Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me back to the book of Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. I'd like to look at, we looked
at verse 1 last time, and I entitled that message El Shaddai. The Lord All-Sufficient. And I'd like to look at verses
2 and 3, but as a reminder to bring us up to where we are at
that particular two verses right there. The Lord had appeared
and had spoken to Abram In the last 24 years, he said in Genesis
chapter 12 in verse 1, we met, appeared to Abram and he said,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy
father's house unto a land that I will show thee. The Lord spoke to Abram and told
him 24 years before chapter 17, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you. And you're
going to be a blessing to the nations. Then the Lord spoke
unto him for the first time about a seed. Now, Sarai And in this
17th chapter, the Lord's going to change Abram's name to Abraham
and Sarai's name to Sarah. But the Lord appeared unto him
for the first time and said something about a seed. Now again, Sarai
is barren. Abram had come into the land
of Canaan, and this was in Genesis chapter 12, verse 7, and here's
what the Lord said. He said, unto thy seed, and these
next three words, will I give. Unto thy seed will I give this
land. And the scripture says that Abram
built an altar there. Worship God. He was 75 years
old. And then after Abram was separated
from Lot because of the trouble between Lot's herdsman and Abram's
herdsman, the Lord said unto Abram again, and speaking to
Abram about his seed, this was in Genesis 13, verses 14, 15. He said, lift up now thine eyes
and look from the place where thou art northward. and southward,
and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest,
to thee, now listen again to these words, will I give, and
to thy seed forever. I will do it. After Abram rescued Lot and all
his family from the battle of the kings, Abram was approached
by Melchizedek, king of Salem, who I believe and most, I think,
do believe to be the Lord himself. He was the priest of the Most
High God, the one who blessed Abram and he said, Blessed be
Abram, of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth,
and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine
enemies into thy hand. And in Genesis 15, the word of
the Lord came to Abram again. It came in a vision, and there
God revealed that he was Abram's shield. And this is what he said,
he said, I am thy exceeding great reward. And the Lord told Abram that
he was going to have a seed. A seed from his own bowels. And
he promised Abram's seed would be if the stars could be numbered. If you can number the stars,
then you'll be able to number the seed that I will give you. And the scripture says, and Abram
believed in the Lord. He believed him. He believed
God. Time and time again, the Lord
promised Abram a seed. But time is often to us a trial, often too hard to bear. And Abram and Sarai leaned upon
their own understanding. And the Lord had promised him,
I will give thee. I will give. I will give. I will give. I will give. And they had no reason to doubt
God. Let's just bring it right to
right now. We have no reason to doubt God. Here's the word of the Lord to
his people. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Trust in the Lord. with all thine heart and listen
here, listen. And if anybody's listening, let
it be Marvin right here. And lean not to your own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge
him and he shall direct your path. Abraham He hearkened to the advice
of his wife, Sarai. He took Sarai's handmaid to bear
what he thought would be the seed of God's promise. Now what had God told him? I
will give. I will give. I will give. I will give. And he took Sarai,
Sarai's handmaid, and she bare a son and named him Ishmael. And for 13 years after Ishmael's
birth, Abram heard nothing from the Lord. 13 years of silence. The last verse of verse 16, and
Abram was four score and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael
to Abram. He was 86 years old, 86. And
the next verse, verse one, chapter 17. And when Abram was 99, 90
years old and nine, The Lord appeared to Abram and
said unto him, I am the almighty God. He has not heard from the
Lord, or it's not recorded that he heard from the Lord, for 13
years. Now that's a long time. That's
a long time. And after revealing to himself,
I am El Shaddai. Now these are the first words
that Abram's heard in 13 years. And here's what the Lord says
to him after 13 years. I am sufficient to do what I
promised I would do. I am sufficient. Walk before me. Walk believing
that I am who I say I am and that I can do what I say I'm
going to do and be thou perfect Walk in the only accepted way,
trusting and believing me. And listen to this, verse two. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. God Almighty is the covenant
God. I will. He told Abram. He's been speaking to Abram for
24 years. 13 last years he was silent,
but he started speaking 24 years ago. I will make my covenant. It's my covenant. No part of the covenant of God's
grace has man's hand upon it. It's the covenant that Almighty
God has established and made, its origin being His electing
grace. God Almighty is the one who has
finished all of its requirement in the obedience and death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty is the applicator. He applies it. It originated
with Him. Christ finished all the work
that was needful. And the Spirit of God applies
it to the elect of Almighty God in regenerating grace under the
sound of the Gospel. But notice the parties of God's
covenant. This covenant, he says in verse
2, I will make my covenant. Now he's talking now, I'm telling
you. 13 years. 13 years. 13 years to think about it. I will make my covenant. And
this is between me and thee. Abram, this is between me and
you. Me and you. This is between me and thee.
This is the covenant of distinguishing grace. He was talking to an object of
his mercy. This is between me and thee.
I will make my covenant between me and you. The potter has the
power over the clay to make of the same lump one vessel under
honor and another under dishonor. And he has the right to say,
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. and he owes no explanation
whatsoever to man for his ways. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I am El Shaddai. I am God Almighty. I am sufficient. to do what I
say I will do. I will make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. The Lord saying,
in effect, I have chosen to make myself your hope. I have been pleased to make you. I have been pleased to make you
an object of my mercy. I am your salvation. I am your provider. Leave all to me and I shall provide
all my promises and therefore all of your need. I will give you Thirteen years. Nothing. And the Lord appears
one day and tells him, I will. The seed, the inheritance, and
all else is according to my covenant of grace to you, Abram. And when the Lord said that,
Something marvelously and wonderful happened. And Abram fell on his
face. He fell in absolute humility. He fell in worship before God. He fell in brokenness, in absolute
need of God for forgiveness and for mercy. I can only imagine
his thoughts, like mine. What have I done? How could I
have thought like that? How? Without a doubt, the impact of
the Lord's words had struck Abram in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I would not, at this point
right here, I wouldn't, I wouldn't dare attempt to comment upon
the heart of Abram when the Lord had spoken to him in other times.
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not doubting that. I'm not, the Lord spoke
to him and he believed God. The scripture says he believed
God. But these words, and I, I, I, I can relate to this some
way. I've told you this before. There's
times that I will read, and I know you that believe. I know, I know
this has been this way with you. Have there not been times when
the Lord spoken to him, now this is the point I'm trying to make,
he's spoken to him for 24 years, different points in time. He
met with him, I will, I will, I will, I will give you, I will
give you the seed, I will, I am, I am you, I am and you will and
you shall, I shall. And there's no doubt in my mind,
he believed God. He believed him. But when the
Lord, manifested Himself to Abram after 13 years. And this is concerning
the seed, the seed that God's promised, the seed that's going
to be, the Lord's promise is going to be, count the stars
and we'll count the stars. If you can do that, you'll know
the seed that I will give you. This is all concerning God's
elect. God's going to give a people.
He's going to give a spiritual people. Not all from Abraham
were the spiritual seed. You know that. But God was talking
about the glory of Christ. He was talking about the glory
and honor and praise of the Lord. That seed that was chosen in
him before the foundation of the world, that's the seed he's
talking about. Abraham would have a lot of kids
and they'd have kids and kids and kids and kids. That's not
the seed he's talking about. He's talking about the seed of
Christ who in the seed is gonna be a people, a multitude of people
that no man can number. And this is the seed that I'll
give you, I'll give you. And he had taken Hagar, a handmaid,
and the Scripture bears out in Galatians 4. This is an allegory. This is man's attempt to accomplish
God's will, man's way. The Scripture bears that out
that that's what that is. She was an allegory. Hagar and
Sarah were two pictures. One by the works of man's hands
and one by the grace of God. And Abram had taken it, and there
was that picture by the arm of the flesh. And 13 years later,
God came to him. And he said, I'm sufficient to
do what I said I'm going to do. And it broke his heart. How many times have we heard
the Word of God? How many times have you, I'll
be reading something. And I've read this before, I've
read something, and for a fleeting moment, and I say this to my
own shame, but it just seems that there's times that I'd read
something, I'd hear something, and it was something in the scriptures
that, and it's as though the Spirit of God just blessed it
to me for that moment, for that moment, for a fleeting moment. And it just brought me to tears. You just read something and it
was so precious. That's what happened to him. And he fell on his face. Fell
on his face. That word of the Lord was truly
a word, without a doubt, a word of reproof. I had no doubt about
it. Thirteen years, he watched this boy grow up. And God speaks
to him. God said, I can do what I said
I'm going to do. My covenant is between me and
you. And I'm going to bless you exceedingly. It was a word of
reproof, but also it was a word of blessed and divine love. The Lord wasn't silent to him.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth." That word that came to Abram,
it just fell on his face. I mean, it wasn't... Scripture
bears it out. He fell on his face before God
and it just ripped his heart out. For the love and appreciation
of the one who loved him and gave himself for him, he was
broken. And he heard the Lord with arresting
and convicting power. And listen to this, after God
had brought him down, he fell on his face, and listen to these
last words, and I'll just stop with these last words. I won't
go into verse four. Lord willing, we'll start next
time. And Abram fell on his face, colon, and God talked with him,
say. Here's a wonderful lesson. We're not truly ready to hear
God's mercy and grace to such undeserving sinners until the
Lord's been pleased to bring us down in ourselves and put
us in the dust. We're not ready. We're not ready
to hear it. We're not ready to hear it. We're not ready to hear
it because of sin that indwells, because of sin. We're not ready. And the Lord in absolute wisdom
knows what's best for us. He knows what's best. And according
to these scriptures right here, having seen what had happened
and come up to this point right here, seeing what God said concerning
what happened with Hagar and how that was a picture and a
type of the arm of the flesh versus waiting on God Having
the Lord provide as the Lord had promised, he would do an
allegory between works and grace. And then to hear the Lord tell
him, I am the almighty God. You walk before me and be you
perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell
on his face and God talked with him. while he was on his face,
while he was broken, while he was exactly where God was pleased
to put him. I think how wonderful that the
Lord would bring any of us down. David said, it is good for me
that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. The Lord knows how to obey. The Lord knows how to teach. And whenever God's been pleased
to bring us down. Now, let me be the first to say,
and I'm saying as the Apostle Paul says, these afflictions,
they grieve us for the moment. They're grievous. I mean, leave
it up to me. I don't, I don't ever, I don't
ever, I would never want to hear one of my kids call me. It's
always like, you know, when they call me, I'm thinking, okay,
look, start this conversation quickly and tell me what you're
calling about. Tell me, I want to hear, I want
to hear a happy face. I want to hear a happy smile.
If it, if I get a call and it's dad, I need to talk to you. These times are tough. But oh, how profitable. How we
need them. We need them. I am sufficient,
the Lord told him. I will give you. And it broke
him, and God spoke to him. Now, Lord willing, the next time,
he's going to talk to him about a covenant. But I'm telling you,
what a blessed time. Whenever we're, if you're not
going through something right now, believer, you will be. You
may have just come out of it, you're going through it right
now, or you're getting ready to start. But let me tell you something,
this is the way of a believer. The way of a believer in this
world, in this world, you will have afflictions, you're gonna
have trials. But he's promised, I won't leave you, I won't forsake
you, I won't do it, I won't do it. Lord, teach me this again
tonight for your glory and my good. Amen. OK, Gary.