ABRAHAM, THE MAN OF FAITH
(By Emerson Blythe)

The Patriarch Abraham is highly commended in the Scriptures.
  1. Some 17 times in the Scriptures, God is called "The God of Abraham."
  2. Abraham is called the Friend of God, (2 Chron 20:7).
  3. God's people are called the children (sons, daughters) of Abraham.
  4. Abraham is set forth as an example of justification by faith.
  5. The paradise for the godly dead is called "Abraham's Bosom."
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM IN A NUTSHELL, FROM SMITH'S BIBLE DICTIONARY:
A´braham (father of a multitude) was the son of Terah, and founder of the great Hebrew nation. (lived b.c. 1996–1822.) His family, a branch of the descendants of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates, where Abraham was born. Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before his father in Ur of the Chaldees, leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking with him Abram, with Sarai his wife and his grandson Lot, emigrated to Haran in Mesopotamia, and died there. 

After the death of his father, Abram, then 75 years old, went with Sarai and Lot, to the land of Canaan, as he was directed by divine command, Gen. 12:5, when he received the general promise that he should become the founder of a great nation, and that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him. He passed through the heart of the country by the great highway to Shechem, and pitched his tent beneath the terbinth of Moreh. Gen. 12:6. Here he received in vision from Jehovah the further revelation that this was the land which his descendants should inherit. Gen. 12:7. 

The next halting-place of the wanderer was on a mountain between Bethel and Ai, Gen. 12:8; but the country was suffering from famine, and Abram journeyed still southward to the rich cornlands of Egypt. There, fearing that the great beauty of Sarai might tempt the powerful monarch of Egypt and expose his own life to peril, he arranged that Sarai should represent herself as his sister, which her actual relationship to him, as probably the daughter of his brother Haran, allowed her to do with some semblance of truth. But her beauty was reported to the king, and she was taken into the royal harem. The deception was discovered, and Pharaoh with some indignation dismissed Abram from the country. Gen. 12:10-20. 

He left Egypt with great possessions, and, accompanied by Lot, returned by the south of Palestine to his former encampment between Bethel and Ai. The increased wealth of the two kinsmen was the ultimate cause of their separation. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan near Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent among the oak groves of Mamre, close to Hebron. Gen. 13. Lot with his family and possessions having been carried away captive by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, who had invaded Sodom, Abram pursued the conquerors and utterly routed them not far from Damascus. The captives and plunder were all recovered, and Abram was greeted on his return by the king of Sodom, and by Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who mysteriously appears upon the scene to bless the patriarch and receive from him a tenth of the spoil. Gen. 14. After this the thrice-repeated promise that his descendants should become a mighty nation and possess the land in which he was a stranger was confirmed with all the solemnity of a religious ceremony. Gen. 15. 

Ten years had passed since he had left his father’s house, and the fulfillment of the promise was apparently more distant than at first. At the suggestion of Sarai, who despaired of having children of her own, he took as his concubine Hagar, her Egyptian maid, who bore him Ishmael in the 86th year of his age. Gen. 16.  But this was not the accomplishment of the promise. 

Thirteen years elapsed, during which Abram still dwelt in Hebron, when the covenant was renewed, and the rite of circumcision established as its sign. This most important crisis in Abram’s life, when he was 99 years old, is marked by the significant change of his name to Abraham, “father of a multitude”; while his wife’s name was changed from Sarai became Sarah. The promise that Sarah should have a son was repeated in the remarkable scene described in ch. 18. Three men stood before Abraham as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. The patriarch, with true Eastern hospitality, welcomed the strangers, and bade them rest and refresh themselves. The meal ended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, and went on their way to Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and is represented as an interlocutor in a dialogue with Jehovah, in which he pleaded in vain to avert the vengeance threatened to the devoted cities of the plain. Gen. 18:17-33. In remarkable contrast with Abraham’s firm faith with regard to the magnificent fortunes of his posterity stands the incident which occurred during his temporary residence among the Philistines in Gerar, whither he had for some cause removed after the destruction of Sodom. It was almost a repetition of what took place in Egypt a few years before. 
Abraham and Abimelech:
(Gen 20:1-6)  "And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. {2} And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. {3} But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. {4} But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? {5} Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. {6} And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her."

At length Isaac, the long-looked-for child, was born. Sarah’s jealousy, aroused by the mockery of Ishmael at the “great banquet” which Abraham made to celebrate the weaning of her son, Gen. 21:9, demanded that, with his mother Hagar, he should be driven out. Gen. 21:10. 

But the severest trial of his faith was yet to come. For a long period the history is almost silent. At length he receives the strange command to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him for a burnt offering at an appointed place. Abraham did not hesitate to obey. His faith, hitherto unshaken, supported him in this final trial, “accounting that God was able to raise up his son, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.” Heb. 11:19. The sacrifice was stayed by the angel of Jehovah, the promise of spiritual blessing made for the first time, and Abraham with his son returned to Beersheba, and for a time dwelt there. Gen. 22. But we find him after a few years in his original residence at Hebron, for there Sarah died, Gen. 23:2, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. The remaining years of Abraham’s life are marked by but few incidents. After Isaac’s marriage with Rebekah and his removal to Lahai-roi, Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom he had six children, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbok and Shuah, who became the ancestors of nomadic tribes inhabiting the countries south and southeast of Palestine. 

Abraham lived to see the gradual accomplishment of the promise in the birth of his grandchildren Jacob and Esau, and witnessed their growth to manhood. Gen. 25:26. At the goodly age of 175 he was “gathered to his people,” and laid beside Sarah in the tomb of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. Gen. 25:7-10.
William Smith; revised and edited by F.N. and M.A. Peloubet, Smith’s Bible dictionary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997.

THE GREAT PATRIARCH ABRAHAM
  1. Some 17 times in the Scriptures, God is called "The God of Abraham."
  2. Abraham is called the Friend of God, (2 Chron 20:7).
  3. God's people are called the children (sons, daughters) of Abraham.
  4. Abraham is set forth as an example of justification by faith.
  5. The paradise for the godly dead is called "Abraham's Bosom."

We would expect such a man to be very noble and Godly.  He was in many ways.

Yet, he was human. We see the human side of Abraham on several occasions.
  1. Presented Sarai as his sister not wife, not once, but twice.
(The BSB notes: "The identification of Sarai as his "sister" was a half-truth, since she was his half sister (20:12). The Bible portrays Abram's character as it was. He had lied. But God miraculously and graciously protected Abram from disaster (vv. 17-19), and He ultimately brought him back to the Promised Land. The fact that Abram committed this same sin twice (cf. 12:13; 20:2) makes it all the more reprehensible..)

  2. Had a child by another woman while married to Sarah.
(Though, to his credit, it was at Sarah's suggestion, and in a society where poligamy was practiced and concubines were not uncommon.)

Is it not ironic, that Abraham was acclaimed as the great head of his household, and having his family in subjection... and yet, in this seeming moment of weakness, he let his wife lead him into this big blunder!

Yet, he was pronounced righteous by his faith.
  Is that not encouraging to us, how we can be made righteous by faith?

(Gen 15:4-6)  "And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. {5} And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. {6} And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

1. Abraham OLD.
2. Sarah BARREN AND OLD.
3. Yet, he believed!

Ryrie Study Bible: "counted . . . for righteousness. A judicial verdict whereby God said of Abraham, "Not guilty!""

Several passaes in the New Testament comment on this principle.
(Gal 3:5-9)  "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? {6} Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. {7} Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. {8} And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. {9} So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

(Rom 3:21-28)  "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; {22} Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: {23} For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; {24} Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: {25} Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; {26} To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. {27} Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. {28} Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

(Rom 4:1-8)  "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? {2} For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. {3} For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. {4} Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. {5} But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. {6} Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, {7} Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. {8} Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

Though Abraham was a sinner justified by faith, his faith was active and obedient.

Manifesting itself in his trust in God's promise.
  And in acting at God's bidding.

(Heb 11:8-19)  "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. {9} By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: {10} For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. {11} Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. {12} Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. {13} These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. {14} For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. {15} And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. {16} But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. {17} By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. {18} Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: {19} Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."

Showing how the availing faith is a faith that works,  (James 2:19-24)  comments on Abraham:  "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. {20} But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? {21} Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? {22} Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? {23} And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. {24} Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."

CONCLUSION:
Do you want to be right before God?  --But yet you find yourself awkwardly making stupid mistakes and blunders along life's way.  Do you give up on being righteous?  I find great courage in the example of Abraham!

None of us can be righteous on our own, any more than Abraham could!  But we can be righteous, as he was, by faith.

Place your faith in God and in Jesus, John 14:1. Take Him at His word.

Repent of your sin.  Each tine you stumble, get up, ask God's forgiveness, and forge on.

Confess your faith in Christ.

Be buried with your Lord in baptism.  Abraham was given circumcision.  We are given baptism. Each is a token of faith.

Can we assist you in obeying the gospel, or in being restored, if you have wandered from the way?