Turning Point in God's Dealings (Part 1)

[0:00] I was looking last week at the fact that God now is changing the focal point of what he's doing.

[0:22] There was no Jew and Gentile prior and now takes a man out from that to begin to focus on that individual to accomplish his purposes for the world and his kingdom purposes, of course, as well.

[0:46] And so we looked at the long line from Seth to Abram, the 1300 year process there took place. And so it's been a long process for this to start to take shape.

[0:57] Now, in Genesis chapter 11, verses 31 and 32, remember what we saw. Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife.

[1:17] And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. And they came unto Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

[1:31] We've always recognized Abram comes from Ur of the Chaldees. That's a familiar phrase. And we recognize that. Chaldea, for the most part, the whole of Babylonia, with Babylon being the capital of that region.

[1:49] And, of course, Isaiah and Isaiah 13, 19, called Babylon the beauty of the Chaldeans' excellency. So it was quite the place.

[2:00] Now, Ur of the Chaldees, the word Ur refers to the word fire. And that stems from the reality that there was the worship of fire.

[2:14] It became the emblem of their supreme being. And so the ancients of that place were the ones that began the worship of fire, if you will.

[2:27] And they weren't the cavemen that you see the pictures of in the movies. Oh, fire. No. But they were the ancients of what's known as Babylonia.

[2:39] And they were then the worshipers of fire. Now, and there's, I'm not going to give all this information just for the sake to tell you that the Chaldeans stemmed from the grandson of Terah, Abram's father.

[3:01] All right? Terah has a son named Nahor. And Nahor had a son named Chesed. All right? Or Chesed. And it's from Chesed that the Chaldeans were formed, if you will.

[3:13] And that's where they got their names. And so many of those that lived in Ur of the Chaldees were either priests or astronomers.

[3:26] All of them idolaters, of course. And they were all then known, the astronomers in particular, were called Chaldeans in the process of time.

[3:37] Ur was also the, if you will, the sacred city of the moon god. In fact, Abram's father's name, Terah, is related to the Hebrew word moon, if you will.

[3:53] So that kind of gives you just a brief picture of where Abram comes from. All right? What his background is here. Fire worshipers, moon worshipers.

[4:06] So we don't have a whole lot of information about Abram other than that. All right? In Genesis 12, 1, we recognize that God chooses out now this particular individual to be his instrument through which he's going to declare and produce his purposes.

[4:28] So Genesis 12, 1, we get the picture. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show you.

[4:41] Now, no particular information given to us other than what we just saw about Abram and Abram's family. No indication at all that Abram or his family knew Jehovah, the God who will become the God of Israel, the only true God.

[5:01] So we can always speculate the reason why God chose this Chaldean. From a family of fire worshipers, moon worshipers, heathens.

[5:18] Why God chose him to be that instrument by which he would produce his kingdom purposes. No other reason other than his sovereign will and choice.

[5:33] All right? Of course, recognize with me here that throughout the scriptures, we see so many indications here that God does a work in bringing the Redeemer in particular by making sure that there's no way man can take credit for redemption.

[5:57] He does things either the opposite or just in an unbeknown way to bring about the birth of a son. So that's one of the pictures we get here of God sovereignly choosing Abram for that purpose.

[6:14] But one thing we do want to remember here, notice with me that Abram does come from the line of Seth. Okay?

[6:25] Now, so God chooses Abram, picks him out, going to use him in a particular way for a particular purpose. Now, Abram's about to experience some things that he never dreamed of experiencing.

[6:43] Never even thought of it. All right? And that is some things that God's going to do with him. And in that, he's going to experience somewhat of who God is and what God is.

[6:54] But there's a delay in that here. Take note with me again. Back in verses 31 and 32 of chapter 11, Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law and his son Abram's wife.

[7:13] And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. And they came unto Hebron and dwelt there. Now, according to Genesis 12, 1, remember, at some point while he was still in Chaldea, God spoke to him.

[7:37] Jehovah spoke to this heathen. All right? And gives him instructions. Commands him to depart.

[7:49] Now, recognize. Commands him to depart from his father's house, from his kindred, from his country, to go to a place that he will instruct him to go.

[8:02] That was the instruction that God gave him. But take note here again. In verse number 31 and 32 of Genesis 11, And Terah took Abram his son.

[8:17] On down. They went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. What's the problem there? What problem do you see there?

[8:30] Terah took Abram. Terah took Abram. What was Abram supposed to do? Yeah, leave him behind.

[8:42] Leave him behind. But Terah, being the head of the household, I guess, the head of the family, the hierarchy, takes the leadership here. Don't know what, you know, I don't know what Abram had said to Terah.

[8:57] That'd be interesting to know, wouldn't it? Hey, Dad, guess who spoke to me? Yeah, guess what he told me? Yeah, I don't know. But Terah leads he and his family and all those to go into Canaan.

[9:12] That's the picture you see here. So there's a problem there. There's a problem there. Abram's dad, Terah, becomes a hindrance to Abram being able to take possession of the promises of God.

[9:33] and to experience God in the way he's going to experience him through all that process. The hindrance there was his dad.

[9:46] It wasn't until Terah died that Abram was able to go into Canaan. The book of Acts talks about that in Acts chapter 7, verses 2 through 4.

[9:59] Speaking of that, he said, Men and brethren, Peter says this, Men and brethren and fathers, hearken. For those of you that don't know, the Greek word hearken means listen up.

[10:12] Okay. All right. Now, the God of glory, that's of course Jehovah, appeared unto our father Abram when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Sharon, or Haran, and he said unto him, Get thee out of thy country from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee.

[10:34] Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from hence, or from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into the land wherein you now dwell.

[10:49] It wasn't until Terah died that he could go into Canaan. Now, recognize something here. There's a strong, there's a family ties that are usually strong ties, are they not?

[11:08] How many of you men, you also got to think back, way back here now. All right. But how many of you men remember having a hard time when you got out on your own not having your dad close by or with you?

[11:29] Do you? Or were you just so glad to get out of the house you were glad to leave? Yeah. Yeah. The family unit, no doubt, in Chaldea, among Abram's day, was a very close-knit, and it happened the same way with Israel later on.

[11:47] Very close-knit group. The dad was the leader of the hierarchy. All right. So, Abram, no doubt, would depend upon his dad a great deal.

[12:00] So, he probably didn't think a whole lot. Remember, this is new to Abram. He probably didn't think a whole lot about Terah going with him, taking the lead in this thing.

[12:12] Don't know why they stopped in Haran. Their intent was to go to Canaan. Except for the fact that Terah was an old man. All right.

[12:23] So, probably got worn out and tired, decided to stop in Haran and kind of settle down there for a little while. All right. Now, so it's hard to break those ties.

[12:38] But, he's still a hindrance to Abram until he dies. Now, I did my best to try to recognize him.

[12:49] We know that Scripture says that Terah was 205 years old when he died. What was it I thought of here?

[13:00] I tried to search all this out and never did find anybody in particular, others, that could specifically nail down some ages here and the time frame.

[13:12] what was it? Abram was 70 years old when they left Ur the Chaldees.

[13:24] He was 100 years old later on when Isaac is born. So, that's a 30-year period here. So, it's about 500 miles to Haran from Ur.

[13:37] So, that's a pretty lengthy trip. Takes them a while to get there, especially for an old man. All right? Now, so, I tried to figure out and tried to find out how long were they in Haran?

[13:56] You know, just like the 1300 year stretch from Seth to Abram, this thing of them coming to Haran and then Abram going into Canaan was not an overnight deal.

[14:10] All right? speculation is it was 15 years to up to 60 years that they stayed in Haran.

[14:21] All right? So, it's a lengthy period of time even if it's just 15 years. What a delay there is. Aren't you glad God's patient?

[14:33] Amen? That God is very patient. But the key in this is this. Just as terror was a hindrance to Abram coming to have the promises of God, the work of God completed in his life, you and I have hindrances as well.

[14:57] Amen? Yeah. And we've got to check out those hindrances because they can do the same thing for us. Hebrews 12, 1, remember what that said.

[15:08] Seeing there's such a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

[15:22] All right? Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Now, let us lay aside the weight and the sin. We've seen this before, but I bet you've forgotten.

[15:34] Amen? How many have forgotten? So I'm justified in rehashing it. Okay. Sin and weight. We know what sin is.

[15:45] Sin is everything that's contrary or anything that's contrary to the word of God and to the will of God. All right? And then there's there's the weight.

[15:57] Anybody remember what the Greek term for weight is in that verse? what the definition of it is? A swelling superfluous flesh.

[16:12] That's the weight. In other words, you can't be fat and be a runner. Amen? You can't be. So what Paul is saying here, he's talking about running the race.

[16:26] All right? And to do that, the spiritual race here, you lay aside the sin. Get rid of the sin in your life. And then the weight.

[16:39] That unnecessary weight and for the spiritual sense of it, it would be anything that would hinder us from satisfying the will of God.

[16:50] Even though in and of itself it's not sin. Okay? Good stuff. Everything but golf. Amen? Fits into that category.

[17:04] But you see what I'm saying. Our lives get so cluttered up with stuff that a lot of times it gets in the way of what God wants to do in our lives.

[17:18] Now, let's remember a couple of other things. Look over in Romans chapter 6. We've been here a number of times but I just want to remind us of what he's saying here. In Romans chapter 6.

[17:30] Okay. Okay. Okay. Romans chapter 6. Okay. He's talking about sin. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound because where sin abounds grace much more abounds he says in the previous chapter.

[17:43] God forbid how can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein. Alright. Verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.

[18:00] Therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death that like us Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we should walk in newness of life.

[18:10] Now, he's not talking about water baptism there. Alright. Baptized into death. Remember the word baptizo has a two-fold usage in the Greek.

[18:28] Alright. Mechanical ceremonial usage is what Pastor Mike does out here in the auditorium. Baptizes people into baptistry. Alright. As a symbol of salvation having died with Christ.

[18:41] The mechanical usage is the idea I think by definition it's the placing of someone into a new environment by an outside source that makes a radical change with that individual.

[19:00] Alright. So it speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation placing us into the body of Christ.

[19:10] Alright. That's what the book of Acts talks about the baptism of the Spirit. Alright. So it's the work of the Spirit of God that now indwells the believer. Alright. In placing him in the body of Christ.

[19:22] We're baptized in Christ with Christ. Alright. Now raise with him that we might walk in newness of life. Verse 5 if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

[19:41] Now somebody tell me what's the key to that phrase there? If we're baptized with him in the likeness of his death we're to be raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection.

[19:55] Where's the strength of that statement in what he's trying to show here? What is it? How many times did Jesus die?

[20:08] How many times was he resurrected? Once. Will he ever die again? Okay. And there's the key.

[20:20] Just as Jesus was crucified in death buried and resurrected from that death to no more go through that again.

[20:34] Look what he says. Verse 6 Knowing this that our old man that old Adamic nature man that we were born with everything we were in the old man was crucified or no is not was is present tense our old man is crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed or literally annulled that henceforth we should not serve sin.

[21:13] The sin nature is not destroyed but it's annulled by the reality of what he's saying here. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more death hath no more dominion over him.

[21:35] Alright? We died with him. He took everything we were in the old Adam with him nailed it to the cross took it to the grave with him.

[21:46] Alright? Now now verse 7 look at verse 7 interesting statement he makes here for he that is dead is freed from sin what's that mean?

[22:14] In the Greek it means it ain't necessary Amen? Sin's not a necessity in the life of the believer so what does that tell us?

[22:25] It tells us that sin in the life of the believer is a product of ceasing for a moment to yield to the spirit of God okay?

[22:37] Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died once unto sin but in that he liveth unto God likewise again verse 11 likewise reckon reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed what does that word indeed mean?

[23:13] Scripture sometimes talks about widows and widows indeed I don't know how he could be anything other well a widow! indeed is someone that has a spouse her husband has died and there's no family to help support her or help her she's completely a widow on her own here's what he's saying likewise reckon yourself to be dead indeed alright that's what you call graveyard!

[23:48] dead I mean dead is a doornail we used to say amen yeah yeah you're dead unto sin reckon yourself to be that way but you're alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord so when you look at that verse again look at it again here likewise verse 11 likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord what's the necessity that's being spoken of in there let me ask you this question think hard about this alright how many of you when you get up in the morning have a positive thought very first thing how long does that feeling last till you get up out of bed and the aches and pains begin to show up yeah no no what I'm saying is this consider yourself alive alright the positive thought consider yourself alive unto

[25:01] God not dead not oh man it's going to be a hard day today I got a lot of stuff to face it's going to be rough it's going to be tough am I going to be able to live up to God's standard here no consider yourself alive unto God amen because you are if you've been saved by the grace of God you are alive unto God alright through Jesus Christ so as a result verse 12 let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness now notice don't let sin reign but do what yield yourself yield your members as instruments of righteousness yielding yielding not to sin but to righteousness by yielding to the spirit of

[26:13] God in his work look over in Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 Paul says this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth!

[26:46] walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness but you you believers here have not sold earned Christ he didn't teach you this since you have heard him and have been taught by him that's not just from the times that they walked with him but in constant fellowship with him alright he's taught you as the truth is in Jesus here's what he's taught that you put off concerning the former conversation or manner of behavior the old man alright put off it's like taking off your jacket laying it down put off the old man alright that has caused you to sin in your former manner of life now notice what he says put off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lust the word which is corrupt in the original means is continually corruptible!

[28:17] or continually corrupted! becomes more and more corrupt! corrupt! Amen? Like our generation we're living in now we've seen the progress in that! Alright?

[28:28] The old man becomes more and more corrupt! But you take it off and you put it off! When you consider yourself dead indeed unto sin! Alright? And be verse 23 be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness now again be renewed in the spirit Romans 12 1 and 2 beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable on the God which is a reasonable service and stop being conformed to the world to be transformed how by the renewing of your mind transformation in that case is a word that means to have your life so that the outward behavior matches the true inward nature which is the nature of God by the spirit of God alright conformity is just the opposite of that for the safe person it's the outside activity being opposite of what the true inward nature is so he said be transformed so that what you are in the inside is revealed by what you do outwardly now how do you do that by the renewing of your mind amen how do you renew your mind you don't go to the hypnotist amen no it's by knowing what

[30:04] God has to say that's the renewing of the mind taking taking the word of God and studying it and letting the spirit of God teach us what the word of God is saying and implant it within our heart and our mind all right so that we begin to think the way God thinks it's good for us to think of it that way to begin thinking the way God thinks!

[30:32] things all right that's true transformation and renewing of the mind all right when we think of something we think what does God say about that what does he say about that in his word all right so that's what we are to do and that will take care of the hindrance amen or the hindrances in our life keeping us from satisfying the will of God in our lives all right God then now gives promise to Abram all right verses 2 and 3 I will make of thee a great nation I will bless thee make thy name great thou shalt be a blessing I will bless them that bless thee curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed now we'll pick up there

[31:32] Lord willing next week but recognize something with me here however long however long Abram stayed in harry however long that was whether it was 15 years 50 years whatever you recognize in there that that was a long process of learning what obedience is and developing true faith in God again remember all this is brand new to Abram no indication of any relationship with Jehovah at all much less knowing who he was when God appeared to him which he did somehow some way he no doubt impressed upon Abram's heart and mind who he was but it's new to him so developing that obedience and faith in the call of

[32:39] God took a while amen don't give up don't give up in your walk with God in Philippians chapter 3 if you will you know Paul here speaking about the fact of him what his desire was since he came to know Christ that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering and the idea there is to come to spiritual maturity to the point where he could come to know Christ as completely and thoroughly as a human being could know him in this life right but notice what he says here he said in verse 12 not as though I had already attained either were already complete but I follow after if I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ brethren I count not myself to have apprehended now the word apprehended in the Greek there literally means to reach up grab a hold and pull down now what

[33:42] Paul is saying there is he realizes that Christ has done that to him Christ has reached up pulled got a hold of Paul pulled him down to himself but he realizes he's done that for a purpose okay so Paul is saying here I want to reach up grab a hold of what that purpose is and pull it down to myself so I can fulfill that now and that comes through constant growth in Christ and spiritual maturity now look at verse 13 brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind reaching toward those things that are before pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus now verse 15 let us therefore as many as be spiritually mature not complete maturity but spiritually mature be thus minded and if anything he be otherwise minded

[34:42] God shall reveal even this unto you nevertheless where until we have already attained in other words to whatever level of spiritual growth and maturity you've come to let us mind the same thing alright with the realization that in the body of Christ in the church there are a variety of different levels of spiritual growth and maturity in the believers alright wherever you are in that growth period or that growth scale if you will he said let's continue on to more and more spiritual maturity and that's what we've got to do amen so we don't compare ourselves to anybody else we don't compare anybody else to ourselves amen because nobody has is anybody!

[35:37] here is there anybody! here that has arrived yet at spiritual maturity don't raise your hand because I'm going to call you a liar okay yeah now now nobody's reached that and nobody will till we go to be with him and he makes us complete amen alright alright we'll pick up in verses 2 and 3 of Genesis 12 next week Lord willing any other thoughts questions comments alright let's pray father thank you again for your loving kindness thank you for your goodness and grace tonight and for your blessings to us as we've looked together in your word and I pray that you will enable us then to take the things you've shown us through your word and enable us then to get rid of the hindrances to work toward that so that we may be able to satisfy and fulfill your will for our lives while you've got us here and we'll thank you for it thank you for these precious folks that are here tonight and know they love you know they love your word and pray

[36:49] God that you will bless them for that love for you and we'll thank you for it in Jesus name amen