All right, turn to Genesis chapter
12. I realize that week before last,
we were in Genesis chapter 12, one through four. Genesis chapter
12, one through four. But I want to read the whole
chapter this morning. And after I read this whole chapter,
God willing, I want to deal with Nine thoughts from this chapter. Most of them, all of them rather,
will come from verses five through verse 20, but I'll read the whole
chapter so we'll have the whole context. So there'll be nine
things that I want us to deal with concerning Abraham and the
land of promise. But before I do that, we will
have to examine a couple things so that our minds are steered
in the right direction. So anyway, Genesis chapter 12
in verse one. 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 shew thee, and I will
make 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, and curse him that curseth thee, and in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram
departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him,
and Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran. Now
here's from where the nine thoughts will come from. And Abram took
Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance
that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in
Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and
into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the
land unto the place of Sikkim, unto the plain of Murrah, and
that's just north of what we now would call the city of Jerusalem. And the Canaanite was in the
land. The Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded
he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed
from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. And
there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the
name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on
still toward the south. And there was a famine in the
land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the
famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass when he was
come near to enter into Egypt that he said unto Sarai his wife,
behold now I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore,
it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see thee, that
they shall say, this is his wife, and they shall kill me, but they
shall save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my
sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul
shall live because of thee. And it came to pass that when
Abram was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that
she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw
her, and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken
into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated, that is Pharaoh,
and he entreated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep, oxen,
and asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses,
and camels. and the Lord plagued Pharaoh
in his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh called Abram and said,
what is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell
me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou she is my sister? So I might have taken her to
wife. He did not, but he might have. God protected the holy lion. Therefore, behold thy wife, take
her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men
concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all
that he had. Genesis, that is the very title
that is given to this book. Genesis, the word actually means
beginnings. beginnings. Of course we've read
so far things like the beginning of the universe, the beginning
of man, the beginning when man fail in the garden, the beginning
of the messianic promises being sounded forth to man. Now we
have come to Abraham in the promised land. Now listen to what I say. Beginnings are vital because
beginnings establish the direction of God's sovereign purpose. If you miss the beginning, if you miss the beginning, You
put yourself in danger of misapplying, if not misstating, the sovereign
purpose of God. Because the sovereign purpose
of God has this. Here's God's sovereign purpose
in eternity, let me put it this way for you, starts. And over
here, it's accomplished in its fullness. But it does not necessarily
go just like this. It may go like this. It may go
like this. It may go like this. But everything
in the middle is ordained to bring to pass that which finally
happens in the end. Our problem is if we miss the
beginning, then we see the sways and the moves in the middle,
and we've missed the beginning, we will misapply at best, if
not misstate the end. Now I realize that's maybe a
little lengthy. But my subject and title this
morning is Abraham Begins in the Land of Promise. Do you ever wonder why in our
Lord's day, but then specifically in Paul's day, that is the Apostle
Paul, that there was such an uproar about circumcision You ever think about that? There
was an uproar. I mean, you will read that circumcision
is a shadow. It's a type. It was something
that the Old Testament saints had to literally deal with. They were forced. Even in Abraham,
he was told to circumcise himself and every male child, no, every
male person in his entourage. But if you ever wonder why was
circumcision such a big deal? Why didn't they make a big deal
out of the land? Why didn't they make a big deal out of the Day
of Atonement? Now these three I did not pick
out of the air. Because these three things, that
is the land, the promised land, circumcision, and the Day of
Atonement are all spoken of in the same connecting language. They are all called God's covenant
everlasting. Did you ever think about that? You can go back and read it.
I'm not gonna go back and take the time. Look at chapter 17,
verses seven, God again states to Abram, I'm giving you and
your seed this land. And the next thing he says is
circumcise every male in your entourage. and he uses the same
language for circumcision that he uses for the land. Then you
go over to Leviticus chapter 16 verse 34 where Moses is instructing
the people concerning the day of atonement and Moses there
uses the same exact language, covenant and everlasting. Now, go back. Why then was it
in Paul's day that the big uproar was over circumcision only? One, the Jews, though in the
land, had no right to the land because of Roman rule. And they
knew if they began to make the land an issue, Rome would crush
them. Yes, sir, you know it. Rome would
have crushed anyone seeking to take possession of what they
had conquered. Also, the Day of Atonement was
a farce in that day. because they did not have the
one single high priest who was high priest until the day of
his death, performing the day of atonement on the one day of
atonement. Basically, we have, according
to the scripture, and then we have this backed up by history,
the high priesthood was sold off in some way to the highest
bidder. And they had usually a high priest,
a different high priest every year. Exactly. It was a farce. It was a farce. You see, the earthly land, as
the earthly land, it's real. Yes, sir. The promise was real,
but it's type and it's symbol, just like circumcision was real. Amen. Just like the Day of Atonement
was real. Yes, sir. But it's all type and
symbol. Exactly. Even the Day of Atonement. even circumcision, all has the
same thing. It's everlasting. Now either
God Almighty lied, or they mean something different. They typify
something else. They speak of something, as Hebrew
says, better to come. Now we are looking at the land,
are we not? We are seeing the beginning,
this is the first time that a specific piece of land was promised to
God's man. And that man's seed. And it's the first time we see
that God called man step foot into the land of promise. Now
just a few things and I don't have time to deal with this because
I don't have time to deal with all this. We're talking about
this right now. You with me? Are you with me?
So at the beginning, there's a lot of this, okay? Notice Abraham is not told to
go in and conquer the land. It's yours. Just go in. The Canaanite was there in the
land and Abraham is not told to what? Drive him out. Is he? He goes into the land
and dwells in what? Does he start building cities?
Houses? Well, wait a minute, this is
yours. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, would you? Because we're
gonna look at what the book says about that physical piece of
real estate. Hebrews chapter 11. Abraham is
not told to drive out the enemies, though he found enemies in that
land. and on occasion had to go to war with them. Did he not? Now just a little of the hump.
Later, under law, God says to Israel when they have been delivered
from Egypt, later under law, God says go in and possess the
land and drive the enemies out. But notice, Moses is not allowed
to lead them in. Only Joshua is allowed to lead
them in. And you go back and look at Joshua
chapter 23, and see what Joshua says about that physical going
in to possess the land, and then read what Solomon says about
it in 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 36 or 56, I may not, didn't write
it down, and see what Solomon has about it. The physical aspects
of the promise were accomplished. They were accomplished. But in
the beginning, this is not about going in and driving enemies
out of what's yours by God given right. It's simply stepping into
it and possessing it and dealing with it as it is. Do you hear
what I'm saying? And dealing with it as it is. Look at Hebrews 11. And I'm just
gonna emphasize certain things. But notice it starts with, Abel,
and comes on down. Now these statements, if you
just read these statements, you think well that could have been
said all the way to the end, but no, it's not. It's said in between Abraham,
it's said concerning rather I should say, Abraham and Sarah. It's
not said later after the time of Abraham. Look at what it says,
verse nine. By faith he, who's he talking
about? Abraham, by faith he, sojourned. He sojourned in the land of promise. Look, as in a strange land. He's talking about the geographical
property. You see it? And what was that
to him? Strange. Now one might say it's
simply strange because he'd never been there before. I will grant
that. I will give you that, but that's
not what this inspired writer says. By faith he sojourned in
the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles. That means tents, not fixed dwellings. Do you get it? Look. in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For now this inspired writer's gonna tell us what Abraham was
really looking for. Now look at it, it's been here
all along. Sadly I didn't see it all along.
But thank God I see it now. And I will just state that and
drop it. For he looked for a city. Where'd
that come from? It don't matter, this is inspired
word. It doesn't matter if I can go
back to the Old Testament and find you the reference to this. It
don't matter, does it? Does it matter? No. For he looked
for a city which hath foundations, now it's still real, it's still
literal, but it's not that piece of physical property that still
exists over there today. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham knew, it's more to this
promise than what I'm seeing with my physical eye. Go on down,
look at the rest of it, then look at verse 13. These all died
in faith. Now granted, all of these people
in Hebrews 11 died in faith. But he brings this in when he's
talking about Abraham. It's certainly true, all these
believers who were true believers, that by faith Joe did this, did
that, they all died in faith. But he uses this right now when
he talked about Abraham and Sarah. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises. I thought Abraham went into that.
He walked the breath of life. I love it. Went all around. Go and read the rest of Genesis
in Abrahamic account. Look at what it says. These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off. And were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. How is that seen? They dwelt
in what? Tabernacles. Remember, the three
angels came, and Abraham stood in what, the door of his house?
in the door of the tent. Abraham knew. Now there's something
to this piece of land here. All this land. God gave him specific
landmarks that marked out this land, but Abraham knew it's something
more to it than this. Look at what it says. and confess
that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. And here's the
passage that struck me. It said, Walter, you are so blind
unless God opened your eyes. For they that say such things
declare plainly. And yet I was so dull. I was
looking always at that physical piece of geographical property
that's still right over there right now today. You can go over
there and walk on the same ground that Abraham walked on back yonder.
Yes or no? For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And he was, was he
not? But look, and truly, if they
had been mindful of that, and I know they put that country
in there to try to help it out, and it doesn't destroy the text,
because we could say, if Abraham would have went back to Ur of
the Chaldees, but it's more than that, if he'd have stayed in
that land, but then went back to where he used to be here and
here, Do you see what I'm saying? Now read it without the country.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek
a country, and truly, if they had been mindful of that from
whence they came out, it wasn't just a geographical place that
Abraham came out of. God called him out of idolatry.
The worship of a false gods and called him into the worship of
Jehovah God in the person of Jesus Christ. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they might
have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better. And notice country doesn't destroy
it, because it is talking about that country he was looking for.
But now they desire a better country. And then he tells us
what it is. That is a heavenly. There it is. Do you see it? I
said all of that to let us know this. When you look at the Old
Testament passages concerning the land from beginning, Abraham,
and all of this, look at what the end comes in. And I mean the end, don't try
to make the end over here. The end, you'll see what it's
all about. But then that will help you to
understand and see Christ in all of this. Now I'm hoping that
what I'm saying to you, God Almighty, is helping you, enabling you
to start to see what I'm getting at. For instance, approach the
Song of Solomon. Approach the book of the Song
of Solomon as merely a letter between Solomon and the Shulamite,
and you will miss out on a plethora of the truth of God. Approach
it simply as a love or the way that love ought to be between
a man and a woman. There is no doubt, there is a
good sound picture. But there's none of us whose
marriages meets that Song of Solomon, does it? But if you
approach the book of the Song of Solomon knowing that this
is God Almighty moving a man to speak concerning Christ and
the church, that book will open up unto your soul. The same thing
is true of Hosea. You look at Hosea and you just
look at the physical history of it, you think God commands
his believing men to go marry whores. Right? Isn't that what he told Hosea
to do? And he did it, just like Abraham went into that physical
land. I've got to move along, I've
got nine points. But I'm trying to lay the foundation. If you
don't see this, and the first throes of this, yes you may know
this, because you can turn to the back of the book and you
can see what this is. when it's all wound up. But if you don't
see this in the first few throws, all the rest of it will be just
more history. And let me tell you something,
either God means what he says, or we're not understanding what
God says. Did not God say that there shall
not cease to set upon David's throne a man? I say the word
may be failed. Physically, did that happen?
Oh, many a time. Does it not? Many a time. It doesn't say one day there'll
be a man sit on that throne. It says he shall not cease. That throne is not some seat
in some physical place on earth. It is the right of Christ the
man to sit as king over God's people. That's the truth of scripture. Now here's the nine things. Here
they are. First of all, here's Abraham's
beginnings in the land of promise. I will state what I want to get
at, try to give you a scripture or two, and we'll move through
these. The called, the called, that's
what Abraham was, chapter 12, verses one, two, three, four,
right? We looked at that a couple weeks ago. The called, and it's
not just about Abraham. It's about everyone else who's
called. The called will be brought to the place whereunto they were
called. And they went, verse five, last
part, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Why
wasn't it the land of Abraham? You see, where we are right now
is still just like where Abraham was, in a physical world. surrounded by enemies, surrounded
by people who do not believe the God we believe, surrounded
by men and women who have not been called by the God that we've
been called by, and have not been called unto the thing we've
been called unto, although part of that calling puts us right
smack the dab in the middle of the Canaanites. Does it not? That's where it puts us. And
we're not told to go drive them out. because we can't do it. And even under law, we can't
do it. Only our Joshua can do it. There's you a couple of them.
But look at it, 2 Thessalonians chapter two, I'm not gonna read
it, 13 and 14 tells us this. If God chose you, he will call
you. And he'll call you by the gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? Secondly,
here's the second thing. As gospel truth is experienced,
the called will worship. You see, what happens? Chapter
12, and he passed through the land to the place of Sikkim.
And if you look at it, he went through quite a bit of the upper
regions. God had him going, going, going,
going. He passed through a lot of the
land. Now, if you ever went back and you think of it, why didn't
he start, all right, here's the boundary. Abram, now look to
your right. Look to your left. He moved him almost down to Jerusalem
before he ever stopped the first time. Now, is it the physical
Jerusalem? It didn't exist as Jerusalem
then. And we know that the book of God tells us this, the book
of God. Paul calls the Jerusalem that
now is, he says it's in bondage with its children. The book of
the Revelation calls it Sodom and Gomorrah. So that's not the
city he was looking for. But anyway, here he comes. Goes
to the place of Sikkim under the plain of Morah. The Canaanite
was in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
where? Right in the midst of where the Canaanites are. But
remember, he's in the midst of God's promised land to him. And
this is real. I'm not trying to belittle the
land promised, but it had a deeper meaning. It's not about physical,
earthly real estate. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said unto thy seed, I give this land. And what did he do?
He worshiped God. You see it? He worshiped God. You see, a lot of people have
made a decision. Maybe they made a decision in
free will religion. Maybe they decided to believe
the five points of Calvinism. Maybe they decided to believe
in free grace or sovereign grace or whatever men want to call
it. But when God Almighty calls you out and places you in the
promised land, you will worship God. It's more than just, yes,
you will believe, but that believing will be based upon love and worship. This is not a take it or leave
it proposition, Mason. When he stepped into that land,
it wasn't like, okay, I can't go back to Ur. There is no way. The Canaanites still in the land,
but I can't change my mind and go back to my Ur-ish ways. Do
you see what I'm saying? The people in Ur were no worse
or no better than the people of the Canaanites. They're all
fallen humanity, and Abram came out of Ur. And now it was brought
right into where? Well, you think this would have
been the land where all the Canaanites got it and drove them out? He
didn't do that, did he? He brought him into this land
of promise where the Canaanites was still at. Man, all right,
number three. And I didn't even give you the
reference for that second. Do you remember what Christ told that woman as
well? You worship, you know not what. And she wanted to, once
he called her on her shacking up, She wanted to debate him
in religious argument. Well, you Jews say to worship
in Jerusalem. We say we worship up here on this mountain, Gerizim
or whatever it is. Up in the further north, remember,
Abraham passed right on by that and went down just above Jerusalem.
Because why? Because that's where the Lord
would die. and he's sitting there where he can look south. Remember,
he's still going south. He's looking toward Jerusalem.
Why? Because Jerusalem, which over
there now is so great, no, because that's where the Lord of glory,
the Messiah, would crush the serpent's head. Now, I don't
know if he knew all this, but that's what we're shown here.
Do you see that? Mason, he's just moving. He stops
and builds an altar. Stops and builds an altar. Christ
said the hour is coming. And now is, when you shall know
that it won't be at Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim. Isn't that
what he said? Those that worship him must worship him, how? And
that's not something that started when our Lord came along. That's
true, right back here in Abram's day. Matter of fact, we see it
true all the way back to Cain and Abel's day. It was true of
Adam and Eve, was it not? Number three, when there is true
worship, that becomes the norm. Verse eight, and he removed from
thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his
tent, having Bethel on the west, Hea on the east, looking upon
a map, he's looking right smack dab toward Jerusalem. Because
remember, he's heading south, he's heading south. And there
on the east, and there he builded an altar unto the Lord. Well
wait a minute, didn't he already have one back up yonder? Do you
see that worship becomes the norm? If you're a true believer
and you've been called out of the urn of the Chaldees, you
don't just worship. Well, there's a place I like
to go worship on occasion. I'll go back there one day. No,
sir, wherever God Almighty puts you. That's where you're going
to worship God. You see that? You see what it's
teaching us here? See what it's teaching us here?
Philippians chapter three, verse three, we are the circumcision.
There you go. It's the circumcision that's
in here that matters. It's not the foreskin of the
flesh. We are the circumcision which rejoice, worship in the
spirit. I've got my quote wrong. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's why if we'd
had opportunity to return, we would return. Aren't you glad
God don't give you that opportunity to return? Aren't you glad he
don't give you that opportunity? Listen, people say it's all up
to man. If it was up to us, we'd turn back and go back our way,
even after we made our best spiritual religious decisions. Number four, I love this, I love
this. God's called will experience
all that is promised with that calling. Look, and Abram journeyed
going on still toward the south. So he passes right through. You look at the mountains. And
I don't know exactly where he went, Mason, but he passed right,
I think probably right through Jerusalem. Little did he probably
know his Lord one day would die on a hill that was right there
in that place somewhere. Wasn't it? Here he is. But notice
he's just journeying on south. You go back and look at Ephesians
4, 12 through 16. God's got a purpose. He has placed
these gifts in the church. Apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastor, teachers, what? For the perfecting of the saints.
The edifying of the body of Christ. But what's the, till we all come
to the unity of the faith. And he so joins us together that
we're like bone and joint and marrow and muscle. And if you
ever had a bad hip or a bad knee, it starts going bad, you know
what it's like when they don't work together good. But God's
community of the called, God fits them together. And they
work together like they're supposed to. But, but, and this is not
a but of separation or difference. Think about this. I got a wrote
down, I didn't say but, moreover, that's what I mean by this but. Those who are called, this is
number five. Those who are called are not promised continual ease. God, I'm saying God Almighty
will stir the pot. Do you see it in verse 10? And
there was a famine in the land. Now wait a minute, if I'm in
God's promised land, shouldn't a famine happen up in Assyria?
Maybe over in Ur, maybe down in Egypt. Where's the famine
happen? Right in the promised land. And
this famine is grievous. Now who brings on famine? God does. And somebody says don't
say that. You just don't see it. This is
the God who just a few chapters before said and let there be
and bless God there was. He's the one who brings famine.
And he brought famine to Abraham. in the land of a grievous famine. And he's right down there in
the heart of some of the most juicy land there is. If you look
at the map and see where some of the barrenness is and where
the green is, maybe not the same today as it was then, but probably
close. Anyway, here's the thing about
it. Romans 8 verse 36 says, we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Does it not? See, the scripture, Paul says,
it lists all these bad things. No, I mean, tribulation, persecution,
famine, those are bad things as we think of, right? And he
said, in the midst of all those things, that we're counted as
sheep for the slaughter. But he says, we're not gonna
be conquerors because God's gonna deliver us from all that, but
he says, in, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. Oh, but here's number six. God
will remind us of who we really are by nature. Verse 11. And it came to pass, and it always
will when God stirs the pot. It will. God's got a purpose.
He's got a lesson to teach you. When God stirs your pot, He's
about to teach you something. We usually don't see it that
way when the pot begins to swirl. Now do we? You get dizzy-headed
spiritually and you think, what's going on here? What have I done
wrong, Lord? What did Abraham do wrong? He
didn't do wrong to get it in the pot. God stirred the pot.
Did he done the wrong? Yes or no? Do you see what I'm
saying? God will remind you of what you
are. Now somebody says, well, you're
giving men excuse to sin. No, I'm telling you, when God
Almighty stirs the pot, he will show you once again what you
are by nature. You talk about license to sin,
Christ told Peter, Satan desired you, that he might sift your
sweet, but I prayed for you. But you know what's inferred
on all that? Christ gave Satan permission. knowing exactly what
Peter was going to do. But Christ had prayed for him,
interceded for him, mediated for him, so that Peter would
learn the lesson he's supposed to learn. You see it? And it came to pass, when he
was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarah, and
you know the story. You know the account. He said,
lie for me. That's what he said. Yeah. Yeah,
always. Exactly. Now, no, he didn't die, but what
he didn't want to happen, at least in the first part, still
happened. Abraham had this idea, I've got a plan here. Here's
my will, Sarah, you do this for me. And she was his wife. She
understood he was the head. And she said, all right, I'll
lie about it. And that's what happened, did it not? As a matter
of fact, we see this happen twice with Abraham. So that lets me
know that sometimes God's gonna teach us the lesson all over
again. Why? Because he wants to. Now
let me preach this. And he needs to. So you have
it. God will remind us of who we
are by nature. He will stir that pot. And even
the Apostle Paul, while writing inspired scripture, moved to
the spirit of God, was forced to cry out, O wretched man that
I am. That's amazing to me, Mason.
He was writing, being moved to the Spirit of God. But you know,
that's the only time is when the Spirit of God is actually
teaching you and leading you and moving you that you will
confess even as a believer, oh wretched man or woman that I
am. God will stir your pot and send
you into Egypt just to remind you of what you really are. There's number seven. Even when
circumstances are topsy-turvy, God is blessing. Verse 16. And
he, that is Pharaoh, entreated Abram well for her sake. Now
this looks good. Look at it, he's getting what?
Sheep, and oxen, and asses, and menservants, and maidservants,
and she-asses, and camels. Now back then, that meant a lot. And for a man who's going to
be, he believes God, back in that promised land, this would
be great sustenance. Yes or no? He'd just come out
of it for a what? A famine. Be nice to have a few
sheep around to slaughter. Isn't it? But guess what? Where's Sarah at? She's up there in Pharaoh's house.
And I guarantee you at the time, he had no idea what was going
on with his wife. Don't you figure so? Do you think
Pharaoh was sitting down to her brother? That's what Pharaoh
thought. To her brother, well, she's okay, everything's fine.
No, he blessed him with what? Let me tell you, God will give
you what you need to be in the promised land. But he usually
only does it when everything is topsy-turvy and turned upside
down. so that you will realize the
most important thing is the person that is closest to me. And guess who that is? Christ. It's Christ. And isn't Sarah
used as a type of Christ in his grace by Paul? Where finally,
Sarah, Sarah says to Abraham, you see that other boy, the one
you had with Hagar? Kick them both out. Because the
bondwoman and her son shall not be heir with the free. Then we start to see some of
why we have some of this over here, later on under Joshua's
stuff, you see. But that's another message. Here's
another one, here's number eight. Number eight. God's purpose will
be brought to fruition. even though everything seems
just, you know, in other words, some good things over here happen,
but some really bad things over here are happening too at the
same time. You see what I'm saying? And we gotta be careful about
what we try to weigh, what's good, you know, because all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
they called according to his purpose. So all of this mattered.
Wasn't it? Because Abraham did have to go
back where? Into the land. The promised land. But look at
what it says, and the Lord plagued Pharaoh. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't say that it allowed
Abraham to finally come up and speak the truth. No, God's gonna
drag it out of Abraham. That's usually how it happens. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh
and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this that thou
hast done unto me? I figure Sarah must have finally squealed on
him. Because Sarah was there the whole
time. And when the plaguing started
to happen, you know those superstitious Egyptians, what's been different?
What is different? What's different about now? There's
one woman in here. God used even their superstition,
I guarantee you, to bring this thing to a full head. There's
one woman here. Woman, what's going on? Huh? I gotta retract my story
just a little bit. Now I don't know exactly what
happened, but can you not see something like that happening?
But Pharaoh comes to Abraham and said, why did you say she's
your sister? Why didn't you tell me she's
your wife? And we were given no response by Abraham. Look,
why I saidest thou, verse 19, she is my sister, so I might
have taken her to my wife. Now therefore behold thy wife,
take her, and go thy way. And you remember another time
when a pharaoh said to God's people, take it all. Here, have
some of our gold too. Here's a hundred dollar bill,
take that, and I got some sheep over here. So the book says,
the book of God said, not even, Penny and I heard that this morning,
not even a hoof was left behind. Isn't that good? Bless God, if
God's given you that hoof in this world to sustain you, that
hoof's going with you back into the land. When he stirs your
world topsy-turvy, you'll come right back into the land with
every hoof you're supposed to have. I like that, don't you?
He told Israel, I gave Seba for thy ransom. That wasn't about
who died for your sins. It says God's got this world
in his hand and it's all here going like it is for the benefit
of God's people in this world. Number nine, don't you like this?
God said, here, number eight, let me give you. God said, I'll
call a ravenous bird from the east to execute my counsel. Here's
a pharaoh. Got Abraham's wife right there,
and he's right there. He coulda had her for wife. He
coulda had her for wife. He's the pharaoh! God kept him
from doing that, and then God plagued him to bring this thing
to a head. And here Abraham goes back out now with what? His wife,
and camels, and asses, and sheep. Well, that don't seem fair. This
ain't about fairness. This is about God's free, sovereign
grace. Does anybody get that? You see
what I'm saying? Number eight, God's purpose,
that's number eight, will be brought to fruition. Number nine,
even the reprobate will fulfill God's purpose. The last verse
in the chapter. And Pharaoh commanded his men
concerning him. In other words, nobody had better
touch this man when he goes back out to where he came from. You
see that? God will cause even the world
to keep you right on track in Jesus Christ where you're supposed
to be. You know that? Joe, we didn't have to leave
that place we used to be before. They said, get out. Now God's
word is valid. Come ye out from among them and
be ye separate, saith the Lord. But aren't you glad he's so merciful
that sometimes he'll drive you out? And he'll use even the world
to do it, to drive you back to where you're supposed to be.
And all along, you go back into that promised land again and
you think, boy, I am nothing, don't you? All of this is mine
by his free sovereign grace. I guarantee you Abraham experienced
that firsthand after this account. Mason, I figure when he crossed
back across that southern border and come through that desert
and come start to see the green of that land, he thought, I just
about, I could have fouled that up forever. Don't you think that
thought didn't run through his head? I could have fouled that
up forever, but my God is merciful in his covenant. Immutable in
his promises. He will cause us to reach the
final end. And of course, you gotta read
all the way rest through Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
all the way to Malachi. I've been started in Matthew.
You read all the way to Revelation, chapter 22, 21 and 22, and you
will see the final end. One of these days, beloved, we
will be in a literal city, a literal place, on a literal earth. It's called the new heaven and
the new earth. And the lamb, that one we was
worshiping up there to where that altar was, and there between
Bethel and Haiyah, that one we were worshiping, he will be the
light of that city. Isn't that glorious? Now you
say, well, what about this in between? Let me tell you something,
we best concern ourselves with right now. Don't be thinking
about tomorrow. Sufficient is the evil for tomorrow. Don't be thinking about another
time period. Consider now. Concentrate on
now. And that's what one of those
pastors was saying, you know, you meet people and they say,
well, I know, you said Christ is all, Christ is all, Christ,
well, I know, but what about this subject? No, let's deal
with Christ. It's not until we can come to
an agreement with Christ that we even have a right to start
discussing anything else. If we don't agree on Christ from
beginning to end, We're gonna get off track if we start arguing
and debating about this over here. Do you see what I'm saying?
That's the whole of what I'm saying. Abraham begins in the
promised land. That's a, I'm not saying this
is a good message, that's a good subject. That's a good subject
because right here it teaches us what it's all about. It's
about God calling us to worship his son. and worship him, we
will, all the way till death. And then one day, all of us,
one day, we will probably get to meet Abraham. And Mason, I
feel we're gonna have a long time to sit down and discuss
some of these details. Don't you think? And Abraham
said, well, you had it wrong there, buddy, sorry. Here's what
it was really about. But then Abraham said, well,
what about you at the time of Christ? Huh? Abraham may be talking with Paul
and say, Paul, you were there! Right during the time the Lord
of the Lamb! You were there! What was that
like? Do you see what I'm saying? Oh, what a glory. Let us discuss
a lot of the real fine details back then when we know what we're
talking about. There's one subject you cannot
talk too much about. That's the person and work of
Jesus Christ. Oh God, how prone we are to,
when the famine hits, to run somewhere else. But God, we know
that you are gracious and merciful and that you have not dealt with
us according to our iniquities and our sins. Oh, we thank you
for your grace in Christ. Amen. Thank you. Next week, we may
jump back and go to the Tower of Babel.