If you would, join me in John
chapter 11. I have here the account of Lazarus being raised. We're
going to start in verse 25. Our Lord has received word that
Lazarus is sick and he's gone to those that he loved. Verse
5 says, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And Martha has heard that he's
come to town and she's gone out to meet him. And in verse 25,
the end of their conversation is, Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead. yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
I believe thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should
come into the world. And when she had so said, she
went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying,
The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she had
heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus
was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha
met him. The Jews then, which were with
her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that
she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She
goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come
where Jesus was, and saw him, She fell down at his feet, saying
unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not
died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned
in the spirit and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid
him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold, how
he loved him! And some of them said, Could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again,
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and
a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. for
he hath been dead four days." What a picture that is of me
without Christ. Dead, corrupt, and stinking. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the
glory of God? There was another man who wanted
to see the glory of God. Exodus 33, Moses speaking unto
the Lord said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord
said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. Verse 41, Then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because
of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe
that thou hast sent me. And when he had spoken, he cried
with a loud voice, Lazarus, that was a graveyard full of dead
people. And the Lord had mercy on one
whom he loved. Lazarus, come forth. And he that
was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was bound about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto
them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which
came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on him. Martha and Mary saw the salvation
of a sinner, a dead sinner brought to life, and they saw the glory
of God in Christ Jesus. But then people said, let us
build us a city, make ourselves a name, build a tower to heaven,
lest we'd be scattered abroad. And the very thing that they
was afraid of happening, happened. All the things they'd done to
save themselves just made them, their condemnation that much
greater. But tonight I want to talk about the call of Abraham,
the call of Abraham. Go read these first three verses
here, Genesis 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, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless thee, curse him that curses thee, and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed. Here's a new beginning
in the book of beginnings. Genesis is the beginning. That's
what it means, the beginning. And this is a new beginning in
the book of beginnings. The call of Abraham and the establishment
of the nation of Israel, and how God was going to bless every
tribe, kindred, and nation through Abraham, through his seed. And
this is three, there's three beginnings in Genesis, three
of them. First of all, we had the beginning of the human race.
God made man out of the dust of the earth and breezed into
his nostrils and he became a living soul. That's the beginning of
the human race. That's where we find out where
we came from. And if you don't know where you come from, you
don't know where you're going, that's for sure. If you don't
know what happened to Adam in the garden, you miss what happened
in the garden, you miss everything. If you don't take, if you don't
know how you became a sinner, you'll never ever find out how
you saved. Now that's just, you miss Christ. You miss what happened in the
garden. You'll miss Christ. You'll miss Christ. And I'll
tell you, that's how we became sinners. That's how we became
lost. That's how we became rebels by
our relation to Adam. We're shapen in iniquities, conceived
in sin, came forth from our mother's womb, speaking lies. And also
we find the beginning of the human race in Adam. And then
after the flood, After the flood, there was a new beginning after
the flood of Noah. Him and his sons came out and
that was a new, they came out on a new earth. They came out
and the first thing they did is they built an altar and worshiped
the Lord. And that was the new beginning
after the flood of Noah and his sons. And then here we have the
beginning of the chosen nation of Israel and of the household
of faith in Abraham. The scriptures tells us that
we walk in that steps of the faith of our father Abraham.
And it says in Romans chapter four and verse 11, that he is
the father, the father of the faith. He's the father of those
who are of faith. And in Genesis 12 says before
us, Abram, Abram, that's called Abram before he's called Abraham.
And he's the father of all them that believe. And later on, his
name is changed to Abraham. And you go through the scriptures,
especially in the New Testament, Abraham is held in the highest
esteem, the highest esteem. You remember when our Lord Jesus
Christ told the Jews there in John chapter eight, he says,
if you were Abraham's children, you'd do the work of Abraham. You would believe me, you would
believe God. And they said, well, we're not born of fornication.
We're Abraham's seed. We're Abraham's son. We're not
born of fornication. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I tell you what, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and saw it was
glad. They said, you're not even 50 years old. And you mean talking
about seeing Abraham? No, Abraham saw me, saw my day,
saw it in Genesis 22. He saw the day of Christ. And
I tell you what, not only does the Jew hold him in highly esteem,
but the Muslims, the Mohammedans hold him in high esteem. Ishmael
was a son of Abraham too. All Muslims and all Arabs claim
Abraham to be their father. They claim Abraham to be their
father, but he's held in high esteem by us who are Christians,
who are Christians. And I tell you, I hold him in
high esteem because we walk in the steps of the faith of our
father Abraham. He's the father of the faith,
and we receive, and when we believe, we show ourselves to be descendants
of Abraham. And the Jews hold him in high
esteem, but you know, We was talking about some Jews the other
day, and there's Jews advertising trying to raise some money to
feed people and do this, that, and the other. And I said, you
know, they're Jews, but I am a true Jew. I am a genuine Jew. I can prove that from the Bible.
And you know why I can show you that I'm a Jew? Because I'm a
son of Abraham, a son of God, who was the son of God, came
through Abraham, and I'm a true Jew because I have a new birth
and a new heart. I can show you that from the
scriptures. You believe I can show you that? Look in Romans 2. I want to show you that. You
know, we was talking about that the other day. that I am a true
Jew. We are them, you know, we are
not, we are the true circumcision. Paul told the Philippians, we
are the true circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Our
circumcision does not add to the flesh, it's of the heart.
And look what it says here in, in Romans 8, excuse me, 228. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
was outward in the flesh. And that's what they pointed
to. We've been circumcised, we're real Jews, but he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart. And in the spirit, not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men. When men circumcise a man
and they said, we're Abraham's children, we're in the covenant
because of our circumcision, and we're, God says here, it's
not the circumcision of the flesh, but of the heart. And being a
Jew is one inwardly. And whose praise is not of men.
Men will brag on what they do for another man, but oh my. But men will praise God when
God does the work. God does the work. All right,
I don't know how I got off on that, but I did. Talk about Abraham,
how highly esteemed he is. And Abraham's called the friend
of God. He's the first man, and if I'm
not mistaken, the only man, I'd have to, don't quote me on this,
but he's called the friend of God. Abraham, my friend. God called him my friend, Abraham. And Abraham is the one from whom
our Lord, according to the flesh, our Lord came. He came through
Abraham, the seed of Abraham. Now, I want you to look at the
call. We're talking about the call
of Abram. Look what it said in verse one here of Genesis 12.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country,
from thy kindred, from thy father's house unto a land that I will
show thee. The Lord had said unto Abram,
now I want you to, you keep Genesis and look with me in Acts chapter
seven. Acts, you keep Genesis now and look in Acts chapter
seven. I was telling somebody about
this the other day. Acts chapter seven, verse two
and three. This is Stephen preaching here
right before they stone him to death. And he begins to talk
about the call of Abram. In all mine, he said in verse
two of chapter seven, Acts seven, he said, men, brethren, and fathers,
listen to what I have to say. Now listen to what he says here.
The God of glory, you talked about that, the God of glory,
the glory of God, the God of glory. appeared unto our father
Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Coran. God
in his glory, the God of glory appeared unto Abraham and said
unto him, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and come into the land that I shall show thee. Then when he came,
he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Coran and from thence
when his father's dead, he removed into this land Now, and so you
see what it says, the God of glory had appeared unto our father
Abraham, and that's who appears unto us. That's how we're called.
The God of glory appears unto us. He makes us understand that
he's got all the glory, that he's got all the power, he's
got all the voice, he's got all the word, he's got all the rights.
And Abraham, when God called him, he was living over in what's
now called Baghdad. He lived on the Euphrates River
over there. And the land of the Ur of the
Chaldees, that's exactly where it was. He was living in sin. He was living in idolatry. And
so God called him when he was just as bad as Lazarus was in
his tomb. He was a sinner. He was an idolater. He was a wicked man. He was a
lost man. But when God called him, it's
like it is for everybody else. It was a call of grace. It was
a call of grace. God called him. Why didn't he
call somebody else out there of the Chaldeans? He called Abraham. Why didn't he call somebody else
before Noah? He called Noah. That's what shows
us that it's the God of glory and He saves whom He will and
calls whom He will. And oh, beloved, there was no
worthiness in Abraham. There wasn't nothing special
in Abram. Abram was chosen. Abram was called. And it wasn't
of works because if it was works that God called him, it would
have ceased to be grace. And if it was of grace, then
it had no works whatsoever to do with it. And that's what he
said, God commendeth his love toward us and that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh my. And that's what Abraham
was. And that's how the God of glory
appears to people. He dwelt over here in the land
of idolatry. And oh, he dwelt over here in
sin. And you find it over in Joshua
22 that he dwelt on the other side of the flood. That means
on the other side of the river before he ever come into Canaan.
And look how the call came. And I said, the God of glory
appeared unto our Father. That's what Stephen said, the
God of glory appeared unto our Father. This is the first record
of appearing, the first record of appearing. And you know who
God appears to people as? He only manifests Himself and
only reveals Himself in His blessed Son. This is a pre-incarnate
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not, in Abraham, Christ
appeared to him three different times. Come to Abraham three
different times, but this was a pre-incarnate appearing of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared to him. When somebody
appears to you, you see them. And He appeared to him. And he
came to him and said, Abram, come out. And so Christ appeared
to him. And not only did he appear to
him, the call came and the God of glory appeared unto him. And
I tell you, listen, you go throughout this blessed book. And when God
appears to somebody, Isaiah saw him in his glory. John saw him
in his glory. And he told Martha, he said,
you want to see the glory of God. He said, you're going to
see God's glory here. And we see God's glory. How?
By calling us by grace, by manifesting himself to us, revealing himself
to us. Not only was it the first recorded
appearance, but it was personal. God said to Abram, he didn't
say to his daddy, he didn't say to his son, he didn't say to
his wife, he didn't say to his kinfolks, he said, Abram, I'm
talking to you. It was a personal call and nobody
else could answer for him. And when Christ calls a man,
when Christ calls a man, he calls every one of them personally,
individually. and He calls you, and nobody
else can answer for you. Nobody else can answer for you.
And I tell you, you know, I said, people say, well, He's my personal
Savior. If He saves you, it'll be you that He saves. You, every
single, when I, Lord, when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost,
there was 3,000 souls saved that day. But God had to appear to
every single one of them individually. Every single one of them heard
the same voice. And that's the way it is here. We got so many
lost people here, so many unconverted people here, so many people that
come to the services and have never, never, never acknowledged
that Christ called me, that Christ called me, Christ spoke to me.
When he stood before that tomb where you read over it, he said,
Lazarus. If he hadn't called Lazarus by
name, that whole graveyard would have come out. If he had just
said, live, Everybody in the tomb would have come out of there,
because that's what's going to happen when he comes back. He's
going to come with a shout, and the dead in Christ is going to
rise. If he called one man, all he's
got to do is shout, and he's going to call us all. But it's personal what I'm telling
you. He said, Abram, I'm talking to you. Not only that was it
a personal call, nobody could answer for him. It was a heavenly
call and it came from heaven itself. It came from Christ himself. It came from the God of glory
himself. And I'll tell you what, this
is the starting point of the life of faith when God calls
you. The gospel, the gospel when you
believe it. Life, life, life. And look, go
back over here in Genesis 12. Let's look at this just a moment.
what this call involves. The Lord said unto Abram, and
it's talking about this call that God gives here to Abram
and He gives to us. It involves, the first thing
it involves is an entire separation. He said, get thee out. Get thee
out of what? country. Get out of where you
live. Get out of that heathen, idolatrous,
sinful, wicked place you live. I've got a place that I want
you to go. I've got a place set for you.
I've got a place that belongs to you. I've got a place. Get
you out of your country. Get you out of your country.
And then he says, get away from thy kindred. Leave your mother,
leave your father, leave your brothers, leave your sisters. Get away from your kindred. If
your kindred don't want to go, you go. You go. And that's why
he says you're going to have to leave your father. You're
going to have to leave your mother, April. You're going to have to
leave your brothers. You're going to have to leave
your sisters. And oh, I tell you what, I don't know how many
people are going to perish because they won't A man told me this
the other day, he said years ago, he went and he listened
to the gospel and he believed the gospel and rejoiced in the
gospel, but his wife didn't like it. So he says, well, I'll just
stay home with her. Well, she died just a little
while after that. And he was about to lose his soul. I'd rather
stay home with my wife than go hear the gospel. What if Abraham
said that? I'm not going to leave my daddy.
I'm not going to leave my mama. I'll listen if they, if it's
not good. Listen, I, I'm not, listen, I'll tell you what, that's
why it's called a personal call. And if, and I, and if anything,
anything, anything separates you and me, it's more precious
to us than Christ, then we don't know Christ. Any, by anything
more precious to us than Christ, then Christ's not the most precious
thing. And what I'm telling you is that I don't care who it is
or what it is, if it's more precious to you than Christ. You're in
trouble. Christ has to be our all and in all, because everything
else is perishing. And that's why he said, Abram,
get out, leave that country you're in, leave them idols over there
too. Don't bring the idols with you. Don't bring your traditions
with you. Don't bring anybody, just come
on and leave your mother and leave you. And look what he says
and goes on and said, and from thy father's house. Huh? From thy father's house. A new
life. A life of faith. A blessed life. And then God says, and go from
thy father's house unto a land that I'm going to show you. I'm
going to show you. He said, I ain't showed it to
you yet. You ain't seen it yet. But I'm going to show it to you.
We got a land. We got a land to go to we've
not seen. go. We got a promised land too,
don't we Brad? We got a promised land to go
to. Oh, we got such a promised land to go. You know, this, this
earth is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Oh, it's
so beautiful. Leaves are so pretty, but oh
my, if we, if we are so enjoyed this one, imagine what the next
is going to be like. But look at Abraham's response
back up here at In chapter 11, verse 31, look at Abram's response. And Terah, that's Abram's daddy. Terah is Abram's father. Took
Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son. Haran died, and so Lot was Abram's
nephew, and his son's son, Terah's grandson, and Sarah, his daughter-in-law,
and his son Abram's wife. And they went forth with them
from Ere of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. And
they came under Aaron and dwelt there." Now, this is Abram's
first response. He left Chaldea. He left the
Ere of the Chaldees. He left over there where the
Euphrates River is there in Baghdad. He left there. He left Chaldea.
But you know what he didn't do? He never left his kindred. Never
left his kindred. His response was partial and
his response was slow. And I'll show you some things
in a minute. In the New Testament though,
in the New Testament, you go through Abram's life and Abraham's
life, you'll see so many failings. But in the New Testament, Abraham's
failures or nobody else failures that belong to Christ are mentioned.
It says when Abraham was called to go out, you know what it said? He obeyed. He obeyed. But here, here he took his time. The scripture says that they
stopped in Haran and dwelt there. They left there at the Chaldees
and got to Haran and they dwelt there. And you know what Haran
means? It means parched, parched, parched ground. Not a fruitful
place, parched, parched ground. And then it says, and in the
days of Terah, verse 32, Abram's daddy, in the days of Terah were
205 years and Terah died in Haran. And you know what his father's
name means? After he didn't come out till after his father died,
Terah means delayed. So he stayed in a parched land
and he delayed coming out. And then like here in verse four,
look what it says here in chapter 12 in verse four. So Abraham
departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. He hadn't come out yet, and he
hadn't come out. And I tell you, you know what
separates us? Oh, what'll separate us from the world and separate
us from our kinfolks and everybody else. And I love my kinfolks.
Don't misunderstand me. I love, I love my kids, love
my grandkids. I love my brother, love my sister.
I love my, I love my family. I do. I love Shirley's kids.
I love her family. I love her brothers. I love her.
I really loved her daddy and her mama. We're going up. I love,
I love, I love my family. But they also know this. that
if they're down here, I'm going to go to service. If they want
to come with me, they can get ready and come. But if they don't,
they can sit at the house and watch preaching on TV, do whatever
they want to do. I love them, and they know I
love them. But they also know that Christ is all in all. They
know that. They all know that. And that's
the way it has to be. But you know what separates us
from the world? Death of Christ. Terah, when he died, that's when
he went out. And Terah, when he died, that's
when Abraham went out. And the death of Christ is what
separates us from the world. When we understand what a wonder,
we sung that song. I've never really, you know,
I've heard Milton sing that song so many times. The Christ of
the Cross. But I listened to the words to
that was we're singing that. And what gospel's in that? What
powers in those words? That the Christ on the cross
there, He bore my sin? And I'm only going to glory in
the Christ of the cross, not the cross, the Christ of that
cross. And it's Christ and His blessed
death. And Christ, if His death don't
bring us out of the world, Nothing will bring us out of the world.
But because of His death, Lord, I want to be... Your blood separated
me. Your blood took me out of Egypt.
Your blood is what was shed. Your death is what put my sin
away. Your death is what made me acceptable
to God. And oh, I tell you what, that
separates us from the world, don't it? And then look what
accompanies this call. Look what accompanies this call.
Down here in verse 2. And he said, in verse one again,
down there in the last part of the verse, he said, you leave
your father's house unto a land that I'll show you. What accompanies
this call? And the scripture says that Abraham
went out, not knowing where he was and where he was going, but
the scripture said he was looking for a city whose foundation and
maker, builder was God. If he got down there, everywhere
he went, he was looking for that city. He said, I've got a land. I've got a land. There's a land
far away. And he said, I'm going to go
to a land that I'm going to show you. And then look what else
he says. Oh my. God gave us just a little
glimpse of that land. And look what he says in verse
two. And I'll make of thee a great nation. Oh my, here's one man,
just one man. And he's come out, he's departed,
he's going into a land that God's gonna show him. And he says,
here you stand Abraham, and you know I'm gonna make a great,
great, great, great nation out of you. I'm gonna make such a
nation out of you that you can't count the people that I'm gonna
make you the father of. Adam is our father in our natural
state. But Abraham, when he was called,
he was that child of faith, that righteousness given to him, and
he said, I'm going to make you a great, great nation. And he's
talking about the Jewish nation, and then he's talking about his
heavenly people, all of his people that God's going to save by his
blessed grace. And then look what he says, I
will make of thee a great nation, and I'll bless thee. I will bless
thee. You know what? That bless thee,
that means I'm gonna bless you a hundred fold. And blessing,
I'm gonna bless you, that's what it means. I'll bless you, and
you look at that, means I'm just not gonna bless you. But whatever you got right now,
I'm gonna cause it to be a hundred fold. If you got a hundred, I'm
gonna make it two. You got one, I'm gonna make it
a hundred. That's what he says, I'm gonna
make whatever you got, I'm gonna make it a hundred fold. And oh,
he did. He did, everybody knew who Abraham
was. And oh, listen, and then he says,
look what else he said, I'm not gonna only make a great nation
out of you and I'm gonna bless you, but I'm gonna make your
name great. The folks that are going to build
that tower to heaven, they wanted to make themselves a great name.
God told Abraham, I'm gonna make you a great name. I'm gonna make
your name great, huh? He's the head of a natural and
a spiritual seed. Now you keep this and I want
us to look together in Galatians 3. Here's a perfect, perfect,
this is what Paul is telling the Galatians about Abraham and
Abraham's seed and Abraham's children. Galatians chapter 3
he said I'm gonna make thy name great I'm gonna make you the
head of a natural nation a natural seed and I'm gonna make thee
the head of a spiritual seed a spiritual seed. And you know,
our Lord made a distinction when he done things for people in
the New Testament. He said, as much as he's a son
of Abraham, I'm gonna do this for him, as much as he's a daughter
of Abraham, and everybody who claimed to be the sons of Abraham,
Christ didn't say they were, but he distinguished those that
were the sons and daughters of Abraham. But look what he said
here in Galatians chapter three and verse 12. And the law is
not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them."
So we're not, we know that the law has nothing to do with faith.
And Abraham believed God. So Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And this is why it
was done. that the blessing of Abraham,
Christ died on that cross, being a descendant of Abraham, being
the seed of Abraham, that the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. In blessing thee, I'm
gonna make you a great nation. I'm gonna make your name great.
Now watch this, that the, Blessings of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit the Holy Spirit through faith Brethren, I speak
after the manner of men. I'm going to tell you what men
say about how things work Though it be but a man's covenant Man
makes a covenant, yet if it be confirmed, be established, no
man can add to it, or no man can take away from it. Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not,
and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ. Oh. He doth All Abraham, God made
him a great name because Abraham came through, Christ came through
him, and he was made the father of many nations. You know how?
Through Christ. Out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue. We received the promise of Abraham
through Christ. I'll bless thee, I'll make thee
a great nation, I'll make you a great name, and I'll bless
you, I'm gonna bless you a hundredfold. And look what he goes on to say.
But as of one in verse 16, into thy seed which is Christ. And
this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed, established
before of God in Christ, this covenant with Abraham, And it
was confirmed in Christ, of God in Christ. The law came 430 years
after, and even when the law came, it cannot disannul or make
the promise of none effect. None effect. Why? Because if
the inheritance of the law, it has nothing to do with a promise,
but God gave it to Abraham by promise, and God made promise
to Abraham. In blessing you, I'm gonna bless
you. I'm gonna make your name great. I'm gonna make you the
father of many nations. And then look what else he said
about him here in Genesis 12 and verse two. I'm gonna make
thy name great. And look what he says now. And
thou shalt be a blessing. You're gonna be a blessing. And
how do we see a blessing? Through Christ. And I'll tell
you something about God's people. I told you that this morning.
God makes His people's blessings. His people are blessings to one
another. And how can it be that this is
the book of the generation of Jesus Christ? And the first thing
that's mentioned is Abraham. Abraham. Oh my. And oh God makes
His people blessed. And there's something I want
to show you. That God recorded Abraham and all that would happen
to him as if it had already happened. Everything that God promised
him and blessed him to do God regarded it as if it had already
happened look there in verse 3 or excuse Yeah, verse 3 and
he goes to talking about him will make you a blessing and
he says and I will bless them that bless thee Have you've already
been did what God saying is is what I've said to you is as good
as done What I've promised you is as good as done and he said
and everybody I'll bless them that bless thee and I'll curse
them that curse thee and And in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed. God regards him as if this has
already happened. And you know, I'm gonna tell
you something here. I don't know how many of y'all know anything
about premillennialism, but I've heard so many premillennials,
that people that say that Christ's gonna come sit back on his throne
and gonna go back to Jerusalem, sit on the throne over there
and restore all the Jewish nation and all that and reign for a
thousand years and all that kind of rigmarole. But they use that
verse right there. It says, if you ever run across
a Jew, you better bless him. If he don't believe Christ, God's
not gonna bless him. And what he's saying is, everybody's
in Christ. You know what our Lord said?
It'd be better for a millstone to be hung around a fellow's
neck and him thrown in the ocean than he had to fend one of these
little ones for whom I died. And that's what this means. He
said, oh, anybody curse Christ, Refuse Christ? Don't believe
Christ? God said, you're cursed. That
all those who believe Christ and love the Lord's people and
bless the Lord's, and I say, the Lord bless you. The Lord
keep you. God said, I'll bless them that
bless you. Them that's a blessing to you, I'll make them a blessing
to one another. That's what he's saying. And
then he says, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
And you know what? Look at us right here tonight.
How many families are represented here tonight? How many families?
And you know what? That's the fulfillment of that
promise. And all the families of the earth
shall be blessed. Gentiles, Jews, Chinese, Japanese,
Mexicans. And you know what else? He said, I'll bless your family. And not only we as individuals
and families, But as a church family, how we're blessed together,
how we're blessed together. If you heard that call of Abraham,
you heard that call? I heard it. And you know who
called me? The God of glory. He appeared to me. And oh, listen,
you know what I'm gonna see when I see him? The God of glory. God in all his glory. Amen. Oh, our blessed Master, our Lord
Jesus Christ, our great, blessed and glorious Savior, how wonderfully
kind and how wonderfully gracious and how blessedly merciful you
are to us. To let us have some sense of
your words, some understanding to it. Oh, the joy it brings,
the peace it brings, the comfort it brings, the encouragement
it brings. Lord, we can't find this in the
world, and our flesh has a hard time sometimes with it, but oh
God, when you're pleased to bless it, when you're pleased to use
it, what joy, oh what joy there is in believing. Lord, bless
these dear saints of God, these people of God, as they go home,
they go to their jobs, they go to their homes, and we pray that
you'd keep them and preserve them, Help us to keep our minds,
as much as we're able in this world with what goes on, to keep
our minds stayed on you. And our Father, we again pray
for Brother Larry down in Alabama. God, him and Robin. Lord, she's
so faithful to stay there with him and keep him and watch over
him. And Lord, raise him up. Oh, God,
raise him up. We pray for Darrell and oh Lord,
please, please raise him back up and bless Joyce. Please may
everything go well to their good and your glory as we know it
will. Thank you for allowing us to
have this day. Lord, bless you for the day.
Bless you for the gospel. Bless you for your word. Bless
you for your people. We bless you in Christ's holy
name. Amen. Amen.