against Abraham. He could have rebelled against his father. Sometimes we think about the faith of Abraham when it comes to offering up Isaac. But do we think about the faith of Isaac? Even though Abraham was his leader, he went with Abraham. He didn’t question Abraham. He didn’t question God’s command.

He went to that sacrifice to offer that sacrifice. And then the Bible tells us that Abraham bound Isaac. And it doesn’t say anything about Isaac struggling or fighting against him. He went to that altar just the same as Abraham did. And he chose to go there. And no doubt, his faith was great as well.

So his son, Isaac, respected Abraham’s leadership for his family. His wife also respected Abraham’s leadership for his family. In 1 Peter chapter 3, in verses 5 and 6, we read these words, For after this matter in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands. Even now, here’s the example. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement.

And so, Sarah called Abraham Lord. Sarah obeyed Abraham. Sarah respected him and was in submission to him. And his wife respected his leadership. And Abraham was a good family leader in that regard. But then also God respected Abraham’s leadership. God knew exactly what kind of a man Abraham was. And He knew that he was a good example to his family and to his children.

In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 19, hear God’s words regarding Abraham’s leadership. God says this, “…For I know Him, that He will command His children and His household after Him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him.”

And he tells us a little bit about Abraham’s own involvement in the Lord’s working with him. The Lord knew what kind of character Abraham had, that he was a good family man, that he did instruct his children and command his children in his household. He did teach them about the way of the Lord and wanted them to obey the Lord’s way. And he did do justice and judgment in his own household. And Abraham’s household was a very large household.

If you think about it, not only did it include his wife, Sarah, and his children, Isaac, and then Ishmael, while he was living with him, but all of their servants who were living with them as well. And Lot, while he was with Abraham, it included him, and Lot’s wife, and all of the ones who were there in his household.

And so this was a large number of people, and they all respected Abraham as a leader, and God knew that Abraham would be a good leader to them. And so in regard to family leadership, his son respected his leadership, his wife respected his leadership, and God respected his leadership. Abraham is a great example of family leadership.

But then Abraham’s also a great example of what it means to be a good friend, of friendship. We all want good friends within our lives and we all want people to be friends to us. And of course, we need to be willing to be friends to others. But think about how the Bible describes Abraham and his friendship. He was a great friend to his nephew Lot.

We talked about how that he allowed Lot to pick the better land that was out there for the watering and grazing of the animals. And we also know that in Genesis 14, verses 12 through 16, that when Lot and his family was carried off into slavery, that Abraham went after those who had captured them and recovered them from slavery and brought them back.

What a great friend to have who would even go and fight for you to bring you out of captivity back to freedom. Abraham was a friend to Sodom and Gomorrah, even though those cities didn’t deserve his friendship. He begged God to spare those cities in Genesis chapter 18 and verses 20 through 33.

Even to the point where he was bargaining with God. Trying to get Him to come down on the number of righteous people that would be there by which he would spare those cities. Now that’s a friend. That’s a real friend. That’s a true friend. Somebody who really cares for others. And that was Abraham’s friendship. He was a friend to Lot, his nephew. But he was also a friend to Sarah.

Sarah was his wife, but she was also his friend. She was, Genesis chapter 20 and verse 12 tells us, the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother. And so Abraham was married to his half-sister, believe it or not. But he was a friend to her. No doubt they grew up with one another. They knew one another. He always sought to protect her, particularly in the land of Egypt when they went down there one time.

And he did not tell the whole truth regarding his relationship with Sarah in order to protect her. He was trying to be a friend to her, even though he should have told the whole truth in that regard. He certainly respected her decisions when it came to the issues of her handmaiden saying that Hagar was in her hands and that she could do with Hagar what she wanted to do.

And we read about that in the Scriptures. And so he allowed her to make her own decisions. He gave her some liberty and freedom in that regard. And he was a good friend to her. But what we read in the Scriptures regarding Abraham’s friendship is more along the lines and what is lasting and what we remember is that Abraham was a friend of God.

And it says that, you know, in several places in the Bible, he was a friend of God because he worshiped God appropriately. He was a friend of God because he believed God’s words and he acted upon those words. He recognized, in fact, that faith came by hearing the word of God, Romans chapter 10 and verse 17.

And he carried out God’s desires within his life, as we mentioned a moment ago. God even said that Abraham would do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon him that which He has spoken of him. And so he believed God and he acted upon that faith. As we mentioned earlier, 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 7 says that Abraham was a friend of God.

Art thou not our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gave it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever? In Isaiah 41, verse 8, we read, “…But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend.” And in James chapter 2, verse 23, “…And the Scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.” What a great and high compliment to be called the friend of God. And that’s who Abraham was.

He gave a great example of friendship. We look to the character of Abraham because of his faith, because of his family leadership, and because of his friendship. And we learn some great lessons from the life of Abraham. Let’s go over a few of these. First of all, we learn that the world is not our home. He lived in those tents, wandering all over the place, and he realized that wasn’t his final dwelling place.

He was satisfied with this, unlike many who desire to dwell in a fixed place with a nice foundation or perhaps a basement and to be there for all of their lives. But Abraham did not live like that. He did that because he recognized that he had a home eternal in the heavens waiting for him.

We learned that God will bless those who are faithful to Him. That was one of the great lessons that we understand from Abraham’s life, that he was faithful to God and God was faithful to him. And so in his seed, all the nations of the earth were blessed.

We learned that when we truly love God, we will be willing to make personal sacrifices for Him. And Abraham is certainly our example along those lines. We learned that Abraham loved his family, and he especially loved his family through loving God.

We learned that all things are possible with God, and Abraham hoped against hope when God promised that Isaac would be born within his house. We learned that God loves the righteous, but opposes the wicked. For 10 people, God would have spared all the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet he couldn’t find even that many.

But he still saved Lot. He still brought Lot out of that country and saved him and his daughters. We learned that Abraham made personal sacrifices for his friends. And we also learned that Abraham believed God, and this really is his legacy. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Do you remember what Paul said in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17? For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For therein is revealed the righteousness of God from faith unto faith, even as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And that’s how we live. That’s how the righteous live, by faith. That’s how God wants us to live, by faith.

He wants us to put our trust and faith in Him, as did Abraham. What a great example Abraham is to us today of faith and of family and of friendship. Let’s resolve to follow His example within our life and have a life of faith, to have a life of great family leadership, and to have a life of friendship with those who are around us.

Jesus said this, Greater love hath no man than that a man give his life for his friends. And Jesus certainly gave his life for his friends, including for all of those who came before him in the old covenant. Jesus even died for Abraham. The blood of the cross went backwards in time as well as forwards in time to cover the sins of all mankind who had ever lived.

And so Jesus is the greatest friend that a person can have in this world. Will we accept His friendship by hearing His word and believing it, confessing our sins, repenting of those sins, confessing Jesus as the Christ, and being baptized for the remission of sins? You can become a Christian this very hour and be counted among Abraham with the faithful as a friend of God by coming to Him and giving Him your all.

Have you not been a friend to God within your life as a Christian? Have you gone back to loving the world? Have you turned from Him to doing something else? Return. Put your faith and trust in Him. God will bless you if you will put your faith in Him. And He will give you family. He will give you friendship. And then after this life is over, He will give you eternal life. A great blessing from God. Whatever your need may be, this is the opportunity to come while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!