John chapter 8. And our Lord said here in verse 56. John 8, 56. Your father, Abraham,
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Now, I read this conversation
our Lord just had between these Jews. There were some that believed
on him and some that didn't. Some called him a Samaritan,
said he had a devil. Some said they were Abraham's
descendants, and he said, you are. But you're not the same,
you're not the descendants of Abraham in the sense that you
are chosen of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are
debating over who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They say, who are you? Who are
you? You're just 50 years old. There's
no way you could have seen Abraham. You say that if men believe on
you. He said in verse 51, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never
see death. Because he's saying what God said. You believe what
God said and you'll never see death. You'll never see death. And then they said, well, Abraham's
dead. The prophets are dead. No wonder we say that you've
got a devil. No wonder we say that you're
Samaritan. And it's obvious, it is so obvious
here, how that carnal reasoning, And men reason carnally that
they cannot, the natural man, cannot receive the things of
the Spirit of God. He just can't do it. That's what our Lord said
here in verse 43. It's so obvious. Everything that
our Lord said is obvious to us, but there was a time that it
wasn't. But here he says, Why do you not understand my speech?
They understood his speech, but he says, You don't understand
the sayings of what I've said. You don't believe what I'm saying.
I come down here from God. God sent me here. And I can set
you free from sin. I can set you free from bondage. I can give you life. I can do
something for you that nobody but God can do because I am God. And they said, how in the world
can you talk about setting us free? And we've never been in
bondage. And he said, you'll do the deeds
of your father. We never must mourn a fornication.
No, you're not. He said, your father's the devil.
And he confronted these fellas, and they, the carnal mind, just
could not receive. And they said, why do you not
understand my speech? He said, look what he said, even
because you cannot hear my word. Does that mean they didn't hear
him physically with their physical ears? That means they didn't
hear, hear. Blessed are they that hear the
word of God. And these fellas heard, and you're
hearing what I'm saying this morning with your ears, your
physical ears, your ears. But he's talking about spiritual
ears. Ears that only God can give you. My sheep hear my voice. And look what he says down in
verse 47. To show you that they cannot
know him, the natural man can't receive the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. And he said, he that is of God
heareth God's words. He that's born of God, begotten
of God, regenerated by God, chosen of God. He that's of God hears God's Word. Ye therefore hear them not. You
know why? Because God hasn't chosen you. God hasn't done anything for
you. God hasn't regenerated you. And every time our masters speak,
they always react with natural understanding. Always dead. He told Nicodemus, you must be
born again. How can an old man, old like
me, be born a second time? Can I enter into my mother's
womb and come out a second time? Is that what he said? They've
always reacted with a natural understanding. And that's why
he said here in verse 51, Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a
man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. Now that doesn't
mean a physical death. That means a second death. That
means that death separated from God. That means that death that
you'll spend eternity separated from God. That place where if
you don't want God here, God says, you will never have to
deal with me. Face me ever again. Throughout all eternity, you'll
never have to deal with me again. And then he goes on to say here,
This said the Jews unto him, Now we know you've got it down.
Abraham is dead. No, Abraham ain't dead. Abraham's in heaven. He said,
You know, we'll sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in
the kingdom of God and the prophets. And thou saithst, If a man keep
my saying, he shall never taste of death. And look what a question
they asked him. Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? I mean, beloved, their whole
salvation, their whole hope rested on their relationship with their
ancestors and their previous generation. Their whole hope
rested on Moses and their relationship with Moses the Law and Abraham
their father. Did not rest upon their present
condition before God. They had to go all the way back
to Abraham to find some hope. And if you got to go back to
yesterday to find hope, you're a million dollars short. If you
ain't got it now, you didn't have it yesterday. And I need
Christ today. And I'm trusting Christ today.
And if God lets me live and gives me grace, I'll trust Him tomorrow.
I mean, I need Him. And then look what He said here.
And they said, if thou greater than our father Abraham, verse
53, is dead and the prophets are dead, who in the world do
you make yourself to be? Who do you make yourself to be?
Our Lord answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing.
That right there ought to teach every one of us something. Whenever
you brag on yourself, you know what it amounts to? Nothing.
When Christ said, when I honor myself, my honor's nothing. If
I'm in this world just to bring honor to myself, if I'm in this
world enough to honor God, to glorify God, and do what God
said, and do His will, and accomplish the work that He gave me to do,
if I'm just here for my own glory, my own honor, well, then I'll
tell you something, my honor's nothing. And if our Lord said
that about Himself, who made Himself of no reputation, but
emptied Himself, You think what a horrible thing it is for us
to try to honor ourselves. What a horrible thing it would
be for us to do it. And then look what he said. It
is my Father that honors me. And since the Father honored
Him, that's who we're going to honor. And then look what he
said. Of whom you say, He that is your
God. Yet you have not known Him, but
I know Him. And if I should say I know him
not, I'd be a liar like unto you. I'm not lying. I know God. I know God. I am God. But I know him, and
this is what he said, and I keep his sayings. Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and saw it, and was glad. Then said the
Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham? Our Lord said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Abraham saw my day. That's what
I want to talk about there in verse 56. Abraham saw my day
and rejoiced over it. Rejoiced over it. Was glad about
it. What did Abraham see that caused
him to be glad and rejoice? And he said here, he saw my day. That Abraham rejoiced to see
my day. What does he mean to see my day?
What does this day mean that caused Abraham to see that day,
rejoice in that day, find gladness in that day? Well, that day is
the whole of Christ's life. It's the whole of Christ coming
into this world. It's the whole of his salvation.
It's the whole of his work. It's the whole of everything
that he did of his time on this earth and that he accomplished
while he was on this earth. I can show you that from the
Scriptures. Look in Psalm 118 with me a moment. You know, just
like us, we say in our day, you know, that there's never been
a worse time than our day. We talk about our day being our
whole life. You know, we say in our day.
We're not talking about a particular day. We're talking about our
whole life. We're talking about our day,
and that's what the Scriptures tell us about our day. And so
here, Psalm 118 and verse 22, look what it says. The stone
which the builder refused is become the headstone of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in eyes. This is the day the Lord hath
made. What day is he talking about?
Not today. Not today. This is the day when
he made this headstone, the stone the builders refused, made it
the chief cornerstone. That's when Christ came. He said,
you stumble over me. You know what he said, it's written,
you stumble over this stone. And God made it to be the head
of the corner. This is the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the day that God made it. And look what he said, we will
rejoice and be glad in it. Just exactly what Abraham did.
He rejoiced and was glad in it. And we've seen the day of Christ
and we rejoice and are glad in it. And Abraham saw his day. When did Abraham see the day
of Christ? Well, I'm going to tell you several
things. You just want to go to Genesis and stay there. Go to
Genesis and stay there. We're going to deal with some
things out of Genesis because that's where Abraham, we start
with Abraham. Look in Genesis 12. Abraham saw
our Lord's day, first and foremost, in the promise, in the promise
that the Father made him. And we'll see that here. We'll see that here, in the promise
that the Lord made him. He knew he was of the woman's
seed. Here it says, And now the Lord
said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show
thee. Now listen to this, And I will make of thee a great nation,
And I'll bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt
be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, curse them that curse thee, and in thee, in thee, shall all
families of the earth be blessed." Now, God told Abraham that and
every family on the earth, out of every generation, would be
blessed because God made a promise to Abraham. I'm blessed today
because God said that to Abraham. I'm blessed because Abraham was
the father of many nations. How can he be the father of many
nations? There's only one way. Look over in Genesis 15. You
know, he knew of the woman's seed which was to come. He said
in Genesis 3.15, you notice there's that opposite enmity between
thy seed and the seed of the woman? He said, you know, you're
going to bruise his heel, but he's going to crush your head.
And so that's why Abraham knew that. Now God is telling him
that this seed of the woman is going to be his savior and his
seed. Look what he said in verse 15.
Chapter 15. After these things the word of
the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, on thy
shield thy exceeding great reward. Abram said, Lord God, what wilt
thou give me, seeing I go childless? And it was clear that my house
was this early. I heard of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, I, lo,
thou hast given me no seed, and one born in my house is mine
heir. Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him and said,
This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth
of thine own bow shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth
and said, Look now toward heaven, tell the stars, if you be able
to number them, And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be. Oh
my goodness. What seed is he talking about?
And he says the seed is not as many, but as one seed, which
is Christ. And so he said here, and he believed
in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteous. What did
he believe? He believed on Christ. He saw Christ in that promise.
That's what I'm telling you about. Indeed, all the families of the
earth, because he saw our Lord's day in promise. And then let
me tell you something else he saw and rejoiced in that day. He believed God. God told him. You imagine. You know, we think
we have faith. We think we have faith. But I
tell you what, you think about Abraham. He didn't have God's
Word, other than just what God said to him. Moses hadn't written
the Bible yet. Moses hadn't been given the law
yet. This was 435 years before Israel
was ever brought up out of Egypt. Here's this old man. And God
tells him, says, you know, look up. Look up. Count ten stars
up there if you can. Ain't no way. He said, that's
how many children you're going to have. And you know how many
children, how many people that God has chosen because of that? Well, I know Abel was one of
them. Noah was one of them. Ig was
one of them. Shem, Ham, and James was one
of them. So Abraham believed that,
and God said, you're a righteous man. You're a righteous man. Now look with me over here, Genesis
18. Now here, he saw his day in the birth of Isaac. And he
rejoiced in it. He saw Abraham's day. Abraham
saw the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in the birth of Isaac. And they told him, said, you're
going to have a seed. You're going to have your own
child. You're going to have your own child. But look at chapter
17, verse 19 first. Let's look at that first. Oh, God, they had to send Ishmael
out, and Abraham was very upset about it. And God said to him
in verse 19, God says, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son
indeed. And God told him what to name
him. Thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after
him. Three people in the scriptures,
as far as I know, God gave a name to. Gave a name to Isaac, gave
a name to Jacob, and gave a name to the Lord Jesus Christ. John.
Told John, four people, that he gave a name to before they
was ever born. Years before they were born. Four people God named.
And so look over in chapter 18. He says, now you know, he said,
you're going to have a son. He'll tell you what you're going
to call him. You're going to call him Isaac. And look what it says down here
in verse 10. Where's your wife, Sarah? She's
in the tent. I will certainly return unto thee according to
the time of life. That's what he told that infant
that was cast out. It's the time of love, and when
it's the time of love, it's the time of life. And when it's the
time of life, God's going to give life, a miraculous life,
a supernatural life. Watch what happens to him now.
And, oh, I'll certainly return unto thee according to the time
of life, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son. Sarah heard it, which
was in the tent door, and now Abraham and Sarah were old and
well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am old shall I have my pleasure, my
Lord being old also. And the Lord said to Abraham,
Why did Sarah laugh? Shall I have a surety by a child
which am old? Now listen to this. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? And at the time appointed I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son." It's going to be the time of life. And beloved,
I would to God, I would to God that today would be the time
of life for somebody. Today would be the time of life.
Today that God would give life. Today God would speak life. Today
God would give life. But now look in Genesis. God,
He was promised. Now look here in chapter 21. He was promised. And you know
that Scripture tells us that God said that Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Here he was, he was 100 years
old. Sarah was 90 years old. It's
impossible for them to have children. But God said they're going to
have a child. And He made him wait for 25 years before he ever
fulfilled that promise. 25 years! Do you know how long
have you been waiting for Christ to fulfill that promise that
He's going to come and get you and take you to be with Him where
He is? You've waited years and years and years, and one of these
days, you'll fulfill that promise. One of these days, you'll keep
this promise, and He'll come and get you, and take you to
be with Him where He is, and you'll forever be with the Lord.
That's a promise He made us. And some people have been waiting,
Him and their man have been waiting 60 years. And every day he'd go up to bed
and say, Lord, when are you going to fulfill that promise? When
are you going to come get me? I'll come and get me before the
morning. But God made a promise, and when
God makes a promise, believe me, He's going to keep that promise.
And look what it says here in Genesis 21. Now, God said, I'll
come at the time of life. And the Lord, this is Sarah,
now listen to this, as He had said, I said, I'm going to come. I said, I'm going to visit you. And the Lord did as He had spoken
unto Sarah. Now listen to it. For Sarah conceived,
and bare Abraham a son in his old age. Listen to this. At the
set time of which God had spoken to him. God gives His promise. At the set time. There's a time.
God's got us time for everything. And you know, everything for
God's in the... For us, it's in the future. For God, it's
always ever-present. And look what... And Abraham
called the name of his son that was born unto him, who surrebered
him, what did he name him? Isaac. You know, here's a child of miracle. Here's a supernatural birth.
Here's a child born by the power of God. God gave life to a dead
womb. The Lord visited her at the set
time. And He done Mary the same way.
The Scripture says that the Lord visited Mary. And oh, bless His
holy name. And I tell you, God will always
keep His promises. Always keep his promises. And
they call his name Isaac. Do you know what Isaac means?
What his name means? It means laughter. Sarah said,
shall I have laughter? Shall I be happy? Shall I be
joyful? And she laughed. And so God said,
call his name Isaac. And cause she laughed, it made
her happy. How can this be? Well, I'll tell
you, beloved, laughter. The Lord named him. Made a covenant
with him. An everlasting covenant. And
I tell you, made with him before he was ever born. Ain't that
right? He says, you know, he'll be born.
We call him Isaac. And I'm going to make an everlasting
covenant with him. And then I'm going to make a
covenant with his seed. And I tell you, going to always,
everything's based on a covenant. And then I tell you what else
he saw our Lord's day in. Genesis 22. He saw our Lord's
day in his offering up of Isaac. He saw our Lord's substitutionary,
sacrificial death and resurrection in his son Isaac this day in
Genesis 22. You know, no wonder our Lord
said, Abraham, y'all saw my death and rejoiced to see it and was
glad. You remember, and it came to
pass in verse 20, chapter 22. I love this here. that God did tempt Abraham and
said to him, he said, behold, here I am. He said, now take
now thy son, thy son, thine only son, Isaac. He just keeps trying. And then not only take your son,
your only son, you only got one, who you love. You love him. Your heart set on Him. You have
great affection for Him. You think the sun sets and rises
on Him, and everything about Him is beautiful. And you and
your wife think there's nobody like Him, and there's not! I
told you what to name Him. I told you when He'd be born.
Now I want to tell you what I want you to do with Him. Take Him
to the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains that I'll tell you of. And look what
he says now. Abraham rose up early in the
morning, saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him,
and Isaac his son, they got the wood for the burnt offering,
rose up and went unto the place which God had told him. Then
on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw that
place afar off. I mean, beloved, our Lord Jesus
Christ, he saw that day afar off. Abraham saw that day afar
off, whom having not received the promises but believed them,
having seen them afar off, they embraced them. And look what
he says now. And this is one of the finest
verses of Scripture in all the Word of God. And Abraham said
unto, verse 5, unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass.
I am the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. That's one of the most staggering
verse scriptures in the Bible. God says you're going to take
him up there and you're going to offer him. And you're going to make
a burnt offering out of him. And a burnt offering means that
God got every bit of it. He got the whole offering. The
burnt offering means that it was a burnt, it was a sweet-smelling
saber unto God, that God got every ounce, everything that
was in that offering. He got it all. He said, now take
your son and give him who you love. Your only son? I want all
of him. And you know why Abraham done
it? Because God had all of Abraham. And then Abraham said, well,
I'll make you a promise. And he told me before this son
was ever born, told me to call him Isaac, told me that he made
an everlasting covenant with him and with his seed after him. So if I take him up there, there's
no way in the world God's going to break his promise. There's
no way in the world God's going to break that everlasting covenant.
There's no way in the world that God's going to take that boy
and not let me bring him back off that mountain. If I slay
him, God's going to give him life again and me coming off
this mountain. Now that's how strong Abraham's
faith was. It was in the God who promised. It wasn't the promise itself,
but the God who promised. Can God lie? Can God not be faithful? Could God ever deny himself?
And up that mountain they went. And look what happens now. down in verse 9. And they came
to the place which God had told him of. Abram built an altar. Abraham built an altar there.
He laid the wood just exactly the way it's supposed to be.
And bound his son Isaac. See how submissive Isaac is? Never? Father, I came from heaven to
do thy will, not mine own will. As it is written of me, I delight
to do thy will. Oh, God, it's written in the
volume of the book of me, I delight to do thy will. And so Isaac
submitted, laid down there, let his father do with him what he
would. My father loves me. He wouldn't hurt me. My father
loves me. He's not going to forsake me. My father loves me. He's
not going to let me suffer unjustly. My father loves me. He's not
going to do me any harm. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to the slave's side. And the angel of
the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham,
Abraham, who do you reckon that angel of the Lord is? God only
speaks to men one way, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
said, here I am. He said, lay not your hand upon
the lad, neither do anything unto him, for I know that thou
fearest God. Seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, now listen to this, thine only son from me. Now watch
what happens. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram, caught in the thicket
by his own. Abraham went and took the ram
and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead as a substitute
for his son. Can you He said, my son, God will provide
himself a lamb. We see he saw the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ on this day. He saw the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ on this day. And you know, men cannot
offer what they want to offer when they want to offer it. He
can't offer what he wants. He can't offer it when he wants.
He can't offer it how he wants. And those who are Abraham's children
know this and believe this. God will only accept what He
provides, and He provided a ram. And can you imagine the joy that
filled Abraham's heart? The joy, the happiness when he
looked and saw that ram. He couldn't get them ropes off
of Isaac fast enough. Get up Isaac, get up! God has told you to provide us
a lamb! And he went and got that ram.
And believe me, God provided. It has to be without spot and
blemish. But here was this one, and he took that ram, put that
ram back on that altar. Oh, I rejoiced when he saw that
ram, and he was glad, because he saw the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Hebrews 11 tells us that,
that Abraham Well, he went up on that mountain, and he received
his son back as one from the dead. As far as he was concerned,
he was dead. And when he took him up there,
he knew, I'm bringing him back. He brought him back. And then
let me show you this in Genesis 14. He saw our Lord's day, not
only in offering up Isaac, he saw the substitutionary death
and the burial and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. He saw him in the promise. He
saw him in the birth of Isaac and the covenant he made. The
promised seed. That through this man, through
this promised seed, that I'll be the father of many nations.
But look what he said here. He saw our Lord's day in Melchizedek. In Melchizedek. Look down here.
You remember the story. Abraham, they'd come and took
his nephew Lot And a lot of things, and he went and he took men with
him and he got a lot back and everything that he had. And then
he got lots of spoils back. And it says here in verse 18,
he's leaving that war. He got all of his people back. And look on verse 18, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. Now watch what he said. And he
was the priest of the Most High God. And what did Melchizedek
do for Abraham? Well, he blessed him. He said, Blessed be Abram
of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed
be the Most High God which hath delivered thine enemies into
thine hands. And he, Abraham, gave him tithes of everything
that he had. Now this Melchizedek, I'll show
you this in a minute. He brought forth bread and wine.
What does that bread and wine tell us about from the New Testament? This is the broken body, my bread,
which is my body, which is broken for you. Take this cup, this
is my blood, this wine, which represents my blood, which was
shed for you. And then Abraham took everything,
10% of everything he had, and he gave it to Melchizedek. He
paid 10% of everything, and this high priest here, and he came
and worshipped with him, and this high priest blessed Abraham. Blessed him, and says that God
had blessed him. And let me show you something
over here in Hebrews. You keep Genesis now, and you
left that. Look right there in Hebrews chapter 5. Talking about
Melchizedek. In Hebrews chapter 5. He had
communion with him. He had fellowship with him. He
had union with him. He ate that bread and that drunk-ass
wine which represented the communion, the body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And it said in Hebrews chapter
5 and verse 5, so also Christ glorifies not
himself to be made a high priest, But he that said unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. And he said also in another
place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Abraham worshiped with them before Melchizedek. We're going to worship
before Christ. He is Melchizedek. Look in chapter
7. Look what happens here now. You're talking about our Lord.
Abraham saw our Lord's day, and when he was working for Melchizedek,
had communion with Melchizedek, paid tithes in Melchizedek. For
this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the king, and
blessed him. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all. Melchizedek further, by interpretation,
means he's the king of righteousness. Christ is the only one of righteousness. And after that, king of Salem.
Where Salem means peace. He's the king of righteousness,
he's the king of peace. He brings us righteousness, and
he brings us peace, and he makes peace. Now watch this. Melchizedek's
without father, without mother. Huh? Without descent. Where did he
come from? How did he get there? Nobody
ever heard of him before, and nobody ever heard of him since.
And he was only there so God could say, I'm going to make
you a priest, a high priest, forever after the Lord of Melchizedek.
As Abraham was blessed by you, as Abraham worshipped you, as
Abraham seen you as peace, and Abraham saw you as righteousness,
he said, and Abraham gave you a chance to move, he said, that's
what you're going to do. And he said, have him in the beginning
of days or in the life. Where did Edward of Melchizedek
start? And he has no end of life. How come he don't have it? Because
that was our Lord Jesus Christ. But made like unto the Son of
God, abideth the priest continually. Oh, Abraham. Abraham saw the
day of our Lord in Melchizedek. And then let me show you something
else here. Look in Genesis 18. This is precious right here. Genesis 18. This is a message
in and of itself right here. So he saw our Lord's day in Melchizedek. But he saw our Lord's day also in human form. He saw our Lord
Jesus Christ in human form. Genesis 18, And the Lord appeared
unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in
the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. This represents Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. And when he saw them, he ran
beneath them before the tent door, and bowed himself toward
the ground. And look what he said, My Lord,
If thou have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray
thee, from thy servant." He saw our Lord's day right here. The
Lord appeared unto him. He revealed himself to him. Abraham
wasn't looking for him. He was sitting there, minding
his own business, and then there's the Lord. That's how it happens
to men. Men's going about their life,
going about their business, and Christ appears to them. Christ
reveals himself to them. And look what it says, and he
ran and bowed himself toward the ground. He worshipped Him.
And he said, one of them is my Lord. My Lord. He sat down there and worshipped
with Him. And said, if I found grace in
your sight, if you are gracious to me, please don't pass away. Don't leave thy servant. Don't
turn away from thy servant. And then down in verse 8, look
what happened. And he took butter, and milk,
and the calf which he had, and dressed them, and set them before
them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." Can you see this here? Huh? He
said here, they ate and communed. Where did they eat and commune
at? Under the tree. As communion only through what
Christ accomplished on that cross. There's only communion with God,
and fellowship with God, and food with God, and relationship
with God, only as you see Christ on that cross. And they was under
that tree, and delivered. They had fellowship, and communion,
and eating, and fellowship with Christ only as He's on that cross.
They stood out on that tree. He stood by them under the tree. And, oh, beloved, oh, Mary and
Martha and John and three other women stood under that tree and
communed with Christ. And that's where we're going
to commune with Him. That's where we're going to have something
to eat. That's where He said, now, Lord Jesus said, except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And, oh, beloved, and God said
in verse 10, He said, and certainly I'll return unto thee. I'll come
back again. And down in verse 17 and 19,
look what he said here. The Lord made known His will
and purposed Abraham. He went down here to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Lord shall say, I hide
this thing that I do from Abraham which I do. Oh boy, would God
hide His will from us? If He hides His will from you,
you ain't going to know it. He said, but will I have this
from my servant Abraham? Will I make my purpose known
to Abraham? Will I make my will known to
Abraham? Oh, that thing which I do? God, will you reveal your will
to us and your purpose to us? And look what he says in verse
18. See, that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
Now, this is what he said here. For I know him, I know him, the
Lord knoweth them that are his. That's why the foundation of
God's hand is sure. Hey, Job said, the Lord knows
the way that I take. And God said, I know Him. I know
Him. I know Him. And this is what
I know about Him, that He will command His children and His
household after Him. And they shall keep the way of
the Lord. Isaac will keep the way of the Lord. Jacob will keep
the way of the Lord. All of the children of Abraham
will keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that
the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of
him. And all but of the Lord, he knows he's seen Christ here.
Now let me tell you something else he showed you. He saw the
Lord's day. He saw Christ's day down in verse
25. You remember when he says, you
know, I'm going to go down to Sodom. And Abraham began to think,
boy, listen. I've got a nephew down there.
I've got some folks I love down there. God's pitched a rain judgment
on him. He said, Lord, if you find 50 righteous men down there,
would you spare it? Yes, I will. If you find 40,
would you spare it? Yes, I will. And oh, my. Right on down he
gets, and look what he says in verse 25. Here he saw the Lord's
day right here, Christ's day. That be far from thee to do after
this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked." God cannot
slay the righteous with the wicked. He can't do it. He cannot do it. God cannot slay
the righteous and the wicked together. If you're a righteous person,
you're not going to suffer the death of a wicked. You're not
going to suffer that death of separation from God. God will,
that in one of these days, He will take all the righteous home,
and I tell you, the judgment of God, how awful it's going
to be. And listen, that the righteous should be as the wicked. You
wouldn't treat a righteous man as a wicked. That be far from
thee, listen to this man, shall not the judge of all the earth
do right. And you know what our Lord Jesus
Christ said? The Father hath made me judge over all things. The Father loveth the Son, giving
all things into His hands. The Father hath given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. So, beloved, God will not make
the righteous and the wicked to be the same. He can't do it. He's the judge of all the earth.
And let me show you in conclusion, Hebrews 11. this up. Hebrews 11, verse 13. Hebrews
11, 13. Oh, he saw the Lord's day. And
if these folks had understood Abraham and the promise made
to him, and saw this seed, they would have believed Christ. They
would have believed Christ. Hebrews 11, 13 says this, these
all died in faith. According to faith. Oh my. You know, every believer is going
to die the same way. They're going to die in faith. But these folks have not received
the promises. But they saw them afar off. But
when they saw them afar off, the promises persuaded them. And they caused them to love
them and embrace them. And in doing that, they confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And people
who do that declare plainly that they're looking for another country.
And truly, truly, if they'd been mindful of that country from
which they had come out, they said, well, we can turn around
and go back. But no, they didn't do that. But now they desire
a better country. Now listen to it. That is a heavenly.
Is that what you're looking for? A heavenly country? A heavenly
city? And listen, who in this place
is, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God? For He
hath prepared for them a city. You know Abraham went over to
Abimelech one time as a famine. He got over there and Abimelech
took Sarah into his house. God come to him in mind and said,
now Abimelech. He said, you know that you've
got my servant Abraham's wife in there. He said, I'm going
to kill you if you don't get up and get her back to Abraham.
He got up the next morning. He run over to Abraham and said,
Abraham. He said, why didn't you tell me? He said, you almost
got me killed. You almost got me killed. God is going to watch out for
His people. And you know what He made Abraham
do? He said, now you pray for Abimelech. You pray for me. It's the life that I give. That's
what God said. He says, you know, those that
are children of Abraham, He said, don't lay your hand on them.
What you do to them, you do to Me. And you know, I could go
on and on, but we walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham, Romans 4.