The first, well, verses 6 through
9. Abram passed through the land
unto the place of Sycam under the plain of Moriah. The Canaanite
was then in the land. The Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, unto thy seed will I give this land." And there
he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. And he
removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east. And there he built an altar unto
the Lord and called upon the name of the And Abram journeyed
going on still toward the south. Now Abram's story is a story of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said that. He said,
Moses wrote of me. He said, they are they which
testify of me. He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day. And he saw it. And he was glad.
And I hope we will be too. It's also the story of every
believer, how God chose Abram and revealed himself to Abram
and brought him out from his father's house. And he was a
stranger in a strange land and sojourned through the land and
God led him all the way. And that's a picture of every
believer in this world. But the gospel story here is
wonderful. This is why this is written.
to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abram was a type, a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 1, the Lord had said
to 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.
Abram was sent by God. Our Lord was sent by God, wasn't
it? And he said, as thou hast sent
me into the world. He said to his father, Abram
left his father, and so did our Lord Jesus Christ. He left his
father. He said, I have come forth from the Father into this
world. Abram was given a lamb. And Scripture says the Father
hath given the Son, given all things into his hand. Abram is a great picture of the
Lord here. Verse 2, our Lord said that he would make of Abram
a great nation, bless him, Make his name great and he would be
a blessing." Now who is that speaking of? Paul wrote in Galatians
that very thing. It is not speaking of Abram or
even his seed, but of seed, which is Christ. A great nation came
from Abram and a great nation which no man can number comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the firstborn among many
brethren. All men are blessed in our Lord Jesus Christ, and
he has been given a name which is above every name, God greater,
greater than Solomon, greater than Abraham, our Father. And
he is a blessing, all blessings in him, according as God has
chosen us in Christ. And everyone who blesses him,
look at verse 3, 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. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ,
you will be loved by God. You are loved. That's why you
love him. If you bless the Lord Jesus Christ,
you will be blessed by God. If you curse Christ, if you reject
Christ, you will be cursed and rejected by God. So all the blessings
of God or in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are yea and amen. The
Lord said this of Abraham. He said, I will and you shall. And so it is with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I will bless what you do and the pleasure of the Lord
will prosper in his hand and you shall prosper and they shall
be blessed. All right, verse 4. Abram was
75 years old when he departed out of Herod. An old man, wasn't
he? That's old. He lived to be 175,
but he was old when he started out. Yet that was the beginning. That was the beginning of his
new life. He was dead in trespass and sin before this, and now
he's a new creature created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
born of God, born of His Spirit, walking with God, a new man at
75 years old. Old yet new. I thought of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the ancient of days, yet himself
became an infant of days. He who is life itself, the creator
of life, was born of a woman, a baby, born of a woman. Well,
Abram took his wife, Sarah, Lot, his brother's son, and all their
substance that they had gathered." In other words, Abram gathered
everything that belonged to him, his bride, his wife, his sons,
Lot, and all the souls they had gotten in Herod, and they went
forth to go into the land of Canaan. And into the land of
Canaan they came. Christ came into this world like
Abram. And when he came, his people
were in him. All the people of God, like the
Scripture said of the Jews that were in the loins of Abraham,
Abraham represented all the people of God. And so did the Lord Jesus
Christ. All His people were in Him when
He came. In Adam all died, but in Christ
all made alive. Now, as I said, the story of
Abram is the story of Christ, is the story of every believer. Chosen, loved by God, every believer,
born of God, sent into the world. He said, you're the salt of the
earth. You're the light of the world. Sent into the world. Abram
was the only believer sent into an unbelieving world, into a
pagan world. Canaan. These were the descendants
of Ham. These were ungodly, godless people. Canaanite. And he was sent into
that world. And so are we. And we're told
to leave our Father's house. And we all do. If our Father's
religion was false, we have to come out. The Lord brings us
out, doesn't He? Brings us out of our Father's
house. Abram, Scripture says, was an idolater. He worshiped
idols. Not the true and living God.
He didn't know Him. And neither did we. Neither did we. turned us from idols to serve
the living and true God. And Abram became a blessing.
He became a blessing to everyone that knew him. And the Scripture
says of God's people, the world is not worthy of him. What would this world be like
without believers in it? You wouldn't want to live here,
would you? God's people are a blessing to
this world. And given a name. Abram was given
a name. Later, his name was Abraham,
father of a multitude. Changed from Abram, father, to
father of a multitude. And God's people have given a
name. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Christians. Although men and women abuse
that title, that name, Christian, it's still a blessed name that
God hath bestowed upon His people. We don't use it lightly, we don't
use it too frequently, but what a blessed name. A disciple, a
follower, a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, loved by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Abram was a separated man. God's
people are separated people, a willing people. Abram departed.
When God said leave, he left. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. heard the word of the Lord and
he got out of his idols and sojourned with God. So do his people. So do all his people. And he
was sent in the land of Cana, as we said, a godless place,
wicked people. The Canaanites didn't know God.
They hated God. And so he came. But that was
his purpose. That was his purpose. And so
it is with us. Our story today begins in verse
6, though. Here's the story. Abram passed
through the land unto the place of Sycamore, unto the plain of
Moriah, and Canaanite was in the land. He passed through.
Abram and Sarah and Lot would be passing through everywhere
they went. all the days of their life, just
passing through. Passing through. He said down
in verse 9, Abram went on from there. He was always traveling,
always merely passing through. He didn't have a continuing place
or a permanent dwelling place in the land. And Scripture says
this about all of God's people, doesn't it? It says that By faith,
Abram sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with
him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. And so it is
with all of God's people, strangers and pilgrims in the earth. And
they that say that, those that are that way, declare plainly
that they seek a country. And they desire a better country,
a heavenly. And that's what they're looking
for, or rather who. I wrote Hannah, Gabe and Hannah are trying to
find a permanent home to live in. They now live in a rented
home. And as it is with everyone, we'd
like to find a permanent place to live, you know, not to settle
down. But I wrote her to remind her,
to try to comfort her, that none of us have a permanent dwelling
place. We're all living in temporary dwelling places. And I reminded
her of Abram and Sarah, how they traveled everywhere living in
tents. Not a stone house or a brick house,
but in tents everywhere for a hundred and some years. I said, imagine
how Sarah felt. Imagine how Sarah felt. They
accumulated a lot. Where do you put all that stuff?
And I know Sarah got depressed. I know she was tired of traveling. But the fact is, none of us have
a permanent dwelling place here. We look for a city whose builder
and maker is God. Our Lord came into this world
and sojourned here. He said, the son of man hath
not where to lay his head. He never did have a permanent
dwelling place, that is a home. He depended on his father and
the father gave him places to stay through his people. He stayed
often with Lazarus and Martha and Mary and Peter's home and
so on. But our Lord was a stranger here. Our Lord said, My kingdom is
not of this world. If it were, we'd fight for it.
We'd fight for the lands of it. We'd fight to accumulate it.
This is not our flood and flood. And what was Abram's purpose
in going into the land? To populate it with a people,
a seed. That was his purpose, to give
birth to a people, his seed. Our Lord came as by one man.
The earth was populated, Adam, and then Abram, Noah, Abram. Christ came, Lord of heaven and
earth, populate by his seed a kingdom, a kingdom, but a one you cannot
see. And as he is, so are we in this
world. What's our purpose in this world?
What's our purpose in this world? So see. So see, what's that? The Word of God. In hopes that
the Lord will raise up more children of His. That's our purpose here.
Not to live to ourselves. No man liveth to himself. He
lives unto the Lord. And our purpose is, like Abram,
give birth to a people. That's the purpose of the church.
And we're just passing through. Just passing through. Canaanite. Look at this. plainly, emphatically,
and the Canaanite was in the Lamb. The Canaanite was in the
Lamb. The Lord said to Abram in verse
7, I will give you this Lamb. This is your Lamb. I'm giving
it to you. Abram came to his Lamb. The Canaanite
was there. The Canaanite was a squatter.
Cain and I was a trespasser. He didn't belong there. It was
God's land, and he gave it to Abram. But there were squatters
on it. And he said, I'm removing them,
and I'm giving it to you. The earth is the Lord, and the
fullness thereof. The world and the inhabitants
thereof. Christ came into his world, and
there are trespassers here, aren't there? He came on his own. His own received him not. But
it's His land. And He's going to take it. And
His people. He said of His people, blessed
are the meek. They shall inherit the earth. I'm giving it to them. I'm the
heir. And they're going to be joint
heirs with me. Not this planet. We don't want this one. I believe
this one's God forsaken. Except for a remnant in it. And
we're going to look at that more in the next hour. But the new
world, the new heaven, he said, rejoice in that which I create
for my people, new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
the King of righteousness, the King of his people. I thought about this. What if
Abram came into the land and God said very plainly to Abram,
this is your land? What if Abram had stood up one
day and announced to the Canaanites, this is my land. I have come
to my land. I am Lord of this land." Now, what
would they have done? What would the king and I have
done? Exactly what they did to the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? He said, I am from above, you
are from beneath. So they loved Jesus. They followed
Jesus. They wanted Jesus to heal them,
to feed them. But they hated the Lord Jesus. It was that way then, and it's
that way now. But rest assured, this is His
land. It belongs to Him. This world is still His, and
He's reigning and ruling over it. And He lets people dwell
in it for as long as He will until the end. They didn't receive our Lord.
Our Lord said, All things are delivered unto me of my Father.
They didn't know Abram. People didn't know Abram when
he came, did they? They didn't know who he was.
Neither did they know the Son of God when he came. He said,
No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man
the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. He came to his earth, it was
made by him, but it knew him not, received him not, believed
him not. He was an unknown God in a godless
world. And as he is, here we go again,
as he is, so are we. John said this, he said, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. That we
should be called the sons of God, but the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, he said, now are we
the sons of God. But it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't look like, Abraham didn't
look any different than his, these Canaanites were his kinsmen
according to the flesh. He didn't look any different
to them. It didn't look any different to them. He looked just like
them. But Scripture says, We know that
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. But now we, God's people, are
the sons of God. Our Lord came into this world.
He didn't look any different than the sons of men. He was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. These Canaanites that were in
the land, though kinsmen, they would be the enemies of Abram
all his days. They would hate Abram. It's amazing
how scriptures bears witness of Scripture. We study Scripture
and things come up in the New Testament exactly what we were
studying in the Old. And in Matthew 10, that's where
we are in our other study, the Lord at that point is sending
His disciples out into the world, 12 and 70, out into the world. And He's telling them, beware
of men. They're going to hate you. I'm
sending you forth as sheep among wolves. And He said, you will
be hated by all men. Why? Abram was a fine man, was
a kind man, a loving man, but they hated him and would be his
enemy. Why? They didn't know God. Why did
they hate the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, if God were your Father,
you'd love me. But you don't. And God's people are hated. Why? Are they hateful? No. People hate our God. So it was, Cain and I would be
Abram's enemy for the rest of his days until the Lord wiped
them all out and gave him the lamb. And so will we be hated,
he said. A disciple is not above his master. Well, look at this. Verse 7,
Abram built an altar. When the Lord appeared unto him,
he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. left that
place, verse 8, and went unto a mountain on the east of Bethel
and pitched his tent." Bethel. Bethel, as you know, means the
house of God. Well, it was not yet a city. The Lord is saying that long
before it became a city. He's telling us where it was.
You know who would call it Bethel? Jacob. Jacob came to this very
spot. The Lord brought him to this
very spot time and again. And that's where Jacob met the
Lord and he said, I'm going to call this the house of God, where
the Lord wrestled with him. He said, I'm going to call this
the house of God. And he kept coming back. The Lord kept bringing
him back to that very spot where Abram built an altar under the
Lord. That's where Jacob built an altar.
And our Lord Jesus Christ came, who is the house of God, the
tabernacle among us. And he didn't build an altar,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't build an altar. He
was the altar. He was the lamb slain. He was
the lamb. He was the sacrifice. He was
the altar. We have an altar, all right, but it's not a place.
It's a person. It's a person. Our Lord came
to be crucified, to offer Himself a sacrifice, a sin offering unto
God. Abram built an altar unto the
Lord. And our Lord Jesus Christ came to make a sacrifice unto
the Lord, unto God, for His people. We were represented by Abraham
here, and the Jews were, And we were represented by Christ
on Calvary's tree. And our Lord obtained eternal redemption for
his people. What kind of altar did Abraham
rear up? It doesn't say what it was. It doesn't say what he did on
that altar. What do you do with an altar? The only altars ever
raised up in Old Testament Scriptures had blood on them, didn't they?
We're quite sure that's what Abraham did. Later, as I said, his grandson,
Jacob, would come back to this very spot, keep coming back to
this spot, and calling on the name of the Lord. Look at verse
8. He said he built an altar there, Bethel on the west and
Hai on the east. That word, by the way, means
Hai, means ruin. On one side there's ruin and
on the other side is the house of God. That's where you want
to be. And he built an altar unto the
Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And he kept coming back there,
and so did his seed after him. And so it is with Christ and
his people. And in verse 9, he says, Abraham
left there, journeyed, went on. He would come back to Bethel,
journeyed on, still going on, and so did our Lord. Our Lord
came here, sojourned and left, and so did we. The time is coming. We're going to pass through this
land. And Abram's seed, when the last seed was brought into
this world, his promise And Abraham journeyed
on, and so it is with God's people. When the last select seed and
son is born, then we'll go on and pass on to our permanent
home, forever to be with the Lord.