A Lesson for Abram to Learn (Part 1)

[0:00] Looking now at the life once again of Abraham and God's dealing with him, God's manifestation! of himself to Abraham through Abraham's life.

[0:27] ! Last week we saw that God had made promise to Abraham that in the verse number 2 and 3 of Genesis 12, I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.

[0:42] And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And so we saw in verses 4 and 5 last week, as a result of that, as a result of God making those promises to Abraham, Scripture says, So Abram departed.

[1:04] Now this, of course, is after the delay and hindrance of his father delaying their entrance into Canaan. So now that Terah has passed away, Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.

[1:19] And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and souls that they had gotten in Haran.

[1:35] Of course, again stipulating that they were in Haran for a good while. Now, we said last week that the gateway to God's blessing is obedience.

[1:53] And so now Abraham continues on in obedience to the Lord to go into the land that God said he would show him. Remember, Abram was seventy-five years old when he journeyed into the land of Canaan.

[2:11] So now in verse 6, And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sisham, unto the plain of Morah, and the Canaanite was then in the land.

[2:23] Remember when God gave him instruction, Leave father and mother, go to a place that I will show thee. That's all he said to him. I'm going to show you the place I want you to go.

[2:34] And so he's going there. And now he's entered in to Canaan. But notice again, as he walks into that place, the Bible says the Canaanite was in the land.

[2:47] When Abram entered into Canaan, he was not able to take immediate possession of it. All right? He only travels through that land as God shows him from place to place.

[2:59] What the land is like. And so now, the Canaanites are there. They're the possessors of the land. So Abram has to wander through that land right now, in faith, as a sojourner.

[3:17] And that's what God intended for him to do at this point. Now, in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, there's a great picture of that painted for us.

[3:29] And I want us to turn there and look at that, if you will. Hebrews chapter 11. The writer of the Hebrews talking about the matter of faith and those that lived a life of faith, proving, if you will, that the faith type of life actually works.

[3:49] And God uses it, and God blesses that. Now, in chapter 11, beginning at verse number 8 of the book of Hebrews, he begins to talk about Abram and Sarah.

[3:59] And he says in verse 8, by faith, Abraham. Now, let me stop there just a moment. Remember the working definition of faith that I use. And that is that faith is simply a positive response to what God has said, what he has promised, what he has done, what he has shown, all those type of things.

[4:22] Just whatever God has done to reveal and manifest himself and make requirements of us. Faith is simply a positive response to that. Trusting what God has said is true and that he is able to do whatever he said he's going to do.

[4:38] All right. So, he says here, by faith then, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should offer after, received for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether he went.

[4:56] By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

[5:08] Now, the word sojourn there is a word that simply means to dwell beside or among. It's the idea of living in a state or a country, not being a citizen.

[5:20] No rights. You have no right of citizenship, nor the rights of a citizen, while you're there. He's just abiding there with the people of the land.

[5:33] So, he's a sojourner. So, by faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

[5:46] Now, verse 10, for he looked for a city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked for a city that has the foundations, literally is the idea.

[6:02] Particular city with particular foundations. Many believe what Abraham was looking for, which is what could be labeled as the new Jerusalem. city built by God and inhabited by God.

[6:15] So, he looked for that city, which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now, verse 11, through faith, also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was deliberate of child when she was past age, because he judged him faithful who had promised.

[6:34] Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore innumerable.

[6:45] Now, verse 13, all these died in faith, not having received the promises, but, here's where faith really triggers in, having seen them afar off, all right, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

[7:13] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had the opportunity to have returned.

[7:25] But now, they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.

[7:38] All right? Now, the part that just really thrills me is this idea in verse number 13. They died in faith. They died believing and trusting what God had said would come true.

[7:53] And so, they did not receive those promises. But having seen them afar off, at a distance, were persuaded of them, and embraced them, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.

[8:09] They embraced them, is the idea of this. You've seen pictures, I'm sure, movies, whatever, of ships sailing past, an island or a country, not stopping.

[8:24] And the crew standing on the deck, and as they pass by from a distance, they wave. Amen? They wave at those, watching them pass by.

[8:38] They just wave at him, knowing that one day, maybe, maybe one day, we'll get stopped there. Abraham, Sarah, and those others that followed, looked for a country.

[8:54] they knew they would not see it physically, literally, in their lifetime. But they were convinced, it's going to come.

[9:06] So, in essence, for now, they just wave at it. Amen? Yeah? They just wave at it. That's what you and I need to do. Amen? So, I dare you. I double dare you. When you go to Walmart next time, you go out to the parking lot to get in your car, just look up into heaven and wave.

[9:27] Don't say a word, just wave. And maybe somebody will come by and ask you, what in the world are you doing? And you'd tell them, I'm looking for a city. I'm persuaded of it.

[9:40] And then get in your car and go home before they call somebody. That's like when I was in college. We didn't do bad stuff. We just did silly, foolish things. If we were traveling somewhere, a lot of times, we'd just go to a youth revival or something, be a part of that.

[9:55] And we'd stop somewhere, get something to eat or something to drink. And when we came out, we would just stand on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. And if there's a water tower or something there, we'd just do this.

[10:10] Just kind of look at each other. You know? And people would come by and look and see. What is it? What is it? What is it they're looking at? They never would ask us. You know?

[10:21] But anyway, that was fun. They looked for the city because now they could not possess that land because the Canaanite was in the land. Now, remember who the Canaanites are.

[10:34] They're the descendants of Canaan, who was the son of Ham. Canaan was the son of Ham. The Canaanites are his descendants. Probably about a 10 generation difference here from the time of the birth of Canaan, the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth.

[10:51] All right. Ham's wife giving birth to Canaan. About a 10 generation difference there. So it's been some time. So the Canaanites are well established in the land.

[11:01] Now, verse 7, Genesis 12. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, now, catch the word if you will. And Jehovah appeared unto Abram and said, unto thy seed will I give this land.

[11:19] And there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. Now, so here in Shishon, Jehovah appears to Abram.

[11:32] And by doing, he assures him of the possession of the land of Canaan, not for himself, but for his descendants. All right. And that assurance made by the means of his appearing, the appearance of Jehovah to Abraham.

[11:50] And in doing so, shows that this land that he has promised to give his descendants is the place of God's manifestation to Abram and to his people.

[12:05] The land of Canaan. If you'll take note, if you will, if you study through the Old Testament scriptures, you'll find that in order for Israel to really obtain and receive the blessings of God and the fulfillment of the promises of God, they had to be in the land.

[12:27] They had to be in the land of Canaan. All right. And so here, God reveals by his appearance to Abram that this is going to be the place of my manifestation to you and to your descendants, in particular, Isaac and Jacob.

[12:47] All right. So, as a result, he does something else. But before we get there, let me say this. We're not given, we're not given any indication here about how God manifested himself to Abram.

[13:06] I know there are a number of people that think and say that it had to be the person of the Lord Jesus manifesting himself to Abram here. But you've got to be careful with that.

[13:19] There's no scriptural indication of a bodily appearance of Jesus prior to the incarnation. All right. So you've got to be careful in labeling that appearance as being the person of Jesus.

[13:37] Now, let's consider some things here just a moment. Over in Genesis chapter 3, because we don't know how God actually manifests himself to Abram here.

[13:49] In Genesis chapter 3, we see the effects of the fall. We see Adam and Eve partaking of the tree that God forbade them to eat of.

[14:00] And then consequences are going to come. But what happened? What happened when they ate of that tree? They saw themselves and they were naked. Had been clothed in the glory of God, if you will.

[14:14] Now that's gone because of their disobedience, because of their sin. So, they sought to hide themselves because what happens here?

[14:25] Look, if you will, in verse number 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God. They heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

[14:40] And then he begins to deal with their nakedness and their sin. That phrase has always intrigued me. They heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

[14:58] Doesn't say anything about a physical appearance here. The only thing it speaks of is the voice of God. And he writes it as if he's walking in the garden.

[15:11] We know Jesus is spoken of in Scripture as the angel of the messenger of Jehovah. We're angel denoting the idea of messenger.

[15:23] Okay? Now, there's another occasion. Go over to Genesis 18. Genesis 18. Genesis 18. Now, this, of course, is where God deals with Abram and Sarah concerning the birth of Isaac that will come.

[15:57] But in verse 1, notice, And the Lord, that's Jehovah, appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes, and looked, and lo, three men stood by, or stood at a distance from him.

[16:17] And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. Interesting picture here. Interesting picture.

[16:29] And he said, My Lord, that word Lord is the word Adonai, my master, all right, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

[16:45] Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet and so forth. All right? And so, Abram hasted, in verse 6, to the tent and said, Sarah, it's time to fix something to eat.

[16:56] We've got guests. All right? Now, look at verse 9. And they said unto him, notice, if you will, the plural usage, they said unto him, where is Sarah thy wife?

[17:10] And he said, behold, in the tent. Now, when he uses the plural there, they, would it sure be tempting to throw in the trinity there, wouldn't it? All right?

[17:20] Some people do. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee. Now, notice, he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life.

[17:31] And Sarah thy wife shall have a son. All right? Abram says, how can we have a son where we're both well stricken in age? And then verse 12, that's where Sarah laughs when she gets the idea here.

[17:44] All right? Just like a woman, right? Men, come on, help me here. Don't, just laugh. Go ahead. All right? Now, look at verse 13.

[17:56] And Jehovah said unto Abram, wherefore did Sarah laugh? Saying, shall I of a surety bear a child when I'm old? Is there anything too hard for Jehovah?

[18:08] So at this appointed time, all right, she'll have a son next year. Verse 16 now. And the men rose up from thence and looked toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on their way.

[18:22] And Jehovah said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all these nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.

[18:35] I know he'll teach his children right and so forth. Verse 20. And Jehovah said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether the cry of it, which has come unto me.

[18:54] And if not, I will know. Now look at verse 22. And the men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

[19:14] Okay? Jehovah stays there with Abraham. The other men go. Then that's when Abraham intercedes on behalf of the people.

[19:29] Now in verse 30, by the way, he said unto him, O let not the Lord be angry. The word Lord there is Adonai, Master. Be angry and I will speak. All right?

[19:41] Now, verse 33. And Jehovah then went his way as soon as he had left communion with Abraham and Abraham returned unto his place.

[19:54] So, that's one of those things we can ask the Lord when we get to be with him. Amen? The three men and Jehovah.

[20:08] Okay? So that's why I say we have no clear-cut indication of how it is that God, that Jehovah revealed himself to Abraham.

[20:20] But he did. And that was to show him that this is going to be the place where I manifest myself to you. Now, notice what else happens here.

[20:33] After that happens, after Jehovah appears unto Abraham and there built he an altar to Jehovah who appeared unto him.

[20:47] What's the idea of building an altar? Worship. Abraham now worships Jehovah as Jehovah has appeared to him and in essence shown him that this is the land of my manifestation to you.

[21:10] That ground, if you will, like Moses when he saw the burning bush, that land became hallowed ground, if you will. And as being a hallowed ground, it was a place for worship.

[21:24] And so Abraham now builds an altar and begins to worship Jehovah who appeared to him. Verses 8 and 9.

[21:36] So, and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of Jehovah.

[21:53] And Abraham journeyed going on still toward the south. So, now again builds an altar. This time he invokes the name of Jehovah.

[22:04] Interesting thing here. Alright? God has appeared to him. However, he spoke with him. Abraham spoke with God, especially in that time of intercession later on.

[22:18] He speaks with God. Alright? So, he recognizes here, however, that manifestation was, that no doubt Abram looked at this as a mediator between him and God.

[22:36] And to reach God, to speak with God, he calls upon that mediator. And that mediator now comes to him as the name Jehovah. Jehovah. Now, I'm going to muddle the works even more.

[22:52] Alright? Go to Philippians chapter 2. We've been here before, but I want to show you something here. Philippians chapter 2. Now, as we get to here, keep in mind the reality.

[23:08] As I mentioned earlier, have no indication of the bodily physical appearance of Jesus prior to the incarnation when he comes as the son.

[23:21] Alright? But that doesn't mean he can't come in another bodily appearance.

[23:32] Okay? Got it? Keep the incarnation where it belongs. That's at the virgin birth. Now, Philippians chapter 2.

[23:45] Wherefore, God hath also highly exalted him, talking about the work of Jesus, you know, let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus, and shows about the fact that he emptied himself of himself, was obedient unto death, the death of the cross.

[24:02] So now he says, as a result of that, God hath also highly exalted him, and literally giving him the name, the name, that is above every name.

[24:16] And then it says that at the name of Jesus, every niche about every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, be careful, we've said this before.

[24:28] he's been given the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, or, now, recognize something, the word Jesus is the transliteration of the word Joshua, which comes from the word Jehoshua, which means Jehovah saves, or Jehovah is salvation.

[24:59] Alright? That's where the name Jesus comes from. How did Jesus get that name? The angel told Mary and Joseph name him Jesus.

[25:12] Alright? Jehoshua. So, look at something here. Is Jesus of Nazareth the only one that ever had the name Joshua?

[25:31] The name Joshua was a very common name in the Jewish economy. Alright? You have a number of references to people that are named Joshua.

[25:49] In fact, there's a book of the Old Testament. Alright? Titled Joshua. Tells of the name, the work of Joshua. So, it's a common name.

[26:00] Now, again, recognize with me, the name. Go back to Exodus chapter 3.

[26:13] I know this is repetitious, but that's the way we learn and memorize. Keep it in mind. Alright? Alright? Alright? Again, when Moses dealing with God, God dealing with Moses, say, I'm going to send you to my people and deliver them from Egyptian bondage.

[26:36] Alright? God, I'll do that, but if I go there and tell them, who do I say sent me? I am that I am. Tell them I am that I am sent you. Now, verse 15 of Exodus 3.

[26:52] And God said, moreover, so an interesting thing here. He says to Moses, I am that I am. Tell them I am have sent me unto you.

[27:05] That's what you tell Israel. But now, in verse 15, he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.

[27:25] And this is my name forever. And this is my memorial unto all generations. So go gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, Jehovah Elohim of your fathers, all right, have surely visited you.

[27:46] Go tell them. The name that God said will be my name forever is the name Jehovah. All right? Now notice, it's the same name by which Abram calls the one he considers to be the mediator between him and God.

[28:09] Jehovah. All right? Interesting. Amen? Now, I kind of, kind of, sort of get the idea that in the midst of all of this, Abram does see Jesus.

[28:25] All right? Let me rephrase that. He does see the Son of God. But how does he see him? How does he know him?

[28:37] has the Son of God yet at that point received the name Jesus? No.

[28:53] What name could he have? Jehovah. How could he possess the same name that God himself possesses?

[29:07] He is God. He's God. He's God in the flesh. God incarnate. Most of the Gospels consider the name Jesus as the name given to Jesus.

[29:22] Call him Jesus, except for a couple of exceptions. One's in Mark 16, 19. The other one, Luke 7, 13. And it's not the name Jehovah or Jehoshua.

[29:33] It's the name Kyrgios. All right? Which is the idea of supreme authority and sometimes master as well in that usage. All right? The name Jesus is the personal name given to Jesus at his birth, at the instruction of the angel to his parents, to Mary and Joseph.

[29:55] All right? Now, that's the name by which everyone knew him, Jesus of Nazareth. All right? The carpenter's son. God has given him the name that's above every name that at the name of Jesus, I have to believe he's saying there at the name that Jesus is given by the Father.

[30:17] And that's the name Jehovah. All right? That every knee shall bow. All right? we know him earthly wise as Jesus of Nazareth.

[30:32] But possessing all the attributes and characteristics of the Godhead is Jehovah. All right? Now, the Lamb of God.

[30:47] So, look, if you will, Jesus himself may have alluded to this appearance and calling upon the name of Jehovah when he said in John 8, 56, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it.

[31:13] Okay? He saw it and was glad. Gotta believe that from the promises God made to Abram, going back to even the Garden of Eden that no doubt Abram was well aware of, had been taught.

[31:35] Well, I don't know necessarily, but anyway, he had the sense that when God said through you all families of the earth shall be blessed, gotta believe the Spirit of God gave some inclination to Abram that he was going to be the one through whom the Messiah, the Redeemer was going to come.

[31:56] Alright? Because Jesus said he rejoiced to see my day and he saw it. Alright? Now, that word rejoiced, when he rejoiced to see my day is exultant joy is the idea to jump for joy.

[32:16] Alright? Yeah. It's like the little kid that saw the ice cream truck coming down the road and mama's giving him money to go get a popsicle.

[32:27] He's jumping up and down. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. When Abraham, however that was, saw Jesus in all of this and the day that he would come, he was jubilant with joy.

[32:48] Alright? Because he knew that would come. Now, what do you think that would do to Abraham? I would think that would give him confidence and assurance of what God was about to do and be anxious to follow what God says and what he did.

[33:10] So, Abraham journeyed going on still toward the south. Moved to the mountains to a place of plush valleys to secure good pasture land, no doubt for his flocks.

[33:23] Pitched his tent there with Ai on the east and Bethel on the west and then from that point he'll proceed slowly to the southern district of Canaan toward the Arabian desert.

[33:36] Now, we're going to stop there because we want to have plenty of time to open the next few verses because Abraham learns a lesson.

[33:47] Amen? Go figure. Alright? Now, keep in mind, just because God speaks to Abraham and because God has appeared to him and Abraham responds properly by building an altar and then calling upon the name of the Lord later with another altar doesn't mean at this point that Abraham is a super spiritual guy.

[34:15] Alright? It's still all new to him. He's from Ur of the Chaldees, moon worshippers, sun worshippers. Okay? We'll see what happens as he goes further into Canaan in verses 10 through 14 and then on further as we have time.

[34:38] Let's pray together. Father, again, thank you for your loving kindness today and we thank you, Father, for your love for us, for the opportunity you give us to come together to fellowship, but also, most importantly, to fellowship in your word.

[34:53] We thank you, Father, that you provided it for us and that you use it by your spirit's work within us to show us things pertaining to our own lives that you want to deal with.

[35:05] So, Father, I pray you'll enable us to take what we've seen tonight and heard and allow that to be used of you to speak to our hearts. I ask, Father, that then you will enable us to make the practical personal application of it to our lives so that we can adjust ourselves to your design and will for us.

[35:26] Again, thank you for these precious folks that have come tonight. They love you. They love your word. And so, Father, I pray your blessings upon them. And we ask that you bring us back safely next week.

[35:37] And we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.