Introduction

[0:00] In the plans and programs and purposes of God, do you know where you fit?

[0:20] Have you ever thought about where you actually fit in that? What will ultimately be produced in and through your life for the glory of God and His kingdom?

[0:31] You ever wondered about that? Ever thought about that or even considered that? Or even thought that there was such a thing? Well, I want us to focus on that while we go through that study in the life of Abraham.

[0:45] Because there is a purpose that God has for our lives. All right. So, when you look at the life of Abraham, we recognize there are many times that God manifests Himself, shows Himself or shows aspects of Himself to Abraham.

[1:08] You know, to reveal to him some aspect of His nature and His character. So, it's good for us to ask the question.

[1:19] Which I think sometimes we just kind of really overlook some of this in our own individual lives. So, let me ask you. What is it? Think about it just a moment.

[1:30] What is it that God has been to you in and through your Christian experience? Think about that just a moment. What has He been to you?

[1:44] What has He revealed Himself to be to you throughout circumstances, throughout times or whatever in your life? Anybody? Anybody? Faithful.

[1:57] All right. Good. Good one. What else? Peaceful. All right. He's our peace. Okay. Father God. All right. Father God.

[2:08] Guider. Guider. Oh, very good. Trustworthy. What else? Where has He taken you? Have you ever thought about the places God has taken you throughout your journey and what He's done with you there?

[2:26] How many of you have moved from place to place from time to time? Not everybody. Some of us just don't move.

[2:38] Mike, the plumber, doesn't move. Take my life for example. You know, I can look back. I can look back and see the things I've done, the places I've been, what got me there.

[2:56] Sometimes, seemingly, it was outward circumstances that got me there. But the more you look into that, the more you recognize it was the hand of God that used those circumstances to get you there.

[3:10] All right? Yeah. Is there anybody here? Now, think about this. This is deep stuff, guys, gals. Is there anybody here that has not really recognized that God, knowing where you're at right now, spiritually, in the will of God, that God has not been active in shaping and forming and directing your life from the time of your birth?

[3:40] Yeah. Yeah. yeah he has yeah now we didn't recognize it at the time but he's been doing that so it's good for us to look back alright write our own ledger if you will here's what God did here's what he brought me to here's you know and if you have to ask God Lord show me what you did there or if you be pleased to do it show me what you did or accomplished through my life there for your glory and just keep looking at those things until you come to the present day not just places but the people that he has brought into your life that have helped mold and shape your life people he's brought into your life that he has used you to help mold and shape alright so giving us a keen realization of the fact that we are not only saved by the grace of God but we're a vital part of what he's doing in developing his kingdom for his kingdom purposes and for his glory right so I want us of course it's going to be a few weeks a month or so before we get there but

[5:16] I want us that's what we're going to be trying to focus on you know through the study is to bring ourselves to the realization that hey we're a vital part of what God is doing here through Abram and through our in particular life so in order to set the stage for the thing you got to go back to Genesis chapter 4 alright isn't that just like a preacher start one place and go all the way back yeah and and go again in Genesis 1 1 the word in the word in means no Genesis chapter 4 we begin to see alright the birth of the sons of Adam and Eve which of course were Cain and Abel now we're not going to spend a lot of time on these we're just going to rush through some of this because we want to just bring us to a certain point alright verse 1 of Genesis chapter 4 scripture says and Adam knew his wife Eve

[6:21] Amplified renders it and Adam knew Eve as his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the Lord literally I have gotten a man from or with Jehovah alright so when she says that she's acknowledging the fact that in giving birth to a child to a son here it was through the work and grace and blessings of God that she was able to do this because recognize something here this occurs after the fall in the Garden of Eden alright God curses the ground and does various things as a consequence to their transgression to their sin alright and now she has a son and she gives praise to the Lord and says I have gotten a son with

[7:23] Jehovah and the idea there is through the mercy and blessing and goodness and sovereign will of God I have gotten a man so now remember remember the curse that came over things because of their sin now I know he cast them out of the garden told them to be fruitful multiply replenish the earth but now she has unquestionable hope that that can be a reality that the race of mankind will be continued in spite of the fact of their sin in spite of their transgression against the Lord and so now she has that hope Cain is born now look over look over I don't think I have that written here now look over in verse 2 of Genesis 4 alright notice how it's written verse 1

[8:28] Adam knew Eve his wife she conceived now notice the phrase Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived bear Cain said I have gotten a man with Jehovah verse 2 and she again bear his brother Abel Abel was the keeper of the sheep Cain was the tiller of the ground now what do you see different here in verses 1 and verses 2 notice how it starts verse 1 Adam knew his wife alright they had sexual intercourse she conceived and as a result of that she bore Cain but it doesn't say in verse 2 that she that they had that intercourse again and she conceived no there's no new conception spoken of here it's simply and she again bear his brother

[9:36] Abel you recognize what that means for us these guys more than likely were twins twins yeah now that brings about a new slant if you will on the strife between Cain and Abel they're brothers they're twins alright twins share a unique identity one with another even mentally and psychologically so you gotta realize the strife that comes between the two was brutal alright so here comes Abel now take note what happens here we know the story we know that as these boys grow alright in the process of time doesn't say what that time is but we've gotta believe and most scholars believe that these guys are young men now alright when this begins to transpire because one's a tiller of the ground one's a keeper of the flocks alright now so they've got their trade it's believed that most young men boys as they grow up become farmers to some degree and then others as they go older get a taste for raising cattle if you will become shepherds sheep herders whatever alright so that's kind of the picture you have here these guys have developed alright time comes along when they offer sacrifices to the

[11:26] Lord God approves that of Abel he does not approve that of Cain will not worry about why in this juncture but that happens and as a result God deals with Cain and Cain confronts God and God confronts Cain and it makes Cain angry from what God says and so he tells he tells and this is what a lot of scholars are saying he tells Abel Cain tells Abel let's you and I take a walk or as Yolanda would say let's take it outside yeah yeah yeah yeah and that's what he did he's not a happy camper and through something that transpires as they walk out into the field away from everything and away from everybody else more than likely for the purpose of not being able to be seen by anybody else Cain slays his brother alright now what happens where's your brother where is he alright

[12:41] God God confronts him and as a result in verses 11 through 12 he places a curse upon Cain now before we get to that point we've said at the introduction to this introduction that we need to recognize that God has a purpose in life for us if that be the case what was God's purpose for Abel let's say let's say he grew to be maybe 25 30 years old don't know that to be a fact but what was God's purpose for him Cain's birth gave hope to Eve what was God's purpose in Abel you don't know and I'm not going to tell you yet we'll look at it here in just a second all right so in verse 11 through 12

[13:50] God says to Cain and now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand 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 God withdraws the fruitfulness of the earth from Cain all right casts him out like a vagabond begins to live a lowly life away from mother father just like a vagabond on the earth all right that's what happens to Cain now but this is a beautiful picture here in verse 15 God does something to show some form of mercy toward Cain and the Lord set a mark upon Cain as he casts him out as a vagabond he puts a mark upon him lest any finding him should kill him almost as if there was a possible death sentence upon

[15:03] Cain until God put that mark on him so nobody would touch him now the question why did God do that what was God's purpose for Cain here there's a purpose behind Cain and it does lie in those that stem from him that we know as the Canaanites and that's why God preserved his life he's got a purpose in that for him and he's got a purpose in the Canaanites as well so God always having a purpose here in life a sovereign purpose now move on with me just about so now Adam and Eve left without sons Abel's dead Cain's been banished as a vagabond from the earth they have no children but hope springs eternal as they say they have the birth of another alright and along came the other son in verse 25 chapter 4 of

[16:22] Genesis and Adam knew his wife again and she bare a son and called his name Seth which by the way means appointed for God said she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew alright God's appointed me another one so go down a little bit in verse 26 to Seth to him also there was born a son and he called his name Enos then begin men to call upon the name of the Lord now so Seth the third son comes along he has a son grandson to

[17:23] Adam and Eve he calls his name Enos alright Enos has the meaning to be weak to be faint to be frail so it designates here man as frail mortal faint in his condition we asked a moment ago what was the purpose what did Abel's life represent what was his purpose alright I think big part of that was for man to recognize how faint and frail he is because it's not just because no doubt Enos was born faint and frail but I think that Seth no doubt has an understanding of what happened to Abel I'm sure mom and dad told him and he recognizes how how frail life is can't depend upon tomorrow don't know how if

[18:31] I'm going to live through the day tomorrow if something's going to happen I'm frail I'm weak so he calls his name Enos alright now look at the next phrase the last phrase of that by the way in Psalm 90 verse 3 I don't know if I put that in your notes or not in the this is the amplified rendering of it you turn man back to dust and corruption and say return O sons of the earth born to the earth frailty fragility of man pictured in scripture here alright so they now have in that name Enos a feeling and knowledge of human weakness frailty being expressed now that's just the opposite by the way of what becomes of the descendants of

[19:32] Cain they build a city alright erect a city they become busy in developing industry and arts developing developing the kingdoms of the world but notice what happens to the descendants of Seth at the end of verse number 26 then began men when they recognized their frailty then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah alright they began unitedly under the under the line of Seth to evoke the God of grace to recognize that they have a dire need for him for everything they have everything they need in life they have to depend upon Jehovah God so there they begin to call upon the name of

[20:35] Jehovah now that name of Jehovah remember expresses the entire nature that God possesses and who he is and what he is alright they recognize that the line of Seth that's why I call them the righteous line of Seth alright now so that whole entire nature that God possesses that in reality is hard for us to comprehend hard for us to adequately express let me remind you about that go back over the book of Exodus we've been here before but let's go back to Exodus chapter 3 just a moment Exodus chapter 3 God commissions Moses here confronts

[21:35] God at the burning butch and God tells him I'm going to send you Moses to Pharaoh to go tell the people I've come to deliver you and I'm going to use you to do it so he has a question for him here verse 13 of Exodus chapter 3 Moses said unto God behold when I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them good question yeah all right you say he sent you what's his name God says I and God said unto Moses verse 14 I am that I am and he said thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I am have sent me unto you and God said moreover unto Moses thou shalt say unto the children of

[22:38] Israel now notice this we'll look more at the names of God as we go through the study but the Lord God capital L O R D always means Yahweh or Jehovah!

[22:52] always not always but speaks here of the word Elohim so it's Jehovah Elohim all right both have significant meanings I'm the Jehovah Elohim of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob that's the one that has sent me unto you this now notice this this is my name forever all right that's who I am I'm Jehovah Elohim that's my name forever and for ever the all powerful self existent eternal God Jehovah all right always has been always will be that's who he is Elohim denotes the idea of being the faithful strong covenant keeping

[23:56] God but there's another remember another aspect to the word Jehovah the name Jehovah he's not only the strong eternal God but he is the God that reveals himself to man all right he said that's who I am that's who I'll be and am forever and ever and ever I like that aspect of it that says he's the God that reveals himself to man how does he reveal him for us in this generation he reveals him through the son amen the one that provides eternal life and a relationship with him through faith in his son so all right so man now begins to worship Jehovah God because they recognize the frailty of their lives now run over real quick since we're about to finish up here for the night and it'll be a while before we get back we'll go back over this as we begin the study but I want you to notice something we see we see

[25:13] God dealing with mankind without there being Jew and Gentile but there comes a point that we see in Genesis chapter 11 that change because we see the establishment of the nation of Israel but I want you to notice something here I give you a diagram there in your notes and I found this interesting because as I was developing the study I got to thinking all right here we are going through all of this through the life of Abram how much time are we talking about here all right because a lot of times we think of time just as we read scripture well this happened this year this happened maybe 10 years later okay but notice with me if you will I've divided it up for you a little bit now these aren't of course all the names all right but we'll go from Seth all right the righteous line of Seth the development of that through the birth of Seth all the way down to

[26:14] Abram now you have Seth and they have a number of names that are some of them significant and then you come to Methuselah what do we remember about Methuselah oldest man ever he's an old guy over 900 years old yeah yeah and then from him down a ways and you come to Noah all right Noah has a son Shem Ham and Japheth Shem's the one through whom the line runs all right and then you go down through a number of names there and then you come to the name Arphaxad the only reason I put Arphaxad there is because I think it's a cool name all right all right and then after Arphaxad you have a number of other descendants and then you come to Terah from Terah you come to Abram all right now recognize here there's approximately 1392 years of time from all of those folks from from

[27:29] Seth to Abram 13 almost 1400 years now if you want to go home and read those you can I've given you scripture there to find them all right but recognize something with me think about this some of them you recognize and you know God did some specific things through them but there's a lot more that have nothing really specific written about them in scripture other than the fact their names listed what was the purpose of God for them every single one of those names many most of them we've not listed are important in the scheme of God just glancing at their names and never seeing it any place else that doesn't seem reality but every one of those names are significant because they all lead down to

[28:41] Abraham and done then what God does through Abraham so you see that tells me every single one's important everyone is like you and I every one of us is important in the grand scheme of God for whatever purpose that is you and I may not ever know probably won't what the total bottom line end result of our life is and will be but it doesn't matter doesn't matter all we need to do is remain faithful to God and what he's led us to do calls us to do and shows us to do amen and let him put all the pieces together there's nothing as bad anybody any puzzle put together any puzzle put together here oh yeah few what's the worst thing in making in putting puzzles together a missing piece yeah yeah same thing in the line of

[30:02] God's purpose nothing as frustrating and aggravating as a missing piece not fulfilling the will of God that's why it's vital that we all do that fulfill his will and purpose for our lives all right let's pray together again father again thank you for your loving kindness for your goodness and your grace to us and love for us today and I thank you that you brought us together for this time of study thank you what you show us in your word each week and I pray God that you will just continue to work in that in our hearts and minds and continue to let us and enable us to recognize the fact that we're yours through faith in Christ and and that you have you've saved us for a purpose and that we need to let that purpose be realized through us and so enable us to do that just honor yourself and your son in everything that you do and we'll thank you for it in Jesus name amen