Turn back to Genesis chapter
17. Genesis chapter 17. Title of this message is God
All-Sufficient. God All-Sufficient. That is how
He reveals Himself to Abraham at this time. Almighty God, El
Shaddai, God All-Sufficient, that's what it means. And He
truly is all-sufficient. He lacks nothing. He lacks absolutely
nothing. Nothing in power, nothing in
knowledge, nothing in wisdom, nothing in holiness. He lacks
nothing. And the Lord Jesus Christ lacks nothing. There is absolutely
nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ that is insufficient,
as if we need to add to it, to His work or to anything. He is
all sufficient. That is who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. He is Almighty God, El Shaddai. Now back in chapter 16, Abram hearken to Sarah to try and move
along the purpose and the promise of God concerning this heir,
concerning this seed, which was the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham
understood that he was speaking of Christ when God promised Abraham
this seed. And Abraham hearkened to Sarah,
and he went in to Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and she conceived
and bear a son. named him Ishmael. Abraham and
Sarah tried to bring this promise of God to pass through the energy
of their flesh, and that's not going to work. That's not going
to work. At no point will God use this
corrupt flesh to bring about His promises, His purpose, or
His salvation. He doesn't use corrupt flesh
in order to accomplish our salvation. Even when the Lord Jesus Christ
was born, flesh did not enter into His birth. He was formed. He was created. The human body,
the human soul, the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was
created by the Holy Spirit. Not one bit of flesh entered
into Him. at all. He was born of the Spirit
of God. The only thing that flesh can
do, the only thing that it can produce, is a wild man. It's a wild man. Look over in
chapter 16 again. Let's read this. In verse 11,
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction, and he will be a
wild man. That's all flesh can produce. Wild sons and daughters. Rebels. Flesh can only produce a rebel.
Only God can produce a saved man. Only God can do that. Only the power of God, through
the grace of God, can produce a man who is truly born of God. That's the only one that can
do it. The bondwoman and her children cannot produce heirs
of heaven. It can't happen. Now, chapter
17. When Abram was 99 years old,
he was right at the door of 100 years old. The Lord appeared to him. He
went in to Hagar. And they had this son, Ishmael. And for thirteen years, we read
nothing of God appearing to Abraham again. For thirteen years, it
appears that there was silence. Abraham shouldn't have done that.
He should not have went in. He should have waited upon the
Lord to fulfill his promise. But when Abraham finally reached,
listen, when he finally reached the end of himself, see, he was
86 years old. You remember, he lived to be
what, 175? When he was 86, he was still
able to produce children. When he went into Hagar, she
became pregnant. But when he finally reached the
end of himself, and he could not, absolutely could not reproduce
anymore, That's when God appeared to him. When he had finally come
to the place where he could do nothing about this promise, but
wait on God to fulfill it. That's when the Lord appeared
to him. When he could not help fulfill the promise, the Lord
appeared to Abraham. And notice how he appears to
Abraham at this time. He appears and he says, I am
the almighty God, El Shaddai, God all sufficient. And this
is the first time the Lord appears using this name. The first time
in the scriptures he appears using this name. And why is that? Because what he is about to do
and what he's going to reveal takes one that is all sufficient. Here is a 99-year-old man, a
90-year-old woman who is about to have a son. She's going to
become pregnant and have a son. And it takes one who is all sufficient,
all power, to make that happen. To make that happen. So he appears
to Abraham as, I am the Almighty God. That's who I am. The impossible, the impossible
is about to become possible. The impossible is about to become
reality. God's going to fulfill his promise
to Abraham. Sarah is going to end up having
a child. Although when God made the promise, he made to Abraham,
but he didn't say who the mother is going to be. That's why when
Sarah concocted this plan, of having this heir, she knew that
she was already past the age. And apparently she was not going
to be the mother of it. At least that's what she was thinking.
I have no doubt about that. But now listen, before a sinner
will ever trust, I mean trust and lean upon the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation, I mean completely lean upon Him, that
sinner must be totally convinced that God is all-sufficient, that
He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. He must be utterly convinced
that God is sufficient without my help, without our help. He is able to save those who
come to Him. And God is letting Abraham know
through this revelation of who He is That he's able to save
without Abraham's help. He's able to accomplish the purpose.
He's able to accomplish the promise of salvation, of this heir, without
Abraham's help. And he waits till Abraham, body-wise,
is completely dead. As far as reproducing. He waits
till that happens. There are two things that we
must be convinced of. do things. Our absolute inability
to do anything in salvation. I'm telling you, until a man
or a woman is brought to this place to be absolutely convinced
that they can do nothing, add nothing, not until then will
God save them. And then secondly, they must
be convinced of God's absolute ability to save through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Convention of it. We must be
brought to the end of ourselves if we are to be saved at all.
I mean at the end of ourselves. Most are not there. I think you
can agree with this. You go out here in religion and
people you meet, most are not there. Most are doing what? Their
part. That's what Sarah wanted to do.
Let's do Abraham. There's nothing wrong with us
doing our part in helping this thing along. No, it's all his
part. The whole part of salvation is
on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must see that
all our righteousness are as filthy rags in his sight. The best deeds, the best deeds,
our best prayers, apart from Christ, are filthy rags. in God's
sight, their abomination to God, full of sin. He judges upon a
much higher standard than we or I can ever judge. It's standards
of perfection. You'll see this here in just
a little bit. God's standard is perfection. Our standard is
if it works. If it works, we'll accept it.
God's standard is it must be perfect to be accepted. We must be brought to see that
we are spiritually dead and doomed. Just like that thief on the cross
said, we are getting what we justly deserve. He meant it. He meant that. As he hung there
on that cross, and he looked over at the Lord Jesus Christ,
heard all the words that he said, he believed on Him, and he said
to that other thief, shut up. Shut up. That's what he said.
We are getting what we justly deserve. There is a man nailed
to a cross, dying in much pain, and he justifies God. We are
getting what we justly deserve. Well, we have to be brought to
that place. Have to be. Not until this happens will God
reveal Himself in Christ as God All-Sufficient. God All-Sufficient. When we see in Christ all that
we need to stand before God spotless, we'll do like Abraham. All on
our face before Almighty God and repent and beg for mercy. I believe there's a real repentance
going on here. God appears to Abraham. He speaks to Abraham after 13
years has gone by. He appears. He speaks to Abraham.
Abraham falls on his face. And I believe there's a real
sense of shame. I believe there's a real sense
of guilt of what he had done 13 years ago with Hagar. In God's presence, he feels this. And it's very real to him. And
he falls on his face before God. And that will happen when God
pricks the heart and makes a man to know who and what he is. That'll happen. And then he'll
reveal himself. He will reveal himself as God
all-sufficient. He's all-sufficient. He's all-sufficient
in himself. No one can say that but God.
I cannot say that. Can you say that? The very breath that we breathe,
we need God to give it to us. We need God to enable us to take
it. We honestly are not sufficient in anything of ourselves. Paul
said this in preaching, who is sufficient for these things?
Standing here, preaching, using the Word of God, preaching from
the Word of God. I cannot make this message effectual. I cannot
penetrate the heart. But God's power is sufficient
to do that. God's power is sufficient to
drive it right into your heart. He's sufficient. His power is
sufficient. He's all-sufficient in Himself.
He needs not anyone. Christ said, without Me, you
can do nothing. But Christ can do all things
without me. Without me. He needs not anything
outside of Himself to exist. All things exist what? By Him
and for Him. You and I need Him to exist.
We have to have Him to exist. He made us. He created us. But He doesn't need anything
to exist. He doesn't need anyone to exist.
He's sufficient. God is all-sufficient in Himself. He's all-sufficient in power.
He's all-sufficient in righteousness. He's all-sufficient in holiness.
He's all-sufficient in every attribute. He's all-sufficient.
Nothing lacking. Nothing lacking at all. And because of the Lord Jesus
Christ, His Almighty God, that's who He is. He is God Almighty
incarnate. He can save us from our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His blood is all-sufficient. We need nothing more than the
blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all-sufficient. It will give you a lot of rest
and assurance if you can lay hold of that. His blood is sufficient. His sacrifice is sufficient.
For by one offering, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
His offering is sufficient. His sacrifice is sufficient.
His prayers are sufficient. He says, Father, I will that
they be with me where I am. His prayers are sufficient. You don't need to gang up on
God. Not if He prays. That's one high priest that will
be heard. Father, I know Thou always hear
me. You always hear me. I know this.
He's all sufficient because He is Almighty God. He's sufficient
enough to keep us from falling. Do you ever fear falling away? Do
you ever fear just falling away? He's able to keep you The Scripture
says, from falling. And he's talking about from falling
away, from apostasy. You realize how fast you and
I would leave God if he would just leave us alone? I mean,
if he'd just withdraw his hand a little bit, you realize how
fast we would leave? He's sufficient. I think something
else is sufficient. He says, and Mike's saying it,
my grace is sufficient. My grace. Whatever it is you're
going through, He says, My grace is sufficient. What? We do not need anything more
than the grace of God. He said it's sufficient. Why?
Because it is Almighty God's grace. It's His grace. My grace is not sufficient. His
is. His is. He said it's sufficient.
My grace is sufficient. And He can justify us and make
us righteous because He's sufficient. Oh, God gave us a sufficient
Savior, didn't He? He sure did, Dolores. He gave us a sufficient Savior. He's able to justify us and present
us, listen, present us faultless. My, my, my. Only you and only
I know what goes on in these minds and these hearts, but He
can present us before God perfect. Perfect. He's sufficient. And He's sufficient. His power
is sufficient to raise us from the dead and bring us to glory. That's right. We'll honor Him
and glorify Him because He is. God All-Sufficient. He's God
All-Sufficient. Now he says to Abraham, he says
to Abraham here, I am Almighty God. First thing he does is identify
himself, reveal himself as God All-Sufficient. Now he says,
now walk before me. Walk before me. This is speaking
here of faith. The just shall live by faith.
Abraham, he stepped aside, he went into the Hey, you went into
the tent with Hagar. Now, Abraham, don't do that again.
Abraham, walk before me. Don't get sidetracked. Don't
try to go off on your own or listen to someone else like he
did Sarah. Listen to me and to my voice. Walk before me. thing of walk denote, what does
it denote? I thought about this today. First
of all, it denotes to me, when you talk about somebody walk,
walk before me, it denotes a steady pace. I can just see here a steady,
Abraham, don't get excited about these
things, they're under my control. I am Almighty God, it's under
control. Now you just keep a steady pace and walk before me. You
get up in the morning, you walk before me. You go to bed at night
and you get up the next morning, walk before me. Walk before me. It also denotes a calm pace. If you're scared, if you're anxious,
you hurry up the pace, don't you? You run. You run. If things are not going right
or things are going wrong and you get anxious, He says, calm
down. It's a calm pace. It's a walk. And then it's this. It's a journey. Isn't this life a journey? Are
we not represented in Scripture as a pilgrim on a journey? It's just a journey. This will
be over in a little while. Keep that before you. In a little
while, it's over with. And we'll be with our Lord forever.
And Paul said all these things will be just like light afflictions.
It'll just be light afflictions. And then this walk denotes this. Trust. Just trust me. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Because
thou art with me. Pink said this. I'm going to
read you what Pink said. There are four passages which
refer to the walk of the Lord's people. In Genesis 17-1, walk
before. Walk, he says, Abraham, before
me. In Deuteronomy 13-4, walk. The children of Israel are commanded
to walk after the Lord. Walk after the Lord. And then
in Genesis 5, we've already gone through this, Enoch and Noah
are said to walk with God. And then in Colossians 2, 6,
we are said to walk in Him, in Christ. Now listen. We walk before
God as His children. Abraham, walk before me. As a
child would walk before his father. Walk before me. We walk after Him as His servants. The children of Israel commanded
to walk after Him. We walk with Him as His friends.
Noah, Enoch. We walk with Him as His friends.
Enoch was taken. He had this testimony. He was
not because he had what? He pleased God. He pleased God. And then we walk in Him as members
of His body. I thought that was good. We walk
as children, we walk with servants, we walk as friends, and we walk
as bodily members. Isn't that good? That's the way
we walk. And here's one that's not easy
to deal with. I called Todd and I said, how
do you deal with this one? He said, well, he gave me a few
little pointers, but that's what they were, just pointers. He
said, it's over our head. And be thou perfect. He said,
walk before me. But he doesn't say here, walk
perfect, but he says, be thou perfect. He's talking about his
person here. Because who we are will determine
our walk. It will determine our walk. And
this word, perfect, is translated 44 times as this, without blemish. I told Todd, I said, when I read
that, Be thou perfect. I said it immediately made me
want and realize my need of Christ. How much more I need Him. God
demands perfection. He demands perfection. This is
more than just being sincere. Over in the margin it says upright
and sincere. I honestly believe it's more
than that. It's more than that. The Scripture says it must be
perfect to be accepted. How could this be accomplished?
Well, first of all, we walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is our perfection. He is our righteousness. And
the more we walk in Him, the more we realize He is our perfection. And the more we lean upon Him,
and the more we desire to become like Him. What God requires is perfection. What God gives in Christ is perfection. And when I get done with this,
you probably won't know much more about it than when I started. Perfection
is what every believer seeks, although unattainable in this
life. But don't we seek to be more like Him? If we do not seek
to be conformed to the image of Christ, we've got a real problem. We've got a real problem. We
seek to be like Him. Look over in Philippians chapter
3. Let me find this. Philippians
chapter 3. Here's a good explanation of
it. An example, I should say. Here's
a good example of it. In verse 12. Let me see. Let me go to verse 8. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but done. that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now listen, not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.
But I follow after, I strive after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. I press, here's what he's saying,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. I press toward it. I press toward it. How can God
say any less? How can He say anything less?
Will God lower His standard? Will He lower His standard of
holiness? Will He lower His standard of perfection? No. Listen. Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. He never tells us to be less,
does He? Boy, when you listen to that
and you hear it, when you really hear it, you really understand
the importance of Christ and His righteousness. You understand
it and you love it. You love it. And 1 Peter, it
says this, Christ also has suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow his steps. You should be conformed to the
image of Christ. The standard is perfection and
we make no excuse not to strive for it. We make no excuse. We make no excuse for sin. Well,
I'm a sinner, you know, so... No, that's not an excuse. God
never allows excuses, does He? You'll not find it. Be ye holy,
for I am holy. Be perfect as your Father which
is in heaven. Perfect. That's what He demands. Thank God that's
what we have in Christ. That's what we have in His Son.
In Christ we are perfect. Remember back a few chapters
when God looked upon Noah He said, Thee have I seen righteous
in this generation. And you know what? It is as God
sees it. Perfect. Thee have I seen perfect. He calls Lot who vexed his soul
every day, it said righteous soul, down there in Sodom. And
you know all of Lot. We looked at Lot. My soul, that
guy messed up every time. He couldn't do anything right.
Lot could not. He couldn't even go in the right
direction. But you know, God said, Just Lot. He called him Just Lot. This
man is just. This man had pitched his tent
towards Sodom, ended up in Sodom, and the angels had to drag him
out of Sodom. He's just. God said he's just. And that's
the way it is with God. And that's why He said, Be ye
perfect. As your Father which is in heaven is perfect. This
walk is an honest walk. It's an honest walk. I heard
Henry say years ago, honest people don't go to hell. Because there's
not any unless the Lord's made them honest. Because the scripture
says all men are liars. It's a real desire to walk even
as he walked. Now to close. The Lord appeared
as Almighty God. God All-Sufficient. He's sufficient. He's sufficient in every way.
Trust Him. Trust Him. And He tells Abraham
just that. Walk before Me. In childlike
faith, in childlike trust, Abraham, walk before Me. Walk before Me. And be thou perfect. Don't walk
off on your own. Oh, Abraham strived. Strive to
be conformed to the image of that promised seed. We do, don't
we? We do. If we're children of God,
we do. Now, Abraham, be obedient. Don't turn aside. Don't turn
aside again. Be obedient. God in Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is Almighty God, is sufficient to save the
vilest of men, the vilest of women. He's sufficient. He's
all I need. Man, am I so glad of that. I'm
glad it's not his part, my part, your part. It's all on His shoulders. The government shall be upon
His shoulders. Okay, Mike.