Friday, September 29, 2006,
By Faith... Abraham - Part II, Part 24 of 79
TEXT: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. These all died in faith" (Hebrews 11:8-12).
IDEA: We can be friends of God.
PURPOSE: To help listeners explore what it means to be God's friend.
Who are your friends?
Do you have any?
What do you mean when you say, "I count Haddon Robinson or Mart De Haan as a friend?"
I. There is a shocking little phrase used of Abraham that he is called "the friend of God."
This is found in three different passages in the Old and New Testaments.
"Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?" (2 Chronicles 20:7).
"But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend" (Isaiah 41:8).
"And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23).
Notice that it isn't Abraham who called God his friend. It is God who called Abraham His friend.
The first would be presumptuous: there is a familiarity with God that sometimes fails to respect boundaries.
The second, that God called him His friend, seems preposterous, but it is the heart and core of why God called Abraham: He did not want a slave. He wanted someone to relate to Him.
What do you think that means? When you speak of someone being your friend, what is primary? [a relationship of trust]
II. How does that relationship show up in Abraham's life?
In three major ways Abraham showed his trust in God:
Hebrews 11 states that it showed up at the beginning of his life when he followed God to a place he didn't know to live in a place where he couldn't settle down because he really was looking for God (Hebrews 11:10).
Second, he trusted God for a son he did not have (Hebrews 11:11-12).
Third, he trusted God for promises that it seemed God would not keep (Hebrews 11:17-19).
How would this show up in our lives?
It is not presumptuous to say that God counts me as a friend. Jesus Himself said that in John 15:9-17. There Jesus says that we are friends of Jesus Christ when we are friends with those who are friends of Jesus Christ.
In the Old and New Testaments, a response to God is a relationship of trust and faith.
