your Bibles. Okay Gary, I'm ready,
I'm sorry. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. I would like to read the first
three verses. Genesis chapter 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 will show thee. And I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great. Thou shalt be a blessing. And
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee. And in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
evening for allowing us the privilege to assemble ourselves together
as brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus. We thank you for
raising up this place, Lord, and keeping it here all these
years. for blessing, Lord, the word
and calling out your sheep. I pray this evening, Lord, bless
this word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. The scripture that we deal with
tonight is one that gives instruction as to the events which took place
when the Lord called Abraham called Abram, and he called Abram
out of the darkness of sin and unbelief. But these three verses
set forth beautifully how God saves sinners. Now last week
we ended up in the 11th chapter and looking at the latter verses,
the last two verses actually of chapter 11, we saw what happened
during the last five years of Abram's dad, his name was Terah,
what actually happened to this family. The scripture says in
Genesis 11.31, And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son
of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his
son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the
Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan and they came unto
Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205
years and Terah died in Haran. Now The significance of those
two verses right there, that event, is the fact that God had
already spoken to Abram when he was still living in Ur, the
city of Chaldea, in Ur of the Chaldeans. That was Abram's hometown. Now what we just read in 31 and
32. I know it's written before we
get into chapter 12, but I want to show you the sequence of what
happened. The scripture says in chapter 12 verse 1, now the
Lord, now Jehovah, had said unto Abram, The Lord spoke to Abram five
years before what we just read in chapter 11 verse 31, 32. Five
years now before that event. It's written in chapter 11. But
it's like we just kind of, the Spirit of God kind of comes back
and brings us up to date. What happened before that five
years while they were in Haran? Turn with me again to Acts 7.
I want you to look at this again. Acts chapter 7, verse 2 to 4. Now here under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, The scripture says, and this is Stephen, this
is the message that he preached that they killed him over. This
is the beginning of it. Then said the high priest, are
these things so? Acts 7. And he said, men, brethren,
and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt
in Charan, which is Haran. That's that city that Tira died
in. He said, men and brethren, the
God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in
Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charan and said unto him, get
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred come into the
land which I shall show thee. Then came he out of the land
of Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan. And from thence, when his father
was dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell."
Now here's what happened. Stephen, moved by the Spirit
of God, says that the God of glory Lord Jesus Christ, He's only
referred that way two times. Once here and once in the book
of Psalms. But the God of glory, that is
the Godhead or the Trinity in the person of the Lord Jesus. Here's what He's saying. Jehovah,
God Almighty, the triunity of God Himself, Father, Son, and
Spirit, in whom the Lord Jesus Christ, all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells bodily in Him. He said, the God of glory appeared,
that is visibly, unto our father Abraham. There was a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ unto an object of God's
mercy. Abraham was allowed to actually
see the Lord. He saw Him. The Lord gave him
specific instruction. He saw him in a body. He saw him that way. The God
of glory appeared to him. And this is what is said now,
back in our 12th chapter of Genesis. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram,
He told him, He said, Get out of thy country. I want you to
get out of your native land. and from thy kindred, I want
you to leave your relatives, and from thy father's house,
your personal home, unto a land that I will show thee. And the
instruction of the Lord to Abram concerning Abram's leaving Ur
of the Chaldees was given with a covenant promise. A promise, a blessing, a covenant,
a contract. He said in Genesis 12, 2 and
3, And I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee, I
will make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses
thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Now that was a promise. God said,
this is what I'm going to do. I want you to leave. Now he's
still in his hometown now. He's still in Ur. Now, they hadn't
left. His daddy hadn't left with him
and gone to Haran yet. He said, I want you to leave.
I want you to leave. Leave everything. Leave your
daddy, leave your family, leave your country. And I'm going to
make you great. You're going to be a blessing.
That was a promise given to God while he was still in Mesopotamia
when the Lord first called Abram to himself, called him out of
idol worship. Now here's what he was doing.
Hold your place and turn to Joshua 24. Joshua 24. Here's what was happening here. You know, here's Abraham. Joshua
24, verses 1 and 2. Joshua is coming to the end of
his life, but he's relating some things. Joshua 24, verses 1 and
2. Joshua gathered all the tribes
of Israel to Shechem. and called for the elders of
Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for
their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua
said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time,
even Terah, the father of Abraham, the father of Nacor, and they
served other gods. So if you want to know what Abram
was doing when the Lord appeared to him, when he called him out
of darkness, out of the darkness of sin and unbelief, this is
what he was doing. He was worshiping idols. The
Lord appeared unto him, spoke to it. He was on the other side
of the flood. Now don't let that wording confuse
you thinking that it was the flood of Noah. It means actually
he was on the other side of the Euphrates. I'm going to just
kind of give you a little visual here, looking at it the way you
would be seeing it. You had the Euphrates River and
the Tigris River. And Ur of the Chaldees was on
this side of the Euphrates. And Haran was on the other side
between Euphrates and Tigris River. It was up here in the
middle. So when he calls it, he was on the other side of the
flood. He was talking about he was on the other side of the
Euphrates River. So here's a man, Abram. He's a first-hand example. of man by nature as he's born
in Adam. Here's the bottom line. Men born
in Adam never change. Never change. God had destroyed
all the earth, saved eight souls in that ark. Eight souls. Noah's
wife, sons, their wives. It's been just a little more
than 400 years since the flood. Since God had destroyed all of
the world because of man's wickedness, and now, here it is, a little
over 400 years, and men are doing just exactly what they were doing
before God destroyed the world. Same thing. This is what man
does by nature. He sins against God. were born
in sin, conceived in sin, born in sin, come forth speaking lies. I found where Noah died, died
less than 20 years before God called Abram. The calculations that I could
find said that Abram was probably about 58 years old. It doesn't
say he ever met Noah, but he was about 58 years old when Noah
died. After all of this now, and here
they are, the wickedness of man is rampant in the earth. God's
got a seed. Out of that line of Shem, God's
got a witness, but all of them even, you know how we looked
at it last time, all of them that was even born in the bloodline,
some of them were there, some brothers and sisters weren't.
But God had an elect. So here was Abram, found in the
dregs of idolatry, no knowledge of God, no entrance of God, and
the Lord was pleased to come to this idol worshiper. Because
it pleased God to show mercy. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
So back in Genesis now, chapter 12, Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3,
according to the revelation that was given by the Spirit of God
through Stephen, that happened before Abram's family ever left
Ur of the Chaldees. He's right there in his hometown. His daddy's an idol worshipper,
his brother's an idol worshipper, Abram's an idol worshipper, and
that's what they're doing, they're worshipping idols. And God comes
to Abraham. God chooses Abraham. You hadn't
chose me, I chose you. And He chose Abraham and He came
to Abraham. And those first three verses
in chapter 12, He came to him and He appeared to him. He came
to him, called him out of darkness, appeared to him, manifested Himself
to him, and told him, this is what I want you to do. Verses
31 and 32 in chapter 11, just before that, that's what took
place after. After God had spoken to Abraham
and told him to leave, that Terah, Abram's dad, and his family takes
them all. They all go up. They're going
to go to Canaan. But before they get to Canaan,
they stop in Haran. They stop in a city before they
get to Canaan. And they stayed there five years,
and his daddy died. And then in verses four and five
that we'll look at in just a minute, in chapter 12, took place after
the death of Terah, because Abraham was said to actually depart from
Haran. So you have to get the timeline
of these scriptures. It wasn't like it was written
in chronological order. It wasn't that. So I got to thinking
about that. Here God appeared to this idol
worshiper, called him out of darkness, revealed himself to
him. And somebody might ask, well
why did Abram wait until after his dad died to do what the Lord
had commanded him? And I thought on that question.
Now why would Abraham do that? Well, here's the answer I've
come to the conclusion. Man is a sinner. Man is a rebel
against God. He's prone to do that which the
Spirit of God revealed through the Apostle Paul. And we're all
like Abraham. We're all like Paul. Paul said
in Romans 7 verse 15, For that which I do, I allow not. That means the things that I
do, I don't know why I do that. For what I would, But what I
should do, what I would, it's what I want to do. I've said
before, there's not a believer in here that doesn't want to
be obedient. I want to be obedient. For that
which I would, I do not. And what I hate, that I do. Romans 7, 19, for the good that
I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Isaiah 53, 6, all we like she. have gone astray, we've turned
everyone to His own way, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. So here's what I know. There's
no excuse for disobedience. There's no excuse. We don't condone
it. Truly, we condemn it in ourselves. It's wrong, and every believer
will tell you that very thing. So we don't excuse it. Somebody
will say, well, I told you about my friend there in Tennessee.
I'm just a sinner. That's no excuse. That's no excuse. I know we do it. But we cannot
use sin as a cloak for our rebellion. It's just, you know, Abram was
told of God to leave Ur of the Chaldees and God would bless
him. Which brings me to my second
question. Why didn't the Lord condemn Abram for his disobedience? I'm asking these for our instruction. Why doesn't the Lord condemn
us immediately? Why does He do what He does?
Well, the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those
things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.
Here's what I know. What Abraham did in not leaving
was disobedience. God Almighty was pleased to show
mercy and compassion to Abraham. And I am so thankful for this.
I'm so thankful to read what I'm reading right here because
it gives me some hope that God will have mercy on me. Is what
I do in rebellion, is it right? No, it is not right. I'm so thankful
that God hasn't put me in hell for my rebellion. I'm so thankful
that He has mercy on me in Christ. And the Lord has revealed His
compassion to the objects of His mercy. So we can all ask,
why has He not blotted all of us out for disobedience? It's
because God has dealt with His people not according to the perfection
of their obedience. And I am so thankful for that.
He'll chasten us. Whom the Lord loveth, He chastens.
And you disobey, He will chasten. He will chasten. But He won't
condemn us. God dealt with Abram in covenant
mercy without any injustice to His justice. He dealt with Abram
and his beloved son as He does with all of His sheep. Now here's
the amazing thing. Here's the amazing thing. Hold
your place right there. And let me show you, now I just
read to you that Abraham disobeyed God. And no question about it. Abram disobeyed God. He eventually went. He did. But he didn't go immediately.
Like Jonah. Like Marvin. Let me show you
what God said about him. Hold your place and turn to Hebrews
11. Here's what the Spirit of God wrote concerning Abraham's
commission from the Lord. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 8
to 10. By faith, Abraham when he was
called, to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing
whether he went. By faith, he sojourned in the
land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac, Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. No mention. No mention. No mention of His lingering.
God didn't even bring it up. He didn't bring it up. You talk
about mercy. You talk about mercy and compassion. He dealt with them in Christ.
The Lord commanded Abram, you get out of your country. But
for leaving that country, the Lord promised him, I will make
of thee a great nation. I'm telling you to get out of
your country. You leave everything associated with the flesh. You
leave the flesh. Don't pamper it. No, you leave,
I'll make you a great nation. And for sure Abraham did experience
the blessing of God for the sacrifices that he was commanded to make.
You leave, you leave this country. and I'll make of you." At that
time, Abram had no children. His wife Sarai was barren, but
he had God's word, God's promise that God would make of him. I will make of thee through you
a great nation. And is the nation of God's church,
God's bride, God's sheep, is that not seen today as a great
nation? For this great nation is established
in Christ, who is great. The Lord promised Abram. He said,
I will bless thee. I will bless thee. And what blessings
has been bestowed upon the children of men, Matthew chapter 5. verses
3 to 12, the scripture says, and I will bless thee, I'll bless
thee. Now listen to these blessings.
Matthew 5, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, they shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye. When men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great
is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. He told him, he said, I'm going
to make of you a great nation, and I'm going to bless you. I
will bless you. The Lord promised Abram, he said,
I'm gonna make thy name great. For the loss of Abram's family
distinction, he said, I want you to get out from the family.
I want you to leave your kindred, get out of your daddy's house.
I'm gonna make your name great. And the Lord truly made Abram's
name great. Great, James 2.23 says, and the
scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called,
now listen to his name, the friend of God. That's his name. I'm gonna make of you a great
name. And the Lord promised Abraham,
and he said, and thou shalt be a blessing The blessing of God
came through Abraham. God was pleased to use the means
of this man and his bloodline. Abraham was in the bloodline
of Christ. He said, Thou shalt be a blessing
because of his posterity. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ
who would come through him, Thou shalt be a blessing. Outside
of the grace of God, what would Abram ever be? But just another
sinner on the face of this earth for a few years. But God showing
mercy to him. He said, you're going to be a
great blessing. Through Him who came, the Lord
Jesus Christ who came. And those men, prophets, that
prophesied that we have the Scriptures, we have the glorious person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to be a great blessing. The prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit through Abram. He said you're
going to be A great blessing. Here's the Savior came into the
world, the gospel, and here's an amazing display of God's grace. So that passage there, he said,
I'll make of thee a great nation. I'll bless thee. I'll make thy
name great. Thou shalt be a blessing. I will
bless them that bless thee and curse him that curse thee. And
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Here's
the greatest ground of assurance for deliverance. God's people
are vessels of God's mercy. And the way they're treated in
this world, whether in kindness or hatefulness, God takes note. Saul saw. Why persecutest thou me? You
think God took note of that? The Lord identifies with His
people. They are His body, He is their
head, their Savior, their priest, their king, their husband, their
Savior. The Lord said in Matthew 10.40,
He that receiveth you, receiveth me. And he that receiveth me,
receiveth him that sent me. Oh, the blessing of God through
the object of His love and affection. But remembering that God was
dealing with Abram in covenant mercy. When He made all these
promises, over here in the first few verses of chapter 12, He
was dealing with Abram in a covenant, but a covenant made with himself,
with God making with himself. The one in whom we have all of
our hope is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom
Abram is a type right here. The Lord told Abram, truly, and
here's what I want us to do. I want us to behold, in closing,
the glorious truth of these things being said to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now God sent him to Abram. There's
no doubt about that. And God did bless him physically
in this way. He did. He did. We reap great
benefits through what the Lord promised to Abraham and did through
the posterity of Abraham. There's no doubt about that.
But I want you to listen to these things as we wrap this up concerning
the Lord speaking to his son, of whom Abram is a type. The
Lord did say to Abram, remember now, the type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, verse one. Now the Lord said to Abram, get
thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, from thy father's
house into a land that I will show thee. And beholding those
words as being said to the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of his
people, did not the Lord Jesus Christ, leave His heavenly abode
by taking upon Himself the nature of His people. Did He not in
obedience separate Himself from the Father and come into a land
of God's choosing, the world in which His sheep abide? The
Scripture declares in John 1, 1 in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, verse 14 says,
and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. God told Abram, and considering
God speaking to His obedient servant, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Get thee out of thy country. Scripture says in Philippians
2, 6 and 8, Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And let me ask you this in verse 2. When the Lord said, I will
make of thee a great nation, has the Lord God Jehovah not
made of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, a great nation? A great nation
that has been redeemed and regenerated by the grace of God, who are
righteous, being robed in His righteousness, A nation of saints
that have been justified before God by faith? We just saw that. Look back in Hebrews 11, what
did the scriptures say? Abraham believed God. And he
did exactly what he said. I think, Lord, I think about
that scripture when we stand before God and he separates the
sheep from the goats and he says unto the sheep, well done. Well done. Only can that be said in Him.
Only with His righteousness imputed to us. He said, I will make thee
a great nation. A great nation upon whom the
blessing of God descends. A great nation in whom the blessing
of God and His acceptance is found in Christ. And concerning
the word of the Lord to Abram, He said, I will bless thee. Now
if we look at those words as being to the Savior, that word
bless right there, an act of adoration and praise. What did
the Lord say from heaven? What did the Father say from
heaven? It is baptism on the Mount of Transfiguration. I will
bless thee, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. And concerning,
he told Abraham also, he said, I will make thy name great. I'll make your name great, Abraham.
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says in Philippians
2, 9 and 11, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in
earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. And
as Abram was promised that he would be a blessing, is not our
precious Lord the very blessing of God to us? Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The Father
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He predestinated us. unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the richness of
His grace. Oh, what a blessing. He told Abraham, He said, I will
make thee a blessing. Oh, I'm telling you, in Christ.
God has made him to be a blessing to us. And then verse 3, I will
bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that curseth
thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now when we come to our standing
before God, here's the question of all questions. What think
ye of Christ? The Father says, I will bless
them that bless thee. I will curse him that curseth
thee. And that's the way it is. When it comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ, every man, every woman, this is the question. Who is
He to you? Is He the sovereign Savior of
God's people or is He merely one trying to make salvation
possible? Is He the Lord of glory? Or is he just a martyr that just
died as an example upon a cursed tree? A sinner's attitude toward
Christ reveals God's attitude toward that sinner. God blesses
those that bless him. Kiss the son, lest he be angry. God blesses those that blesses
Him, and He curses those that curse Him. And lastly, and I'll
stop right here, and He said, and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. In Christ, all families of the
earth, all families, Jew and Gentile, blessed of God, out
of every kindred, out of every tongue, people, nation, God has
a sheep. strangers and pilgrims in this
world, and the Lord is surely going to call them out of darkness.
So whenever the Lord God, Jehovah, in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, came to Abram, came where he was, called him out of the
darkness of rebellion, sin, idol, he was an idol worshiper, that's
where God met him. He called him unto himself, commissioned
him, Abram obviously tarried, but thanks be unto God, God didn't
deal with him and he doesn't deal with any of his people in
their obedience, because we are sinners. We strive, we desire
to, but based on the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. that
righteous, that obedience imputed to us and God accepts us in the
beloved. I am so thankful for covenant
mercy, covenant mercy. I'm thankful that God does not
deal with me in me. I would have no hope. I pray
that God bless this to our hearts for his glory and our good. Amen. All right. Two minutes.