Jehovah-Jireh

Well, good morning, everyone. Thanks, Chris. Gavin, there you go. I was going to make sure you got that door. Thank you. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Genesis chapter 11. We'll look here in Genesis chapter 11 this morning. We're going to look at the name of the Lord as revealed to Abraham, Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh. And what is it when we say the name of the Lord? All my life, and I'm thinking of my kids now, you hear people pray and we pray that Lord's name be glorified, right? What does that mean, the Lord's name?

It's his character. It's who he is. It's who he reveals himself to be. His essence, which is never in any way, shape or form dependent on our response or dependent on us. Our whole lives revolve around, I do this, you do that, right? Every moment of our lives, You go to the store, you buy something, I give you money, you give me the goods. You had a garage sale yesterday. You saw a lot of that, right? Everything that we do is a relationship base, a covenant between two people, if you will.

Not so whatsoever with our Lord. Our Lord reveals his name, and in every instance when he reveals his name, he reveals his character, he reveals who he is, he reveals first, Jehovah. We're going to look at when Abraham, the Lord revealing himself to Abraham as Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who will provide. Or another interpretation that I like is the Lord will see to it. The Lord will see to it. The Lord will provide. That starts with Jehovah, the Lord, the sovereign Lord. Let's, let's look here in Genesis chapter 11, starting in verse 31.

And Terah took Abram, his son. and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarah, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. They came unto Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, 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.

Do you notice as the Lord is revealing himself, Jehovah, everything is on the Lord, right? Everything is I will, I will, I will, go into a land that I will show thee, I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee, I will make thy name great, thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

And how did Abraham respond to the revelation of the Lord Jehovah? The Lord told him, depart out of thy father's house. And what did Abraham do? So Abraham departed. As the Lord had spoken unto him, a lot went with him. And Abraham was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran. Abraham was 75 years old when the Lord spoke to him.

We can, excuse me, we can trace Abraham's genealogy back 10 generations, all the way to Noah, all the way to Noah, probably around 300 to 350 years. And if you turn back a couple of pages to Genesis 9, Genesis 9 verse 28, and Noah lived after the flood. 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. Noah lived on this earth 350 years after the flood.

And in reading through this, I just found it interesting. It's quite possible Abraham was on the earth the same time Noah was. I just found that interesting. They were either alive at the same time or very, very close to the time that Noah passed was when Abraham was born.

And how sad that during that time, during those 350 years, much of the world has fallen into idolatry, right? All the world was populated by Noah's sons. Shem, who is very blessed of the Lord, over these 350 years, from Shem's descendants come Abraham. And during these 350 years, what we celebrated yesterday, our country's 250th, right? Add 100 years to that. Over this 350 years, the world has fallen into idolatry.

And that's where Abraham is. That's where Abram is. He's in idolatry. And all the descendants of Noah's son, Shem, went from being God-fearing people who, because of his blessing, because of his revelation to them, put God first, to now Abraham being born in Ur, where his family worshiped idols.

Now Ur was a very wealthy, very advanced city. And I point that out because I hear idol worshipers and I think kind of a base society, right? Totem poles and whatnot. But that wasn't Ur. Ur was a very advanced city. It was called the cradle of innovation, of human innovation.

They developed writing. They developed math. They studied the stars. They are the ones that figured out that a circle is 360 degrees. Brilliant society. They invented the plow. Amazing knowledge, all coming out of this area. And all these brilliant human minds, the best of ourselves, we prove God right, right? Because what does God's word said, King David knew every man at his best is altogether vanity at his best. And this was the best of human civilization. Especially during Sunday school, I think of the kids. You've heard Pythagorean's theorem, right? How to solve a right triangle. And that was actually developed by this society first. It was found in writings 600 years prior to Pythagorean. What a brilliant society.

And in all their brilliance left to their best, Without God, in all their brilliance, what did they do? They worshipped the moon. They worshipped the moon, and that was Abraham. They worshipped themselves, is what idol worship is. They worshipped the moon god, and that's where Abraham was born.

And again, what an example to me, what an example to us. That when the Lord would leave us alone, every time God leaves man alone, we reveal ourselves to be of our father Adam, don't we? Our actions prove that we have that exact same fallen nature that we inherited from our father Adam. We turn away from God.

That's who we are, right? That's our character left to ourselves. That's our name. What's our name left to ourselves? Our name is Adam, left to ourselves. That's who we are. We turn away from God because every man at his best state is altogether vanity. And that's where Abraham is, in Ur. Completely separate from God. He's not looking for God. He's completely separate. There's no spark about Abraham that would draw God to him, which our text makes very clear, that it's out of the abundance of his own grace, out of the abundance of God's grace, that he saw fit to make himself known to Abraham.

He saw fit to come to Abraham where he was In Ur, he came to Abraham and revealed himself first as Jehovah, the sovereign Lord. What does Isaiah 48 says in verse 11? For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it. And how should my name be polluted? I will not give my glory unto another.

The Lord did not respond to Abraham, Abraham responded to the sovereign Lord, and he recognized him as Jehovah. So let's look through our text here at the ways that God revealed himself to Abraham. In our text, God spoke to Abraham. Here in chapter 12, in the first four verses, God spoke to Abraham and said, now the Lord had 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. 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, and him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. Abraham departed just as the Lord had spoken unto him. However God spoke with Abraham, Abraham was obviously convinced of just this one characteristic. He was convinced of one thing, that God is absolutely sovereign.

Absolutely sovereign. And what does that mean? It means that God has the authority and that he has the power and he has the right to do exactly as he sees fit. Right? He's absolutely sovereign. And that's what he's been doing. He's been doing so. God has been doing exactly as he sees fit because he has the authority and he has the power and he has the right to do so. He's been doing exactly as he sees fit and he'll continue to do so. Just as Dan read last week in Daniel, right?

He read about God's sovereignty and how he revealed himself to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar said, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to his will and the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth. None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? None can question his authority, his right, his power to do in heaven and in earth, exactly as he sees fit.

Abraham learned that he was 75 years old. Abraham saw God as Jehovah, the sovereign father. He learned that God is sovereign. Secondly, he learned, Turn over here to Genesis chapter 14. We'll look over the next 30 plus years of Abraham's life and see what he learned in Genesis chapter 14 verse 22. Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord. L-O-R-D, right? That's Jehovah. I've lift up my hand unto Jehovah, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.

Abraham has now at this point between these two chapters, he spent many, many years in the wilderness. He's learned that God is sovereign over things that we can't even imagine in heaven, right? God is absolutely sovereign in heaven. And he's also sovereign right now, here today in earth. Abraham, that was revealed to Abraham that he's the God of heaven and earth. He's the living God. He's the living God. Our, God Jehovah isn't a God in theory, right? He's the living God, the scriptures say.

He's not at all like the moon God that Abraham grew up under that was unapproachable and controlled things, you know, light years away and controlled things that Abram let him control and responded to Abram's worship of the idol, the moon God. He was distant and cold. That is not our God Jehovah. Abram learned, as we learned, our God, Jehovah, who is sovereign and right and has the authority, is the living God, right?

Who controls things in heaven and things here on earth. He does not leave his people alone. He's the possessor of heaven and earth. Abram learned God is sovereign and God sees fit in his sovereign power to control things in heaven and to control things on earth.

Abraham learned that God is good, that God is good. And in his sovereign right and authority and power, God uses, it's in his character to show his goodness, to show his goodness, that his presence and his love and that his very self, right, is the reward. Abraham learned it. It's not what God can do for Abraham that makes God so valuable. It's who God is. It's his essence, it's his character. It's who he is that is the value.

Turn to Genesis chapter 15, verse one. After these things, the word of the Lord, Jehovah, again, Abraham has learned that he is Jehovah. The word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision saying, fear not Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." He tells him to fear not.

Why was Abraham afraid? Well, in chapter 14, Abraham had been fighting against the four kings and he had rescued his nephew Lot, these four powerful, very powerful kings, and he had rescued Lot from slavery. It had been 10 years since God had promised to him that he would inherit a land. Abraham's 86 years old, and he says, I don't have an heir.

And the kings are coming after me, and judgment is coming, right? And I can't stop it. I don't have an heir. How in the world is this all going to work out? And I think Abraham was being very honest, which is how we pray to our God. We pray honestly. Right? We come before a throne of mercy, and we pray honestly. How's this going to work out? It's good for us to pour our heart out to the Lord in that way. The scripture says sometimes there's not even words. There's just an utterance from the heart. How? Right? And Abraham said, how is this going to work out?

And the Lord said, fear not. I am thy reward. I am thy exceeding great reward. I'm thy shield. I am, the Lord is. In verse two, Abraham said, Lord God, what will thou give me? Seeing I go childless, the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus. Abraham said, behold to me, you've given no seed. And lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Abraham poured out his heart into the Lord. I meant to say unto the Lord, which is true, but I said into the Lord. And isn't that more accurate, right? We pour our hearts out to him. He was troubled. One could say, well, Abraham, I mean, haven't you seen the Lord's faithfulness? Haven't you seen that God is in control? Haven't you seen that?

And shouldn't we say, well, I know that the Lord is in it and shouldn't we have faith and comfort? Of course we should. Shouldn't we not doubt? Of course we should. But we do, just as Abraham did. And what do we do when we're in that situation? We do as Abraham did. We pour our heart out to the Lord. Did the Lord comfort Abraham by showing him the future and saying, Well, these are the steps I'm going to take. Abraham would take comfort in the steps, comfort in the process, aren't we?

Y'all guilty of that too? I am, right? I'm guilty of looking for comfort in the process. But what did the Lord say? The Lord says the same to us. I am thy shield. I am thy exceeding great reward. Verse seven, he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur the Chaldees to give this land to inherit it. God spoke to Abraham and said, I am Jehovah. I'm Jehovah. And that comforted Abraham's heart more than any reasoning possibly could have. What does verse six say here in Genesis chapter 15?

Verse six says, he believed in the Lord. He believed in the Lord. And that was given, that was given of him from the Lord to believe. He says he believed in the Lord. Abraham believed the Lord that what he said was true and right and good. Right? He believed the Lord. He believed in the Lord. That the Lord would accomplish what he said he would accomplish. He believed in his character. He believed in his ability. He believed in his will and his providence. He believed in his name.

That's what we're talking about when we're talking about the Lord's name. We're talking about his character, his ability, so that we like Abraham might believe in the Lord, that he's good for what he says. Abraham saw in chapter 17, he learned that Jehovah is a covenant God. Abraham learned that this, this, sovereign Jehovah, this present Jehovah who controls things in heaven as well as in earth, this living God is a God of promise. He's a God of covenant. He learned that this Jehovah, he wills good and he accomplishes it.

And so often I see the word will or willing And my mind tends to think the way I use the word will or willing, which is a function of time. I will eat lunch this afternoon. It's a function of time and ability of my own. Something that's going to happen, usually, in the future, when I use that term. But that's not how our Lord uses the word will. He said, this is my purpose. This is my purpose. I am willing it. It's a verb. I'm willing it to happen. And just as he spoke and said, let there be light, And there was light. He willed it and it happened. Um, we believe in the Lord's ability and in his will.

And Abraham saw God as a God of covenant, one that wills good and he accomplishes it in verse 19 here in chapter 17. And God said, Sarah, thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed, singular, with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation, but my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

And he left off talking to him. He left off talking with him. Why did he leave off here? Why did he leave off talking with Abraham? Because the covenant was declared. There was no response from Abraham needed. The covenant was declared, so he left off talking with him. God performs both sides of the covenant. He both wills it and he accomplishes it. It's all of our Lord Jehovah. And when he declares the covenant that I will both will it and I will accomplish it, he left off talking with him.

What a place to be if I would hear that for a moment. And we'll see in our morning message how all of redemption, all of the promises of Abraham are all found in Christ. And if I would hear that for just a moment again to hear that he has purposed it and he has to accomplish salvation and he can leave off talking. right? And I should leave off talking, close my mouth.

And here he has willed it and he has accomplished it all in Christ. He's a covenant God. And that was revealed to Abraham. He both wills it and he accomplishes it. What does Philippians two says for it is God, which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Abraham saw that God is a God of, of, of sovereign, present, living, good, God of promise, right? He's a sovereign, living, present, good, God of promise, and that he is able to both perform and to will, right? He can will and perform his sovereign good pleasure without any input, without any help, without agreement or disagreement from man.

He declared his covenant and he left off talking with Abraham. He's a covenant God that performs both sides of the covenant. So now, Abraham, when we turn to chapter 22, it's now been 35 years since the Lord first spoke to Abraham. And in that time, Abraham has learned God is sovereign. He's Jehovah. He's the living God. He actively controls things in heaven and in earth. He's a present God. He's a living God. He's the loving God. He's good. He's a God of covenant who performs his good pleasure.

What does it say here in chapter 22 verse 1? And it came to pass after these things, God did tempt Abraham. He did try Abraham, right? We often learn more of God's character in trial, don't we? just as Abraham did here. In the midst of great need. We see that our Lord provides. And none more so than in our need of salvation, our need of righteousness, our need. Of a right standing before a holy God. That we look and say, just as Abraham did, how can these things be? How can this be? How and how can I ever have a right standing before God in our in our time greatest need the Lord provides.

And again, in our morning message, we'll see that all in Christ. It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. He tried Abraham. And we learn more of God's character in salvation, the trial of our impossibly fallen nature that cannot even approach unto God. And we learn more day to day. In our trials, we see that the Lord will provide.

That's where his character is revealed. Abraham was 75 when he left Ur. He was 86 when Ishmael was born. And he was 100 when Isaac was born. And now, Isaac's a young man. And he is the fulfillment of Abraham's heart's desire, right? the embodiment of God's promise to Abraham. Every time he looks at Isaac, he sees the physical embodiment of God's promise to him. He looks at Isaac and he sees him. He sees God's promise. He sees his son, Isaac.

It's been a long time. And now God is trying Abraham and Abraham is called upon to sacrifice his only son. To sacrifice him and quarter him. What an awful thing. Right? On an altar before God. This is God's promise. Right? This is God's promise in Isaac. It's Abraham's heart's desire. It's Isaac. It's everything Abraham prayed for. It's Isaac. And he's been told to sacrifice him. Nothing and no one is more precious to Abraham than Isaac. Everything is tied up in his inheritance. The future. All of God's promises. Everything. tied up in Isaac, and God has called upon him to sacrifice his son.

And Abraham is here in verse 22, or excuse me, chapter 22. He's on the mountain with the knife in his hand, and Abraham is living a very deep trial, right? I don't know about you all, but sometimes I read through and I think that there these patriarchs like Abraham, so many names in the Bible, right? They just must have had a special strength, right? They must have just been different people than I am. They're not, right? He's in the midst of a great trial, possibly greater because he didn't have all the history that we have.

I mean, all these examples, of how the Lord has provided and never failed, right? How the Lord has promised and always delivered. How the Lord has never left his people begging. Never. How the Lord has provided every single time without exception. Not one exception, right? Abraham didn't have that. We do. We do. Abraham did not.

And he is standing there on the mountain with the knife in his hand. Look here at verse 13. in chapter 22. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh.

As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen, which is, the Lord will see to it. Right? The Lord will see to it. What is our heart's desire, right? And it can be, we have need for today. And we can bring that before our Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, who's the living God, who is sovereign to perform. He has the authority to perform. He has the power to perform. He has the right to perform.

What is our heart's desire? I'm so often, I'm ashamed of my prayer. But I would encourage you, whatever that heart's desire is, pour it before our Lord, right? Our prayers aren't always pretty at all. Pour it before our Lord. Now, I also would ask him, make my heart's desire your will. Wouldn't that be nice if my heart's desire was the Lord's will, that I was praying for the Lord's will? But we make our heart's desire known before the Lord. What we need today, the Lord taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, right?

What we need tomorrow, what we need for our children, what we need, what we need in salvation because we absolutely lack, we worse than lack, right? We not only lack righteousness, we're unrighteous. We have to be washed clean and made whole and be given a right standing to be given life just as Abraham was given life in his dead loins, that there was no chance. Abraham was dead and Sarah was dead. There's no chance of life coming from these two. Yet the Lord blessed and created life where there was no life.

We make our hearts known in salvation before the Lord. And we see in Christ, we see Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. The Lord wills to provide. the Lord will see to it. And just as Abraham saw in closing, we saw the Lord who is, we see the Lord who is absolutely sovereign, we see Jehovah. We see the living God, the most high God, who is the possessor of heaven and earth. We see the good God, God who is our shield, God who is our great reward, just as Abraham did. We see the covenant God who both wills and performs his good pleasure. And we see Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides, the Lord who sees to it, right? Amen.

Jehovah-Jireh

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Jehovah-Jireh

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