WEBVTT 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:21.199 Welcome to City. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:22.480 My name's Mark. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:24.480 I'm one of the leaders here at the church. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:29.839 Very welcome to you if you're new or visiting, not as tall as him. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:32.000 Let's put that down slightly. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:46.399 We're concluding our series in the book of Genesis for now and moving into our Advent series next week, where we'll just be we'll we'll move from doing like a chapter a week to doing one chapter over three weeks. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:49.840 So again, much more focused study uh from next week. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.039 But why don't I pray and ask for uh for God's help? 00:00:53.200 --> 00:01:05.040 Uh Father, I pray that uh that as you um spoke, so now you would speak by the power of your Holy Spirit through your word. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.640 Uh may we be changed by it. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:15.599 Uh may our affections be stirred again for the Lord Jesus, the culmination of these promises. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.159 We ask it in his name. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:19.120 Amen. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:27.680 Did you know that one in five people in Ireland uh struggle with some form of anxiety disorder? 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.280 For some of you here, you're like, uh-huh. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:46.879 I'm surprised it's not higher, and you know, uh a low-level perhaps social anxiety, just a fear of new situations, meeting new people, that that first new conversation that can be that can be pretty pretty terrifying. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:51.680 I uh I I think it's really understandable. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:56.000 What's harder actually to understand is why people aren't more anxious all of the time, right? 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:57.920 Because there's so much unknown. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:04.079 Uh everything there's so much uh that we move into any given day of the week. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.480 Why aren't we actually more anxious? 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:09.039 We understand how fragile we are. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:12.800 The unknown is scary. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.240 The unknown person, the unknown place, the unknown experience. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:30.000 I find it reassuring that God, the God of the Bible, understands that about us. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.919 It's one of the things that we're going to see as we go through. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.759 Last week we looked at the Tower of Babel, right? 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.400 Guys get together, say, let's all stay together, let's build a big tower. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:51.199 And the reason for doing so that they state in 11 verse 5 is lest we be scattered over the whole earth. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.319 So that we'll not be scattered, let's all stay together, right? 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:02.719 Together is safe, and it's secure, it's unknown out there, it's scary out there. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:03.840 Let's all stay together. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.439 Am I the only one that understands where the Babel builders are coming from? 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:08.479 Right? 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:17.360 Saying, let's stay together where it is known, where it is secure, where it is safe and comfortable. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:21.520 But here's the problem. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:27.919 Here's the problem with being governed by that sort of thinking. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:33.520 Here's the problem with being governed by that kind of low-level social anxiety. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:39.360 It actually begins to it actually begins to paralyze you. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.639 In Greek mythology, uh you have the character of the Medusa, right? 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:56.560 The Medusa is the uh the the she's a gorgon, she's got snakes for hair, and one of the things that you do when you look into the Medusa, uh, if you just look into her eyes, what happens to you when you turn to stone? 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:58.159 You petrify. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.240 That's what the word petrify means. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:02.639 You kind of you're stone-like. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:14.479 Looking into the eyes of the unknown and being dominated by our anxiety begins to kind of petrify us. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:25.360 We turn to stone so that we're unable to actually do anything, make any sort of decision, to enter into any new environment, any new relationship, any new conversation, and it gets worse and worse and worse. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.680 It kind of becomes like a downward spiral, this self-fulfilling prophecy. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:38.879 And it's made worse by the fact that you know deep down that you should do something, that you should move into the unknown. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.959 There's part of you perhaps that even wants to. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:46.639 So what do you do with that? 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:57.920 The opening verses of Genesis 12, while they conclude our study in the book, they form a major turning point in the history of God's people. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.560 It's a major, major section of the Bible, right? 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:01.360 Genesis 12. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:11.279 Genesis 12 is God starting again and unfolding his promise of redemption, that he would make a people for himself. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:16.560 And he's starting with this guy called Abram or Abraham, right? 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.480 That's how you may know him. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.600 And I'll probably fall in, I'll probably use both names. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.560 Uh, I don't know whether I say yogurt or yogurt, I think I say uh both, depending. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:28.319 Uh, but I only say scon. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.000 I don't say scone, that's weird. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.120 But I'll probably fall into both Abram and Abraham. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:43.279 God begins with this one man, Abram, and through him he is going to bless the whole earth. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.600 But how does that blessing of the whole earth begin? 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.600 Like we're starting really, really small. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:49.279 How does it begin? 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:55.199 It begins with the call into the unknown. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.079 The call to go into the unknown, and that's point one. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:04.720 It begins with the call of God into the unknown. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:23.360 After the Tower of Babel, the rest of uh chapter 11 that we're not looking at, that we've kind of just skipped over, is a it's another genealogy, and it's getting us from uh from Shem, the son of Noah, through to Abraham's daddy, Terah, right? 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:30.079 So it's moving the narrative on uh and showing us the continuity with God's working in the world. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.079 That's what that is doing. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.680 Abram and his kin, his daddy, Terah, they were, historically speaking, they were nomadic people, right? 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:54.480 They're like bedouins that you get kind of in North Africa, and so they're they're moving from uh where there's water and good pasture lands through to another place when that dries up, where there's water and where there's pasture lands. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:58.399 And that's what they're doing at the end of Genesis chapter 11. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:06.800 Terra, his daddy, is down here in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is just north of Baghdad, so we're down in Iraq, okay? 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:16.879 And there's good pasture lands, that all dries up, and so he takes his family and he moves in that nomadic way that nomads do up to Haran, which is in modern-day Turkey. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:23.680 So he's kind of doing that sweep from the from the uh the Persian Gulf all the way up to uh Turkey, right? 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.279 That's the kind of geography that we're in. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:35.279 Now, if you were a nomad, if the Gowin was good and there was lots of water, good green pasture lands, you didn't leave unless you had to, right? 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:46.399 And so the Gowin's good for Terah, so he settles there and he dies there because obviously there's good water, good pasture lands, and so that's where he settles. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:51.519 But now, now with his son Abram, God speaks. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.720 This isn't just kind of a consequence of natural phenomena. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.079 God speaks and changes everything. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:04.480 Have you noticed how he tends to do that, right? 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:06.720 When he speaks, things change. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.560 God spoke, and the creation came into his existence. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.199 God spoke, the world comes into being. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:17.519 Genesis 12, God's gonna speak, he's gonna change Abram's world. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:18.720 Right? 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:21.600 And what does he say? 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:24.560 He says, Go. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:35.120 Go from your country, from your kindred, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:41.039 This is the call into the unknown. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:43.840 It's the call to adventure. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:56.080 Uh in uh in mythology, in literature, in movies, there is a uh there's a there's a type of story called the hero's journey, right? 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:59.200 And the hero's journey is very famous. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.440 You will recognize this. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:08.320 Let me give you some examples of the hero's journey, first of all, because at City Church we have to reference Tolkien. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.440 So the Hobbit, right? 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:11.919 The Hobbit is a hero's journey. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.320 What happens in the Hobbit? 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:18.960 Bilbo Baggins receives the call to adventure. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.600 What is the call to adventure or the call into the unknown? 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:35.759 It comes from Gandalf the wizard to join the company of Thorn Oak and Shield and the rest of the lads to head off to uh to the lonely mountain to reclaim, to slay the dragon, to reclaim the lonely mountain and the and the Ark and Stone. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:37.679 That's a hero's journey. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.840 Get up from where you're comfortable. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.159 You don't get much more comfortable than a hobbit, right? 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.960 Doesn't like that everybody's coming in and eating his food. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:59.120 Go from where you're comfortable, go on this quest, slay the dragon, take the Ark and Stone, this eternal kingship thing, and then return victorious. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.039 That's the hero's journey. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.679 Or uh Harry Potter. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.840 Harry Potter receives a call into the unknown. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.360 It's another hero's journey. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.519 What's his call into the unknown? 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:24.399 It's when the letters start flying down the chimney of four privet drive to say that he's been enrolled as uh a student in Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.559 That's the call to adventure, the call into the unknown. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.279 And what does he what does he do in the Philosopher's Stone? 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:33.039 He has to confront the basilisk. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.519 He has to, uh, or it's not a basilisk, it's a um, anyway, I haven't written it down. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:49.120 He has to confront the, is he confront the the big three-headed doggy thing, fluffy, yeah, uh, and get the philosopher's stone, and then returns back to Hogwarts the next year, victorious, right? 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:52.399 And so it unfolds over his time at school. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:53.679 Peter Parker. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.360 Who's Peter Parker? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:56.799 Spider-Man. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.679 Spider-Man does whatever a spider can, right? 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:03.840 Spins a web any size, catches good baddies, just like flies, right? 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:06.639 Uh that's a call to the unknown, it's a hero's journey. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.200 What's his call into the unknown? 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:14.879 He is bitten by the radioactive spider that opens up a whole new world of possibilities. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:20.559 And with great power become comes great responsibility, says Uncle Ted. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:21.120 Uncle Ted? 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:21.679 Uncle Tom? 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:23.600 Uncle anyway, it's Uncle. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:25.840 Mr. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:44.480 Anderson Neo receives a cryptic message from the Matrix and is introduced to the enigmatic figure of Morpheus, who invites him to take the blue pill to the red pill and to journey into the unknown to tumble down the rabbit worn with him. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:46.480 Final one. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:48.879 R2 D2. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:52.000 Star Wars. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:54.399 Star Wars is a hero's journey. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:08.480 Look, Skywalker is there uh uh uh farming moisture on Tatooine, and R2 D2 arrives and shows him what shows him the message of Leah, crying out to Obi-Wan, come and help us. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.960 And so that's the call into the unknown. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.360 That's the start of the hero's journey. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.960 One final one, I'll not give you any any spoilers. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:17.759 Frozen two. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:25.759 Haven't seen the movie, loving the soundtrack, uh, but that says that says more about me than it does about you. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:34.240 Um the the the the new let it go song is literally called Into the Unknown. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:36.639 It's a hero's journey. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:42.639 No, why have I just spent far too long talking about those sorts of things? 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.399 Because the call into the unknown, it speaks to us. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:58.720 Why do why do people write books with this same idea, make movies with these same sorts of ideas because they resonate deeply with us as human beings? 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:09.120 It's no accident that we keep on repackaging these same sorts of ideas because we're made for that call into the unknown. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:11.279 That's what we're made for. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.519 God says to Adam, what does he say? 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:19.039 Genesis 1.28, God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.679 That's the first ever call to the unknown. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.000 Now he comes to Abram and he says, Go. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:32.799 God calls Abram to go, to move out into the unknown. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:35.759 And you need that. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:53.840 One of the things that happens when you when you don't begin to move out into the unknown, when you stay in what is known and what is safe and what is secure, one of the things that happens to your life is it begins to calcify, it begins to solidify. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:14:02.720 You need just a little bit of unknown in your life in order to grow and develop as a person. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:03.120 Right? 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.159 We'll expand that idea in just a moment. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:12.240 God calls Abram to go, and in calling him to go, he asks him to leave certain things behind. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:14.159 Did you note it there in verse 1? 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.200 Go from your country. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:24.559 So leave behind what is most familiar to you, what you understand the most. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.480 Leave it behind, Abram. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:35.519 Leave behind your kindred, those who you are closest to, and leave behind your father's house. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.919 Essentially, in leaving behind your father's house. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:42.399 Uh God has come to Abraham and saying, Grow up, Abram, you need to grow up. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:48.480 We read verse 4 that Abram was 75 years old when he finally left his father's house, right? 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:55.919 Um one of the best things that young men can do is move out. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:59.919 And move out into the unknown. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:02.879 It's a good thing for you. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:12.799 Wrapped up in country and kin and family is also in this ancient context the idea of worship. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.399 God is saying, leave your old gods behind. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:36.559 Abram's down here worshiping the gods of Ur and of Haran, uh, particularly the moon god, if you're interested in that, they worship the moon, right? 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:47.919 And so he's there worshiping the moon as a god, and the God of the Bible, Yahweh, the one who is, comes and says, Turn from that, worship me now. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.639 That's a call that comes to us all, is it not? 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:58.159 Turn from those things that you find most security giving. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:06.159 Turn from those things that you find most comfort giving and worship me alone. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:21.519 Turn from your old gods of success and family and comfort and security, and go and follow me to the land that I will show you. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.080 And this is completely reframing of what it means to follow God. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:38.000 When God encounters people in the Bible, there is always a call to go. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:56.080 Adam received it, Noah received it with the reiteration of fill the earth to subdue and subdue it, and now Abram is called to go. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:57.360 But you know what? 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.480 Going is always costly. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:09.759 Following God where He will lead is always costly. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.440 Have you discovered? 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:24.160 If you are someone who is trusting in the Lord Jesus, have you discovered that since you've done that, your life has actually gotten harder, but not easier? 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:27.039 That's normal. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:34.720 For those of you who are exploring whether or not you want to become a Christian, don't think I'll become a Christian and everything will be easier. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:36.240 Let me give you a tip. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.279 The first 60 or so years are the hardest. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.279 It gets easier after that, significantly so, right? 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.920 Following God's call to go is always costly. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:18:02.319 It requires always being prepared to hold lightly to the things that we prize, to leave behind the comfort and security that we find so appealing. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:06.400 And perhaps you're here and you're thinking, why would anyone want to do that? 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.359 That doesn't sound particularly appealing. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:14.960 Why would anyone want to leave behind the things that keep them safe? 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.200 Well. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:29.279 Ben pointed to the fact that the Babel builders are wanting to stay safe and secure, right? 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:36.160 And God assesses that situation and he says that nothing now will be impossible for them. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:43.680 The idea behind God's statement there is that they will begin to destroy themselves. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:51.359 Staying together, clumping together, staying safe, isn't necessarily self-preservation, self-preserving. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.240 It can be destructive as well. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.160 It can be self-consuming. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:01.279 Do you know how it's self-consuming? 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:15.200 Because one of the things that not taking a step into the unknown does, after you kind of calcify and petrify and become unable to move, one of the things that it does is it makes you resentful of people who are doing it. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:24.480 And when you become resentful of people who are moving out into the unknown, stepping out in faith. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:31.039 When you become resentful of those people, you're right back where Cain was. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:38.400 It's murderous. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:43.599 And so it is good for you to move into the unknown. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.079 However falteringly, however smallly. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:56.559 Not saying up sticks and uh and head off to the farthest flung uh part of the earth that you can possibly conceive of. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:02.240 It's what's the next unknown thing that you should do? 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.119 And do that. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:16.640 And find that you get a little bit more courage, and you do a little bit more, and you find that you get a little more courage and a little bit more faith and dependence, and that's how you grow spiritually. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:21.279 You grow spiritually by continually moving into the unknown. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:28.400 The other thing that Ben pointed out is that while the call to go is scary, it is also filled with blessing. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:35.200 Filling the earth and subduing it was to go and to enjoy all of God's riches in the world. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.359 And this is my second point. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:45.200 God calls Abram to go, but secondly, he also is the God who promises to bless. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:50.880 First, the God who calls into the unknown, second, the God who promises to bless. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.119 Notice, notice here there is a contrast between verses one and two. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:59.759 Verse one, Abram has given one command: go. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:04.000 And then God makes five promises. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:06.880 Look at it with me. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:20.960 And I, well, so at the end of verse one, to the land that I will show you, I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, uh, so that you will be a blessing. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:25.359 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.799 And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:30.960 Five I will statements. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:41.599 I'll show you where to go, I'll make you a great nation, I'll bless you and make your name great, I'll bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.200 God is saying, Abram, go and I've got your back. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.799 Go and I've got your back. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:58.960 Now, that is different to God saying everything will be fine. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:05.279 Everything in the Christian life is very often not fine. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:16.160 The first thing that Abram confronts when he leaves his country and his family and everything that he holds dear, the first thing that he encounters is a famine. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:22.480 He moves from a place where it was good to be there because there was water and there was good pasture lands. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:25.920 The first thing that he experiences is that he's hungry. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.880 The second thing that he experiences is a tyranny. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:45.599 Goes down into Egypt where Pharaoh, where he's so scared of Pharaoh that he says to Sarai, his wife, pretend that you're my sister and go with Pharaoh, you know, being euphemistic with the go with, so that they don't kill me. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:23:03.039 God's promise is not of, is not for ease or for lack of suffering, but rather it is the promise of his presence and his sustaining each step of the way. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:09.359 There are scary things in the world. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:14.480 There are hard and painful things in your experience. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:27.519 And God does not say, stay at home, get on a big hoodie, the crowns on Netflix, stay put. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:29.359 He doesn't say that. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:35.440 Nor does he say, don't be scared. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:40.880 Because there's stuff to be scared of in the world. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.359 The world is scary and it's hard. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:51.119 And moving into the unknown is always scary. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:59.440 Rather, what God comes to you and He says, move into the unknown anyway. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.200 And know that I am with you every step of the way. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:07.920 My presence isn't leaving you. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:11.759 My commitment to you is unwavering. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:21.039 My fervency, the fervency with which I feel the desire to bless you won't diminish. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.640 And that's where you get your confidence from. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:28.079 That's where the confidence to move into the unknown comes from. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:30.880 You don't think, ah, there's nothing scary here. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:32.720 No, it's all scary. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:42.240 Confidence comes from the promise of God, from who he is. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.160 Is he trustworthy? 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:45.759 Is he true? 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.799 Abram starts very fearful. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.200 But he trusts God's promises. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:57.599 And God's promises aren't thwarted by Abram's foolishness or by his sin. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:03.759 But as he moves forward, do you know what happens to Abram? 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:05.920 He becomes braver. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:08.640 He becomes more courageous. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:14.400 A couple of chapters later, a couple of chapters later, he's leading everybody in the battle. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.599 Because he's getting braver and braver and braver. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:19.759 That's spiritual maturity. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.839 Spiritual maturity is not being less scared. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:33.759 But it's having more confidence in the promises of God and moving forward anyway. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:46.880 When we feel intimidated by the unknown, the answer is not to do nothing, nor is it to wait until we are less scared. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:52.960 The answer is to trust the promises of God and allow them to give us courage. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:56.720 In the Arthurian legends, the legends of King Arthur, right? 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:00.000 It's popularized in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:05.200 This, what I'm about to reference, isn't in that, but I commend that movie to you nonetheless. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.319 In the Arthurian legends, they're all in search of what? 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:09.599 They're all in search of the Holy Grail. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:14.880 The Holy Grail is the it that's the Arkansas, that's the philosopher's stone, that's the elixir of life, it's the Holy Grail, right? 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:16.960 It's another hero's journey, do you see? 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:27.680 And as they are called to go after in search of the Holy Grail, they all stand on the border of a great forest. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:38.720 And in the Arthurian legend, we are told that each knight of the round table enters into that forest at the point that is most terrifying for them. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:46.000 Not easiest, not safest. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.400 They enter in at the point that is most terrifying for them. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:02.720 What as you sit here terrifies you about moving forward in the world? 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.799 What step terrifies you to take? 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.559 And how can the promises of God give you comfort? 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:22.799 Not comfort, but courage to move forward into the unknown. 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:34.799 What happens is that as you move forward, you begin to trust God's promises all the more. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:45.359 You find that you become more courageous, you find that you become stronger and more mature and more willing to take the next step and the next step and the next step. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.000 That's what maturing in your faith is like. 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:56.240 It's continually pressing into the unknown, trusting the promises of God. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:06.799 God makes three promises, and they map on to what he's had to leave behind. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:17.839 God calls Abram to leave a country behind, but promises that he'll give him a land, a new place, God's designated place. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:26.400 He says, leave behind your family, and I will give you offspring. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.279 I will make you the father of many nations. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:37.279 He says, Leave behind your father's house, that place of security and of peace and of rest and of blessing. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:38.319 He says, You know what? 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.279 You do that, Abram, and you're going to bless the whole world. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:47.440 Not just your land, not just your tribe, not just your family, the whole world. 00:28:47.759 --> 00:29:01.440 And those three promises, a place, people, a nation, and blessing, land, offspring, blessing, they build throughout the Old Testament. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:05.519 These are major promises in your understanding of the Bible. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:17.680 Because those promises of people, place, blessing, they come together in the personal mark of the Lord Jesus. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:23.279 All of the blessings of God that he gave to Abram, focus in on Jesus. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.079 Jesus is the true offspring of Abram. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.960 Abram in his life, he longed for a son. 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:32.559 We've already read that Sarai, his wife, couldn't have children. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:39.680 And so the rest of the unfolding chapters, they're all about where's the child, where's the son of the promise? 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:41.440 And then Isaac arrives. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:49.839 But the New Testament shows us another angle, another facet of that where Paul says, No, that Jesus is the true offspring of Abram. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:53.200 He is the true offspring of Abram. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:57.759 He is the one in whom all of the nations of the world will be blessed. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:04.160 And curiously, Jesus is also the place of God. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.559 How can a person be a place? 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:19.759 You see, the place of God was the place of peace, the place of rest, the place of security, the place of life, the place where God's presence particularly dwelt. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:23.200 And that's Jesus. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:25.039 Jesus is the place of rest. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:29.440 Come to me, all who you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:38.319 And so we don't go to a geographical land anymore, nor do we go to a temple. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:40.960 We go to a person. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:55.119 All of these promises laid down thousands of years before Christ culminate in him, the true offspring of Abram, the true perfect people of God, the one who will bless the nations. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:57.359 And do you know what's remarkable about it? 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:01.680 Abram saw none of it. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.480 And he trusted it anyway. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:12.319 Do you know how much land at the end of Abram's life he owned in the promised land? 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.480 Do you know how much land he owned? 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.720 He owned the grave of his wife, and that was it. 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.880 He bought a piece of land to bury his wife. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:24.640 Genesis 23. 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:30.960 And that's the only piece of God's promise in terms of land that he saw. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:33.279 He didn't see a great nation. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.599 He looked into the eyes of his son. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:42.799 He didn't see the culmination of those promises, and yet he trusted them anyway. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.599 How do you do that? 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:53.279 You do that by placing your faith in the one who makes the promises. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:57.440 And that's my third and final point. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:02.079 There's the call of God to go, to go into the unknown. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:06.240 There's the promise to bless, and there's the response of faith. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:13.599 Verse 4 says, So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot with him. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:18.880 Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:27.279 Abram heard the call of God and he trusted the promises of God, and so he left. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:38.000 He trusted that God would be good for his word, that God would keep his word. 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:41.680 Do you believe that God is trustworthy? 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.119 That his words are true. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.480 Abram had faith that God would bring to pass what he promised. 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:55.599 And how did Abram express that faith? 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:58.160 Because we don't read in the text, Abram had faith. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:01.119 We'll read that later in Genesis 15. 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:05.119 Abraham believed God, but we don't see that here. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.079 There's no faith doesn't appear in the narrative. 00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:13.039 What's the evidence that Abram is trusting God? 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:17.039 It's that he went. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:19.680 It's his obedience. 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:28.799 Obedience is the marker of true faith. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:31.599 It is how faith expresses itself. 00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:45.039 If you say you love Jesus but you don't want to follow any of his commands, the question must come: do you really love him? 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:48.319 Do you really trust that he is good? 00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:57.599 Our faith is expressed in our obedience to God. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:00.880 How do we move into the unknown? 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:04.160 How do we have courage to confront whatever God would lead us into? 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:06.720 We trust his promises. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:10.559 And we stand in a better position than Abraham. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:17.679 Abraham was straining with the eyes of faith to see what God would finally do, right? 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:19.519 That's what the writer of the Hebrew says. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:25.039 He said that he was looking to a better city whose architect is God. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.199 He was straining to see it. 00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:30.400 But we, as Duncan Pray, we look back. 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:33.440 We've seen the fulfillment. 00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:39.199 We've seen the fruition, the culmination of the promises in the face of the Lord Jesus. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:43.039 He is the one who is Abraham's true offspring. 00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:44.480 He is the true place of God. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:46.719 He is the one who blesses the nations. 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:50.960 He is the light who by his crucifixion dispelled the darkness. 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:55.440 He is the life who through his resurrection defeated death. 00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:59.679 He's the new Adam who's building a new humanity. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:11.039 He is the God who calls us, who calls us to go, and yet who says, Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. 00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:17.280 Did Abram ever waver? 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:19.519 Did he ever doubt? 00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:22.239 Did he ever question? 00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:25.679 Yes. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:28.079 Yes, he did. 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:37.760 Even with the call to go and the promises of God to guide us. 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:42.400 Our courage often still fails and our faith still wavers. 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:46.239 Is it okay to be here this morning and have questions? 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:47.840 Yes. 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:51.599 Is it okay to be here this morning and still have doubts? 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:53.119 Yes. 00:35:54.320 --> 00:36:02.800 God wants to move you through from a place of doubt to a place of certainty and of trust in who He is. 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:13.280 Some of you might think, well, I'll not give my, I don't, I'll not take, I'll not take this, I'll not take the plunge because I don't have all my questions answered. 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:15.199 We want to talk about your questions. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.880 Your questions are legitimate, right? 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:18.239 Can I caution you though? 00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:21.679 You'll you'll probably not have all of your questions answered. 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:25.760 And anyway, becoming a Christian is never really like that. 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.360 Very few people go, okay, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:30.320 Where do I sign? 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:32.079 Christianity doesn't work like that. 00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:36.960