Satan's struggle to defeat God can be likened to a 15 round heavyweight boxing match. The Devil won the first round with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when he was able to contaminate humanity with the sin nature. The second round was considerably longer and lasted 1676 years during which Satan had 200 fallen angels procreate with human women and create a hybrid race that could not be redeemed. God had only one remedy; eradicate the human race with the exception of eight people. In terms of numbers, the Devil handily won the second round as hell was greatly enlarged.

God is always playing the long game and He started over with Noah and his descendants in order to bring the Messiah to the earth and redeem mankind. The first step in this endeavor was to activate a man named Terah. Unfortunately, Terah did not complete the mission of moving to Canaan and died in the city of Haran. God then called his son, Abram, who fulfilled the mission and went to the land of Canaan.

Living about the same time as Abram was Job, a grandson to Noah, and a man of faith and righteousness. Job was in possession of the First Book of Enoch and knew about the future Redeemer, and just like Abram, it was his faith in this future Redeemer that saved him from his sins.

In this message we are going to examine the call of Abram, his character, and how he lied to the king of Egypt. Abram was very rich, but he wasn’t greedy, and when a conflict arose between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, Abram gave his nephew the choice selecting the land he wanted. It is interesting to note that Abram was willing to sacrifice his wife to become a slave to the king of Egypt, but when Lot was kidnapped by some rogue city kings, Abram was not willing to abandon his nephew.

Abram received a promise from the Lord regarding a son, but that did not materialize as he and Sarai got older and older until she was past child bearing age. Eventually Sarai began to pressure Abram to procreate with her slave and he put God’s promise aside and engaged in sexual intercourse with Hagar. Abram did receive a son in Ishmael, but it was a work in the flesh and created conflict that is still with us today.

God does not protect His people by hiding their sins; instead, He allows the truth to come forth to show the good and bad in His people. This should be an object lesson to us as we study Abram's flaws, but let us scrutinize ourselves as well to see where we stand with the Lord.

Print out the sermon outline and let's examine the Scriptures together Sunday morning at 9:00 AM PST.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John S. Torell