Undefeated by skepticism

Genesis 12:1-8 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. ²I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to travel to the land of Canaan. Eventually they arrived in the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram passed through the land until he came to the Oak of Moreh at the place called Shechem. The Canaanites were in the land at that time.

⁷The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

The Psalmist prays for certain victory: “Rise up, O Lord! Save me, my God! Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw. The teeth of the wicked you will break.” (Psalm 3:7)

Abram had every right to be skeptical. He had already made a major move from Ur to Haran - a trip of 600 miles (Acts 2:3). They had settled down in Haran. Abram’s father had died and left him with a large inheritance. Abram was a wealthy rancher. He had livestock, servants, real estate, investments and even well-trained soldiers.

Abram’s only poverty was that he and his wife, Sarai, remained childless.

One day that all changed. The Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). This was an even more challenging move. This time Abram had to leave his land, friends and extended family. He had to leave it all behind for an unknown land – a trip of another 420 miles.

Abram’s inner skepticism must have been screaming, “Wait, what?!” “Why?” “Why now?” “This doesn’t make any sense!”

That inner skepticism didn’t last long. Abram’s Spirit-driven faith countered his inborn skepticism, B”y faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance, and he left without knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

The remedy to skepticism is always God’s promises. The Lord – the God of promises – gave Abram a sevenfold promise. “I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

To counteract Abram’s skepticism of a 75-year=old looking to his golden years of retirement, God promised, “I will make you into a great nation.” Within 600 years, God would create a nation of over two million from a childless 75-year-old man and his barren 65-year-old wife (Numbers 1:44-46).

To negate Abram’s skepticism that he should stay put where he was already wealthy, God promised, “I will bless you.” God would make Abram an extremely wealthy man (Genesis 24:35).

To neutralize Abram’s skepticism that he already had a great reputation as a rancher, God promised, “I will make your name great.” Abram’s name is still great 4100 years later, not as a well-to-do cattleman, but as God’s friend (James 2:23).

To overcome Abram’s skepticism that he was fine where he was and with what he was doing, God promised, “You will be a blessing.” God would Abram to return the abducted people of Sodom, pray for Lot and entertain strangers.

To erase Abram’s skepticism of speaking publicly about the Lord, God promised, “I will bless those who bless you.” Abram was a prophet (Genesis 20:7). He built an altar in heathen territory and proclaimed the name of the Lord among cultures captivated by false deities (Genesis 12:8).

To defeat Abram’s skepticism of speaking publicly about the Lord when he was challenged by heathen people, God promised, “I will curse anyone who dishonors you.” God assured Abram that anyone who opposed him was in reality opposing God and would receive divine judgment.

To overpower any and all of Abram’s inborn skepticism, God’s final promise gave all the other promises purpose and meaning. God promised the Redeemer of mankind, “All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” God promised the Seed of Eve who would crush the Ancient Serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15) would also come from Abram (Galatians 3:8).

Skepticism questions. Skepticism confuses. Skepticism debilitates. A skeptic cannot make a decision, act or move.

God’s sevenfold promises overwhelmed Abram’s skepticism. He was moved into action. Abram’s action was to move. “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. … They set out to travel to the land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:4,5).

Abram didn’t build a house. He pitched a tent. But he did build an altar. He proclaimed the name of the Lord in a land filled with heathen gods (Genesis 12:8).

Abram didn’t live to see his descendants become a great nation … or see his descendants move into the Promised Land … or see the birth of his Great Descendant, the Savior Jesus.

But Abram lived on God’s promises. For God’s promises always defeat skepticism.

We live in a culture that is extremely skeptical toward God and Christianity. For example, earlier this week a reporter tweeted a picture of Vice President Mike Pence leading his coronavirus team in prayer. The reporter captioned the photo by writing, “Mike Pence and his coronavirus emergency team praying for a solution. We are so screwed.”

This is just one example of elitist non-Christians demonstrating how woefully ignorant they are on how millions and millions of us as Christians approach matters of great importance and trouble. We pray for guidance. We study God’s Word and study the problem. Then we pray for God’s blessing upon our plan. But our world is always skeptical about anything having to do with God.

The skepticism of the unbelieving world should not surprise us. Each of us has a skeptical unbeliever lurking within our own heads and hearts.

It is good for us to be skeptical of our sinful world. There are scams all around us. Identities stolen, computers infected, and bank accounts emptied by scammers. If the promises are too good to be true, then they probably are.

Sadly, that natural skepticism we should have toward a sinful world is also naturally present when it comes to our holy God. We often view his promises as too good to be true. Think about how you react to God’s commands.

God commands you to put him first in your life. You make concessions. God commands you to worship him faithfully. You make excuses. God commands you to respect your elders, to take care of your parents, to keep the marriage bed pure and be careful with what comes out of your mouth. You justify all your actions and condone all your inactions.

Think about how you react to God’s promises. God promises spiritual wealth when you put him first in your life. God promises help in your marriage when you put his words into action. God promises peach when you remember that he is in control.

Yet you react to his promises with excuses, “I’m too busy. Too stressed. Don’t have the time … or the money … or the energy. I’m too young. I’m too old.

Don’t all of your excuses boil down to not trusting in God’s promises?

Doesn’t all your worry come down to you not taking your problems to the Lord in prayer?

Doesn’t holding onto all your possessions reduce to you not trusting the Lord to provide?

We are skeptical.

Our skepticism causes us to worry, to hold back, to doubt and become depressed. Our skepticism confuses and debilitates us. We are deceived into inaction.

Thankfully, when we are skeptical, God doesn’t give us an ultimatum = demanding that we believe or get out. Instead, he proves that we can trust him. God allows us to listen to his promises to Abram. We see each one of them fulfilled. In their extreme old age, God blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son. The nation of Israel became numerous and moved into the Promised Land. As Christians, we are all blessed to be Abram’s spiritual descendants.

We are especially blessed by God’s greatest and richest promise to Abram – the Savior Jesus.

Abram built an altar to the Lord in this new land. That same Lord gave himself up on the altar of the cross in that same land. There on the altar, Abram’s descendant paid for our worry, distrust, frustrations, lusts, love for possessions and all our other skeptical sins.

The Lord Jesus followed his heavenly Father’s calling to move to a new land. He left the familiarity of his Father’s heavenly home. He abandoned the tranquility of paradise to come to this earth of sin and outrage. He left behind all the praise of the saints and the angels to come to a world of mockery and bitterness. He came to the land promised to Abram and his descendants. There he suffered, died and rose again. He ascended from that promised land of Canaan into the Promised Land of heaven. There he invites Abram’s descendants – us – to move into his Promised Land of heaven that he has won for us.

The promise of Jesus as Savior gives purpose and meaning to all God’s other promises to you.

When you are skeptical that your marriage can be salvaged, God promises, “What God has joined together, man must not separate” (Matthew 19:6).

When you are skeptical about moving to a new school or a new career or a new town, God promises, “I have plans for you plans to give you peace, hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

When you are skeptical about giving back to the Lord in support of his ministries in our church and school, God promises, “Bring the complete tithe to the storehouse. Test me in this and see if I will not pour down blessing upon you” (Malachi 3:10).

When you are skeptical as you face another round of chemotherapy, God promises, “Never will I leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

When you are skeptical when you become homebound or are in hospice care. You are looking at the Promised Land only through the eyes of faith. God promises, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). One day soon, you will be able to say with Job, “Even after my skin has been destroyed, nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes” (Job 19:26,27).

When you are skeptical about anything in life, God promises, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28).

Skepticism is all around us. We are ministering to a skeptical culture. A culture that is confused about sexuality, gender, morality, when life begins and when to protect life.

We are ministering to our skeptical selves. A congregation filled with people confused if it is worth it to always go to church, if they can really be forgiven for past mistakes, and if they can survive their children’s teenage years.

Abram was blessed because his faith in God’s promises overcame his skepticism.

Skepticism always poses a major threat to God’s plan and God’s people.

But God’s promises always defeat this world’s skepticism. God remains undefeated by skepticism. Amen.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:57) Amen.