All right, now let's turn back
to Genesis 12. I remind you that the very word
Genesis means beginnings, and as I've said before, we find
the truths or principles that are first mentioned in Genesis,
we find those truths carried out through the rest of the Bible, through Genesis and wherever
the law is first mentioned, wherever things are first mentioned, we
find those same principles carried out through the rest of the Scripture. Of course, God does not change.
He doesn't come up with a better way. Whatever God does to begin with,
it's the best way it can be done, right? Hey, John, good to see
you. And this call of Abraham, Abram
is his name to begin with, this call of Abraham in the is the beginning of the truth
of salvation, which is carried out through the rest of the Bible. And this could be called a preface
to the rest of the scripture, a preface. For those of you who
read books all the time, you know in front of a book you have
what's called a preface. And what it does is it lays some
groundwork. or an introduction that lays
the groundwork of what's to follow, and how the Lord saved Abram
here, and the truths, the principles that are found here are carried
on through the rest of the scripture. Now, a great deal is said about
Abram, Abraham, later on. The next thirty-nine chapters, the next thirty-nine chapters
deal with Abram and his seed, singular, his seed. I don't know how many of you
noticed or saw as we were reading. I hope you noticed many things
there. We hope to bring them out. Thirty-nine chapters are devoted
to talking about this man. Now, there's no doubt Abraham
was an important man, right? He's an important man. He is
perhaps the most illustrious, well-known person in ancient
history. Jews, as well as mohabitants,
people in Islam, they all look up to and venerate or look up
to and highly esteem Abraham. Did you know that the Arabs call
Abraham their father? But they claim to be from Ishmael
seed, not Isaac. They claim that. They are. But
illegitimate. At any rate, Abraham was one
of the most famous people in all of ancient history, and Jews
and believers, Christians. We venerate Abraham, and he's
called the father of the faithful, he's called the friend of God,
the father of a nation. But to rightly understand this
story now, you've got to see beyond Abraham. To rightly understand
this story, as well as all the rest of the scripture, you ought
to see beyond Abram and see the one whom Abram rejoiced to see. Scripture says, Our Lord said,
Abram, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Didn't he? That's what threw the Jews for
a loop, wasn't it, John? There in John chapter 8. Why,
are you older than our father Abraham? You're not even 50 years
old yet. Who do you think you are? Well,
we have Abraham. He said before, Abram, I am. Abram, here's a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Did you see it when we were reading
that? Oh, such a picture. I was talking to a man the other
day. He preached through this recently. And I was rehashing
to him the things I was going to bring out here, and he said,
I missed it, I missed it, I missed it. He said, that depresses me. I missed Christ in that portion
of Scripture. He said, I didn't preach it like
that. He said, I talked about the call of Abraham, and I didn't
see Christ there. He said, I feel like going back
and trying it again. Because it was not too late. Abram, Abram, Abram's a type,
Adam, we saw Adam was a type of Christ, didn't we? The first
man mentioned was a type of Christ. What a type of Christ he was.
Noah, what a type of Christ Noah was, huh? Boy, we're going to
see Abram was a type of Christ. Abraham, Abraham, Abram, of whom
a great deal more is written in marvelous accounts given of
his life and his posterity, all of which speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll see Abram's sons, Isaac, as types of Christ. On down the line, Joseph. I just can't wait to get into
those. But we'll study this one in the
meantime. Abram's a picture of the believer,
too, now. Abram is. He's a picture of the
believer, the call of the believer and his faith and his life and
all that. And we can say many things about the believer, his
call and his faith, but Christ must have the preeminence in
all things. Right? Especially in preaching. All
things. And you could rightly sum up the difference in how
we preach and what we preach in this passage right here. You
could take the average preacher today and give him Genesis 12
to preach from, and he'd brag on Abraham from the first moment
to the last, wouldn't he? And he might not even mention
Christ's name. Christ must have the preeminence. He's all and in all. And boy,
he's as in this, he just jumps out at you here in these three
verses, doesn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ. He must have the
preeminence. And they preach Abraham's faith
and how we must be like Abraham. We preach Christ crucified, his
faith, and how we must be accepted in the That could sum up the
difference in us and them, couldn't it? In true preaching and false. They preach Abraham's faith,
we preach our faithful high praise. All right, let's look at Abraham
as a, or Abram. I keep saying Abraham. No, it's
going to be hard to say Abram. Let's look at Abram as a type
of Christ here. Let's look at his call. Verse
one. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram. Now, stop right there. Do you notice the past tense
there? The Lord had said unto Abram everything significant.
That implies that there was a previous meeting to this account given
here. In other words, the Lord appeared to Abram before this
account was given here. That's significant, isn't it? Stephen, in his sermon at Pentecost,
in his sermon, Stephen, his sermon before he died, not at Pentecost,
But Stephen said, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee
out. The Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out, in a previous meeting. The Lord appeared unto Abram,
Stephen said, and said, Get thee out. The Lord appeared unto him.
In the beginning, the scripture says, was the Word, and the Word
was with God. There was a meeting between God
the Father and God the Son before the world began, in the beginning.
And the Lord God, God the Father, had said something to the Son. A meeting took place between
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. A covenant,
that's what I'm getting at. A covenant took place, a previous
meeting, a covenant convention. It's the only convention that
needs to be held. And the Lord said unto my Lord,
Get thee out. Read on. The Lord said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country. And the Lord said unto my Lord,
Get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's
house, unto a land that I will In a covenant meeting before
time, God purposed for his son to leave heaven, to leave the
bosom of the Father, and to go to a land. Now, you know what
the word anti-type means? It means it's a type, but it's
the opposite of what it says. The anti-type here is that Abraham
was called to leave a land of idolatry and go to a fair land
of Canaan. The antitype is that our Lord
Jesus Christ left Farrakhan to go to a land of idolatry and
sin. You see that? To come to a land. And so in
the covenant here, as is typified, in the covenant, the Father purposed
and said to the Son, Get thee out and go into a land that I
will show thee. I make a little play on words
here, but it's all right, isn't it? I will show thee. You go
there, and I'll show thee. I'll reveal you." And Abraham
was. Abraham was revealed to be the
father of the faithful. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
to this land of sin and shame and idolatry, and he was revealed
to be the Son of the Most High, the Christ, the Son of the living
God. He was revealed by the Father, declared to be the Son of God
with power. All right, read on. Verse 2, here's the promise made
unto Abram for leaving the land. And notice, and later on we're
going to talk about the call of the believer through all of
this. The Lord didn't ask Abram anything, did he? He didn't say,
would you like to, would you cooperate with me? exercise your
free will and what's the call of the believer. It's an effectual
call and it's an irresistible call and he says get out. Abraham
got out. There's no way that he could
have resisted that call. He didn't want to and he couldn't. He couldn't. But he went out.
All right. Verse two. And here's the promises
that go there in Abraham. I will make of thee a great nation."
God told Abram that he would do all things through him. Read on, "...I will bless thee,
and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. I will
make of thee a great nation." He said on down in verse 3 that,
"...in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." that he would do all things through
him, that in him all families would be blessed, chosen, called,
and saved. Now who could that possibly be
talking about other than the Lord Jesus Christ? And God says
of Christ so many times in so many places. Of him, through
him, and to him are all things. By whom, for whom, in whom are
all Right? God says of Christ, I have made
of thee a great people, a nation of people of believers. And of
God, 1 Corinthians said, are you in Christ? Are you accepted
in the Beloved because of your Christ? Of God, are you in Christ
who is made unto us? He's the one made unto us. Wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And we are chosen
in Christ, we are accepted in Him, we are created in Him, we
are called because of Him, we are saved by Him, and someday
we're going to be with Him. And Christ is all. In verse 2,
He said to Abram, I will make of thee a great nation. All people
are going to come out of you, and I will bless thee. I will
bless thee. That reminded me of old was his
name Elkanah, Abram's old servant that went to find a bride for
Isaac. And boy, I can't wait to get
to that again. But here he came and was trying to describe the
greatest man on earth, Abraham, this old servant, trying to describe
the richest man on earth, Abraham. to Rebecca, trying to describe. And he had, you know, a few rings
and earrings and bracelets. That's what preaching's like.
That's about what it's like. But he said, the servant said
to Rebecca, the Lord hath blessed my master greatly. He is become
great. He's great. My master's great.
He hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold,
and men serving, and maids serving, and camels, and asses. But my
God's great, and my Master's great. While the cattle on a
thousand hills are His, all the silver, and the gold, and all
the mines, and all people, angels, devils, people, men, animals,
are His. All-blown, He's great. I can't
rightly describe Him, can I? He's great. God hath blessed,
and my Master bore a son. My master bore a son when she
was old, when his wife was old. And unto him hath he given all
that he hath." That's Christ, isn't it? Huh? The Lord hath
blessed my master greatly, blessed my Christ greatly. Just like
he said of Abram there, I will bless thee. And I couldn't help
but think of Psalm 1, too. You know, Christ, it says, I
will bless thee. Christ is that blessed man. You're blessed because of him.
He's the blessed man. That's described in Psalm 1,
blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful." In other words, a righteous man. He's that blessed man. That's
Christ. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law
doth he meditate day and night. Who's that talking about? Christ.
He's that blessed man. God said to Abram, I will bless
thee. And God said to Christ, I will bless thee. You're blessed. Blessed man. He'll be like a
tree planted by the rivers of water. bringing forth fruit in
his season. His leaf won't wither. Whatever
he does shall prosper. Let's preach Psalm 1 a little
while, on Christ. I will bless thee. I will make
of thee a great nation. That's Christ, isn't it? All
people come from him. He's made unto us, the whole
thing. I will bless thee. He's that blessed man, isn't
it? Verse 2, And make thy name great. He said to Abram, I will make
a name of thee. I'll make a name which lives
on and is spoken of by men for years. Abram. I'll change it
from Abram, which means father, to Abraham, which means high
father. Well, it says in Isaiah 9, 6,
unto us a child is born, a son is given, and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting His name is Father. Father. Philip, have I been so long time
with you and you haven't known me? I am the Father. I am the Father. And Christ,
God hath given Christ a name which is above every name. Ain't
it? Better than Abraham. That's what Hebrews talks all
about, doesn't it? He's better. All through Hebrews
the theme is Christ is better. Better than the old covenant
better than Abel's blood, better than the high priest, better
than Moses, better than all of them, but he's worth 10,000 of
them. The High Father, Jesus Christ, giving him a name above
every name and at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that he is Lord. Read on. And thou shalt
be a blessing. Verse 2. Thou shalt be a blessing. You know I have to believe that
Lot, you know the story of Lot, we're going to get into that
too. Lot's the type of believer and how that Abram kept getting
him out of every mess he got into. And I just imagine that
Lot really appreciated being related to Abram. Don't you? He was down there inside him,
and because Abram interceded with the Lord for Lot, the Lord
spared Lot, didn't he? He was taken out. He was plucked
as it were, as a bran from the burning, Lot. Should have been
destroyed with the rest of them. Didn't look any different, did
he? An old sinner like the rest of them. It was because of Abram,
praying to the Lord. Lot, time and again, got in a
mess. And Abram came and rescued him. I just imagine that Lot
appreciated being the nephew of Abram. Don't you? Oh, I'm glad I'm in Christ and
accepted in him. Aren't you? Aren't you glad he's
your elder brother and he's not ashamed to call you brother? Don't you think, John, that Abram
was ashamed Is that your nephew? Is Lot your nephew, Abram? Don't
you imagine that he came to town and he said, I don't know the
boy. I don't know him. He's not my brother's boy. But no, every time he came to
his rescue. Yeah, he's mine. I realize what
he is, but he's mine. You see, what I'm trying to get
at is, Abram was a blessing to Lot. Just knowing Abram, being
related to Abram. And I just imagine at times,
Lot was such a scoundrel, such a rascal, such a rotten fella,
that I just imagine that every time he was rescued or whatever,
he'd just sit around the fire and just... And Abram was a wise
man. Abram was full of wisdom, a faithful
man, father of the faithful. And he just enjoyed being with
Abraham. He gleaned wisdom and insight
and understanding from listening to this wise man. He was an old
man by this time, wasn't he, Barbara? And Lot just gleaned
from being... Abram was a blessing to Lot.
And you know it's just a blessing to know Christ, isn't it? He
is the blessing. That's what I'm trying to say.
He says, thou shalt be a blessing. Christ is the believer's blessing. Isn't He? Whom have I in heaven
but Thee? What do I want to go to heaven for? To be with Him. To sit with the King. I won't
care if they serve me lobster or bologna. Really now, I'm being
facetious, but really now, I get to sit with the King. Like old
Mephibosheth, at the King's table. The food won't matter. The streets
won't matter. get to be with him. He's the
blessing. Whom have I in heaven but this? And there's none on
earth I desire beside thee. He is the blessing. Christ is
the believer's blessing. That's what he said. You know,
Abraham got down a little bit when they came to a pass. Remember,
and Abraham and Lot, and Abram being the kind. And there's a
picture of Christ, isn't it? Abram took the rough way and
gave Lot the smooth. way. And, uh, but Abram offered
Lot what he wanted and Lot, so I'll take, I'll take the well-watered
plant, I'll take that big Shenandoah Valley there with a creek running
through it and rolling beautiful hills and fertile land and, uh,
Abram ended up with a rock mount, a mountain, rocky mount, uh,
uh, hillside, grubbing rocks out of it, trying to grow a little
corn or whatever. And he got down one time, you
remember that? Over in chapter fifteen he got
down, and like a man that he was, and he said, Lord, look
at what Lot has and what do I have? And this is what the Lord said
to him, Abram, you have me. Lot's going to go down there
and he's going to have the world and all goes with the world,
and he's going to come close to being destroyed with it. You
get me. You get me. I am thy great reward, he said. You get me. What else do you
want? Like that old lady, you know,
sat down with a dry crust of bread, said, all this, and Christ
too? It's too much. It's more than
I need. So Christ is the believer's blessing.
We are blessed to know him, be found in him, be saved by him,
to have him revealed to us. To you who believe, Peter said,
he is precious. That word precious means he's
a high honor, he's privileged. Privilege is to know him. Everybody
doesn't know him, John. It's a privilege to know him.
Blessed are you. That's what he said to the disciples,
wasn't it? When they came running, oh, we can cast out devils. Don't
rejoice at that, he said. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. Rejoice that you know and understand that I am he,
that you know me. Rejoice in that. Just knowing Christ is a blessing. Back to the text. Now, in verse
3, and he says, I will bless them that bless thee. God promised
Abraham, I will bless them that bless thee. That reminded me
immediately of Proverbs 8. It says over there in Proverbs
8 concerning Christ, our wisdom, if I can turn quick enough, Proverbs
chapter 8, it said, Blessed are they, I love them that love me. That's
what it said, I love them that love me. Blessed is the man,
blessed is the one that keeps my ways and heareth me. I'll
bless them, I'll love them that love me. blessed is the whosoever
findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. He that sinneth against me wrongs
his own soul. All that hate me love death."
That's what it says concerning Christ. And it said here in Abraham,
I'll bless them that bless thee. God blesses all that believe
Christ, that bless him. that honor him. He'll honor those
that honor the Son of Man. He blesses them that bless him.
But, on the other hand, he'll curse him that curses them. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, he
says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
accursed. Let him be anathema, maranatha. He will curse them
that curse Christ, that don't believe Christ, that don't kiss
the Son and bow down to him. And verse three, and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed. In thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed. In Christ there's a people chosen,
saved, and blessed out of every nation, kindred, and tongue under
heaven. In Christ. All people. Everyone is accepted in the beloved. And Abram, like the faithful
man that he was, And I entitled this message chosen man. Because
he was chosen, that's it. He exalted one, God exalted a
man chosen from among the people. Right? And who's that talking about
in the Psalms? Christ. Same here, isn't it? Abram's a type of Christ who
was exalted, chosen out of the people. And Abram was faithful
and left, according to the faith that God gave him. And he departed,
verse four, so Abram departed, and our faithful Lord departed,
left his father's house, didn't he? To come to us, to come to
his own. So Abram departed as the Lord
had spoken unto him, and look who went with him. Lot. Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he departed. He was an old man.
Well, you're not fifty years old yet. Fifty. I said that to Christ, didn't
I? No, I'm not fifty. I'm eternal. My age is measureless. Christ
was old, wasn't he? He was old when he left the fire. He was a baby. Oh, a child was
born, yes, but a son, an everlasting father. He was old. That baby was old, wasn't it? That's a mystery, isn't it? And
Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Herod.
And Abram took Sarai, his wife. She was with him wherever he
went. And so was Christ's bride, wasn't
she? She was in him, in Christ. Sarah took his wife and Lot,
his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered,
and all blessings. Abram had charge of them. And
souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth
to go into the land of Canaan. In other words, Abram left the
land and went to the land of Canaan. Did he make it? Remember Noah? Did he make it? Did he build it? So did he. So
did he. Well, did Abram get there? Did
he get where the Lord sent him to go? Did he make it? He ate
it. And into the land of Canaan they
came. What's that a picture of? I immediately thought of Hebrews
2.10, which says, It became him, for whom are all things My home
are all things in bringing many sons to glory." That's a picture
of Christ, isn't it? And I'm finished. Beautiful picture of Christ,
and that's just a glimpse, just one little snapshot. I've got
a whole family album here. All right. Brother Rick, would
you dismiss us in prayer, please? Our Heavenly Father, we bow before
Thy holy throne in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master. Dear Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You for this, which
we're left with, to look upon and read and thank You. and sending their Holy Spirit
to open it up to us and see how you are, see how Christ is, and see your eternal purpose,
your covenant of grace and mercy for something like this. Lord,
we pray this, lift up your Holy Name. We ask you to take this
Word All right, we're going to have
some refreshments downstairs. And in honor of our old Old, old friend. Brother Charles,
we're thankful for you, Brother Charles. Mercy. That's good. All right. You're dismissed.