And when Abram was 99 years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am
the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham
fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham, for
a father of many nations have I made thee." Abraham from Abram
to Abraham. Jacob went from Jacob to Israel. went from being a deceiver, a
supplanter, to being a prince with God. And Abram went from
being Abram to Abraham here. And you notice, look at his age.
He was 99 years old at night. 99 years old. 99 years old. No matter how old or how young
a Christian is, God still appears to him. Age makes no difference. Age has nothing to do with it.
In fact, our fellowship with the Lord increases and is more
enjoyable as we get older. Abram was 99. An age may keep
us from doing lots and lots of things, but through God's blessed
grace, it may ripen our fellowship and communion with our Lord Jesus
Christ. I know from my own personal experience,
I enjoy the Gospels more today than I did before. I just stand
in astonishment that God would let me, let me sit and hear other
men preach the gospel so powerfully, so clearly, so plainly, that
I'm blessed to hear it. And not only blessed to hear
it, but blessed to understand it and believe it when it's preached.
That's the difference. And it gets sweeter and sweeter
all the time. And that's the way it was with
Abraham. I know age has nothing to do with God's fellowship with
us, young or old. In between, it makes no difference.
You know, Samuel was just a boy, just a boy when God first spoke
to him. And here's Abram, 99 years old. And he's got another year to
wait before God speaks to him again. And he'll speak with him
again. But here's a revelation. Look
the revelation that God gave of himself. And this is how God
makes himself known to anybody. by revelation, and when Abram
was 99 years old and nine, the Lord appeared unto Abram, and
look what he said, I am the almighty God. You reckon God would ever
reveal himself any other way than he is? God revealed himself
to Abram as the almighty God, the great I am. And this almighty
scenes, I am God all sufficient. Abraham, you know, remember last
week we talked about he'd be an Abraham's reward. I'm like
seeding great reward. Now he says, I'm almighty God.
I'm all sufficient for you, Abraham. And I'm all sufficient for you.
And this is how God reveals himself to his people. He reveals himself
as almighty, all sufficient. And if God reveals Himself, God
cannot reveal Himself any other way than He is. He just cannot
do it. Everybody that He revealed Himself
to, He revealed Himself to as holy, as almighty, as sovereign. In fact, He said, How beautiful
upon the mountain are the feet of them that publisheth peace,
that saith unto Zion, you know what He says unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth. That's what he says to him. But
oh, beloved, this is medicine for the soul. Medicine for the
soul. Abram had been promised a son.
God said, I'm gonna give you a son. I'll come at a certain
season and give you a son. He had not yet been given a son
yet. He was old now. He was old. But God comes and encourages
his faith. And you know, the revelation
that God gives us shows us that our all-sufficiency and everything
that we need is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God made Christ unto
us wisdom. How else are we going to know
God? He gives us the wisdom to understand the scriptures, the
wisdom to know God, the wisdom to have the fear of God, the
wisdom to trust God, the wisdom, spiritual wisdom He gives us.
And then He's made unto us righteousness. We understand that there's no
other righteousness than the righteousness of God. And then
He's made unto us sanctification. That means that we're made holy
in Christ, set apart in Christ. and then he's our redemption
and when he talks about redemption he's talking about the redemption
of this body when our lord jesus christ comes again and he says
not only that but he says you know talking about all sufficient
christ is everything to us paul told the colossians you are complete
in him complete in him what in the world if you put in that
water there is almost ready to run over And if Ed had put just
a little more in it, it would have been full, completely full. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
is completely full of everything that you and I need for time
and eternity. Everything we need, we are complete
in Him. Completely saved, completely
redeemed, completely forgiven, completely all of ours. Everything
that we need, we find in His blessed person. And you know
what else He said after that? for all the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in him bodily. So everything that God is and
all that God ever was and all that God ever will be dwell in
that body of our Lord Jesus Christ. You read it tonight. The word
was made flesh and sent to dwell among us, full of glory and full
of truth. Law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. And God gives us a revelation
of our Lord Jesus Christ as He revealed Himself to Abraham.
And He revealed Himself to us as Christ being our all and in
all. God made Christ to be that to us. God made Him to be that
to us. I was looking. Do you know how
many times Abraham is mentioned in the New Testament? I was looking
today. It's eight times in Galatians
alone. Eight times in Galatians. 10 or 12 times in Romans chapter
four. And I don't know how many times
in Romans chapter, but they, every time, and when you hear
about Abraham in the New Testament, he's talking about how faithful
this man, how much glory this man gave to God, how all the
promises were in him, and that the gospel was preached to him
even before anybody. He said, you think about the
law come four and 30 years afterwards. Abraham had the gospel preached
to him. 430 years before the law was ever given and these
are the children of abraham who believe Oh And then look at what here's
a command You know god if he's almighty He don't ask people
to do things. He don't ask people to do things.
He tells them to do things Now, if you was the boss, if you was
the boss over somebody, you wouldn't say, well, would you please do
this? Would you please do that? I'd really appreciate it if you'd
do this, that, and the other. And then, you know, now, if you
don't want to do it, don't do it. You know, it won't make no
difference. If you don't do it, I will. You know, and that, listen,
God's not that way. God's not that way. And look
what he said to Abraham. I am the almighty God. Please
walk before me and be thou perfect. Please do the best you can. God said, walk before me and
be perfect. Walk before me and be perfect. You know, walking has an awful
lot to say about, walking in the scriptures has a lot to say.
Mabra Abraham had been walking too much before Sarah and listening
to what Sarah said, seeking to please her, guided by her counsel. And he was turned aside by her
advice. Look over here in Genesis 16. Let me show you what I mean. Excuse me. Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bare
him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian
whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abraham,
were done to Abram. Behold now, the Lord hath restrained
me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abraham hearkened to the
voice of Sarah. God done told him he's going
to have a child. God done told him he's going
to have a child by Sarah. He's told him he's going to give
her a son. Well, Abraham decided, well, that ain't working out
too good. And Sarah decided, I've waited long enough for children.
And oh my, and Sarah Abraham's wife took Hagar, her maid, the
Egyptian, after Abraham had dwelt ten years of the land of Canaan,
and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife. And he
went in unto Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes." And I tell you,
in Galatians chapter 4, it talks about this very thing, the children
of the bondwoman and the children of the free. But he says, walk
before me. Don't walk before Sarah. Don't
walk before her advice. Don't walk before anybody else's
advice. Don't care what anybody else
says. Don't care what anybody else tells you to do. Walk before
me. Walk before me. And I'll tell
you what, then God came to him and God called him after all
this had happened to Sarah. And then look how it affected
his wife. He says, walk before me. What he's saying is acknowledge
me in all your ways. Every step you take, every place
you go, everything you do, acknowledge me. Acknowledge me in all your
ways. Acknowledge me if you go this
way, that way or another. Acknowledge that I am your God.
Acknowledge that I am the Almighty God. Acknowledge that you are
unto and absolutely dependent upon me. Acknowledge me in every
way you go. If you're before Bimelech, I
don't care who you're in front of, who you are, acknowledge
me in all you are. And he says this to Abram, live
as if you know I see you. I see every step you take. I
hear every thought goes through your mind. I know what's in your
heart before it gets there. And I tell you what, that's what
Paul told the Hebrews. He said, all things are open
and naked before him with whom we have to do. Now I do know
this without a doubt, that this is delightful to the Lord's people.
This is delightful to the Lord's people. I don't know about you,
I'm gonna speak for myself, but that God sees me and knows me,
that comforts me. I know where I can go that God's
not there. So I've got to acknowledge Him.
I've got to acknowledge wherever I am and whoever I'm with. And oh, to walk before God, to
know God is for me even though He knows me, that He still loves
me, still cares for me and tells me to walk before Him. He says,
walk in the light even as he is in the light. Walk worthy
of the vocation we're with you called. We're called to be believers. This is our high calling. This
is the life of faith. Look over in 2 Timothy 1.19 with
me for a second. Well, for a minute, two minutes,
three minutes, whatever. However long it takes you to
get there for me to read it. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 19. Oh my, this call that God gave
Amy, this revelation that God gave Amy, this command that God
gave, it affected his life. I know you just followed Sarah,
now you walk before me. You walk before me. Look what
it says here in 2 Timothy 2.19. Well, look what it says in verse
18, verse 17. And their word will eat as doeth
a canker, or a gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who
concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection
is past already, and overthrows the faith of some. Nevertheless,
I don't care whose faith is overthrown, nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knows them
that are his. That foundation is sure. How
firm a foundation to your saints of the Lord is laid for your
faith in his excellent word. This is our high calling, to
walk before God. to walk before him. And you know,
right now, we're before him. We're before him. He sees us. And that's what a blessing that
is to me. And it's you. David said it like
this. He said, if I go up to heaven,
you're there. If I go down to hell, you're
there. If I go hide in the darkness, it's just like daylight to you.
There's no place I can go to flee from your spirit. Wherever
I am, that is where you are. And not only did it affect his
life, but it affect his character. Look what he says, walk before
me and be thou perfect. What in the world is he talking
about, be thou perfect? Well, we are perfect in Christ.
There's no doubt about that. No doubt about that. But what
he's telling Abraham here is be wholehearted. Don't be double-hearted. You know, a double-minded man
is unstable in all of his ways. What's a double-minded man? He
tells one person one thing and tells another person another
thing. He's double in his mind. He don't know whether he's right
about this or right about that. So he's like that fella in Pilgrim's
Progress, Mr. Face Both Ways. He had a face
facing both ways. I mean, you know, he can face
this bunch over here and face this other bunch. And that's
what he says here. Walk thou before me and be perfect. Be wholehearted before me. And look in Psalm 12. This is
what I'm talking about. Psalm 12. This is exactly what we're talking
about here. You know, walk before me and
be thou perfect. Not double hearted, not double
hearted. And here's what he's talking
about. Psalm 12 in verse two. Oh my, look what he says. They
speak vanity, ever one with his neighbor. With flattering lips
and with a double heart do they speak. with flattering lips and
a double heart, do they speak? What's a double-hearted man?
That's a man who has his heart for whoever he's with. You know
what we say in our vernacular? He's whosoever dog that he'll
hunt with. And I tell you what, this is
what he's talking about here. He says, don't be, be wholehearted,
be all for me, walk before me in honesty and integrity and
have some fear of God before you. And I tell you, sincere
and honest before God and sincere and honest before me. And that's
what Paul meant when he says you cannot please men and God
at the same time, you can't do it. If you please men, Paul says,
you can't please God. And if you please God, you can't
please men. You know, the only people that's
pleased with the gospel, and that word please, the same thing
as satisfaction. The only people that's pleased
with it is the people that know it. And I tell you, perfection
is wholeheartedness to God before God. And oh, we sing that old
song, said, here's my heart, oh, take and seal it to thy courts
above. Oh, seal our hearts. And I tell
you, there's another thing about Abram. Look what his response
was. Look what Abram's response was.
And God told him, he said, no, listen. I'll make thy covenant
with you and between me and you and you multiply the exceedingly.
And Abram, verse 3, fell on his face. What was his response? Fell on his face. Fell on his
face. What else can a man do? to whom
God speaks, but fall on his face. Be still and know that I am God.
When Zacchaeus was told to come down out of that tree, and the
Lord Jesus said, I must go home with you today, and salvation's
come to your house. Oh, Zacchaeus took him. Oh, come
on. Yeah, he's just thrilled to do
that. And when them lepers came down
off the mountain, they said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole, you can cleanse me. And you know, God's calling,
when he speaks to us, whenever God speaks to us and we really,
really hear him, it brings us down. It brings a humble and
a broken spirit. Abram, when God spoke to him,
he fell on his face. And you find wherever God revealed
himself to a man, over in Revelations, when God spoke to John, John
fell as a dead man. And when God appeared unto Daniel
on the river of Kabar, God, he was weak, so weak that he couldn't
even sit up anymore. And God had to come and pick
him up. And then Isaiah, when he saw
him high and lifted up, oh my, he said, woe is me. Wherever
God speaks to man, he always comes down. And this generation,
when God's supposed to speak to somebody, they all want to
get up and holler. I've seen some of these TV preachers
say, They'd be acting like while they was preaching, God was speaking
to them. Say, Lord, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're telling
me too fast. I can't tell him as fast as you're telling me.
Why is that, Lord? Why is that, Lord? That's not
the response of somebody that's had God made known to them. Oh,
God makes more. Listen, I'll tell you what, when
you're hearing the gospel, and God enables you to worship and
really speaks to your heart, the thing you think is, oh God,
how blessed I am, how privileged I am, how thankful I am, and
I praise you that you'd let me hear this, believe this, and
oh God, I see you, I worship you, and I adore you, and I bow
before you. And you don't have to be prostrate
on the floor to bow before the Lord. You can prostrate yourself
in the sight of Christ right where you sit. You can throw
yourselves on Christ right where you sit. You can walk before
God right where you sit. You don't have to walk to actually
walk before God. It's what you think about Him.
It's how you worship Him. It's how you respond to Him.
And I tell you what, God's high calling brings us down. Brings us down. Where is boasting
then? It's excluded. By what law? The
law of faith. What have we got to brag about?
Oh, listen, we can certainly, certainly call on Him and respond
to Him and bow to Him and submit to Him and give ourselves to
Him. Oh, my. Abram didn't boast like
the Pharisees did. You know what he said over in
Genesis 18? He says, talk to the Lord about Sodom and Gomorrah.
And he said, Lord, who am I to speak unto thee who am but dust
and ashes? That's what he thought of himself. Oh, not like that Pharisee. I
thank you that I'm not like this man and that publican over there.
I fast twice in the week. I pay tithes of all I possess.
And I do this and I do that and I do this other thing. And that
old publican, you know, he sees God. And he sees his awful sinful
condition. He beats on his heart and says,
that's where my problem's at. Right here's where my problem's
at. And he cried out, oh God, be merciful to me. I don't know
what shape anybody else is, but I know what I am. God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. And our Lord Jesus Christ says,
that man went down to his house justified. And oh my, he bowed
his face in the dust. And when he bowed in the dust,
God talked to him. God don't talk to the proud.
He speaks to the humble. He gives grace to the humble.
And oh my, he bowed his face in the dust and God talked with
him. He was conscious of his weakness, his conscience of his
ignorance. And now God's gonna teach him
something. Look what he told him in verse four. Ask for me. Ask for me, Abram. Behold, my
covenant is with you. My covenant is with you. Thou shall be a father of many
nations a multitude of nations and you know Abraham is he's
the father of many nations father of the Jews father of the Gentiles
father of all them who believe Father of the Ishmaelites. Oh
He's the father of a whole bunch of people and all listen And
I tell you what He said, oh Lord, now He teaches him, my covenants
with thee. Now look what a transformation
took place. He went from being Abram in the
dust, and then God says in verse five, neither shall thy name
anymore be called Abram. You know what? God gives him
a new name. And you know what Abram means?
Abram means exalted. That's what Abram means, exalted.
He says, but thou shalt no more be called Abram, but thy name
shall be called Abraham. And you know what Abraham means?
It means fruitful, fruitful. He said, oh, God said, I'm gonna,
he said, I will make thee, in verse six, he said, I will make
thee exceeding fruitful. And that's what he's going to
do. I said, I'm going to make you a father of many nations. And up there he says, you're
going to be the father. And here it said, I have made thee. That's
in the past tense. I have made you already the father
of nations. And he ain't got a child yet,
except one by a bondwoman. And that's not the child that
the promise was made him. And God said, I have made you. Before he said, I'm going to
make you. Now he said, I changed your names and I've done it.
When God speaks, God declares those things. It's not yet been
as if it's already done. And he gives him a new name,
a new name, Abraham, father of many nations. You know, he's
my father. He's the father of the faithful.
Look in Romans 4. Let's look at that. Just let's
take a minute and a little bit to look at this. Romans 8, Romans
4. Let's see what he says here about
us. In verse 12. Here he is, his father. Father
to two groups of people right here. Look what he says about
him. Romans 4, 11. And Abram, he's
talking about Abraham. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had before it
ever was circumcised, that he might be the father of all them
that believe, though they be not circumcised, that's us, Gentiles,
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And listen to
this, and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only, But now listen to this, but who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham. Walking in the steps of that
faith. What is the steps of that faith?
Believe in God. Believe in the promise. Abraham
believed the promise. Abraham was called to go out,
he come out. Abraham was made a promise, he believed the promise.
Abraham was counted righteous, we're counted righteous. Abraham
had a promise of a child and that all through him, salvation
would come to all nations. And we believe that, we believe
that. So we're walking in the same
faith that Abraham did. And what a blessing now. When
a man bows, you know people want to be free, but I tell you when
a man's most free, when a man's most free, when he bows to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and submits himself to him. That's the best
freedom and the most freedom we'll ever enjoy when we're submitted
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're free from the world. We're
free from care. Oh, what a day that will be.
But when God takes us up, God takes us up. What freedom we
have in worshiping Christ. What freedom we have to bow down
to Christ. And oh, what a change happens
here. Jacob became a prince. and prevailed
when the angel of the Lord laid hold on him. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, you know when he prevailed? He says, not my will, but thine
be done. Not my will, but thine be done.
That's the greatest freedom we'll ever know. Not my will, but thine
be done. God speaks to us, reveals himself
to us. Old Scott said, make your headquarters
in the dust. Make them in the dust. God picks
people up. He puts them down and then he
picks them back up. But he got to put you down. Me
and Steve was talking about it this morning. This thing is so
much of grace that God, we're not willing, we're not willing,
but this thing is so much of the grace of God and shows that
it's all of God, that God even makes us willing, willing to
believe. Or we wouldn't do it. He makes
us willing in the day of his power. He says, open your mouth
and I'm going to feel it. Oh, Jesus paid it all, all to
him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it. He washed it. It's white as snow. Our blessed Savior, thank you
for your abundant grace given us today. Thank you that we have
the same promise that Abraham had. And not only did he have
the promise, but we have the promise fulfilled. We have the
promise fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had the promise
of a Redeemer, the promise of a salvation. And Lord, we've
received that promise. That promise has been fulfilled.
And it's been fulfilled in us, that promise of our Lord Jesus
Christ coming, the promise of the Holy Spirit to come, the
promise of the gospel, the promise of grace, the promise of a savior. We've received them already.
They're fulfilled. They've all been fulfilled. And
Lord, we thank you that you made us see it, know it, believe it,
and understand it. God bless these dear children
of God as they go their way, go to their homes, meet their
needs, those that are weak, those that are troubled, those who
have heartaches and trials, those, dear Lord, who feel like they're
at the end of their rope, the end of their strength. God bless
them. God encourage them. God strengthen
them. Lord, uphold them. Forgive us
of everything that's unlike you, and bring glory to yourself,
ages without end, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.