I've got two places I want you to look at this evening. Galatians chapter 3. And I'm breaking in a new Bible, so bear with me because it's hard to deal with. Galatians 3, and then John chapter 8. Right hand, get Galatians 3, and with your left hand, get John chapter 8.

Now I'm gonna read verses six through eight, nine here in Galatians. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, excuse me, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, that's us, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Now I want you to notice there that it says in verse 8 that God preached the gospel unto Abraham. God preached the gospel unto Abraham. That's what I want to deal with. What gospel did Abraham have preached to him? I want to show you what Abraham's gospel, when he heard the gospel, who preached it to him? How did he get it? And what was it? I believe we can find that out, but now I want to look in John chapter 8 with me.

Now, Lord Jesus Christ said in verse 54, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth me, of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him, and if I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unto you, and keep his sayings. Your father Abraham, now watch this, rejoiced to see my day, And he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Our Lord said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. The same one that told Moses, I am that I am, on the mountain, was that's who this man is.

Now, I'll tell you what we're going to have to do. He said, Abraham looked to my day, saw my day, my day. He was glad to see that day, the day of Christ. And what caused Abraham to see the day of Christ? And when he saw the day of Christ, he saw the whole of his coming, the whole of his doing, the whole of his dying. He saw his day.

And I tell you, let me, you know, we're going to spend a lot of time in Genesis tonight, but the first, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I tell you, I'm cranked up evidently. I got excited here. I just, you know, I was just going to go over and do it. I ain't done that in a while. But look with me. Psalm 118, talking about the day, the day Abraham saw, the day. There's a day, Psalm 118. Look with me in verse 22. You know, when he talked about the day, you know, we say we live in our day, the day in which we live. Boy, you know, we remember back in the day, people say, well, God had a day. God had a day. They say, this is the day the Lord hath made, we'll be glad and rejoice in it.

But now this is what he's talking about. The stone, now this is mentioned twice in the New Testament. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone, the stone of the corner. That's the first thing he said. And this is the Lord's doing. God done this. Jehovah done this. And it's marvelous. We think it's wonderful, marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. Now what day is he talking about here? He's talking about the day of Christ. He's talking about the day that Abraham saw. He's talking about the day when Christ would come into this world and then say, we don't want this stone. We don't believe in this stone. We don't need this stone. We don't want this stone. We'll build our own house. We'll build our own foundation and we'll do things our way and we don't want that stone. But God said, listen, you go ahead and reject it. I'm going to make him the head of the corner. And he said, this is the day God made this day. God made this day.

And you know, we rejoice in the day that God sent his son into this world. We rejoice in the day that God come in sovereign mercy and opened our hearts. We rejoice in the day that God brought us the gospel. But this day he's talking about is the day of Christ. And that's what he goes on to say. We'll rejoice and we'll be glad in that day, in that day. And Abraham saw his day. saw his day, saw Christ's day, and he said, before Abraham was, I am.

Now I'm going to say, like I say, we're going to go to Genesis, and we're going to spend a lot of time in Genesis. First place I want you to go is Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. This is, if I can get there, this new Bible. Well, I'll get there in a minute. Well, well, well, well, well, well. Here we go. 17, 12. Got this new Bible. Pages just won't turn. All right, Genesis 12.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I show you." That's the first thing God showed him. First thing he heard about the gospel. I'm the called you. I told you to be separated. I told you where to live. I told you where to go. I done this. I called you. I did this. And I said unto you. And then he said in the next verse, I will make of thee a great nation. That's the Jewish nation. And I will bless them that bless thee and make thy name great, and you gonna be a great blessing. And I'll bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you. And in thee all families of the earth shall be blessed.

So where's Abraham? And that's what he's talking about. You know the seed he's talking about. Now you keep Genesis, don't turn it loose now. But look what he said over here in Galatians chapter 3 in verse 8. Excuse me, I just read that one, don't forget that. But he knew, you know, he knew the promise that was going to come. He heard the promise. He'd always heard that promise that God said, I'm going to put enmity between thy seed and the seed of the woman. He said, you're going to crush his head, but he's going to bruise your heel. He'd know that promise. He'd already heard that promise.

Now God is telling him that his seed going to be his and this seed and he said seed not seeds as of many and Also his Savior and these shall all nations be blessed And that's what now in Genesis 3 excuse me Galatians 3 16. Look what he says over here He says now to Abraham and his seed where their promises made His seed And he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ. So you see, there's one seed.

Now I want you to look with me in Genesis 15. You know, he heard the gospel in the promise, in the day that God gave him the promise. He heard the gospel. Now look in Genesis 15. And after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I'm your shield. You know, he said, I am thy shield. I'm your exceeding great reward. So Abraham wasn't looking for any reward on this earth. Abraham wasn't looking for what he's going to get off of this earth. He wasn't looking for how much God was going to bless him. He looked at what God, he said, I'm your reward. And I'll tell you what, that's the greatest reward you can ever have, is have Christ, to have God to be your shield, God to be your reward. God, you know, the only reward we're going to ever get when we get to glory, you know what it's going to be? We've already got it. We've got Christ.

And when we get to glory, everybody talks about all the rewards they're going to have. The scriptures tells us that we're going to take every crown and throw them at His feet. Oh, He's our reward. Why would any, why would God have to reward people for everything He's done? People, I've heard preachers talking about, well, I want this reward and I want that reward and I want to rule over this city and I want to rule over that city. Oh, People want reward for something that God done it all? How would God reward you? He's already rewarded you. What else can he give you that he didn't give you already?

And then he goes on to say, and Abraham said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing that I go childless, oh, to have a child. And the steward of my house, Eleazar, is Dabascus. And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and no one born in my house is mine heir. Talking about Ishmael. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Ishmael's not going to be your heir. No, he's not going to be your heir. But he that shall come forth of thine own bowels, thine own bowels, shall be thine heir. And they brought him forth.

Now, you listen. God, who was this that brought him forth? Who brought him forth? Who brought Abraham from where he was and brought him forth from where he was? And brought him forth and said, now look! Look abroad, look up to the heavens, look to the stars, tell me how many stars, label the number, tell me. And then he says this, so one seed, now listen, so shall thy seed be. How's he gonna have that many seeds? There's a multitude that no man can number, and Christ is the one that bought them and paid for them.

And look what it says now. And he believed the Lord, and he counted to him for righteousness. He believed. He believed. Oh, my. And I said, so you see, he had the gospel preached to him in the promise. When God made him a promise, Abraham believed God. And then let me tell you something else he did. Now look in Genesis 18. You know, he saw, he heard the gospel in the birth of Isaac. God preached the gospel unto him in the birth of Isaac.

Now look what he says down here in verse 10. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him. And Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord?

And this is what Shephastos says, At the time appointed, at the time appointed, I'm going to return unto you, and it'll be the time of life, and Sarah's going to have a son. So he had the gospel preached to him in the birth of Isaac. in the birth of Isaac. Look back in chapter 17, verse 19. Look what he said over here. He's already named this child before it's even born. Look at 1719. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. And look what he said. He said, you're going to call his name Isaac. You know what Isaac means? Laughter. made Abraham laugh, made Sarah laugh, made him rejoice in what God gave to him. And look what he says, and I will establish my covenant with him, an everlasting covenant, and listen to this, and with his seed after it. So the seed has to come through a certain lineage. We told him how to name him. He was promised

And the scripture says, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. This child was a miracle child. This child was a supernatural child. This child was made of promise. This child come as a miracle. This child was supernatural. And he gave life to a dead womb. And the Lord visited him in the time of life. Look in Genesis 21. He came to him in the time of life. Look what he says in verse 20 and verse 1. And this is what God has to do for everybody. And the Lord visited Sarah. Why did he visit Sarah? Because he said he would. What did he do? Sarah conceived, bearing Abraham a son his old age. And listen to this, at the set time God has spoken to him. God does everything just right on time. He's never late. He's never early. Right on time. And then look what happened. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah buried him, Isaac. Isaac. Oh, my. And look what it says in verse 5. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck, but I bear him a son in his old age? Oh my. And you know, when the Lord visited him. That's what happened. That's what the gospel's about. That's what the gospel's about.

A fellow made a comment to me last night. It wasn't a compliment. It was. I don't know if he knew it or not. But he says, you know, you preach the gospel so simple and in such a simplistic way. that he wants me to send a message to another fella. And he said, because you make it so easy to understand. And I thought, boy, what a compliment. I said, yeah, the simpler we can make it, everybody.

And so it's simple to understand how God preached the gospel before unto Abraham. In promise, in the birth of his son Isaac, God, and this is what happens in the gospel, God visits us in His time. We do know Sunday morning this place will be a lot of people here, not many tonight, but in Sunday there'll be several people here. Some people that's not believers yet. But I do know this, if they're God's, God's gonna visit them at His time. And all I gotta do is preach the promise. Preach Christ and all the promises in him.

And oh my. And I tell you, the Lord visited Sarah, visited him. And the scripture says the Lord visited Mary. That's what he did. And he told her, you're gonna have a son. What are you gonna name him? You're gonna name him Jesus, for he shall save his people. And the scriptures tells us at a set time. God set the time, and she called him laughter, and the Lord named him, and his covenant, God made a covenant with him, an everlasting covenant, and his seed, which is Christ.

And oh my, now look in Genesis 22. You all understand this. I don't even think I'll read it. I just think I'll comment it, because you all know about it. This is about Abraham offering Isaac. You all remember this story very well. I know you have. You've heard it preached so many times.

But you know, when God told Isaac, told Abraham, look what he said in verse 1. I'm just going to read the first three verses here. And it came to pass after these things, after Abraham and Isaac had grown up, Isaac was a grown man here. He wasn't just a 12 or 13-year-old boy. He'd already been weaned. And God said unto him, Abraham, take your son, behold, here I am, take thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom you love, and get thee unto the land of Moriah, and there offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I'll tell you of. I ain't gonna tell you where it's at yet.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, scattered his ass, and took two young men with him and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood. Rose up and went to the place which God had told him the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and Abraham said unto his young men abide ye here with us I know now listen this one of what you get I and the lad will go yonder and worship And we're gonna come back

Now how in the world does he know him and that boys coming back down off that mountain? God just told him to make an offering out of him God said make him a burnt offering And God's the one that gets the burnt offering, not the individual. That burnt offering's for God. I want you to burn him. Make him a burnt offering. But he said, I'm going to do that. And he started toward that mountain. And he said, I'm the lad. We'll go up yonder, and we'll come back again. We're going up there to worship.

Now, how did he know that? You know, Hebrew says it like this, that he received Isaac from the dead as if he was dead and resurrected again, talking about Christ. And he went three days journey. Christ was on that cross for three days. And look what it says now, down in verse, and it says, you know, and he says, look down verse seven. And Isaac spake unto Abram, his father, said, Father, he said, I'm here, son. And he said, look, we got the wood, we got the fire, where's the lamb for the burnt offering?

Abraham, listen to this, I love this, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. He said, listen, we get up there, God's gonna provide the lamb. And God has to provide everything that we get. He had to provide Isaac, He provided Abraham, He provided everything for a burnt offering, and Abraham never resisted, never argued. And I'll tell you, and he went up there, and I'll tell you this, when he said, the Lord will provide, let me tell you something, God will, He has provided us a lamb. And that Lamb is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord will provide, and the Lord will only accept what He provides. I mean, He will only accept what He Himself provides. And oh my, men cannot, they can't just offer what they want, when He wants, nor how He wants. Oh, these are Abraham's children, and they know and believe this. And look what happens now. Verse 10, oh, he saw the Lord's day and offering up Isaac. Abraham steps forth his hand and took the knife, listen to this, to slay his son. The angel of the Lord said, Abraham, stop, stop. Don't you put your hand on that boy. Don't you do anything to him. I know now you fear God. Oh, your fear of God is more than anything in this world. Your fear and worship of God means more to you than anything. And look what he said in verse 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Somebody's ram got out of their lot. There was a hole in the fence and he climbed that mountain. And he caught that ram by his thickets and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Abraham said, when I take that boy up there, since God told me he made his everlasting covenant with him, And God told me that my Savior was going to come through my own son. He said God would not allow him to die without raising him again from the dead and coming back down off his mountain. That's how strong his faith was. That's the gospel preached to him. That's the gospel preached to us.

Oh, we got everything we need. We got the fire, we got the wood, fire of God's wrath on Christ, the cross on Christ, God provided a lamb on Christ, and he took him and put him in our stead. Instead of us, he took Christ, put him in our stead. Bless his holy name. Huh? Oh my. He saw the substitutionary death of Christ. And can you imagine Can you imagine how he felt when he turned around and saw that ram? Oh, bless you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Bless your name. There's a ram here. Oh. God said he had provided, and he did. And he put him in this. Oh, grab that thing. Grab him. Hold him. And they had the knife and they had the wood. They slit his throat and the blood flowed and they put him in the place of Isaac. And that's what Christ did for us. He was put in the place for us. Oh my.

Abraham, I'll tell you what, we're the children of faith are the children of Abraham. And I believe what Abraham believed. And that's the gospel preached to him. And I'll tell you, let me show you another. Galatians, I mean, excuse me. Genesis 14. Genesis 14. The gospel is preached unto him in Melchizedek. In Melchizedek. Genesis 14. The gospel is preached unto Abraham in the day that he met Melchizedek. He is coming back from a war with kings, five kings, and God blessed him to save Lot who was took captive. And he got down there, and verse 17, look what he says. No, excuse me, verse 18. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, that means king of peace. Over in Hebrews, it says he is the king of righteousness. He was the king of peace, brought forth bread and wine, Now how in the world does he know bread and wine? That's what Christ's bread, he's the bread of life. Wine represents his blood. And that's why we take bread and wine when we worship our Lord through remembrance of him.

And he was, listen to this, he was the priest of the Most High God. Now watch what happens. And he blessed Abraham. and he blessed him and said blessed be Abram of the most high God and listen to how he said about him he's the possessor of heaven and earth God is and God blessed the most high and blessed be the most high God which has delivered thine enemies into thy hand and you know what Abraham did he gave him tithes of everything that he had right then and there and oh my so you see Melchizedek Most priest of the most high God. He had communion right then and there with bread and wine through this high priest. And our Lord said he's made forever a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And he had communion with him. That's what we call it, communion, the Lord's table. And I tell you, he blessed Abraham. And I mean, oh God, how God blesses us through our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest made like unto us. And then, oh my, I'm about done. Look in Genesis 18 again. You gotta see this. I heard Bruce Crabtree preach a message on this here recently. Well, it's been a while. In Genesis 18. And, oh, he saw the Lord's day when Christ appeared to him personally.

Look what he said. Genesis 18, 1. The Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes, and, look, and, lo, there were three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away. I pray thee for thy servant. And, oh, my, there was three people come up that day. That represents the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And he saw the Lord's day in human form. There's three men, they come, and the first thing he did, he ran out to meet him. And he bowed down to worship him. He says, my Lord, you're my Lord. If I found grace in your sight, don't pass me by. Don't go on by this way. Don't pass me by. Pass me not, oh gentle Savior. And oh, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. I'll fetch you a little tree, I'll get you some food and get you some water."

And oh my. And look what it says down here in verse 8. You know, they fixed him a meal. And look where they ate. Look where they ate here. The Lord appeared unto him. They worshipped him. They ate in commune. Look where it says. And he took butter and milk and a calf, which had sat before them, and stood before them under the tree." That's where our fellowship's at. We get our food from where? From Christ. Christ crucified, Christ the bread of life, Christ the water of life, and oh my. And they sat down under a tree. You know, all our communion and all of our fellowship is because of Christ at that cross. Christ on the tree. That's where our communion's at, that's where our fellowship's at, that's where our worship's at. Oh my.

And I tell you, they ain't communed under a tree. Every one of us are different personalities. Everyone's got different personalities, different likes and dislikes, different natures in a lot of ways. And we deal with life, a lot of us, in a different way. But you know that what we all have in common is this. We all come together at the cross, and that nothing else matters. That's where our fellowship and communion's at, right there. Huh? We're going to sit down and we eat with Christ. One of these days, bless his name, he said, there's going to be a marriage supper with the lamb and Christ will gird himself and serve us. Oh, my.

And then look what he says down here in verse 17. In verse 16, excuse me. And the men rose up from thence and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm fixed to do? He's fixed toward Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what he's going to do.

And he said, you know, seeing that Abraham shall surely become great, and a mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." And listen to this, he says, "'For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring forth Abraham to that which is spoken unto him.'" So he let Abraham know what he was doing. I'm going to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah and I'm going to destroy it. I'm going to destroy it. And oh my. And he let Abraham know.

Now look down here in verse 25. Abraham tried his best to, you know, say, Lord. But look what he said in verse 25. He found the gospels preached to him right here, God's sovereignty. That be far from thee after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked. that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right. He found out that God does right by anybody or everybody. If he wants to destroy Sodom, he's right. But he can't destroy the righteous. He can't do that. And he saw that the judge was all the earth.

And so listen. Back over in Galatians, it says that the gospel preached unto Abraham, so they which be of faith, believe, are blessed with faithful Abraham. Oh, my. That's the gospel I believe. God made a promise. God said, I just set time, I'm going to visit you. Well, he visited. And once he starts visiting, he just keeps on. He just keeps on, keeps on. Oh, and Abraham. Take Isaac. Isaac, our substitute. Christ, our substitute. Our Father, oh, our Father, in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the gospel. What a blessed gospel we have. the gospel of substitution, gospel of promise, the gospel of blessing, the gospel of salvation through a seed, a savior coming, the seed of Abraham, the seed of Isaac. And then Christ was made of the seed of woman. Oh my, made of a woman, made under the law. Oh, God bless it, your holy name, for this gospel you've taught us. We've heard that gospel, and God preached the gospel to Abraham in types and in pictures and in words. And we thank you that you've revealed these things to us and made us to know them.

God bless you peoples as they go their way. Let their bodies be rested tonight. Be blessed the rest of the week, and preserve them and keep them, and meet the needs of your dear people. And bless those who listen tonight, and I pray they was encouraged. And God, bring glory to yourself through us all, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me.

I'm trying to do two things at the same time. I can't do it. I'm trying to turn something off. A woman told Shirley yesterday on the phone, she said, you know, I can't type and talk at the same time. She said, you know, I can't do both two things. I couldn't turn that off and sing at the same time. I'm more to be pitied than to be blamed.