ABRAHAM - Father of Believing

By the believing of Abraham we can stand here today and learn from his example. The promises that God made to Abraham were reaffirmed repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. The phrase "God of Abraham" was used 17 times in the KJV. It was used two ways: God referring to Himself when he was talking to someone and people referring to God when they are reaffirming His promises. So, one might say, "You know that God that delivered Abraham and was a friend of Abraham and made him the father of a multitude when Him and Sarah was too old-that's the God I'm talking about!" Following are but a few examples:

    God speaking to Isaac when he had trouble with King Abimelech:

Genesis 26:24 And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said,
    I am the God of Abraham thy father :
    fear not,
    for I am with thee,
    and will bless thee,
    and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

Jacob, Isaac's son flees from his brother Esau and is looking for another place to live and a Believer wife. In a dream God talks to Jacob:

Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said,
    I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father ,
        and the God of Isaac:
    the land whereon thou liest,
        to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

    God talks to Moses out of the burning bush when He tells Moses that He will deliver the children of Israel.

Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said,
    I am the God of thy father,
    the God of Abraham,
    the God of Isaac,
    and the God of Jacob.
    And Moses hid his face;
    for he was afraid to look upon God.

God is referred to by Elijah when he is praying to Him in front of a pagan king and his 'prophets'. Elijah is asking God to fulfill His revelation that He gave to Elijah and send fire to consume a sacrifice that is absolutely drenched in water. (I won't give away the ending at this time.)

I Kings 18:36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,
    that Elijah the prophet came near, and said,
        Lord God of Abraham ,
        Isaac,
        and of Israel,
    let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel,
    and that I am thy servant,
    and that I have done all these things at thy word.

Peter is speaking to group of people that came to marvel at the healing of the lame man that had been sitting at the temple gate for 40 years.

Acts 3: 12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people,
    Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this?
    or why look ye so earnestly on us,
    as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
:13 The God of Abraham ,
        and of Isaac,
        and of Jacob,
        the God of our fathers,
    hath glorified his Son Jesus;
        whom ye delivered up,
        and denied him in the presence of Pilate,
        when he was determined to let him go.

We have the same powerful, promise fulfilling God, the God of Abraham.

Now to continue with Abraham:

Sarah dies when she was 127 years old and Abraham buries her in Hebron in the land of Canaan. He purchased this land from the inhabitants. It is the only land that he had deed to among men (Genesis 23). God continues to bless Abraham and his household (chapter 24) and has told him that he may not let Isaac marry anyone that is not of his father's house. God instructs him to send a servant to obtain a wife from his brother's family. The servant meets Rebekah who is the daughter of the son of Abraham's brother. This is the original boy meets girl story-a good read.

Abraham finally remarries and has six more sons (chapter 25). But he gave gifts unto them and sent them away from Isaac and gave his inheritance to Isaac. This keeps the Christline unpolluted.

Genesis 25
:7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived,
    an hundred threescore and fifteen years.
:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost,
    and died in a good old age,
    an old man,
    and full of years;
    and was gathered to his people.
:9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah,
        in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite,
        which is before Mamre;
:10  The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth:
    there was Abraham buried,
    and Sarah his wife.

Let us always remember:

II Chronicles 20
:7 Art not thou our God,
    who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel,
    and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever ?

James 2
: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 .

Romans 4
:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace;
    to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;
    not to that only which is of the law,
    but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham;
    who is the father of us all,
:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,)
    before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead,
    and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
:18 Who against hope believed in hope,
    that he might become the father of many nations,
    according to that which was spoken,
    So shall thy seed be.
:19 And being not weak in faith,
    he considered not his own body now dead,
    when he was about an hundred years old,
    neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;
    but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
:21 And being fully persuaded that,
    what he had promised,
    he was able also to perform.
:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone,
    that it was imputed to him;
:24 But for us also ,
    to whom it shall be imputed,
    if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
:25 Who was delivered for our offences,
    and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 5
:1 Therefore being justified by faith ,
    we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: