I'm not going to use a single
text in our lesson this morning, but rather several references,
because there's so much about this man, Abraham, that it's
just impossible to try to read all of the scriptures that talk
about him, but if you'd like, you can In your own studies,
Genesis chapters 11 through 25, give us an account of Abraham
and his life and his journeys. In Hebrews 11, where he talks
about literally hundreds of believers, in Hebrews chapter 11, they spend
11 verses talking about this man, Abraham. And also an entire
chapter in the book of Romans is dedicated to Abraham, chapter
four of the book. So it, if you'd like to, this
is where I'm basing my comments this morning is from these verses. So the next man in the order
of the types is a man called Abraham. This man is, We're called, I
think, in the order of scriptures to look at this man. Do you know
that in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, it covers the beginning
of the civilized world, the beginning of mankind? All the way up and
including the flood and the judgment of God, And then several generations
after Noah landed there on Mount Ararat and several generations
all the way up to the time of the city of Babylon and the confusing
of the languages. 11 chapters covers all of that. And then it comes to this man
Abraham and spends 14 chapters in the book of Genesis talking
about Abraham. Needless to say, Abraham is a
key figure concerning the coming Messiah and of the faith of God's
elect. And you can go on and on with
the ways in which Abraham was a type of Christ, but this morning
I just want to limit my comments to five things. Five things concerning
this man Abraham that typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. First
of all, Abraham is a type of Christ in his very name. His name was Abram. when God
called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. That was his name, Abram. And
Abram means high father. A high father. And when God changed
his name, he called him Abraham. Being inclusive of the high father,
but also indicating that he was the father of a multitude, great
multitude. That's what that name Abraham
means. Abraham's wife Sarah was barren
and she could have no children, yet God said to him, thy seed
shall be as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the seashore. And then he told him at the appointed
time, Sarah would conceive and bear Isaac, who was the son of
promise, and through whom the coming Redeemer would be born. He's included in that genealogy
of Christ. And then Romans chapter four
tells us a great deal about Abraham and his part in the things of
God, but let me just read you one verse concerning his name,
the father of a multitude. Romans 4.16. Therefore it is
of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise
might be sure to all the seed, Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is the faith of Abraham, now
listen, who is the father of us all. God gave him that name Abraham.
He's going to be the father, a high father. One spoken of,
one set apart. And he's going to be the father
of a great multitude. And then in Galatians chapter
three in verse 29, and I wanna pull this together with this
thing of Abraham being a type of Christ, listen to what he
says here about Abraham. He said, and if you be Christ's,
then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
If you be Christ's. Now the Jews said, if you be
Abraham's, Then you're gonna look for the
Christ. But Paul said, if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise. The Lord Jesus Christ
is called in Isaiah 9.6, the everlasting father. Not so much
in the sense that he is God the father, because he is God the
son, Even though he's equal with the Father and no man can know
the Father apart from Christ, all the knowledge that we have
of the Father we've learned by studying Christ, looking to Christ. But I believe he's calling him
the Everlasting Father as it pertains to us. He's the God-man
mediator. He's the Everlasting Father of
his elect being their beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
the seed of their birth, their appointed caretaker, their defender,
their Lord, provider, and sustainer. He is their everlasting Father. And as Abraham signifies the
father of a great multitude, so our Lord Jesus Christ shall
regenerate chosen sinners, the Bible says, until they reach
such a multitude that no man can number. So he's a type of Christ in his
very name. And then secondly, Abraham is
a type of Christ in that he's the covenant head of a people
called the children of God. God made a covenant with Abraham
on the behalf of his children to give them the land of Canaan. You can read about it in Genesis
15, 18. And so he becomes the covenant
head of Israel. Now turn with me this time to
Galatians chapter three. I want to read several verses
here to show you how Abraham and Christ, I wanna show you
about these two and how these covenants all fit together. Let's
begin in Galatians three verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law Being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now here's why he
was made a curse. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit by faith. Brethren, I speak after
the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet
if it be confirmed, that is, confirmed by God, no man disannulleth
or addeth thereto. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. This I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it's no more a promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. So here you see, that the covenant
that God made with Abraham and him being the covenant head of
a people was actually a picture of Christ as the covenant head
and inclusive in the promises that God made to him. Jesus Christ
is the covenant head of God's elect and all God's promises
to, through, and by him were confirmed before of god in cracks
barely abraham is a type of crash in that the bond woman and her
offspring were cast out of his hand you know we read these things
about abraham and we can relate to those things i'm going to
go on every day you all you need to pick up a newspaper it's like
yesterday's news it it just all these things with mankind they
just repeat themselves that they're repaid they they just On and
on and on it goes throughout all civilization. But in Galatians chapter four,
verses 22 through 31, we're told that Ishmael, he's the offspring
of Hagar. That was Sarah's bond maid. And Isaac, the promised seed
by Sarah and of Sarah, are an allegory of the two covenants,
the covenant of works and the covenant of promise, the covenant
of grace. These two children are allegories
of that. They were born to this purpose,
to show this. The covenant of the law and the
covenant of grace. And Ishmael's birth was a result
of fleshly reasoning, manipulation, and works. They said, we're going
to have to help God out on this promise, because I'm past the
age of childbearing, and you're past the age to help me to bear
children. So we're going to have to help
God out on this thing, and here's what we're going to do. Before
we get to that point, I'm going to give you my handmaid, and
you take her to wife, and that child will be produced, and that'll
be God's heir. We're going to help God out.
Now, I'm going to ask you something. I'm not going to tell you. I'm
going to ask you something. Is this not what's being preached
in every free will church up and down the country? Isn't that
what they're going to do? We're going to do this and help
God out. We're going to manipulate things. We're going to change
things just a little. We're not going to alter the main thing,
but here's what we're going to do. We're going to help God out. Well, when it come time, he got to go. Ishmael's got to
go. That old covenant of works has
to go. That boy, there he stood in all
of his strength, and he made fun of Isaac. And boy, when Sarah
saw that, she said, Abraham, he got to go. And Abraham didn't
want to send him out. And God said, Abraham, in this,
you better listen to Sarah. Because that bondwoman's child
is not going to be heir with Isaac, the son of promise. He says in Galatians 4.31, so
then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free. Works and grace cannot mix. Works
mocks the free grace of God and the son of promise, and it always
will. There can be no place in the
church for works salvation. Period. Period. You let works creep in and the
church is destroyed. There's no room for legal righteousness
or fleshly reasoning in the church of God. Let God be true and every
man a liar. Salvation is by grace through
the promised seed, which is Christ. All right, fourthly, Abraham
is a type of Christ in that all the nations of the earth were
blessed by him. Abraham was a blessing everywhere
he went. Everywhere he went. He left whales behind him and
he left... Everywhere Abraham went, it was
blessed. It was blessed in a natural sense. Genesis chapter 12 verse 2, God
said to Abraham, I'll make of thee a great nation. There was
no nation. There was nobody but Abraham.
There he was. His wife barren, all these things in his head. God said, I'm going to make a
great nation out of you. a great nation. And I'm going
to bless you, and I'm going to make thy name great, and thou
shalt be a blessing. And I'll bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee. And in thee, now listen
to this, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now there's only one way in which
that promise could truly be fulfilled. And that is the promise that
came through his seed, who is Christ, whose gospel extends
not to the Jew only, but also to the Gentiles. His great and
glorious promise was fulfilled in Christ and salvation by him
extended to the Gentiles. Because it is by grace through
faith and not of works, it extends to all who believe. Well, I just don't know if that
man could possibly be one of God's elect. He can if he believes.
I don't care who he is. I don't care what he did. Our Lord said, this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at the
last day. Apart from Christ, there can
be no heirs, no promise confirmed, no covenant kept. And by the
same token, in Christ, salvation is only limited by the sovereign
and eternal election of God. There's no limit in the power
of it. The only thing that limits the
grace of God is His sovereign election. That's it. And therefore,
we preach sovereign grace. Blessings of God all rest upon
the shoulder of Christ. And true faith looks to the sun,
sees and perceives the sun, rests in the sun, rejoices in the sun,
walks in the sun, and hopes in the sun, and perseveres in the
sun. So much so that the scripture
said, he that hath the sun hath life, and he that hath not the
son of God hath not life. He can have religion, He can be a social member of
a physical church, but if he don't have the Son of God, he
doesn't have life. Eternal life is to know Him. The Eternal Father hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
according to divine election, and according to divine predestination,
and according to the person and work of Christ, and according
to the spirit of promise, and according to the spirit of wisdom
and knowledge by the revelation of Him. In Him, the scripture
said, there's neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. There's no
bond, and there is no free. There's no male and no female.
But Christ is all. He's all. So Abraham's the type
of Christ in that the promise of God to bless all nations was
given to him. Given to him way back yonder.
And you know, when Paul wanted to convince the Jew that salvation
was not just to them, but it's to the Gentiles as well. You know where he went? To Abraham. Every time he goes to Abraham.
to convince them of this, and God's promises to him. And then fifthly, Abraham's a
type of Christ in that God called him the heir of the world. He said, I'm gonna make you heir
of this world. Can you imagine? In Hebrews chapter
1, God tells us that in these last days he's spoken unto us
by his Son, now listen, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things. And we're heirs and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ. And Paul said to the Corinthians
who were glorying and all sorts of things, we was born under
this one and we were born again under that one and we're followers
of him and we're followers of him and they were all glorying
in men. All glorying in men. You know
some people think if you wasn't converted under a certain pastor
then there's a big question mark on you everywhere you go. That's
foolishness. I'm telling you. And Paul put
them down for that very thing. They were glorying in men. And
here's what he told them. He said, don't you know that
all things are yours? Don't you know that these old
prophets, dating clear back to Adam, these
old prophets, they were given to you? Did you know that? You read that scripture over
in Corinthians and see if I'm not telling you so. He said,
the apostles are yours. They belong to you, that's part
of your inheritance, the apostles. He's given to the church, some
apostles and prophets. These evangelists that he raises
up that go all over the world and preach it, they're for you,
they're for you. Pastors and teachers, they're
for you. That's God's gift to you. We don't need to glory in
men. All things are yours. He said
even the world, things to come, it's all yours in Christ. And
you're glorying in a man. You're glorying in some talents.
You're glorying in the way he speaks. You're glorying in his
zeal. Don't you wish we'd get a hold
of that, huh? Don't you wish we could get a
hold of something about our inheritance and glory and that? My soul,
all things are yours. Not us. Give us a little wisdom
on something, boy, we puff up like a bullfrog. Is God not our protector and
provider? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? You know, God didn't bless man,
and then when it come time for his son to die this ignominious
death, say, now wait a minute, they're not worth it. He didn't
do that, did he? He spared not his own son. And
I'm telling you, if that ever goes home to us, we're going
to quit this foolish worrying about where our next paycheck
is going to come from, and where our next meal is going to come
from, and whether or not we're going to get some disease or
not, and whether or not we're going to live 500 years. We worry
about everything on the sun, when all of these things, they're
ours. God has carefully I don't want
to use the word plan because it's an ordained thing. Your
death is precious to him and it's ordained of God. And it's the best possible death
you could have, whatever it is. It's the best possible. Because
he's not gonna spare anything. He didn't spare his son, he's
not gonna spare this. But don't we worry about everything
under the sun, huh? Oh, my soul. God's eternal purpose of grace
was to make us his heirs in Christ for the glory of his name. And
if this is God's eternal purpose, and knowing that God worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, why would we
think he wouldn't give us anything that we need? Not that we want,
we're full of want, but I'm talking about things that you need. Listen to this. Oh, you say,
Pastor, I'm so full of unbelief. I'm ashamed of myself. I can't
hardly look at myself in the mirror for my own belief. Well,
you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I'm ashamed of me, too. But listen
to this precious scripture. Though we believe not, yet he
abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
the poor, defeated reformer that this world makes him out to be.
He's the Son of God. He's the creator of all things.
He's the reason behind all things. He's the beginning of all things,
the heir of all things, and the Lord of all things. And these things are so because
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
It's God's will that in all things his son might have the preeminence.
And we're joint heirs with him. That says, by faith Abraham sojourned
in the land of promise as in a strange country. This was his. Every place he put his foot was
his. And yet he traveled in this as
though it was a strange country. Because he knew that this was
just a figure of what he truly was promised. He never pounded
a stake to set a boundary in the land God promised him. He
didn't pound a stake. He never built a house. Abraham
was a rich man. He could have built 20 houses,
but he didn't build a house. He chose to live in a tent. And
this land that was promised to him, he traveled in it as a stranger,
as a stranger. He didn't run for governor or
king in any of these countries that he went to. He didn't try
to make a great name for himself. He looked for something better.
And truly, the scripture said, if he had any, had been mindful
in any way, he could have went back to earth anytime he wanted
to. But he didn't. He kept right on, because he
looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
And that's how he walked in this earth. That's how we ought to
walk in this earth. This earth is nothing to us.
My soul, we're heirs of God. May God enable us, as he did
Abraham, to understand what it is to be heirs with Christ. These
old Jews were talking about their father Abraham, and here's what
he said. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it. He saw it. And he was glad. He was glad. May the Lord enable us to do
that very thing. Thank you.