Abraham

Well, thank you, Jacob. I appreciate that very much. There's talent in this family, with Abigail playing the flute. We've known that Jacob can sing, so very well done. Thank you very much. You know, when God inspires a writer of the Bible to devote a number of chapters to one person, you know that there are lessons that God wants us to learn. Otherwise, he would not write so much about it.

Abraham is such a man. Beginning at the end of the 11th chapter in the book of Genesis, to Genesis 25.11, we read the story of Abraham. Abraham is mentioned 251 times in the Bible, and the word Abram is mentioned 61 times.

I believe that adds up to about 312 times, that he is mentioned throughout the Scriptures. There are many lessons that we can learn from his life, but there is a great lesson that God wants us to learn.

There is a great example that God wants us to learn through the life of Abraham. There are several major chapters in the New Testament that actually focus on Abraham and give us a little background so that when we go to the Old Testament, it will help us to understand what was going on, what was happening.

One of those chapters is Romans 4. Let's turn over to Romans 4 to begin with. Let's see what it is that we can learn about Abraham's life. We'll read in Romans 4, and we'll read in verse 1.

When I go out here and feed the hungry, give clothes off my back to the poor, cut my neighbor's yard, and say, Okay, I've done enough, that forgives my sins. I've been good. I've done a lot of good work, so therefore my sins are forgiven. It doesn't work that way.

What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He believed, and he was made right in the sight of God.

In him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. You go out here and work, you earn money. You work for somebody, work for a company, you're owed a wage.

Now, you and I are not... God doesn't owe us anything by our works when it comes to forgiveness. It is by grace. We know that our good works is where our reward comes in. God rewards us according to our works.

Verse 5, But to him who does not work, but believes on him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.

Notice, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is a man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

So what are we talking about here when he talks about the fact that all we have to do is believe, not have works?

Well, verse 7 and 8 helps to explain that, and this is what we read about David.

We are blessed, it says, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. What is lawlessness? Well, it's breaking God's law. What is sin?

1 John 3 and 4, sin is the transgression of God's law. How are our sins covered?

When does God forgive you of your sins? Is it not when you repent of them?

And what is repentance? But you stop doing it. You're sorry for what you've done. You quit it.

So in other words, you begin to obey God, right? You begin to serve Him.

But that's not what forgives your past sins. God expects us, if we're going to repent, to stop doing what's wrong.

It is through His grace that we are forgiven.

So He explains that very clearly. Will God forgive us of our sins if we don't repent and stop doing them?

And obviously the answer is no.

Now hold your place here because we're going to come back, but notice James 2.

James 2. James is called an epistle of straw by Martin Luther, or was called, put it that way.

Because in James, and this is James the Lord's brother, he talks about the fact that we have to keep and obey God's law.

So notice the story here, verse 14.

What is a prophet, my brother? James 2.14.

If someone says he has faith and does not have works, can faith save him?

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say to him, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, have faith that God will take care of you, He'll look after you, so you go off and don't worry about it, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what is a prophet?

Thus, also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

It's a dead faith.

You say you have faith. Faith does what? Without faith, it's impossible to please God, Hebrews 11.6. It is by faith that we are motivated to obey God.

If we don't have works, and if we don't follow up and do what God says, God says tithe.

I'll just use an example.

We say, I can't afford to tithe, because I don't have enough money.

We say we have faith in God, the God who blesses.

By our actions, we demonstrate our faith, whether it's a living faith or a dead faith.

Now, he goes on to say in verse 18, someone will say, Well, you have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

It is by our works, by our actions, by our deeds, by what we do, that we show our faith.

Do you believe there's one God? Well, you do well.

Even the demons believe and tremble. See, Satan and the demons know there's a God. They have no doubt. But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

It's a dead faith.

Which would you rather have? A dead battery or a live battery?

Would you rather have a battery that's got some juice in it, or one that's dead?

Well, the other day I came out to my car, jumped in, and that was it.

Normally it was going, but it was dead.

And so I called AAA, they came out, and guess what? They said, it's dead.

Well, in order for me to move the car, take some action, had to buy a battery.

The same thing is true when it comes to us.

If God looks at us and He says, is this person truly, does He truly believe in me?

Does He truly obey? Is He truly my son, my daughter?

And He doesn't see any obedience. Then our faith is dead.

We can talk about faith all day long.

Now notice verse 21, Scripture we want to come to.

Verse 21 here.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works?

Uh-oh. We just read in Romans 4 that he wasn't justified by works.

It says, When he offered Isaac his son on the altar, Do you see that faith was working together with his works? And by works faith was made perfect?

He did something that showed he believed God.

And we'll take a look at that story as we go along.

And the Scripture was fulfilled, which said, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Quoting the same Scripture, and he was called the friend of God. Do you see that a man is not justified by works, and not by faith only?

See, then a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Likewise was not Rahab the harlot, also justified by works, when she received the messenger and sent them out another way.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, you stop breathing, you're dead. Cut your blood vessels and drain all the blood out, you're dead.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Now, did Abraham, offering up his son, did that forgive his past sins?

We're talking about two different things, and the answer is no. But did it demonstrate that his faith was active and alive? That he truly believed God, and the answer is yes.

Obedience is a sign of our faith, whether it's alive or dead.

Now, come back to chapter 4 of the book of Romans again, and let's pick up the story in verse 9. Romans chapter 4 verse 9.

Now, says, does this blessedness then come upon the circumcision only?

In other words, the blessedness of having their sins forgiven, or upon the uncircumcised also?

For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. His faith was accounted to him for righteousness, because it led him to do what was right.

It led him to obey God, to serve God, and to do what was right, and not just his own selfish carnal inclinations.

Now then, it was accounted while...

How then was it accounted, he asks the question, while he was circumcised or uncircumcised?

Not while he was circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

See, he was not yet circumcised when God said this to him.

And he received the sign of circumcision to seal the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that it might be the father of those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.

In other words, so that the Gentiles could also be forgiven.

You don't have to be circumcised in the flesh to be forgiven of your sins.

And the father of circumcision to those who not only are the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

I want you to notice the expression.

This is something that hit me as I was studying over this.

That we are to walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had.

That Abraham plowed the territory, so to speak. He blazed the trail, just like Jesus Christ has.

But he is referred to as the father of the faithful.

And so we are to walk, we are to live in the same steps, in the same way, by following his example of faith.

So he is an example for us to see his example, how he walked, how he lived, what he did, and follow those points that are good.

Verse 13, For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

God came to Abraham while he was still near the Chaldees, and he said, Get out of your country, go to a country that I will show you, and follow me.

And he was willing to do that.

So it was a promise that was made to him.

For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect.

You are not an heir of eternal life, the kingdom of God, because of your race or nationality, because you are a Jew or an Israelite.

Or a German, or whoever you might be. It is not according to race or nationality, it is according to God's calling.

As we read, you might remember here the other day, in Romans 9, verse 6, Romans 9, 6, But it is not the word of God, but it is not, that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel, nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham.

But in Isaac your seed shall be called.

That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Who are the children of promise? Those who are true Christians, whom God has called, given his spirit, and made a part of his body. See, the Jews in Christ's day thought, well, they were special. They were, in one sense. But they were not converted. They stumbled over Jesus Christ.

Now, with that in mind, let's go back to Galatians 3. Book of Romans chapter 4 is one of the major chapters in the New Testament dealing with Abraham and giving you an insight. So is Galatians chapter 3. Galatians the third chapter, beginning in verse 5.

We find again that Abraham is an example of faith for all of us to follow.

Verse 5, Galatians 3, Therefore, he who supplies his spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham.

So you have to be of faith. You have to believe God. And as James says, it has to be a living faith. And the Scriptures for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all nations will be blessed. That's talking about the blessings that would come through Christ to all nations.

So those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Verse 15, Brother, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annulc it or adds to it. To Abraham and his seed were the promise made. And he does not say to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ. So the promise seed, through whom all nations would be blessed, was Jesus Christ. And then finally, notice in verse 26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. So we become the sons of God through faith, living faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now again, in order to be baptized, have your sins forgiven, you have to repent, you have to obey God. Romans 6, you could tie in with this. Verse 28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, in other words, if you truly are Christian, you are converted, you have God's Spirit, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Whatever the promise was to Abraham, you and I become heirs to that promise.

Now, with that in mind, I read that because what I've read to you here summarizes Abraham's life, as we'll go back and take a look at it. Let's take a look at Abraham's life as it's outlined in the Old Testament. Let's go back to Genesis 12. Genesis 12, and I want you to notice, beginning here in verse 1, as we read through this, put yourself in Abraham's position.

Think of what if you were Abraham?

One day, God appears to you and says, Abraham, this is what I want you to do. I want you to desert your family, leave the big city, and go out and live in tents. You might have, why should I do that? I've got everything I need right here. Abraham was a great mathematician. He was also a ruler. He was a very wealthy man. He was a traitor. And as a result, he lived in an area of the world where, in a sense, it would be like living in New York, Chicago, that type of thing today. There weren't that many people at this time, though. But let's notice in verse 1.

Now the Lord said to Abraham, Get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land I'll show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I'll make your name great, and you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you. I'll curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Now that's the promise of grace, I should say, of Christ, that through him, that all the families of the earth would be blessed.

So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Now notice, God appears, says, Get out of your country here, away from your family, and Abraham packs up, and he goes. Now that took a lot of faith. Now what if Abraham said, I know you said this, but I feel more comfortable here. I'm going to stay right here. Well, guess what? Would his faith be living or dead? He had living faith because God said to it, and guess what?

He believed God. And when he believed God, he did what? He took action. He obeyed God. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him, and Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abraham took Sarai, his wife, Lot his brother, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan, so they came to the land of Canaan.

Now, again, to walk off and leave your family. Your uncles, your aunts, who knows how many relatives and families he had there. But he did. He walked off. He left. He went where God told him to go. And in verse 7, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants I will give this land, this is after he had arrived, and there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountains east of Bethel.

He pitched his tent with Bethel on his west and Ai on his east, and there he built an altar to the Lord, and he called on the name of the Lord. So he worshipped God. It was okay to build altars at this time. There were no Levites.

God hadn't called Israel. There was no Israel yet. No Levitical priesthood. So the servants of God would build an altar, and then they would offer up a sacrifice to God. But let's notice that even though Abraham did this, he wasn't perfect, Jacob. He had some problems. And let's notice it here in verse 11. It came to pass when he was close to Egypt. Verse 10 tells us there was a famine, a great famine. So he went down to Egypt. Then he said to Sarai, his wife, indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore will happen when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

So please say you are my sister. A half-truth. She was a half-sister. So say you are my sister, that it may be well with me, for your sake, that I may live because of you. So it was when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. How could they do this? How could they know she was very beautiful if she was covered head to toe and had her face covered in all of this?

Obviously they were able to look at her. Now Abraham is 75, she is around 65. I'll use 65. You're old, do you feel that you're beautiful? Well, sure you are. Well, she apparently was very beautiful. And so consequently, they took her and put her in the king's harem. So we see that Abraham was not perfect. He feared for his life, and he had some major lessons that he was going to have to learn. And even though he believed God came into the land of Canaan, believed what God had promised, he didn't always have faith in every area. Have you noticed that in some areas you can be so strong, and then in other areas you're not?

What one person might stumble over, such as tithing another person, that's a piece of cake for them, something else is their weakness, something else might be what they stumble over or have difficulty with. And so it was with Abraham. We'll find he had a propensity when his life was at stake or he thought it was, go tell a lie. Say, you're my sister, and God will be protected that way. Now in chapter 13, beginning in verse 7, chapter 13 verse 7, we find that there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock.

So we find that Abraham said, okay, you pick and choose where you want to go, which he did, and they separated. Now you find that Lot went down to the city around Sodom. As verse 13 says, the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. And the Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him, lift up your eyes now. Look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, westward. For all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants would also be numbered.

Arise, walk in the land, through its length and its width, for I give it to you. So God, as he goes along, elaborates more and more the promise to Abraham. And he says, look, I'm going to give this country, this land, to you. So again, God promised to Abraham. He reminded Abraham of the promise. Now, what kind of promise do you and I have? Has not God promised us the kingdom?

What does Matthew 6, 33 say? Seek you first the kingdom of God in his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So God constantly reminded and encouraged Abraham. He didn't seem that many times, probably more than we know, but he told him what he was going to do for him if he obeyed. And so Abraham was obeyed God, and so God constantly added to it and reminded him, I'm going to do this for you. I'll do this. And I'm sure that Abraham said, okay, I'm waiting.

Another year passed. Hey, Lord, another year has gone by. I'm still waiting. Another year goes by. I'm still waiting. I'm out here. When are you going to do this? You promised me. Well, I think sometimes we're the same way or we're not. The kingdom is coming. The resurrection is coming. Christ is going to return to the earth. And here we are. We keep waiting. We hope it's in our lifetime. We hope we're alive when that takes place. But we don't know exactly when it's going to take place. So every year, what does God do?

God says, okay, go to the feast. And I want you to be reminded once again of my plan, my purpose. We go through the whole Holy Day cycle. God explains how it all is going to come about, how it happens. And so He's going to give us eternal life. So we need to constantly remind ourselves. And that's why I've said on numerous occasions, you and I need to wake up every morning. And somehow you need to remind yourself, before you go to work, before you do anything, why am I alive?

Why am I alive again today? God's given me another day to draw close to Him, to develop a proper relationship with Him. Now let's notice in chapter 14, beginning in verse 2, you'll notice here that it came to pass on verse 1, in those days that there were four kings that came down.

They made war with Berah, king of Sodom. And it goes on to mention a number of kings.

Now many don't realize, well, what was going on here? You had an alliance of Assyrian rulers, the four kings.

And they were coming down into what we would call the area of Palestine. And they were going to take that area over. They actually had them pay here a fee. And then they rebelled against them. This war takes place. And then we find that Lot, and everything he possessed, was stolen and was carried off. And when Abraham found out about that, he came down to rescue Lot. And he did, and he destroyed the armies of these invading forces. Now what most people don't realize is that God used Abraham to bring about the decline of the rising Assyrian powerhouse at that time. And destroying the armies of the four leading kings. This allowed, then, Egypt to prosper, which they did. And you'll find that Egypt became the dominant nation for the next few hundred years. And Abraham's descendants could grow and multiply and become a great nation.

And at one time, Abraham was a ruler in the Assyrian area. And so he probably knew some of these individuals who they were. Now another interesting fact, by the fact that he rescues Lot, he destroys the armies of these invading kings. He then brings back all of the possessions that have been stolen. And he helped Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though they refer to evil people, by his delivering them, they come back and they continue their evil practices. Now let's notice here in verse 18, another interesting fact, that at this time, verse 17, it says, The king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Sheva, which is the king's valley, after his return from the defeat of Shedor Lomor, and the kings were with him, and Melchizedek, king of Salem. This is the one who later on became Jesus Christ, the god of the Old Testament, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of the Most High God, or God Most High, and he blessed him and said, Bless be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and bless be the God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hands, and he gave him a tithe of all. So, Abraham turns around and gives to God a tithe of everything. Notice in verse 21, the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself. And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth. I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap. But he did give God a tithe, 10%. So we find here that as a result of Abraham's actions, Sodom and Gomorrah continued on. Now, he could have not intervened. These kings could have come in, taken over the cities, and maybe you have even destroyed them. But it was not yet time. It was not yet the point where God was going to do that. Now in chapter 15, God establishes a covenant with Abraham. Verse 15, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid. Abram, I am your shield, your exceeding great reward.

Now, as you read through these, there are certain key elements I think you need to pick up on. Are we ever afraid, as we walk this way of life, perhaps whatever it might be, afraid of losing our job, afraid of the future, afraid that we're not going to be taken care of? Whatever the thing may be, God says, Look, I'm your shield, and your exceeding great reward. But Abraham said, Lord God, what will you give me? Saying, I go childless. You made these promises, but I'm still childless. And the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

And Abram said, Look, you've given me no offspring. So he doesn't say it once, he says it twice. You've given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.

But he brought him outside and said, Look now towards heaven. Count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. So he reiterates the promise all over again. Now notice, he believed in the Lord. Now this is what we read back in the New Testament. And he accounted it to him for righteousness. He believed God, he did what was right. If you and I believe God, do we do what is right?

Do we do what God tells us? See, that's what this is talking about. It's not talking about how your sins are forgiven. He believed God, and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Then he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of her of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?

And so then God told him to bring certain animals. They were divided. And these were going to be burnt as a sign of a covenant. Verse 17, And it came to pass, when the sun went down, it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between these pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

And so God said, I am going to give it to you. So God made a covenant. Now I want you to notice, Abraham still has to look to the future, doesn't he? He has to look to the promise. He didn't receive the promise at that point. God says, I am going to do this, and I am going to do it through your own child, comes from your own body. And he believed God, but he still wondered, well, how are you going to do it? And God had not done it yet. So he believed and he obeyed God. Now, you and I, brethren, are in somewhat the same position.

He was looking forward that God was going to bless all nations through him. Why? Because of his seed there would one come through whom all nations would be blessed, Jesus Christ. Now, you and I accept that as a fate of complete, that Christ did come. We look back, but guess what? We have to look back in faith, don't we?

You never saw Christ. You never shook his hand. You never heard him speak. That was almost 2,000 years ago. And yet, we look back in faith. Abraham had to look forward in faith. So we both have to look in faith. We look forward to the promises being fulfilled in the future of the kingdom of God. We haven't received those yet. Abraham looked to the future and he did not receive those promises in his lifetime. God did provide his seed, as we will see here. In chapter 16, we find that Abraham and Sarai try to do things in their own way. They got a little anxious. No baby, no child. How is God going to do this?

Sarai said to Abram in verse 2, See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. So Abraham heeded the voice of Sarai. Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar and made the Egyptians, gave her to her husband Abram.

To be his wife, Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan. Okay, she's about 75. He's 85. He goes in, Hagar gets pregnant, Ishmael is born, and guess what? Hagar begins to despise Sarai. He despises her, or she despises her. Look, I had a baby, you can't get pregnant. You know, I'm closer to your husband. He loves me. All these things have begun to happen when you've got two women in the kitchen.

And so Sarai begins to treat her in a bad way. There's a rivalry that takes place. In verse 16, Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. So he was 86 years old. Guess what? 14 more years until Isaac comes along. Now, what was the big mistake here? Well, the big mistake was they tried to work it out their own way. They reasoned. Well, God hasn't given us a son yet. We could do this through Hagar, and this will fulfill the promise.

God said, Abraham, isn't it going to come from your seed? So if you're the Father, that fulfills what God said. But that's not all that God told him. Why did God wait so long to give him a son? The answer to that question is the great lesson of faith that you and I need to learn. One of the great lessons from Abraham's life, chapter 17.

Abraham was 99 years old, and the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me, and be blameless. So he was asked to be blameless before God. I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Abraham fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations. And no longer shall your name be called to Abraham, but your name shall be called Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations.

And then he also changed Sarai's name to Sarah. And God told him, notice verse 15, God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be from her. And Abraham fell on his face, and laughed.

This is really funny. My wife, Sarah, having a baby, ha ha! He falls on his face and laughs and said in his heart, Shall child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Old that Ishmael, I live before you. Still, not really trusting what God says. God said, look, this is how I'm going to do it.

And he still said, well, I don't know. Let's do it this way, the way they tried to work it out. And God said, no! Not going to do it that way. Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son. And you shall call his name Isaac. Can I establish my covenant with him? And so he believed that God was going to fulfill the promise, but he was still trying to work it out his own way.

If we ever tried to do the same thing, work things out our own way, instead of trusting what God said to do, well, chapter 18, you find that God appears to him again. This is the incident leading up to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we read back here in verse 9, Then he said, where is Sarah, your wife? God asked Abraham. He said, oh, she's in the tent.

And he said, I will certainly, verse 10, return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah, your wife, will have a son. Sarah was listening at the tent door. So she wasn't out there, but boy, she was listening. You wanted to hear everything that was being said. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of child-bearing.

Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, after I have grown old. Shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh? And why did she say, Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old? Notice verse 14. Is anything too hard for the Lord? If you get nothing out of the sermon today, remember that verse. Is anything too hard for God to do? You need a job. You're sick. You need to be healed. You don't know if you can afford to tithe. Whatever it might be, if God says to do it, then He wants us to step out and do it. In faith, living faith, in trust, and to believe.

Now, why did God wait so long to give them a child? Well, the answer is verse 14. They had to learn a great lesson. They had to learn that God was going to do what He said He would do, but He would do it in His time. We sometimes get anxious, and we say, God, I need your blessing. Now, yesterday, you're immediate, and we want to work things out ourselves. This is the great lesson that we have to learn in our own lives.

God doesn't always do things according to our time schedule, but He will do it according to His time schedule. Is anything too hard for God to bless us, to heal us, to protect us, to look after us, to give us eternal life? Abraham and Sarah had to learn to let God work it out and not try to work it out for Him. This is why God selected the timing for Isaac to be born.

It depended upon God on His intervention. Isaac was to be born through faith, through trusting God, relying on God, doing it God's way, and believing God, not by their own works and their own efforts. It was a great lesson they had to learn. So, you can drop down to verse 17. Notice an interesting verse. The Lord said, The word known here means to learn to know.

To learn to know. To find out. To discern. To know by experience. God called Abraham. God made the promises to Abraham. But was Abraham going to remain faithful? How did God know? He waited 25 years to see if Abraham would continue to obey. If Abraham would continue to be faithful, if he would hang on, or would he give up? Would he quit? And Abraham showed that he was willing to obey God. In chapter 19, we have the destruction of Sod and Gomorrah.

Notice chapter 20, verse 2. Again, we find that Abraham goes down. We have a Bimalak, the king of Gira. Again, he asks Sarah to lie for him. She's my sister. God appeared to have been like in a dream and said, You're a dead man. You've got this man's wife. Better give her back. Also, verse 7, he's a prophet. Bimalak said, I didn't know. He told me it was his sister. He lied to me. He confronts Abraham. Abraham said, Notice, I did this because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place.

They will kill me on account of my wife. You find that God had closed up all the wounds of the women. They weren't able to have children there for a period of time. Abraham, again, even at this point, still did not necessarily trust God in this area. If God was able to save him alive because Sarah would lie, would not God have saved him and protected him if he'd come down and just told the truth?

This is my wife. You better stay away from her because my God will get you. He'll protect us. But he didn't do that. Again, he compromised. So again, it shows that we can be strong in certain areas. In other areas, we have to really strive to overcome. Now, in chapter 21, notice, The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah, as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived. God had to perform a miracle. He had to intervene here on Sarah's behalf. And she bore Abraham, his son, in his old age, at the set time, which God had spoken. He called him Isaac. Verse 5, Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. So God intervened and performed a miracle that Sarah would have a child. And then we come to chapter 22. Chapter 22 in the book of Genesis. And let's notice the example here. Genesis 22. Now, it came to pass, after these things, that God tested Abraham.

And said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. Now, as you read this, remember, God will put every one of us to the test. God must know our metal. He must know our character. He must know our faithfulness. He must know our willingness to obey him. Put him first. He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. Go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early. He didn't get up late and drag his feet and say, Well, I don't want to do this. He rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him. And Isaac, his son, and he split the wood, burnt offering. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, saw the place, and Abraham said to the young man, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship and notice. And we, we will come back to you.

Now, he knew that God said to sacrifice him, but he said, We will come back to you. Why? Because he believed that God would resurrect him from the dead. Just an example, perfect example of what God the Father did with his own son.

The word test here means to test or to try, to prove. In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, you might remember this. 1 Corinthians 10 and 13, God will put us all to the test. He will try us all. No one will get into his kingdom, that he does not have absolute, total confidence in their character, in their willingness to follow him, no matter what. God is said to try man. You hear the word here in the New Testament, parazo.

God is said to try man by adversity to test their faith, confidence in him. God wants to know, Do we have trust and confidence in him? That's what faith is all about.

Men are said to attempt God by doubting or distrusting his power and his aid. Do we trust God? Do we trust his power?

After Abraham obeyed God, notice what God said. He was willing to kill his son. He was about to kill him. In the angel of the Lord, verse 11, Genesis 22, he called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, so he said, Here I am. He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know.

He didn't know until this point. Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Again, to know here is a Hebrew word to mean to find out through experience, to discern, to learn to know. So, by all of the adversity that Abraham and Sarah had gone through, all the tests, all the trials, God eventually came to know, This man will follow me. He was willing to give up the dearest thing in his life for me to obey me. When you and I were baptized, guess what? We said, we are willing to give up the dearest thing. Our own life, our mate, our family, anything that God comes first. And then this Christian experience is putting us to the test to see if we truly are willing to do that. That's what it's all about. See if we're truly willing to obey God. So, God knew that he feared him, that he would obey him. Let's finish over here in Hebrews 6 and verse 10. Hebrews 6. And I want you to notice, here's another summary statement about Abraham and also about us. We find that God is not unjust to forget your works and your labor of love, which you have shown towards his name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister, that you serve. That's what that word means. That you are serving whatever capacity, opportunities you have. We desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, and that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promise. So, we are encouraged, don't become sluggish. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely, blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. So, brethren, you and I must patiently endure. That's one of the great lessons that Abraham and Sarah had to learn, to endure, to be patient.

For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of the dispute. Thus, God determined to show more abundantly the heir's promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, and he took an oath, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. So, we have a hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil. That's a completely different story. We'll have to get into it sometime. So, we have the hope of salvation, the hope of the kingdom of God, the hope of the resurrection. All of that is set before us. The promise to Abraham of eternal life, and how, through Christ, this blessing would be extended to all nations. We find in Hebrews 11 that, ultimately, Abraham looked forward to what? To the new Jerusalem, to the city whose maker and builder is God.

So, Abraham and Sarah were human. They made mistakes. But they were called by God. God worked with them. Abraham died when he was 175, I think. So, God called him. He lived 100 years in obedience to God.

Sarah was more like 120, I forget 3, somewhere around there, when she died. She obeyed God for many years. But they had to learn to endure, to remain faithful, and to learn that nothing is too hard for God. If he says he will do it, he will do it. So, brethren, we are Christians, we know that, but we are also Abraham's seed and heirs of the promise.