In this sermon, Chuck Misler focuses on Genesis chapters sixteen and seventeen. He begins with a prayer, asking for understanding and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Misler emphasizes the importance of studying the Bible without being limited by chapter divisions, as they can sometimes disrupt the flow of the message. He also highlights the supernatural basis for God's promises and the freedom from bondage that comes through Jesus Christ. Throughout the sermon, Misler references various Bible verses, including Galatians 4:4 and 1 Corinthians 13, to support his teachings.

This is the 14th study in the book of Genesis conducted by Chuck Missler the subject of this tape Genesis chapters 16 and 17 Well, I think what we should do is just jump in with a word prayer father we just praise you For your living word We thank you father that you have entrusted us With this treasure we ask you father now this evening by the power of your Holy Spirit to open It to our understanding that we might understand better the lessons that you have for us in the life of Abraham and That you would just help us appropriate these things to our personal walk that we might Be more pleasing in thy sight that we might grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ In whose name we pray amen We're Right in the middle of the life of Abraham and It's interesting Abra if you were going to mention one Old Testament person that is probably By some scale of reckoning the most important personage in the Old Testament with of course the exception of Jesus Christ You'd be very tempted to pick Abraham You can think of Moses and David and so forth, but you could probably build a case that By some weighting concept that Abraham is pretty important. In fact, it's only because of the writer in the book of Hebrews Who attaches more importance to Melchizedek than Abraham that I teased you with that last time that Melchizedek is by definition from the book of Hebrews More a higher order more important than than Abraham but getting back to our kinds of perspectives Abraham certainly significant He is known as the father of the faithful Friend of God and he has a lot of different titles that are uniquely his in a sense and As we talk about Abraham as we study him We're inclined to see him on a pedestal We see him chronicled in the book of Hebrews Substantially back three different ways three different times mentioned in terms of his faithfulness We See him referenced again and again in Galatians 3 and Romans 4 and where have you as Example of faith and what we are likely to do which is mistake Which is a mistake is to assume that he's some kind of example that we could never attain to and One of the things that I'm convinced the Lord would have us understand is Is how Abraham blew it and that's a source of encouragement Now we dwelt a little bit of that in Chapter 12 when he was first called How in fact he didn't initially respond like he should have Lord told him to get out of his country and kindred and leave his family behind and so forth and he didn't do that He moved up river up from where the Kelly's up to Haran took his family with him Wasn't until his father died that he moved and even then he took a lot with him the Lord had to intervene to get them separated and so we can we begin to sense that Abraham is imperfect and Praise God that he is because in in his failures we can better understand that what God is doing in Abraham Is teaching us and how God himself operates with the believer? We're going to let's take a look just in in summary fashion of at least six different ways That Abraham was tested just so far The first test he had was a test of his fervor really it dealt with his ties of his nature Where he was instructed to leave his country in his kindred That was his first test hey recall God called Abraham an idol-worshipping Gentile to out of the Ur of the Cowleys to leave this country and his kindred and so forth and I suggest that those ties are pretty deep. They are in all of us to our families our country Very deep roots. God said leave it all behind go to a land that I will show you So that was his first test and I think I would give him the 50% on that Okay You might say well, we'll give him 95 because he ultimately ended up doing what he was supposed to the second test was really a Test of his reliance on the Lord that the look with his confidence the Lord was sufficient because the Lord introduced a famine in the situation The stress of circumstances and how did Abraham fare under that test Well, he went down to Egypt what harm can that cause we'll find that out tonight harm that and God and That was I'd give him a zero on that one. He blew it Went down to Egypt and not only embarrassed himself so that the that he was condemned by an unbelieving King in terms of being dishonored a liar and Having exposed his wife to compromise bad scene He also picks up a handmaiden Hagar that leads to trouble in tonight's lesson The third time Was perhaps a test of his humility that was when there was strife between Abraham and Lot and I should say the herdsmen and Here Abraham does pretty well. I'd give him a hundred percent. He says hey a lot. We got problems We can't both reside in the same place because of the strength of our herds If you go to the left, I'll go to the right if you go to the right, I'll go to the left But hey, you call it. We'll split up and That was I think a I think he did pretty well there. I think we'd give him a pretty good grade The fourth test is what a courage one of his a test of his boldness The kings of the north had wiped out the kings of the south and taken lot in his possessions captive and Here were an alliance of five kings was insufficient to Prevail over these people Abraham rouses his own trained army and goes after him and succeeds That takes guts That takes guts Setting aside the fascinating lessons that here's a father of the faithful that maintained a trained army You know just 318 guys born under his own roof interesting I Would give a hundred percent on that one. I think you did pretty well The next Test is probably One of his maybe cupidity or greed or what-have-you That had to do with the offer of a reward by the king of Sodom where Abraham declined We talked about that last time. I'd say he did a hundred percent there. He honored God pretty well I don't want anyone to say that you made Abraham rich, right? That's pretty good. I think you did okay on that one We get tonight to a test that we're going to spend quite a bit of time on that's his whole business of Hagar God had promised Abraham an heir and Abraham somehow came to the conclusion that God needed help and We all will do this We'll laugh at Abraham But at the same time we'll all will do this and if we can take away the benefit of tonight's lesson We will have had the evening well spent but Abraham as you know takes at Sarah suggestion takes Hagar as a handmaid and of course That's a turns out to be a bad scene We have the benefit of that still today And we'll talk about that as the evening progresses, but I would say that Abraham blew that one substantially So he's got one tie maybe and two minuses and three pluses and that's not bad What's the point? We are going from Haran to Mariah We're going or if you will from the or the Calvary's to Mariah and we're getting there by a path of Successes and failures and every time he blows it he learns and he gets to the point where after he in effect blows it with his kindred and He blows it with a famine He does pretty well with the herdsmen from the slaughter of the Kings the dealing of the king of Sodom He does fumble the heir thing But the climax of Abraham is in chapter 22 when he offers his son Isaac on Mount Moriah Don't see Abraham just at Moriah. We're climaxing. We're building up to that point recognize that he's had a lot of stumbles and Falls along the way you and I do too and we need to study Abraham from that point of view put yourself in his shoes He's not some kind of a guy on a pedestal that We read about and say ooh, isn't he neat? He's a guy that's paving that he's he's straight blazing the trail for you And I because every one of these things you and I are going to face We are going to have to we're called a separation God is asking for us to have a funeral in our life It may not be our father in Abraham's case but it's if something that we're tied to that God wants is separated from and won't be easy and Either come earlier or later there earlier. They're less painful. It'll be Called a separation. We'll have the stress of circumstances. It may not be a famine But there will be the Egypt nearby that we can retreat to if we're not willing to rely on the Lord's sufficiency and There'll be strife. We'll have an opportunity To put our rights on the altar before the Lord. Let the Lord deal with it We can back off and let the let those rights let let our humility as a witness Make the glorify the Lord Jesus Christ There'll be opportunities for boldness and courage. There'll be an opportunity to take up arms Against the cause that the Lord is sanctioned Those will occur also Interestingly enough. Those are the cases where probably you don't fumble as much It's easier to die for the Lord and live for him. They take that sword before. Hey, that's great. That's great But If I said the Antichrist is outside, come on, let's go get him guys We'd all even go but I said by the way, the Rapture won't be for another 11 years You got to pay off the second mortgages and so forth. You say oh, you're not kidding So it's all you know Somebody I think once quipped that the Christian walk it's more important about life after birth rather than life after death And what is that life after you're born again? That's the that's the test and of course, we'll have opportunities for greed and And those kinds of things and we'll but most important tonight's lesson is this whole issue of self-will Abraham trying to help the Lord Lord promised him an heir and and so Abraham is going to help the Lord give Abraham an heir and We'll have Much to say about that tonight Something else we'll try to sensitize ourselves to as we go is to notice the pattern that God deals in we've noticed that With Abraham he was called he was obedient and then the Lord revealed himself The revelation of the Lord is a response to obedience To a call and we often think the other way around That we often miss the fact that hey there's this God revealed himself to Abraham terrific He did it after Abraham obeyed not before and we'll see that pattern throughout the scripture that revelation comes as a result of obedience and Something else we'll notice if we watch carefully that these trials these tests of our faith always occur Right on the heels of a blessing Wow, the Lord really blessed me today terrific. Watch out Elisha wanted so Elisha wanted Elijah's mantle so badly and he no sooner got up and he had to use it Okay, Solomon wanted wisdom and he got it just in the nick of time before these two women started fighting over the baby and so forth and The Lord that was anointed by the Holy Spirit as baptism and right there He's in the wilderness 40 days and and being tested by Satan You can always see that right on the heels of some outpouring or some super blessing right? It's like you're being set up Because right after that There's a test. There's always an exam. Okay, and it follows right on the heels of that. So it's a an observation Um Okay, let's we tonight we have made it amazingly enough to chapter 16 If my reckoning is correct Some of you may feel I've been pretty shoddy treatment of 15, but that was last week tonight we're gonna strike and start fresh on 16 and move forward and We're plunging right into this question of Sarah and Hagar I think the way to do this probably is To just read through chapter 16 and then back up and pick up what we're going to try to to make note of Genesis chapter 16 verse 1 now Sarah Abraham's wife bore him no children and she had a handmaid an Egyptian whose name was Hagar Now we all jump to the conclusion and I think it's valid. She picked this gal up while I were down in Egypt we don't know that but that's a presumption that I'll trade on And sorry, I said unto Abraham behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing I Pray thee go in unto my maid It may be that I may obtain children by her and Abraham hearken to the voice of Sarah now There's a something here. This may sound very strange to you. First of all, I think most of you girls can appreciate Especially in that culture how important bearing children was I mean that was the big that was a big deal Now it's not a small issue today But at that time it was amplified by several orders of magnitude a bigger issue than today, especially for Abraham whose passion and desire was for Children and whose destiny Apparently it was manifest by the Lord promises to him that he would have seed back three different kinds so You know, it's three different kinds since you know dust of the earth sand of the sea stars in heaven And you can make a study of that because they're not some would hold that they're not the same thing They might not just three different idioms. There's mystically means something different But any case the point is it was a big deal and Sarah's beginning to realize, you know she's passed the age of bearing and she has she's been barren and and So she's concerned now one of the new made the the procedure. She's suggesting may strike you as strange But we have good archaeological evidence that this was Commonly done under the Code of Hammurabi at least in the ancient cultures that if the mistress of the house was barren a Valid approach to providing legal progeny to the patriarch of the family was to use the wife's handmaid She was sort of a pinch hitter if you will a stand-in mother, okay Now it strikes us as strange and but I mean you need to understand in the context of the story That was the way things were done. This wasn't something that Sarah came up with That's just a neat idea. Let's try it Okay, this is something that there's good evidence to believe that this was broadly done in the in those ancient cultures So, I think that's worth mentioning so she she suggests it and Okay And Abraham harkens to her figures, okay good that sounds pretty neat and Sorry, I Abraham's wife took Hagar her made the Egyptian Fascinates me how often it's mentioned and emphasized that she was an Egyptian Egyptians were offspring of him the line that was cursed by Noah That may or may not be relevant for those of you that are studies students of Ham Shem and Japheth might find that interesting Okay Those of you I think we I think we kicked off that idea back in Genesis 10 that those three strains are very relevant Not the least of which all three strains are at the cross Sham was at the cross in terms of the Jews Japheth was in the cross in the form of the Romans. Where was ham? Simon of Cyrene was a hammock But anyway moving on Hagar her made the Egyptian after Abraham had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan to give her to her husband Abraham to be his wife Now he'd been there ten years. That seems like a long time Let me tell you it's gonna be another 13 before he achieves his destiny So the Lord is trying his patience Lord gave him a promise expecting him to be patient ten years have gone by and he quite naturally Takes matters in his own hand. I see naturally in the sense that he's figuring G. Maybe I haven't heard the Lord, right? There is a procedure by which I can have seed Perhaps that's what the Lord would have me do and You can build a very solid substantial case that Abraham was it was alright This was commonly done. It was a legal procedure. It would give him legal heirs of his own issue What's what can be wrong with that Gave her to Abraham Her husband Abraham to be his wife To be his wife that the marriage is going to be annulled by the Lord shortly Because the Lord sends Hagar back to be her handmaid not to be Abraham's wife But anyway, that's what Sarah had set up verse 4 and he went in unto Hagar and she conceived and When she saw that she had conceived her mistress was despised in her eyes Now you can just visualize that human nature being what it is Verse 5 and Sarah said unto Abraham the wrong done me be upon thee Now you guys, you know, you know, you guys passed tried to pass the buck on Eve at the garden Genesis chapter 3 Well here in Genesis chapter 16 the gals trying to pin the rose back on the guy it's began human nature Incidentally the rose doesn't stick Says I have given my maid into thy bosom and when she saw that she had conceived I was despised in her eyes the Lord judge between me and thee Now Abraham said unto Sarah behold thy maid is in thy hand due to her as it pleaseth thee Now incidentally, that's bad news, too While on the one hand, I don't think it's fair for Sarah to try to duck the responsibility of the scene because she promoted the idea Abraham here is abrogating his roles ahead of the household So you can make something of that if you are inclined to But in any case The first finishes and when she is Sarah dealt hardly with her she fled from her face. So Hagar Heavy with child splits because of the pressure Okay Now this is interesting, you know, we're before we're all through we're gonna give Hagar a pretty tough time and we're gonna also because we're you know promoters of Isaac and all of that and Jacob and all that we're gonna sort of give Ishmael the back of our hand You know just it's an it's an it's our nature to do so as we read the thing and we get very spiritually proud about how Neat Isaac was and here's Ishmael, you know the the son of the flesh and all that stuff I want you to see the other side of that and notice what happens in verse 7 The angel of the Lord Who can that be? Who's that some Arab deity? The father of all Islam No None other than Jesus Christ himself and if you don't know that take a concordance someday and Study all the appearances of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament The technical term is a theophany and you can make a pretty strong case that it's there These are the Old Testament appearances of Jesus Christ. We won't about that whole thing tonight The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness by the fountain in the way to shore Now this is very interesting I Suggest to you. This is the first woman at the well the same guy later on when he's in a Incarnate as a man Has a date with a gal in Samaria The disciples are going off for do some shopping and he's by the well and he has a very in John chapter 4 He has this very interesting episode with the woman at the well in Samaria We're get very interested at women by wells shortly, but we'll come back to that Anyway, and he said Hagar Sarah's maid knows the form of address from work Camus thou and where wilt thou go and she says I flee from the face of my mistress Sarah and the angel the Lord said unto her return to thy mistress and Submit thyself under her hands She Also has a destiny to perform She also has some patience to be tried and it'll be some time before she goes her way when she's properly sent but the moment go back under the submission of her mistress Verse 10 the angel Lord said unto her I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude and Angel Lord said unto her behold thou art with child and thou shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Ishmael because the Lord hath heard thy affliction and He will be a wild man Incidentally to be frank with you. The Hebrew says a wild-ass man Now I don't mean that in the way we use it vernacular But that's that's actually what it means a very very Wild untamed Nomadic Existence that's very interesting to see that destiny validly ascribed to his progeny for 4,000 years Think about it His hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him and he shall dwell over against against the face of all his brethren Not in the presence of the word is stronger and implies adversary or conflict And she called the name of the Lord who spoke unto her Excuse me. Yeah, she called the name of the Lord who spoke on her thou God seest me For she said have I also Here seen him that seeth me Wherefore the well was called Beer lahai roi beer meaning. Well, the hot lahai roi Behold it is between kid ish and Barrett and Hagar bore Abraham a son and Abraham called the son's name whom Hagar bore Ishmael and Abraham was four score and six years when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham Okay It's interesting we have here a first mention whenever we have a first mention it's interesting to make a study out of that We had an opportunity last week, but I sort of postponed it But maybe I give you a mention like when we had the birds remember Abraham Was chasing the birds away from the off from that from the Sacrifices when he cut the heifer in half the birds came and kept having to chase them away now if you're curious about birds I Submit that you might find it fun to take a concordance and check on the roles of birds Throughout the scripture. There's a principle if you want a fancy word, it's called a principle of expositional constancy What it really means is is that there's a tendency in the scripture we discover we infer by observing to use a symbol or an idea consistently Leaven is used consistently Levitically speaking as a symbol of sin or that which is bad or false doctrine in both the Old New Testaments Birds are interesting We have the Birds that Abraham was chasing away because they were adverse to his purposes and making the covenant in the last chapter of the previous chapter we also have Joseph's dream in chapter 40 that will come to where the birds devour In the issue of the baker and the wine steward if you recall the birds devour there in Daniel chapter 4 Nebuchadnezzar Symbolically speaking cuts down the tree. That was the home of birds, which is the disruption of Babylon and What makes this perhaps interesting to most of us that have been revelation in Matthew chapter 13 we have the kingdom of God that is supposed to be a mustard bush become a tree that becomes the The home of the birds that try to pick the seed from the highways, right? Who are what? Ministers of Satan the Lord tells us in that chapter, right and So we have a anyway you can you can take a look at birds throughout the scripture in this case Taking another totally different departure. We're talking about wells Now we can find a lot of thing I suggest you might want to do a study of wells and we would start right here in Genesis 16 Which is the first mention of a well it's by a fountain in The wilderness where God is revealed to Hagar and God opened her eyes There now What is it what is water in the scripture mystically speaking symbolically speaking Oh Holy Spirit that's correct. But what else? Well, yes, but by what? The word there you go the word exactly the water is used two ways to be as a symbol of the Holy Spirit But also of the word now you're clean through the washing of the water by the word which has won your pieces to to and on on visions all the way through uses that example and Indeed the water and the labor in the tabernacles for cleansing. That's that was that was the liquid sea molten sea speaking of the brass labor and it becomes the the Shining sea the glassy sea in Revelation Here we're washing in his word there. We're standing on it Holy Spirit using a pun as a practical matter Okay, if we move to Genesis 21 we find Hagar again by a well And we can draw an analogy and we will when we get there to John 6 the woman at the well in Samaria We can also find in Genesis 29 Jacob is by a well and the sheep are gathered At the well and water next well occurs in numbers 21 verses 16 and 17 where both Moses Moses is there and he has Israel gathered by this well, and they are to sing to it We call praises to the well what's happening there typologically who are they singing praises to You don't sing praises to an inanimate object admittedly. They are with the well what's in view praising Lord and if we get if we if we took the trouble to get in the second Samuel 17 Jonathan and Ahmad's hide in a well at an robo They're under pursuit. They hide under a well and they cover it and put corn on it. So no one finds them And we're reminded of Colossians 3 3 where we are our life is hid in whom? Jesus Christ exactly So what you can do with wells if you're interested is follow those through and you will probably come up with seven at least seven Relationships that wells have with you Okay, Christ is of course the living Word God reveals himself Through and in that word our hearts are opened by that By God there the sheep are watered there Israel is gathered there by the well We are told to sing praises there. It also affords us protection security so That may not be useful to you Maybe it is the point of that's what you can do if you want to take something like the word Well, see where it appears and see what spiritual lessons accrue as we go Couple of things before we get into a broader view here up verses 7 through 9 there You notice that the Lord addresses Hagar as Sarah's maid What he's doing there is disallowing the marriage she's not addressed as Abraham's wife as As Abraham and Sarah intended in verse 3. He's just saying hey, you're still Sarah's maid and he also says you got to return for another four chapters You got to stay there until Genesis 21 verses 12 through 14 or putting another way. You've got a thing around for I believe it's 13 years 13 years think about now One point here it's interesting that Hagar will be the subject of the Lord's grace But never at the expense of righteousness The Interesting thing we learned through the epistles particularly is that the Lord's grace is always on The basis of the righteousness being established not at the expense of it Lord will set things in order here Those of you that are numerologists Will obviously make a big thing out of 13 why 13 years? Well, I don't know 13 is suggested by many to be suggestive of evil and first Kings chapter 7 verse 1 Compared to first Kings 6 verse 8 as an example Esther chapter 3 has some reference to this but going on in broader terms Jericho as A stronghold primary stronghold of Amorites was marched around 13 times once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day There's also 13 judges and judges the period of the judges regarded to be the low point in many respects in Israel's moral history and there are also 13 Evil characteristics enumerated by the Lord in Matthew chapter I mean mark chapter 7 verses 21 through 23 when you list those it turns out there are 13 The red dragon the dragon in the book of Revelation Which is of course a Satan revelation chapter 5 verse or chapter 12 verse 9 tells us The dragon is listed in the book of Revelation. How many times 13? There are multiples Jacob says to Pharaoh he speaks of a hundred and thirty or ten times 13 as the days of evil to him That's Jacob's words in Deuteronomy 14 when it lists unclean animals It's twice 13 26 of them that are listed and when Paul was was was beaten It was three times 13 or 39 stripes So those that are sort of oriented to the use of numbers in Scripture Get queasy feelings when they're number 13 surfaces with some justification. I don't think it's that simple I share that with you for those of you that are interested you can wrestle with that the way to solve a problem like that is find all the places that 13 occur in a scripture and You infer yourself what consistent ideas seem to be represented some numbers are very clear and what they mean You know and But this to me isn't quite that it certainly we have a flavor of it of it being kind of Uncomfortable, but I don't think it's quite as simple as some of the people who write pamphlets. We'd like to believe Now I would like us to examine though Sometimes as I get into some of these left-wing Typological things you probably think our Chuck. Mr.. Is often one of his tangents again You're probably right in this particular case. I have an excellent commentary to recommend. It's the book of Galatians And we're going to just poke at Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 because we're going to have him speak about this whole thing and Actually if you take the book of Galatians you get the sense that Paul is Trafficking through this period in Genesis chapter 3 was in we talked about that relative to chapter 15 and so forth now We're moving in that we're moving into chapter 4 and we're going to be sensitive the fact that Paul's mind is on Genesis the place we're in and You can you can see that if we were going to through going through Galatians verse by verse you'd feel that as we go But we don't have time for that. We'll just pick it up about verse 22 onward Paul talking to the Galatians for it is written that Abraham had two sons The one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman who is the bondmaid? Hagar who is the free woman? Sarah that comes later, but we obviously know she has Isaac by sir. He has either sir. Okay verse 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born how? after the flesh But he that was born of the free woman was by I was a promise the promise to Abraham now the great question that Paul raises in the book of Galatians is can that which is begun in the spirit Be completed in the flesh Your salvation your walk in Christ was born of what flesh or spirit spirit spirit Spirit you're born again Born again in Jesus Christ. That's an act of the spirit Would you expect your walk before the Lord? to be completed brought whole in the flesh Hardly, but that's exactly the basic point that Paul hammers away in the book of Galatians Very fundamental crucial issued each and every one of us and here is just one of several Avenues he takes to attack that point. He's saying he's using here Hagar and Ishmael and Sarah and Isaac as an allegory In fact, he says so in the next verse Which things are an allegory? Remember Hosea chapter 12. We looked at that that the Lord will speak by similitudes and Types and so forth a type a model an allegory for our purposes are the same thing It's a it's an analogy. It's a model. It's a it's a Representation for our learning our understanding and Paul is saying that Hagar and Sarah represent a model for our learning does he imply they weren't real people having real problems back some Thousands of years ago, of course not they really were there They but the Lord has orchestrated this so that we'll learn by it not just in the direct practical sense But also in the mystical or spiritual sense And that's what Paul is dealing with here Which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants what Sarah and Hagar? Yes the one from Mount Sinai Who sign that's good, isn't it? Wait a minute. He's saying bearing children for bondage. Who is Hagar? who I Thought Mount Sinai was a good deal Charlotte Charleston made a big thing of that right? That's right Yeah, that's where the law came and you don't get saved by the law It has a role but not our salvation The one from Mount Sinai bearing children for bondage the bondage of what the bondage of sin And that's what the whole book of Romans chapter 6 and 7 and all that's about For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children Interesting, isn't it? Hagar children are the children of bondage. Where are you and I? We begin as Ishmael in the flesh the story in a sense can begin with Hagar by the well confronted by the Lord in the same sense that the Samaritan woman in John 4 is by the well discovering The source of living water and it wasn't the well it was the one that was talking to her That's where we start. But what's our destiny to be a Ishmael? No To be an Isaac be born of the Spirit. That's what Paul goes on to talk about here now He also sees drawing sort of a triple analogy here. He's talking about Hagar. He's talking about Sinai meaning the law They saw my Jerusalem the one that now is That's in bondage to the Romans. Yes, but to sin and the works of the law even more so And he goes on in verse 26, but the Jerusalem which is above Is free which is the mother of us all what Jerusalem is that? The new Jerusalem The new Jerusalem described in Revelation 20 21 22, etc Verse 27 for it is written rejoiced thou barren that barest not who's that? Sarah Break forth and cry thou that travailist not For the desolate hath many more children than she who hath and husband now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of promise By nature were children of Ishmael But by the grace of Jesus Christ and the actions of the Spirit we are Isaac child children of promise But as then he that was born after the flesh Persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now you ever notice that You don't know what I'm talking about. You're not in a Christian walk Nevertheless what sayeth the scripture Cast out the bondwoman and her son When does that happen When Isaac shows up not till then That's in chapter 21 not chapter 17 Lord says you abide with Sarah's Sarah's handmaid for how long 13 years or As I facetiously said two more chapters When Isaac shows up then the bondwoman and her son must go and when the Holy Spirit Brings you into the body of Christ the flesh Has to go That's one of those funerals we were talking about For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman So then brethren we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free Stand fast therefore in the Liberty with which Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again With the yoke of bondage, what's he talking about? The law he's talking about legalism his burden in the book of Galatians is legalism She's not your Christian boy. You better keep those Ten Commandments You're gonna be able to keep Any better in the flesh than you did before or whatever other form of legalism is put upon you That's Paul's whole burden the book of Galatians won't try to you know Follow the whole thing through but you didn't notice by the way the chapter 4 ends with after the first verse of chapter 5 Watch out for those chapter divisions Often they're okay more often than not your chapter that you start starts a verse earlier Okay, we all know first Corinthians 13, right? Behold I show you a more excellent way What's it a rebuttal to? Over reliance on a specific gift of the Spirit They give you more excellent way though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love and so forth He builds a whole case take the last verse of chapter 12 and you get Impact where for one other comfort He with these words first Thessalonians chapter 4 Finishes with a rapture, but there's one more verse Or I should say it faces that verse and you go on to chapter first Thessalonians 5 where he makes a case about how you will know when the time is near Watch those chapter often if you're sort of study you're studying deeply pretend There's no chapter division start early finish late in terms of bridge your concept across the chapter division And it will often speak to you more thoroughly and this is one of those cases where I think most of us would consider that the chapter 4 verse 32 Your Bibles is probably mark chapter 5 verse 1, but that's one of those oversights that the printer did okay, okay? We're doing pretty good. All right. Let's let's let's get back to Genesis the whole idea of Ishmael Ishmael did Ishmael come about? because of some kind of Lapse of faith of Abraham. I guess it did in a sense. He should have waited for Isaac, but that's sort of glib Did Abraham have good intentions? You betcha he did and I think it's probably not an exaggeration To suggest that Abraham's passion and pursuing this thing had nothing to do with Hagar Now she may have been a very attractive young lady, but I see no reason to infer as that being an issue here at all This was Abraham's passion To have the seed that God promised him, and I'm sure that he's his sense of commitment was one of Fulfilling that will of God in his life Now so where's the problem that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit You mean to tell me that you could go on the mission field for 20 years in the deep jungles of some far-off land and minister to natives who are sick need food and what-have-you and Have that a work of the flesh yes To do it with great sincerity. Yes, if it isn't of the Spirit of God calling you there Do you mean to tell me that if I'm led by the Spirit of God in a routine walk here in Orange County and a routine Job doing my normal thing that that can be a work for the Lord. Yes Yes indeed and We could recount many many anecdotes of two people doing the same job And in one case Because it's where the Lord wants him and what the Lord the Lord's doing a work through his life, and there's fruits It's of the Spirit in other case. It's simply a Flesh drip gilded in the trappings of our conception of what a ministry or a mission might be That may make some of you feel very insecure and if so praise the Lord Because That's exactly what I believe that God is trying to say through this whole story of Isaac and Ishmael all of us in this room are guilty of Constructing an Ishmael You see churches that have passionate programs for membership all kinds of things to get members to grow and It gets to be and some of them do by the brute force and energy of some of the people trying to make it happen You see the Spirit of God in there Sometimes you have to look awfully hard. I won't say isn't there. I don't want to go that far Other places one of the fascinating things about Calvary Chapel is how the Lord Made it all happen How often Chuck gets up before groups international study groups? We're trying to figure out the secret the secret is two things the book and the Spirit of God and it results in a love affair with Jesus Christ and the rest just falls out of that and It's interesting I think this all gets back to Ishmael and Isaac the story of Ishmael good intentions Abraham meant well, I'm sure Sarah meant well I really am not prepared to ascribe her conduct entire to her own self to her own pride of warning an offspring I'm sure a major component of that vector was her pet her love for Abraham and her desire to see him fulfilled good intentions I Don't think we can take any cheap shots at Sarah. I think she meant well what was the mistake a Patient waiting upon the Lord and let the Spirit of God move That's tough. There's no magic formula. Well Chuck. How do I know it isn't easy? I imagine the toughest problem. We all have in this room is to really know the will of the Lord and Of all the things the Lord will ask you to do Of all the things the Lord will ask you to do the toughest one is to wait Take up a sword and go fight the enemy terrific. I'm on my way You know that appears You know there's no there's a guy in here that doesn't rise to a call like that either the tougher the odds the more challenging It is Because you're cheating you know the Lord's behind you. You can't lose Go off to a far-off land terrific or whatever the more dramatic the more enlists our commitment No, I don't you do anything what you just go home and wait don't call me. I'll call you That's tough That's tough. That's the tougher you you you will not find. I don't think a role is tougher. You can bear a Incredible burdens medical or otherwise If you if you're you know you're in the Lord's will and you know it's what he's called you to doesn't mean it's easy But you can relate to that Waiting that's tough That's tough Okay, anyway Genesis 16 We'll have more to say about Ishmael as we get 13 years later But the main thing you'll discover is that when Isaac comes Ishmael has to go Chapter 17 and when Abraham was 90 years old and nine The Lord appeared to Abraham Abraham I I realize I'm being very scholastically sloppy I keep saying Abraham when I should be saying Abraham because here's where it changes and Also, I don't know how to pronounce Sarah I so I often have called her Sarah and I trust me both of them have had their have their names changed here shortly and So I apologize for my lack of scholastic refinement here Anyway, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him. I am the Almighty God That's an exciting phrase because it's where it first appears El Shaddai walk before me and Be thou perfect. No, okay Now by the way, the Lord Jesus Christ asked you to do the same thing that was the climax to the Sermon on the Mount and I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly and Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him saying As for me behold, my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations not one Not just the Jews Not just the Jews and Arabs many nations He's actually the father of three groups of people the Jews the Gentiles in the church in the sense I Don't Want to use it economy Paul uses later Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abraham But thy name shall be called Abraham There's a Hebrew letter added one that requires you to breathe It's all it is it's a breathing consonant Abraham adds a little Breathing to it. It changes the meaning of it father of a multitude But it's also interesting to notice that the rock the spirit is the breath and the and the disciples Had the Lord breathe on them So you can make a big thing of that if you like. I think it's interesting It should be Abraham for a father of many nations Have I made thee and I will make thee exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of thee and the and kings shall come out of thee And I will establish my covenant Between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an ever Lasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger a sojourner All the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God I Want you to notice the termination date of that trustee? I'm going to give it to you for 4,000 years and then we're going to divide it up You got all of it. You got a little problem with the West Bank there. We got the rest of it. All right Incidentally, let's go over that again. So you don't I will I Will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant Can the covenant be everlasting if there's any way to break it Very important idea there are some people would have you believe that it's conditional promise But they have to be faithful or they have to do this or they have to do that That's not an everlasting covenant everlasting covenant cannot be broken on whose faithfulness does it depend? on God's Why is this important because it's the codicil of a title deed? Or you know, it's a condition of a title deed title lead what to the land the world doesn't like that The world doesn't like that Few chapters ago Abraham met a king by the name of Melchizedek king of Salem Salem later under control of the Jebusites one of the tribes David Chose and conquered to be what the capital Okay, when they returned after the after the nation went into slavery and kept in in Babylon Nehemiah the cupbearer before the king Understood and then was authorized to Reestablish Jerusalem as the capital the temple had already been authorized two years before No more than two years. I've gained with some years before by Cyrus But the authority to rebuild the city as a city-state build the wall Was authorized by our desertions longinus and becomes the milestone of the vision that Gabriel gave Daniel many years before and the trigger point by which we can predict the exact day that Jesus Christ in his eye was to present himself to the city of Jerusalem and in Luke chapter 19 he describes When he arrives on that day the destruction of the city and gives the reason why the Romans are going to destroy it 38 years later He says because you did not recognize the day of your visitation He's holding him accountable to understand that prophecy of Daniel So Jerusalem was to be destroyed. He says in Luke He says that the Jerusalem would be in Gentile hands until the times of the end right Jerusalem is not only not in Gentile hands What's the big issue declaring at the capital of Israel? Interesting If you have any sense of history From Melchizedek the king of Salem to the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by David It's reconfirmation throughout the scriptures and it's forecast to be the issue That will cause the entire world to go at arms against the Lord and against his anointed Zechariah says in chapter 12 and 14 and we're seeing unfold today How many times since Zechariah wrote that is the world upset about Jerusalem being declared the capital of Israel? Not many The Lord says look up your redemption draweth nigh. I Got off the subject. I'm sorry about that The root of that the foundation of that is a promise given to Abraham here in chapter 17 first few verses I think we got all the way down to verse 9 Verse 9 and God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee and their generations This is my covenant, which he shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every male child among you shall be circumcised and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you and He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every male child your generations He that is born in the house or brought with money of any foreigner who is not of thy seed He that is born in my house and he that is brought with thy money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant an Uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that So shall be cut off from his people. He hath broken my covenant Heavy trip no exceptions Circumcision was issued before Isaac isn't interesting. That's why the Arabs as well as the Jews practice that Right, but in spite of that when Joshua They are they're called out of Israel Egypt, right? They wander 40 years in the wilderness and under the military leadership of Joshua They crossed the Jordan to conquer the land. What's the first thing they have to do at Gilgal? Get circumcised because the entire generation had not done this That whole new generation born in the wild wilderness warnings were uncircumcised that's the first thing they did and Why the and when you're dealing with adults, it's not a trivial issue. And while they are in their three days of Incapacitation the Amorites and so forth don't attack Everybody wonders why we don't know They could have they realize what was going on But they get it they get circumcised at Gilgal before the famous Battle of Jericho You want one of most interesting studies in the scripture? I commend to you a study of the Battle of Jericho and all the preceding conditions and you'll see a model of God's plan for all mankind all mankind Listed just what the Jordan is just what the land is. Well crossing over the Jordan that's going to heaven Oh, really? There's some really hairy wars in heaven then Because what happens after the cross the Jordan is they have a military campaign of conquering the land. Oh Well, maybe I'm a victim of some certain songs and things what is crossing the Jordan mean study the book of Joshua it's a complicated issue most important in your life probably and We have Yahoshua His Greek name would be Jesus. That is Joshua leading his people to dispossess the usurpers and take the land that is theirs and they're conquering they're going against seven nations and They're they're they're confronted by Adonai Zedek the Lord of Righteousness and his alliance of the kings And they defeat him with the signs of the Sun and the moon and the stars How does he start by sending two witnesses up ahead and How does he conquer the battle of Jericho by breaking every law in the book of Deuteronomy? Arks not supposed to go to war led the procession the Levites are not supposed to go to war that led the progression You're supposed to honor six days in the seventh days a Sabbath day, right? They march for seven days You make every list every detail the battle of Jericho you discover something's going on because it's all Throw it's sort of setting the Torah aside Because the Lord of the Torah is leading the possession who fought the battle of Jericho the Lord Jesus Christ Joshua chapter 5 Joshua the night before the battle gets confronted with one who commands his worship and Joshua worships him Who can that be can't be an angel? Angels never allow themselves to be worshipped compare Daniel John other events The Lord Jesus Christ led the battle against Jericho. Why? Because it becomes a model of the whole book of Revelation Where he again returns not just for a little real estate in the middle of Middle East But the planet Earth the title deed that he has in Revelation chapter 5 7 seals Seal seven seals and written on within and on the backside book of Joshua a very interesting study doing what claiming? The possession of the land that here in the title deed Is based on anyway moving on verse 15 and God said unto Abraham as for Sarah thy wife thou shalt not call her name Sarai or however But Sarah shall her name be Boy, am I glad cuz I don't know I am those double-volume And I will bless her and give thee a son also of her Yea, I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations Kings of people shall be of her. That's wild That's wild. She's past the age of bearing and Abraham fell upon his face and laughed That's very interesting we're going to find out Because the way the Lord treats this that this is not being disrespectful Zechariah when he got the announcement of John the Baptist, you know asked you didn't believe and he was struck dumb until the very I mean he was sort of gotten that he got the back of his back, you know back of the hand because he was that was out of disbelief Abraham's Inquiry and and and Interest in this isn't disrespectful or from a lack of faith you tell it by the way the Lord deals with it Anyway, Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old and Shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear Incidentally next chapter Sarah over. Here's a similar conversation. She cracks up And I'd have pleasure in my old age. That was her reaction Getting into from PG to extra materials anyway Abraham said unto God all that Ishmael might live before thee How interesting? See Abraham loves Ishmael Then in Abraham's mind, that's my firstborn He's the heir God saying not so Even to the extent that when Abraham is on Mount Moriah Or on the way there when God calls him to offer his son. He says offer your only son Your only son why because God is blind to the deeds of the flesh He is only interested in the works of the Spirit When we're called to accounting the lists and lists of things we've done in the flesh Are for not zero at best What's he interested in? The degree to which you've walked in the calling of the Spirit of God But anyway, we'll get to that as we were building up the climax to chapter 22 Anyway, Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and so Sarah That is 90 years old bear and Abraham said unto God Oh that Ishmael might live before thee and God said Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him For an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him And as for Ishmael I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation. How interesting it is. There are twelve tribes of Israel They're also twelve tribes of Isaac of Ishmael That interesting You think of twelve tribes of Israel? Yeah, there's also twelve sons of Ishmael Just to make things complicated I'll make him a great nation But my covenant will I establish with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year and he ceased talking with him and God went up from Abraham and Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were brought with his money every male among Every male among the men of Abraham's house and the circumcised the flight and circumcised the flesh of the foreskin in the same day very same day as God had said unto him and Abraham was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was Circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin in that very same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all of the men of His house born in the house and bought with money of a foreigner Were circumcised with him There's a lot of studies that are suggested out of this One of the things you may wonder you might well ask yourself, why did Abraham have to wait for Isaac? Why did the Lord wait to give? Abraham Isaac and We can draw the inference from Galatians 4 4 and elsewhere Is that it's in the fullness of time when man comes to the end of himself that God can work When it's no longer possible for Abraham or Sarah to bear that's when the Lord can do his work Why because he wants to establish the supernatural Basis for the promise that it's the Lord's doing no one else's And the Lord will go out of his way throughout the whole thing To do that might take a look at a few of these verses. Let's take a look at Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 Paul's arguing here again this issue of bondage verse 3 Even so we when we were in we're children were in bondage under the elements of the world verse 4 But when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son Made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons This is let's turn to 2nd Peter chapter 3 all of us would like you know Abraham had to wait He had to wait for His seed that is Isaac for at least 13 years I mean he waited longer than that because he was in Canaan 10 years Then he has the episode with Hagar and he waits another 13. So there's 23 years nominally Before you know that he waited that's a long time Especially that carries him beyond the age of childbearing So he's got to be you know Asking the question. Why do I have to wait? Why doesn't the rapture occur soon? all this pain all the blasphemy of God's enemies How long with the Lord Terry Peter answers that question? Did you know that 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 9? The Lord is not slack concerning his promises some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us why? Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance That's why he hasn't come yet If he'd been raptured when some of us wanted to some of you in this room would not be in the kingdom of God tonight ten years ago or whenever that some of us might have gotten on this whole thing of the promises of the return of Jesus Christ and prayed earnestly Lord come quickly and If we'd had our way boy, we sure would have had it before that note fell do or whatever, right? Soon right Please please Lord come before the boss returns from his trip whatever If the Lord had come Five years ago a year ago. Maybe some of you six months ago You would not have been in the kingdom of God the Lord Hasn't come tonight the best of my knowledge He may He may give us a few more days And the reason he may is that there's some bone someone maybe in this room who hasn't committed himself completely without reservation to the Lord Jesus the Lordship of Jesus Christ and it can do so on the way home tonight or in the room before you leave or as early as Possible Might also be because there's someone you know at work or in the carpool or you're gonna see this weekend that needs to be confronted with the reality of a decision for Jesus Christ and It might be when that one person is brought into the kingdom that the numbers complete the fullness of the Gentiles as Paul calls It is complete and the father says the son go get him Go off the subject again tonight. Sorry back to set chapter 17 verse Whatever El Shaddai, I'd like to make a few comments We had you could do a fascinating study and I really recommend you do is to make a list of the names of God in the scripture Okay Elohim we got introduced to an earlier in Genesis Jehovah or however, you want to pronounce it as the God of the Covenant the covenant relationship. There's two sides of relationship. I don't I That's our side of the relationship Master Lord, what's his side of the relationship Jehovah the God of the Covenant a Term generally used focusing on Israel, but it means the God of the Covenant and We have many different names for that that are used in the scripture of God Highlighting some particular aspect of his being his nature his relationship with us Here is El Shaddai usually translated at the Almighty what it really means is the one that's able to provide The one that's a that's able to provide it at the word share the root word is shod which means breast and The concept here is a classical literary figure of speech as the breast of comfort and the breast of provision El Shaddai the Almighty the Tetra gametron the the the the the name of God the unpronounceable name is a derivative of the the Hebrew verb You know the the becoming one I was I am I shall be all wrapped together the becoming one Becoming what becoming what you need? Whatever wherever you're at He's able to meet your need So it's embodied in the word Aside from it also being a declaration of existence independent of a time domain That's another whole story that I beat you to death with during early parts of genocide won't go through that again relax Okay Gee there's so much that we could go on but it's probably not that critical. Ah Something else I would like to highlight. Oh, we all said walk where the Lord says walk before me Something else you might find interesting is to take the verbs of the ways you can walk Right here. We said the Lord says walk before me, right? In Deuteronomy chapter 13. He says walk before me Israel walk after me right speaking of the laws and so walk after me and To you know, I can know it says they walked with him, right? And in Colossians chapter 2 we walk in Christ, right Now is there a progression here in the scripture as we go through the scripture? Yes You walk before the Lord how as a child might walk before her father his or her father Do you walk after the Lord in the sense of a servant? You might walk with the Lord in the sense of fellowship or as a friend But you walk in the Lord in the sense of union or a member of his body And you'll find that progressive concept developed throughout the scripture What I'm trying to do is make you sensitive to some of these things be as far as it sounds dull Somebody may say hey, that's neat take a concordance Get into the word studies. They're just they're just like they're like mines treasure hunts Just be fiber guess it would discover. Okay a different slice here. Let's take a look at something else that occurred in chapter 17 We start about verse 6 the Lord says I will make thee exceedingly fruitful I will make thee nation make nations of thee. I will establish my covenant with thee. I will give unto thee You'll discover there are seven I wills there Okay, seven Those are the seven I wills of El Shaddai Seven of them in Genesis 17, you can fish them out yourself and study to make a list and so forth Then after you've done that At home tonight because you get home early enough because I won't run over time tonight You can you can rush home and do that then you'll turn to Exodus chapter 6 and you'll discover seven I wills of Yehovah the God of the Covenant and you might find it instructive to take the seven I wills of El Shaddai and the seven I wills of Yehovah and See what they say Now I think the Lord rewards you for your diligence The rest of you that are hoping that I would summarize that for you are going to be disappointed Okay now we've actually covered Chapter 18 before right So in order to keep the pace of things I thought what I would do in the time we have remaining is just Review it lightly So those of you that weren't there at least pick up on it And if you really find it that interesting you go back and get the tape Back when we were talking about Lot and separating we took the subject of Lot and carried it forward So we really took a glimpse at chapter 18 But it's important enough that it won't injure us to go through chapter 18 again in the time we have available Chapter 18 verse 1 the Lord appeared unto him that is Abraham by the oaks of Mamre very important place You'll hear us all through the Bible talk about this episode by the oaks of Mamre a very key event that occurs here as He sat in the temp door in the heat of the day And he lifted up his eyes and looked and lo three men stood by him and when he saw them he ran to meet them at The temp door bowed himself toward the ground now incidentally. We know we infer from later in the story these three people are the Lord Jesus Christ and two angels the Lord Jesus Christ stays with Abraham and has a conversation and Abraham haggles with them The two angels go on because they've got a military assignment in the area of Sodom and Gomorrah Which is very instructive apart from the fact that this is the route from which we get that whole Issue of the Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed with fire and brimstone and all that verse 3 Abraham says my lord If now I have found favor in thy sight pass not away. I pray thee from my servant. Let a little water I pray you be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree and I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you your hearts after that you shall pass on and Therefore are ye come to your servant and he said so do as thou has said this is a manifestation of a tradition of hospitality That endures in those cultures Especially the Arabs to this day Your purview you there's a very strong nomadic tradition of the Nomad of the Bedouin tribes and what have you that that that this suggests but even more than that Verse 6 Abraham hastened unto the tent to Sarah and said make ready quickly Three measures of fine meal needed and make cakes upon the hearth and this little episode of making the three measures of meal Starts the tradition of the fellowship offering in both Arab as well as Jewish cultures Three measures of meal the fellowship offering and we'll see that ordained Levitically in the rest of the Torah We'll see that comment on by Jesus Christ mystically and he gives the kingdom parables in Matthew 13 When he it suggests the kingdom of God will be like a woman who hid some leaven in the three measures of meal Which is a violation of what the intention is leaven is false doctrine hypocrisy It's a symbol of sin all through the Old Testament all through the new twice in the Gospels twice in the epistles Always sin how because it corrupts by puffing up Leaven and what's the three much going on there get the tape on the seven letters seven churches and it'll go through the whole Matthew 13 thing and You'll Discover that not only is the woman Hitting hiding three measure eleven and three measures of meal one of the of the seven It's the fourth kingdom parable of the seven You also discover the seven letters seven churches. The fourth letter is the woman Jezebel false doctrine church in Thyatira For a thing you also discover that Paul wrote Seven churches he wrote thirteen epistles three were duplicates That was ten addressees three of those are pastors that leave seven churches They wrote two and if you pair those up with the seven letters seven churches the one that conforms to the fourth one is Galatians and what hackers in Galatians a woman pair of them Hagar and Sarah are used as the scriptural basis of the epistle very interesting model that holds true in the seven epistle of seven churches that Paul writes to the seven letters the seven church that Jesus Christ himself dictated and The seven parables of Jesus Christ gave his disciples in Matthew 13. They all model together What's the significance the fingerprint of the Holy Spirit as the source and author of all of them? very exciting testimony to the design in the scripture that vastly supersedes any Feeble attempts at textual criticism to suggest that it is not supernaturally ordained Verse 7 and Abraham ran into the herd fetched a calf tender and good and gave to the young man He hastened to dress it. He took butter and milk and the calf that he dressed and set it before them He never knows that before he wasn't kosher Just dawned on me. I've never noticed that before you can't have calf and milk together. Can you know how interesting I never noticed that Wow, okay, those of you that are into that can find out what that's all about And he stood back at you know, go ahead. I can't do that. I'll leave somebody that's okay Stood by them under a tree and they did eat and he said unto him Where is Sarah thy wife and he said behold in the tent? And he said I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life and lo Sarah thy wife shall have a son Now Sarah heard it in the tent door Which is behind him and now Abram and Sarah were old and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying After I have become old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also That's got to be a that's got to be a fabulous line anyway verse 30 and the Lord said unto Abraham Wherefore did Sarah laugh saying shall I have surety bear a child who am old is anything too hard for the Lord at The time appointed I will return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son Now Sarah denied saying I laughed not for she was afraid He said nay thou didst laugh And The men rose up from there and they looked toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way and the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the year shall be blessed in him for I know Him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord and do righteousness and justice That the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he had spoken of the Lord said because the cry Of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because her sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it Which has come unto me and if not, I will know and the men turned their faces from there and went toward Sodom But Abraham stood yet before the Lord get the picture two of the three went on One remains the Lord himself and Abraham's there in verses 23 to the end of the chapter are Fascinating verses they're fascinating two ways three ways at least One way it's fascinating It seems so ethnically characteristic of Abraham to haggle because he's gonna says Abraham drew near and said that wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city wilt thou also destroy and spirit not spare the place for 50 righteous that are in it that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay righteous with the wicked knows the whole issue and Notice the Lord buys the premise And the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Lord said if I find Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I'll spare all the place for their sakes Now where he's a very major point Abraham said behold now. I have taken upon me to speak unto Lord whom but dust and ashes suppose there shall lack Suppose there's five short. What's the water for 10% off here? Five short of the pictures won't bow destroy all the city for lack of five have you ever been in a specification negotiation this is just And said if I find there forty and five I will not destroy Now Abraham has got some chutzpah. I think they call it He spoke again and said suppose there shall be 40 found there And he said I will not do it for the 40 sake and he said I'm old let not the Lord be angry I will speak suppose there shall be 30 found there, and he said if there I will not do it if I find 30 there He said behold now. I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord suppose. There shall be 20 found there and He said I will not destroy it for the 20 sake And he says would you believe 10? Says or let not the Lord be angry I will speak yet, but this once one more time Suppose 10 shall be found there, and he said I will not destroy it for the 10 say In fact what the Lord does is take one person out of there, and then wipes it out. What's the principle? That he can't destroy it as long as there's one righteous there proof skip over to chapter 19 verse 22 What are the angels saying to Lot as they try to pry him out of there haste escape here for I can do I cannot Do anything until thou be? Did that I'll become there in other words you got to get out lot. We can't do our mission until you're out of here you're a We don't care about you. We got to get our job done. We can't do our job as long as you're here You're a prerequisite to getting out. This isn't a favor. We're doing you hey, buddy get out cuz about to blow uh-huh We can't blow it up until you're gone It's a preceding condition very important idea why because in Luke chapter 17 the Lord Jesus Christ established this principle We covered that right so I won't go through it again But if you're curious about it go to Luke chapter 17 verses 26 through 37 Where the Lord Jesus Christ makes reference to this and points out this very issue So it's a rapture issue Now we kid about Abraham in terms of ethnic haggling. What is Abraham doing? He's got a ministry here What's he ministering? intercession Intercession Moses does that to Israel Moses makes an absolute nuisance of himself on behalf of Israel to a Lord says all right Okay, do you want to see do you intercede that way Do you have a loved one? Have you got a son a father a brother a sister or whatever you realize you can't witness to them No prophet is without honor except among his own kindred You want to pray for someone pray for my kids I Can't do anything. I'm too close. Yeah, but you know it doesn't mean a thing What can you do pray for Pray for them Husband wife son daughter father mother you're too close Practically speaking. It's very rare. I think that the Holy Spirit really uses you that way Somebody else the Holy Spirit can bring somebody else in that life to make it happen Pray for it, and I don't mean pray for like hey Lord take care of so-and-so Pray like Abraham did or like Moses did put it on the line Relieve his schedule when he takes care of it, you know That's that's really the way Moses handled it and I could we could do a whole study on prayer, but I I'll leave that to We're over time we'll pick it up next time and we'll take we'll finish up with chapter 19 and what we're going to attempt to do next time we'll take the the Abraham's Pathetic lapse of faith at Gerrard you won't believe it. He doesn't even change his mo. It's terrible Then we're going to get into the birth of Isaac and If we make as much progress we've made in making we're going to get up to chapter 22 and when you are at chapter 22 as Preparation for chapter 22, I'll give you next week's homework assignment tonight So those of you that might be faint of heart can practice a little bit In preparation for Genesis chapter 22, you might read chapter 22 and 24 And skip 23 for this purpose 22 and 24 You can also rule, you know read Romans chapter 4 But I recommend you get a running start on it by reading chapters 1 2 & 3 just so you understand chapter 4 so it helps Okay, so read the first four chapters of Romans, especially Romans chapter 4 and read Galatians chapter 3 and say the first half first 18 verses Galatians 3 Romans 4 are important commentaries on Genesis 22 You can throw in certain verses of Hebrews 11 if you like But we'll cover that in the in the program and the question I'm going to ask you is how was Abraham saved? and It isn't obvious The fact that he believed God sure maybe what what did he believe? we'll talk about why Isaac was considered the only son why that particular location was placed picked and We're gonna try to tie the relationship of Genesis 22 with John 3 16 the most well-known verse in the scripture and With Revelation chapter 5 or 6 and the Romans 8 32 and a half a dozen other things But we'll build up that background next time and see you then