Introduction Revisited

[0:00] Genesis chapter 17, verse 5, simply says, Neither shall thy name be any more called Abram,! But thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee.

[0:29] ! After God has already spoken of a covenant relationship with Abram, and even told him that he will multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and the sands of the sea.

[0:42] So that numerical number to his offspring has already been given, already been promised. But here now, he says, I'm going to make of you a father of many nations.

[0:55] All right? So the idea is that nations, kingdoms, will come out of his lineage. All right? And so as a result of that, then, we've entitled our study, Abraham, the father of many nations.

[1:09] And it will encompass Genesis chapter 12 through chapter 25. But actually, we're going to start in Genesis 4 tonight.

[1:20] But the basic study is going to be chapter 12 through chapter 25. Now, remember that there are a lot of spiritual truths that we'll find in here.

[1:32] A lot of things that God shows us, God reveals, God does, and those type things. But there's one thing that I really want for us to focus on as we look through the life of Abraham.

[1:44] Because it's not just the life of Abraham per se that we're going to look at. But more so, it's going to be God's dealings with and in Abraham.

[1:55] And what God accomplishes through him. And so that's the focal point of what we're going to study. And as we do that, again, I want us to be thinking about where we sit in the scheme of things as far as God's concerned.

[2:13] How do we fit into God's divine design for what he's doing in the world, in particular, through building his kingdom on earth and then later on pertaining to the kingdom of God in heaven.

[2:29] So I want us to think about where we fit. Where do we individually fit in the purposes of God? In other words, what will he ultimately produce through us?

[2:39] Which we won't know until, you know, later. But also be thinking in all that idea. Where has God taken us?

[2:51] You look back in your life. Where has God taken you? And what has he done to you and through you in those places that he has taken you?

[3:04] Now, you may be like Calvita. She'd never been out of the state of Oklahoma as far as living. All right. I took her to Hawaii. So she's been out of Oklahoma.

[3:17] But the idea is this. No matter what your circumstances have been through your life. All right. God, no doubt, has been a part of that.

[3:30] And so we need to look at that, search our minds and search our lives and see if we can't figure out what God has done through us in our Christian life.

[3:41] And maybe some idea of what he'll ultimately produce. And I think as we think of that idea, what he will ultimately produce. You know, I think of my kids.

[3:54] I do. A lot of times in the believer's life, the main thing God does is raise up godly children. Whom he's going to use and does use for his kingdom purposes.

[4:10] And it's a process for those kids as well to learn things about God. Sometimes that's a difficult thing for them to do.

[4:22] But they learn some things. And it's a joy to watch that happen and watch God use them in the midst of all of that. So what he ultimately produces in our lives goes much farther than just us.

[4:35] It can go to our offsprings, to friends, to those we've led to Christ, whatever the case may be. Now, in the life of Abraham, as we study through the book of Genesis, we see how many times God manifests himself to him, to Abraham.

[4:52] And the things he does in those manifestations are generally pictured in the names that are ascribed to the Lord.

[5:03] All right? Because names, especially the names of God, mean something. So in those dealings with Abraham, or Abram to begin with, the names of God are very important.

[5:16] They're paramount. And we'll be looking at some of those as we go along. So in the process of that, it's not only what God does in Abraham, what he does through Abraham.

[5:29] But I think equally as important is what God does to manifest himself. What does God become to Abraham in those various circumstances that he takes him through throughout his life?

[5:45] Likewise for us. It's always good for us. In the circumstances that we look back and say, oh yeah, I remember this. Or I remember this situation.

[5:57] To realize and think back even more, what was God to us? What did he make himself to us in those experiences? All right? So keep all of that in mind as we begin to look at this.

[6:12] So we set the stage now for our study of the life of Abraham, the father of many nations. So let's get a background for that that will help us to consider this.

[6:26] Go back to Genesis chapter 4 if you would like. And let's consider some things real quick. Genesis chapter 4. Very popular, very familiar to you.

[6:39] And begin in verse 1. Scripture says, And Adam knew Eve his wife. Now, the amplified rendition says, Adam knew Eve as his wife.

[6:50] I like that rendering. All right? And she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Or a man from Jehovah is the idea.

[7:03] The literal rendering of that phrase in the original is, I have gotten a man with Jehovah. All right? So, she's acknowledging here God's particular peculiar blessing upon her in having this son.

[7:22] Now, the reason I say that is because realize this occurs after the fall. After the sin of Adam and Eve of disobedience in the Garden of Eden and the sentence of death upon them.

[7:36] All right? So, she now was able to conceive and bear a son. So, that gives her hope, doesn't it? That gives her hope that there's still a possibility for the human race to continue on as God had started it in the Garden of Eden and so forth.

[8:00] Now, so, she also no doubt thought, remember back earlier, God said to Adam and Eve, all right, and to the serpent after the sin, after the fall, that the seed of the woman is going to bruise the head of the serpent.

[8:19] You know the analogy there. That the seed of the woman, some offspring of the woman, is going to be of the one that will bring the death blow, if you will, to Satan in the form of the serpent here.

[8:34] So, possibility and probability, I would think, that she would think that this firstborn son of hers would be that one that bruised the head of the serpent.

[8:48] Now, then comes along Abel. Now, remember we said last time, in the way that it's written, in the Scriptures, the Bible says, she bore Cain, and again, bore his brother Abel.

[9:07] There's something missing in that verse that you find in other occasions where they have children. And that is the statement that Adam knew his wife Eve.

[9:19] Or Adam again knew his wife Eve. simply says, gave birth to his brother Abel. So, that gives us the idea, as many conjecture, that they were twins.

[9:33] All right? Cain was born, and then came Abel, as twins. All right? And again, gives a little more seriousness, if you will, to the fact that Cain slays his brother.

[9:50] So, again, in the process of time now, we realize what happens. As the boys get older, they become a hunter, they become a keeper of the field, they become a mama's boy, whatever.

[10:06] And Cain, because of the conflict in the offerings given to the Lord, Cain ends up putting Abel, his brother, to death.

[10:17] All right? Now, we raised the question last time, because we were talking about the fact that God has purposes for us in all of our lives, and we need to remember that.

[10:30] He didn't save us just to get to heaven. He saved us so that he could use us for his kingdom's purposes, for his glory, for his desire, whatever it may be.

[10:41] So, we ask the question then, what, you know, Abel having such a short life in comparison to the rest of them, what was God's purpose in Abel?

[10:53] Well, think about that, and we'll look at that a little bit later. But now God, remember, places a curse upon Cain because he took the life of his brother.

[11:04] He shed his brother's blood. So, in Genesis 4, verses 11 and 12, the scripture says, And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.

[11:20] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. So, now God withdraws the fruitful soil from Cain.

[11:37] He's going to have a tough time raising crops. He's been comfortable at home with his mom, his dad, and being in the presence of the Lord in that.

[11:51] But now he's been banished. He's become a vagabond, a wanderer in the earth and banished to a less productive part of the earth.

[12:03] Now, nothing but wandering in uncertainty throughout his days. Now, verse 15 though, the Lord set a mark upon Cain.

[12:21] Now, to what purpose? He set a mark upon Cain, lest any fighting him should kill him. Any thoughts on the idea?

[12:32] If God's going to use us and we have to believe that in the beginning, in the creative acts and the birth of these boys and all of those things that transpire, if God had a purpose in Abel, he's got a purpose in Cain.

[12:47] What would that purpose be seeing he puts that mark upon him so everybody would be afraid to put him to death? What would God's purpose for Cain be? What I think that really was is that because of his death, the manner of his death, caused Seth to realize and see the weakness and frailty and depravity of man.

[13:12] And I think that's what God did through Abel in his death. Okay? Yeah. Not that God designed for Cain to slay Abel, but I think that's what God did for him or through him in his life.

[13:27] Yeah. Yeah. And likewise with Cain, why God didn't allow Cain to be put to death by someone is because there's the contrast there that's seen between an ungodly man, a man of the flesh and righteousness.

[13:46] Yeah. Seth and Cain. The Sethites and the Cainites. So, he puts a curse upon Cain. So what about Adam and Eve?

[13:58] Here they are. Abel's been put to death. Cain has been banished. Here they are by themselves with no offspring.

[14:10] All right? How can the promise of God come true without an offspring here? All right? Well, God's always faithful.

[14:23] Amen? Always faithful to His promise. In verse 25 in Genesis 4, here's another possibility of someone being the conqueror of the serpent.

[14:39] Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God said, she, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

[14:58] Now, hope springs eternal, as they say. here's another possibility of God's promise coming to pass.

[15:09] A son is born whose name is Seth. Now, what happens with Seth? He has a son in verse 26.

[15:21] All right? Seth, the appointed one, is literally the idea of the name, the appointed, now has a son.

[15:32] In verse 26, to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos, or Enosh, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.

[15:45] Interesting picture here. All right? Enosh, the word Enosh, is from a word that means to be weak, to be frail, to faint.

[15:58] So, what does it do? Seth names his son by what he sees. Abel, whom he did not know, was slain by Cain, whom Seth never knew.

[16:13] All right? But still, he knows what happened. And now, here's his son. Whether he's a frail young man when he's born, it doesn't say.

[16:25] But, he names him to picture for us the condition of man, that they recognize how frail, how weak, and how mortal mankind is.

[16:38] All right? So, Psalm 90, verse 3, this is as he amplified, simply says, you turn man back to dust and corruption, and say, return, O sons of the earthborn, to the earth.

[17:00] All right? Picture of how frail man is. So, there's that picture of the feeling that Seth and his family has about the human weakness and frailty of man.

[17:18] that's just the opposite of the descendants of Cain, the Canaanites, who were proud, who were arrogant, and people of the earth, people of the world.

[17:32] Now, notice the last phrase of verse number 26. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. All right?

[17:43] What a picture here. He sees the frailty of man. Abel's dead. Killed because of the hatred of his brother.

[17:56] And now here's this little baby. Maybe weak. I don't know. But they call him to represent the frailty and the weakness of man.

[18:09] And now they then begin to call upon the name of the Lord. All right? That literally is the idea of evoking God. All right?

[18:20] Invoking God by his name. By his name, of course, denotes the idea of the character and attributes they have come to know him by at this early stage of the game, if you will.

[18:33] All right? Now, get a picture there from what it says that they begin invoking God by his name or invoking the name of Jehovah. that they had begun to see some attributes and characteristics that God has manifest to them and demonstrated to them because he has sustained them in their weakness.

[18:56] He has supplied their needs in their frailty. All right? So they've seen some things. So they call upon him. And, of course, here's a first sign of man worshiping God in praise and adoration and thanksgiving.

[19:16] Worship. All right? Now, while they're doing that, the Canaanites, the descendants of Cain, have built a city and done some things to develop the city, laying the foundation for the kingdom of the world.

[19:36] while the descendants of Seth are now calling upon the God of grace because they recognize their need for him.

[19:49] Now, we see in chapter 11 a turning point. A turning point in God's dealings with mankind.

[20:02] Now, to this point, we've seen God dealing with mankind just simply as mankind. There's no Jew. There's no Gentile. It's just the whole of Adam's race.

[20:16] They're all one. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, they're all one in the first man, Adam. But God now draws from that stream of humanity and begins to formulate a means by which he is going to deal with the offspring of that stream and his purpose for them becomes evident and manifest to them.

[20:44] Now, in Genesis 11, verses 10 through 26, now we're not going to go through all of that tonight, all right? But you can study that out if you like, about the descendants and the genealogies.

[20:58] But we see in there the line through which this new spring is going to come where it originates. And that, of course, is from the line of Seth.

[21:10] Now, in your notes again, there is that little chart that I put in there that comes from those genealogies beginning in chapter 4, verse 25, through chapter 11, verse 26.

[21:24] All right? And I've just, I've just listed some of the main ones, all right? Because in between each of those names are a multitude of other people in the same line, all right?

[21:40] You can find those in your Bible, so I wasn't needing to write it down. Now, Seth, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, then you have Ham and Japheth from Shem, are Faxad, Terah, and then Abram.

[22:00] Now, the interesting thing about that, you know, when we begin in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God created, and as we just go through this, we have a hard time getting the time element, don't we?

[22:15] We think this thing just went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. But in the time between Seth and Abram, there's 1,392 years, 1,300 plus years of time when all of this develops, right?

[22:38] Now, to us, that seems like forever, amen? But God's eternal, is He not? God's eternal, and He knows what He is doing.

[22:49] But the idea is this, the main names, the main names that we've listed there, we recognize somewhat about them, maybe not our facts that, I just like that name.

[23:04] But the reality is, all the multitude of people in between these main names are important. Every single one of them are important.

[23:18] now let me ask you why. Why are they important? Every one of those people are important, because they are part of that lineage.

[23:32] Whatever they did, however they reacted, and whatever part they played in the family units, all of that was important, because that all led to the birth of Abram.

[23:50] With that, we have to keep in mind that are we not important as well? Yeah. We here in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA, on the earth, in the universe, amen, that we're all important when it comes to the things of God and the plans of God, the schemes of God.

[24:15] they're all important. We have to recognize we are important as well. We may not know what the scheme of God is, as far as, you know, the end of it for our life, but the key for us is this, remain faithful to what God has to do through us.

[24:33] All right? So, we begin to see then the purpose of God through Abraham in dealing with him and the multitude of nations, and one particular that he will establish from him, and that is, of course, the nation of Israel.

[24:54] Now, God's purposes and dealings with the nation of Israel are these. Number one, to be a means through which he manifests himself to man.

[25:05] It's unique that not only does he do that with Abraham, but others as well, down the list of the prophets in particular, but that God has seen, pleased, to write that down, have it pinned down for us as his word, so we can see what he's done and how he's dealt with these folks, how he's manifested himself, so we can see more of who he is.

[25:32] So, first purpose is to be a means through which he manifests himself to man. Remember, his name Jehovah has the characteristics of revealing himself to mankind.

[25:46] Secondly, the purpose of God in Israel is to receive his word. All right? Paul in Romans chapter 3 asks the question, the question is asked of him, what benefit is there then of being a Jew?

[26:02] If both Jew and Gentiles both are under the curse of damnation because of sin, what benefit is there to be a Jew? And he says, much with because to them are given the oracles of God.

[26:17] All right? To them are deposited, if you will, the oracles of God, the word of God. So, he's going to give his word through Israel to reveal some things, to reveal his holiness, his righteousness, and then his expectation for mankind as well.

[26:39] And then thirdly, of course, the common one, to be the instrument through which he would bring the perfect redeemer, and that was Christ Jesus. Now, always keep in mind that God has a purpose for us in our lives.

[26:57] All right? Yeah. That can be probably as grandiose as it was for Abraham, but God has a purpose.

[27:09] Amen? God has a purpose that he wants to accomplish in and through us, and we need to keep that in mind. God has saved us for that purpose, not just to get us to heaven.

[27:20] Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 13, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[27:41] Let me read that out of the Amplified. Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only with enthusiasm you would show in my presence, but much more because I'm absent, work out, that is, cultivate, carry out, to the goal and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling, that is, self-distrust with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ.

[28:20] That's what trembling means. It's literally self-distrust. don't trust yourself. You've got to trust the Spirit of God and yield to Him. Not in your own strength, for it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you, energizing and creating in you the power and desire, both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

[28:48] All right? Now, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works.

[29:06] Lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Again, out of the Amplified, for we are God's own handiwork, that's His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, that's born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, that is planned beforehand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live.

[29:41] Now, consider something with me. we are His workmanship. I was thinking about this this afternoon when I was going back through this, and if you think me crazy and what I'm about to say here, I thought of this and came up with this thought after I had been to the dentist office.

[30:04] So, we are His workmanship. Go to Psalm 139, familiar passage to you. Psalm 139.

[30:21] I'm going to read it out of the Amplified because it's such a colorful passage. Verse 1 says, O Lord, you have searched me thoroughly and have known me.

[30:33] Alright? Searched thoroughly so He completely knows us. Now, go down to verse 13. For you did form my inward parts.

[30:47] You did knit me together in my mother's womb. I will confess and praise you for you are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth.

[31:00] Wonderful are your works and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought as if if embroidered with various colors.

[31:22] In the depths of the earth a region of darkness and mystery. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape.

[31:36] even when as yet there was none of them. What a passage. Amen. You think God doesn't know you? Yes he does.

[31:49] Yeah. Now. When you look in the mirror what do you see?

[32:01] a mess. Amen. A mess. Wrinkles. Yeah.

[32:12] Bald heads. We realize that sin has corrupted God's creation including us.

[32:26] Amen. Yeah. Yeah. has anybody I'll be careful with this. Has anybody ever seen an ugly baby?

[32:42] Well you were okay. Okay. I've seen one maybe two that I thought what happened to that kid? But for the most part those sweet little babies look so so adorable.

[33:00] Amen. You know you go to the nursery at the hospital and you just stand there and listen to what these parents are saying.

[33:12] Oh isn't he or she so pretty? She's so perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Until that kid gets hungry then what happens?

[33:25] Yeah. Yeah. As adorable as they are outwardly they've still got that nature of sin. Now the crime because it's hungry I don't know if that's got anything to do with sin or not but that sin nature is in there and it won't take long for it to come out.

[33:43] All right? If you think about the idea of progressive sanctification what is it? it's the process of God through the spirit of God in the life of the yielded believer to bring us back to where we were before sin corrupted us.

[34:10] Think about that a minute. Now we won't get there completely in this life because of the body of sin but that's the work of the spirit of God to make us conformed more and more to the image of Christ in what is there other than bringing us back to what we were before sin corrupted us.

[34:40] Amen? Yeah. You you I was going to say put that in your pipe and smoke it but don't do that. Think about that.

[34:51] Mull that over and let God speak to your heart about that and show you about that. All right? Amen. All right. Lord willing next week we will pick up in chapter 11 verses 31 and 32 and we'll begin traveling through the life of Abraham.

[35:14] Let's pray. Father again thank you for your loving kindness tonight and your goodness and grace to us to bring us together to look into your word. Father thank you for what you've blessed us with in providing us your word to enable us to see these things that you show us and to see you in it all and be able to get an indication of what you are and who you are to some degree that causes us to rejoice and be able to surrender to you and trust you so Father we thank you for that and thank you for these precious men and women that love you and love your word and pray God that you'll bless us now as we contemplate what we've heard and what you've shown us and bring us back next week to see more and we'll thank you for it now we ask it in Jesus name Amen!

[36:15] Amen