me to Genesis chapter 12, I'm
going to read the first three verses. The title of my message
tonight is Blessed in Abraham. 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 will show thee. and I
will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, make thy
name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee, and in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Let us
pray. Father in heaven, blessed glories,
God over all, We indeed desire you to reveal your sovereign
majesty here tonight by your spirit through the word. We pray,
Father, that you'd be with us in the presence of your spirit
to take these things and give us a glimpse of our great and
wondrous Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for those who
are sick. Continue to pray for Wayne and
for Ethel and Peggy Lambert. And we ask, Lord, you'd be with
Jonathan and Amanda and be with those doctors as they perform
a cesarean section. May the child be healthy, may
mom recover well. Be with the whole family there
as they minister to her. Father, we pray that you would
continue to bless and strengthen Sarah. Be with Debbie, she's
out there with the children. Help us all, Lord, to remember
each other in prayer, to call each other's names out before
thee. Help us Lord tonight as we look at your word that you
might speak to our hearts and our minds and bring us close
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray this in his precious
name. Amen. Now what we have before us in
this passage of scripture is the wondrous story of all spiritual
blessings flowing from one person. This is Abraham. Lord didn't
say this to anybody else in scripture but Abraham and his son the Lord
Jesus Christ. The person in the text is Abram
the father of the faithful and it is his lineage that is tied
to salvation the salvation of the elect throughout all the
Old Testament and the New Testament. Abram who at the time was called
Abraham in Genesis 15 was a man who believed God. He believed
God concerning the seed and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
His physical seed was Isaac who was born by the power of God
and not the power of the flesh. The child born to him by the
power of the flesh was named Ishmael. In Isaac, according
to scripture, the seed of Christ is called, according to Romans
chapter nine. Now Isaac's seed was Jacob. Jacob is ever the picture of
the sinner, saved by grace, and he is the exemplar of eternal
election of grace and the distinguishing love of God. Jacob is a picture
of that. In Malachi chapter three, the
Lord said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. We may
not have fully understood what that meant until Romans chapter
9, when Paul opened it up, when he said, the children not being
yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of him that
worketh but by grace. He saith, the elder shall serve
the younger. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. And this is how we understand.
It's really the only verse in scripture that ties a particular
person to the doctrine of election and teaches what election is.
And by that we understand that God's chosen race is a race of
people who are wicked by nature, who are sinners by nature, who
have no value in and of themselves. All their value relies wholly
upon the relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God's prophets
and his apostles were inspired to describe the Heavenly Father
as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Those three characters represent
so much through the Old Testament and are fully defined and understood
in the New Testament. And there is no doubt that in
the physical realm of the earth, the promises that God gave Abram
in these verses refers to the Jewish nation. There is no doubt
about that. And they are set forth in the Old Testament. the
Jewish nation was that which proceeded from the loins of this
great man. But as all things that are set
forth in the Old Testament, there's another side to the story. There's
more to it than just the story. There's a side that teaches us
things that only can be understood by the regenerated mind, the
regenerated sinner who's made alive to God and to the things
of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord said to Abraham, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. In thee shall all nations be
blessed. The words all nations refer generally
to the fact that all nations are not residing in hell, though
they deserve to be, because God has put all men in the realm
of the mediator, sovereign rule, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's
given Christ authority over all flesh that he might give eternal
life to as many as God has given him. Specifically, it refers
to the elect believers throughout history, those who are called
out. The word elect, eclektos, means called out of, called out
of, or chosen out of. This is how they're described
in scripture in relation to Abraham over in Acts chapter three. In
Acts chapter three. In verse 25. It says, ye are the children
of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, in thee or in thy seed shall all kindreds
of the earth be blessed. He said, in thee shall all nations
be blessed, but here we understand that he was talking about more
than just Abraham. He was talking about Abraham's
seed, which is Isaac, in which all the elect are called, according
to Romans chapter nine. He's talking about kindred. Kindred
over in Revelation chapter 5 when he talks about the worthiness
of the lamb the Lord Jesus Christ The one who is able the only
one who is able to open the book and reveal the secrets thereof
In Revelation 5 it says they sung a new song in verse 9 Saying
thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for
thou was slain and has redeemed us out of redeemed us to God
by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and has made us kings and priests under our God. So when he's talking
about all nations being blessed, he's talking about some out of
all nations are blessed in Abraham as they are blessed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But it primarily refers to Christ and all who
are in him. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul
deals extensively with Abraham. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse
16 it says, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made,
he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one to thy
seed, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's Jesus Christ
and all who are in him. And it speaks of being blessed.
Now, people have different views of what it is to be blessed.
A lot of people, especially today in this health and wealth gospel
where the Spirit of God is sort of like a giant heavenly spigot
that you can turn on and get a whole lot of stuff from, where
men talk about, God's blessing is showing if you're wealthy
and healthy and wise in this world when that's not the case
at all. But that's what they're teaching and people like to hear
that so they give tons of money to these folks and they have
huge and monstrous churches because that's the message they preach.
But our Lord says one of the things that chokes people in
this world is the deceitfulness of riches. Because they are deceitful. How are they deceitful? Riches
are deceitful if you have them. You're more prone to have avenues
open to you that are not open to other people. And also, you're
more prone to trust in them than to trust in God. That's just
normal. Solomon was the wisest man of all. In fact, when he
prayed to God, when he became king in Israel, he prayed to
God for wisdom, not for riches. But God made him rich. God made
him rich. The richest man known to mankind
at that time. People sought out his wisdom.
He was very wise. But that richness opened up avenues
to debauchery and idolatry and things. He married many wives
and had a thousand concubines and all that because he was rich
and wealthy. He had these avenues open to
him. The Lord is not, the Lord's spirit is not a spigot for you
to tap into. The Lord's spirit works in the
realm of two things, spirit and truth, that's it. The Lord said,
he seeks such to worship you and those that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. Spirit and in truth. What are blessings of God? This
is the key to understanding a true blessing of God. If you can take
it with you when you go. That's everything else ain't.
You can take it with you when you go. What can you take with
you? What you have in Jesus Christ you can take with you when you
go. Eternal life. It's a blessing of God. In fact,
all spiritual blessings according to scripture is given to the
people of God in Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings according as he's chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. That we should be holy without
blame before him and love having predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ unto himself to the praise of his
glory wherein he's made us accepted in the beloved. All spiritual
blessings are in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is referring
to when the Lord says in Abraham, all nations will be blessed.
We know from Galatians that he's talking about the seed of Abraham,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the Lord said this to
Abraham, scripture says that he was preaching the gospel. he was preaching the gospel so
what I read to you here in Galatians chapter or in Genesis chapter
12 verses 1 through 3 is the good tidings of good things good
news and in fact it says that in Galatians chapter 3 in verse
8 and it says in the scripture for seeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith preach the gospel unto Abraham and here's
what he said in preaching the gospel in thee shall all nations
be blessed This is the gospel that God preached to Abraham.
This is the good news. And he was talking, of course,
about the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel, you see, is the succinct
declaration that the blessings of God are only found in one
person. And that person is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In fact, if you look at scripture,
God almost always dealt, regardless of the number of people he dealt
with, the number of people he helped, the number of people
he cursed, he always did it through one man. throughout scripture,
one man. And that all pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is he alone that is by his
perfect sacrifice, all blessings that attend eternal salvation,
blessings such as justification, sanctification, and righteousness,
all are found in Jesus Christ. He is our justification. He is
our righteousness. He is our sanctification. He
is our salvation. Like old Anna of old, the prophecies
of old in Luke chapter 2. When people came in to Jerusalem
asking about redemption, she pointed to the child, Jesus Christ.
She said, right there it is. She pointed to Him. And that's
what we do. That's what we do when people
talk about being saved, when people talk about being redeemed,
we point them to Christ. We don't say, this is what you
must do, this is what you should do. You say, look to Him. Look
to Him. I remember many years ago, my
wife, after she heard a fellow preach on the holiness of God,
she realized through the Scriptures and by the Spirit, she was lost.
And she'd been a good girl all her life. She'd been in and out
of Baptist church about all her life, been a good girl. And she
realized she was lost. We went back home that night,
and she said, I'm in trouble, Tim. And I said, oh, I wish I
could help you. I said, I really wish I could
help you. I said, but you need to go off
somewhere, get along with the Lord, and beseech him for mercy. I said, if I could, I'd save
you, but I can't. I can't. We point men and women to Christ.
I remember one time up in SoCo when I was living in Robert's
trailer park for the first three months I was here, back in 1978.
I think it was Bucky West come and knocked on my door and said,
there's a girl over here who needs you. And evidently she
got in trouble with the law or something, and they called the
preacher. And I went over to her and she
says, I want to be saved. And I said, well, I can't do
that for you. If you want to be saved, you got to give to God.
by yourself, not listening to any of these people about what
to do and what not to do. You need to go off in the bedroom
by yourself and talk to God. And if He hears you, you'll be
saved. We point people to Christ. That's what this book does. From
Genesis chapter 1 all the way to Revelation 22, it points people
to Jesus Christ. The Lord said, and thee shall
all nations be blessed. the Lord also told Abram, the
manner in which all nations are kindred shall be blessed in him
those that are blessed in him would be blessed and those that
blessed him would be blessed and those that cursed him would
be cursed again the blessings and the cursing belong to a man's
attitude and estimation of that one man the seed of Abraham the
Lord Jesus Christ how does one bless Christ? oh we praise him and Thank Him,
no doubt about that, but one blesses Jesus Christ initially
and primarily and on point when he believes Jesus Christ. That
blesses the Lord when he believes Him. That's his attitude. He believes Him and loves Him.
He loves Him. We love Christ. We don't love
Him like y'all do and we don't love Him like we're going to.
But we love Him. We love Him. And this is not
some emotional thing. It's a thing that comes from
the mind and the heart. We love Him because He first
loved us. Our love is a response of the
fact that He has loved us and gave Himself for us. We love
Him. Look at Galatians chapter 3 again. Verse 7, it says, Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, we believe in. The same are the
children of Abraham. The same are the children of
Abraham. Then in verse nine, it says this, so then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, with faithful
Abraham. In John chapter five, our Lord
said, if you honor the son, I'll honor you. If you don't honor
the son, I won't honor you. That simple. How do we honor
him? By believing on his name. First
Corinthians 16, 22, the Lord said this, he that loveth not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. What does that mean? Let him
be accursed when the Lord comes. That's what anathema maranatha
means. over in Isaiah chapter 45 when
the Lord swears by Himself some things are going to take place
because He's God and He's going to make sure that it happens.
He says this about the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 24, it says,
Surely shall one say in the Lord, Have I righteousness and strength?
Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed. All that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed. Abraham's call and obedience pictured the
Lord Jesus Christ. It pictured the Lord Jesus Christ
over in Genesis chapter 22 verse 18. The Lord said this, and in thy
seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed because thou
hast obeyed my voice. What did he do? He did the same
thing Christ did. He was called out of his country
to go to a place uh... another country our lord was
called out of heaven to go down to earth to die in the room instead
of his people because thou hast obeyed my voice it was Christ's
obedience that gave us life found himself in the fashion of a man
and he found in the fashion of a man he was obedient even uh...
obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore
God is highly exalted in him giving him a name above every
name this is the gospel right here in Genesis chapter 12. In
the first book, in the book of beginnings, we find the gospel. We find it early on in verses
1 and 2 of Genesis. We find it in the beast slain. We find it in the declaration
of the promise of the seed of woman. We find it in what Cain
offered up. We find it in the tree of life.
We find it all the way through and here again in the calling
out of this one man that takes such a prominent place in all
scripture. we find a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Just as it said what I read a
while ago in Galatians 3. 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. Father, bless this to our understanding,
we pray in Christ's name, amen.