That passage of scripture Aaron
read, I was trying to put myself in the place of Hezekiah. How do you think people felt
with regard to him when he started destroying that brazen serpent
and called it a worthless piece of brass? I'm sure people were
thinking, that's sacrilegious. But what was that brazen serpent?
A worthless piece of brass. What if we had the literal cross
that Christ was crucified on with us this morning? You know
what it would be? A worthless piece of wood. Nothing more. Salvation is in
the person of that one who God hung on that cross. I just admire
Hezekiah, the great type of Christ, in that passage of scripture.
It's almost like I heard that for the first time, and I was
thrilled with what it said. Now, I've entitled the message
for this morning, Abraham and Me. Now somebody's thinking, what
in the world are you doing taking the name of Abraham and putting
your name in there with him? Abraham and me. I can see where
that title could raise some eyebrows. Other than the God, man, Christ,
Jesus, the one mediator between God and men, Abraham is arguably
the most significant man in scripture. He's the one the Lord appeared
to by himself. He's called the father
of the faithful. He's called the friend of God. What a name. Why would you title
a message like that Abraham and me? Well, let me tell you right
off the bat is because Abraham and I are saved the exact same
way. That's why. Abraham and I and
anybody else who is saved is saved the exact same way, and
I trust that the Lord will show us that way in this passage of
scripture before us. Now, verse one, Genesis 17, and
when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram. Now 13 years have passed between
chapter 16 and chapter 17. And we don't read where the Lord
spoke to Abraham during that 13 year period. And that could
be, I don't know. Some have suggested that after
the fiasco with Hagar, He was under the chastening hand of
the Lord and the Lord did not speak to him. That may be the
case. I don't know. But thirteen years of silence. But the Lord didn't remain silent. He speaks again. He's gracious. He speaks again. Aren't you thankful
that the Lord didn't only speak to you one time? He speaks And
what does he say? And he said unto him, I am the
almighty God. That's who he is. Now his power, his omnipotence
is behind every other attribute. That's who he is. I am almighty
God. Walk before me. And this speaks
of this relationship that every believer has with God. Walk before
me, walk before me as one that I've justified and you stand
without guilt. Walk before me as my child. Walk before me as my bride. walk before me as my free man,
the Lord's free man. You see, every believer has a
relationship with the Living God. He says, walk before me,
and I love what he says next, be thou perfect. Now like we considered last week,
you can only be perfect if you are perfect. You can't do something
to become perfect When God said light be, light didn't start
trying to do stuff to be. Light was because he said light
be. If God says be perfect, you know what? You are perfect because
he said it. And that's all that needs to
be said. Be thou perfect. Walk before
me and be thou perfect. You see, he hath. by one offering, perfected forever,
them that are sanctified. Now I know we would all, we've
all used the term, you know, I'm not perfect. Well, everybody
already knew that, but that's not what we're talking about.
We're talking about somebody that's perfect in Christ Jesus,
without fault before the very presence and throne of God. That's what he says. This word
perfect is the same word that is used to describe the paschal
lamp, without blemish, without spot. And that's whatever believer
is. Now don't look at this and think,
well, I need to start doing something to up my game. No, that's not
what that's talking about at all. That's talking about the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk before me by faith and be
thou perfect. And, verse two, I will make my
covenant between me and thee. Now, I love the way he states
this. He doesn't say, we'll make a covenant together. He says,
I'll make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply
thee exceedingly. Now, this is one of seven I wills
in this passage. Now, when I say I will, what
is there to it? I will. You know, there's so much pride
behind my I will. There's such presumption behind
my I will. I can't make anything to take
place. I will. I will not sin again. I will never be proud again.
I will believe the gospel. I remember a song I used to listen
to when I was in college, and the songwriter is one of those
religious songs. He says, I have decided to live like a believer. Good. Good, I'm happy for you. I will. Didn't James tell us
the only thing to say is, if it's his will, God willing. You know, I love to hear people
say that. I'll do this, God willing, if it's his will. Our I wills
are weak at best, presumptuous. We don't know what's gonna happen
in the next 10 seconds. The Lord could take my life right
now It'd be over. But when God says, I will, there's
something to that, isn't there? And seven times in this passage
of scripture, he says, I will. And I'm interested in what he
says he will. Now let's look at it together.
He says, I will make my covenant between me and thee. Now God
is the covenant making covenant keeping God. That's who he is. And he says, I will make my covenant
between me and thee. Now, we know from Galatians 4
that there's two covenants. The covenant of works. The covenant
that God made with Adam in the garden. He put him in that garden
and he, look at all these trees. You can freely eat every one
of them, but there's only one you can't eat of. You know, you
think, If you had all those good, just one tree not to eat of,
you'd think you'd manage that. I mean, you have so many. Could
he? No. Could you? No. If salvation
is dependent upon me or you doing something, that's the covenant
of works, and it is doomed for failure. If salvation isn't in
my hands or your hands, it will not take place. We will go to
hell. Covenant of works. And you know what else? I got
to say this. With the covenant of works, if salvation is dependent
upon you to do something, you know what you'll never do? You'll
never love God. You'll resent him. You'll think
he's too hard on you, but you'll never love God. Works never produces love to
God. But there's the other covenant.
the covenant of grace. Now this covenant, the covenant
of grace, the covenant of works was made with Adam. The covenant
of grace was made with Christ. It's got conditions of obedience
too, but it's his obedience. Here's the covenant of grace.
God gave to Christ a people before time began and said, you stand
as their surety. You take full responsibility
for their salvation. And if you save them, if you
keep the law for them, if you put away their sins, if you're
raised from the dead for them, they're yours forever. Now, this
is the covenant of grace, the covenant completely dependent
upon Jesus Christ, fulfilling all the conditions the father
gave him to fulfill in behalf of the elect. That is the covenant
of grace, and God is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. That is who He is. Now, let's go on reading. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And I love
Abraham's response. And you know, if God ever speaks
to me or you, we're going to do the same thing. He hit the dirt. He fell on his face. And if I'm not falling on my
face right now, God's not spoke to me. He hit the dirt in response to
the glorious God speaking to him and saying, I will make this
covenant with thee. That's the only response. And God talked with him. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. And
God talked with him. Jesus Christ is God. God talked
with him, saying, verse 4, As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Since I made this covenant, It's
with thee. It will never not be with thee. That's God's promise. It is with
thee. It's always in effect because
it's not in any way conditioned upon you doing something. That's why David said, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil for thou art with. Oh, the Lord's always with me. Whether I feel it, whether I
don't feel it, feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving.
He's with me because he covenanted to be with me in his son. And that is why he is with me. And he says to Abraham. Thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram. And this is when he changed his
name. You remember he's called Abram and it's changed to Abraham. And the same thing is said of
Sarah. She was called Sarah and then Sarah. Her name is changed
in Abram. Now Abram means, his name means
great father, mighty father. And do you reckon that that name
was an embarrassment to him? He never had any children. 85
years old, no kids. Hey, great father. I'm sure it
was just difficult for him to deal with that. He didn't have
any kids, but great father, great father, how ironic. And then
God changed his name. Not only now is he a great father,
but a father of many nations. And what is the difference in
his name? H. You know, it's the only consonant
that you don't need to do anything with your tongue or your mouth
to make that noise. H. The breath of life. God never breathed life into
the animals and made them living souls. But he breathed the breath
of life into Abraham. And he became a living soul. And he breathed the breath of
life into every one of his children. God's breath. God's life. they live. And now Abraham is
going to be the father of many nations. Kings, he said, will
come out of thee. David, I love David, the man
after God's own heart. David, the one whom the fear
of every nation fell upon. David, he was the most mighty
king. Well, he came out of the line of Abraham. We talk about
the Davidic line and there's first the line of Abraham. And
out of thee Kings shall come, the spiritual descendants of
Abraham. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 18 for just a moment? And the Lord said, verse 17,
and the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing, which
I do seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great nation.
a mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed in him." Now, is he talking about physical Israel? Not on
your life. He's talking about Abraham and
all of his spiritual descendants. If ye be Christ's, then are you
Abraham's seed. Here's the true Israelite. Here's
the true Jew. Here's the true descendant of
Abraham, every believer. And notice how he says, for I
know him that he'll command his children in his household after
him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and
judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has
spoken to him. Is he talking about physical
Israel there? No, they were disobedient like
you and I are by nature. He's talking about the spiritual
seed of Abraham. Now he says, I'm going to make
a covenant with you. You're going to be the father
of many nations. Verse six. Well, look at another thing in
verse five, neither shall thy name anymore be called Abraham,
but thy name shall be Abraham for a father of many nations. And look at the way the Lord
says this. Have I made thee? Not, I will make thee. Have I
made thee? You see, when God determines
something, It becomes past tense before it even takes place. That's
how supreme his will is. He says to Abraham, I have made
thee. Now go back to verse one when
he says, be perfect. Well, I'm perfect because he
has made me perfect. And this is what he says to Abraham,
a father of many nations have I made thee. Now at the time,
all he had was Ishmael. He didn't have Isaac yet. God's
going to promise him again in the next chapter. But he says,
a father of many nations, I have made thee. Now understand this,
everything you are in Christ Jesus, you already are. It's not something you're reaching
out for. It's not something you hope to have one day. In Christ
Jesus, you have all. There's nothing to reach for.
There's nothing to do to get better. You have right now. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. And listen, God's blessings are
spiritual. Well, I got a new house. God's
really blessed me. Well, he might have cursed you.
I don't know. You know, I mean, I'm thankful
for any kind of material blessing. I want to be able to pay my bills,
but God's blessings are spiritual blessings. They're infinitely
above what we consider material. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. Now, verse six, and I will make thee exceeding
fruitful. Well, that's talking about his
spiritual descendants, I realize that. But you know, that's also
talking about the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. I'll make thee. This is my work. Remember, the
fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit
of your works. It's the fruit of the Spirit. I will make thee.
You're going to become somebody who loves God. You're going to
be somebody who has joy and peace in Christ. You're going to be
somebody who's long-suffering because you see how the Lord's
long-suffering with you. You're going to be somebody who's
good and gentle toward others. You're going to be someone who's
meek before God, somebody who has faith, somebody who is temperate. That is every believer. I'm gonna make you exceeding
fruitful. And I will make nations of thee
and kings shall come out of thee. And I will, remember this is
God's will, I will establish my covenant between me and thee,
and thy seed after thee in their generations. That's talking about
every believer. So don't look at the, remember the name of
this message is Abraham and me. And if you're a believer, this
is Abraham and you. This is what God does. And this is God's promise. This is God's covenant. And I
will establish my covenant between me and thee, And I see after
thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, a covenant
that knows no beginning, a covenant that will know no ending. Now that word established means
makes binding. God says, I'm making this covenant
binding. This is God's word. Oh, this is so exciting to me.
GOD SAYS I'M GOING TO BIND MYSELF TO THEE. MY SALVATION AND ABRAHAM'S SALVATION
IS SURE AND BINDING. NOW, LET ME ASK A QUESTION. IS
IT POSSIBLE FOR ONE OF GOD'S ELECT TO NOT BE SAVED? IS IT POSSIBLE? for somebody
that Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for to not be saved? Is it possible for someone who
God the Holy Spirit has breathed the breath of life in and given
them life and they're born of God, is it possible for them
to not be saved? The answer is no. It is not possible. You see, if God purposed my salvation,
His purpose cannot be thwarted. If Christ purchased my salvation,
that work cannot be done away with. It's forever. If God the
Holy Spirit applies this salvation and makes me cry, Abba, Father,
how secure are the elect? Well, however secure Jesus Christ
is, that's how secure they are. That is the security of the believer. He's going to have what he purchased. Now, if Christ can be lost, I
can be lost. If Christ can be lost, you can
be lost. But Christ cannot be lost, therefore
not one of his sheep will ever fall away. Now listen to this
statement real carefully. If I did lose my salvation, if
I did, and I went to hell, I would lose, I can't even describe it,
I'd lose. But you know somebody who would
lose more? Jesus Christ. It could be said of him, there's
one who even you couldn't save. He's so weak, he's so sinful,
that even your power couldn't save. That ain't gonna happen. You see, if I could be lost,
if Jesus Christ died for me, and I could be lost, you know,
there'd be unrest in heaven. Even the people up in heaven
would be saying, well, if he can be damned, what makes me
think I won't be after all this? If Christ can die for him, if
Christ can put away his sins and he ends up in hell, what
makes us think we're saved here? There would be unrest in heaven
over that. But there's not. Oh, the power of the blood of
Jesus Christ to save the very chief of sinners. How? Secure. Now look what he
says in verse seven. And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed. That's talking about every believer.
After thee, God establishing this covenant. I will establish
my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant. And get this, to be
a God unto thee. I will be their God. And they shall be my people. Paul put it this way with regard
to what we're looking at right now. If God be for us, who can
be against us? Now turn with me there for a
moment to Romans chapter eight, verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things? What things? We'll look up in
verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good, not to all men. Somebody says, I think it's
all going to work out. Well, that's right, but not necessarily
for good. I think there's a reason for
everything. Well, yeah. A lot of people use half this
verse, don't they? Reason for everything. Look what it says. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. To them who are thee
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow. For love is the meaning. He loved them before I formed
thee in the belly. I knew thee. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to his, the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then
he also called. Now stop for just a moment. How
do you know if he's called you? There's only one way you can
know for sure that he's called you. You believe that Jesus Christ
is the eternal son of God. The Christ, the prophet, the
priest, the king. You believe he is salvation. Now, that's what folks do whom
God has called. They believe the gospel. I think
it's sad. I've done it, you've done it.
We start looking for reasons in us to think, well, has he
called me? Well, if he has, I'll be this way, I'll be that way.
I'll feel this, I'll experience that. Forget that stuff. It's
a bunch of dumb. Do you believe the gospel? Right
now, I'm not asking you anything. Do you believe the gospel? He's
called you. He's called you with that irresistible. You see, he's for you. He's for
you in foreknowledge. He's for you in predestination.
He's for you in calling. This is what it is to have God
for you. I'll be to them a God. Let's
go on reading. Whom he called them, he also
justified. You stand before God without
sin, without guilt. This is what it is to have God
for you. That means he justified you. And you know that's his
work, it's not something you did. You know that. And whom he justified them, he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things if God be for us? I'll be to them a God. This is
the promise of the covenant. That's that God for you. My soul, God's for me. Someone
says, I'm not for you. You think I care? I mean, I want
you to like me. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather
be liked than disliked. But if God's before me, who can
be against me? Back to our text in Genesis 17. And I will establish, make binding
my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant. Now, where else do
we read those words? You remember David, don't you?
Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant. One that never had a beginning
and will never have an ending. Ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation.
Can you say that? This is all my desire. Though
he make it fit not to grow. Verse eight. And I will give unto thee and
to thy seed after thee. Remember, this is Abraham and
me. Abraham and me. I'm included in this thing. I'm
saved the same way Abraham was. That same covenant God made with
Christ that Abraham was included in, I am too. There's not a bit
of difference between the two of us in that sense. Saved the
precise same way. Jesus Christ alone. And I will give unto thee, and
to thy seed, after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger.
all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession." Now
that's not talking about the physical land. That's talking
about where's the land we dwell in? Christ. Where's the land
we abide in? Christ. Where's the place we
don't want to be anywhere else? Christ. God says, I will give
thee the land for an everlasting possession and he repeats this
promise again, I will be their God. Now, I'd like to close by
looking at a couple of scriptures in Jeremiah about God being our
God. Would you turn to Jeremiah 31? Jeremiah 31, beginning in verse 31. This passage
of scripture is quoted in Hebrews chapter 8. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant. with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers." It's talking about
the covenant of works. In the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. You
see, if all God does is take you by the hand, it won't do
you any good. You may be yanked around, but it won't do you any
good because your heart will be the same. He's gotta give
you a new heart, a heart that was not there before, a heart
that believes, a heart that loves God, a heart that hears the gospel. Verse 33, but this shall be the
covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel. After those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts
and write it in their hearts. and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no man,
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of
them unto the greatest, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Look in Jeremiah
32, verse 38. And they shall be my people. And I will be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way. That they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them. that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. And I will plant them in this
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the Lord, like
as I have brought out this great evil upon this people, so will
I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. Now God is God to all the seed
of Abraham, to all who believe. So hence the title. Abraham and me. Every believer can say that with
regard to this. Abraham and me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you and praise
you that you're a covenant making covenant keeping God and how
we thank you for the covenant you made with your son and how
we thank you that he agreed to bear all the responsibility of
the salvation of everyone you gave him. And Lord, we confess
from the very depths of our heart that this everlasting covenant
is all of our salvation. all of our desire. Lord, how
we thank you that it's ordered in all things and sure how we
thank you that it's an everlasting, eternal covenant made by the
eternal, altogether glorious, infinite God of glory. Lord,
would you save by your grace, everybody in this room, for the
sake of thy covenant that you made with your son, Jesus Christ
the Lord. And Lord, enable us all to look
to him only. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.