Well, good morning. Thank you.
You know, we are complete in Him. I think it is amazing. We are complete exactly as God has desired us to be. We are fully complete in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not know if you really believe that or not, because most of us look at ourselves and say, “Look, with all of my neurosis, all of my problems, and all of my flesh, that is a wonderful statement, but it is just not true.”
Now, do we really believe that we are complete in Him? Well, we need to, because it is true. In Jesus Christ, the completed product is there, and you will spend your lifetime coming into the good of what Christ has already done. And you are complete in Him. Hallelujah.
When we get into that new city, that New Jerusalem, brothers and sisters, we will be complete. Our completion will be fully manifested in us bodily, in our new glorified body—not these bodies of humiliation that we have now.
So, you know, we have a lot to be thankful for and rejoice over, because our world does not end on this earth. We have a heavenly Father, we have a heavenly home, and we have heavenly aspirations. So may the Lord help us today.
Lord, we do come to Thee today. Lord, there has just been such a marvelous work done at Calvary’s cross that we will, I believe, spend eternity coming into the good of all that Christ accomplished there on Calvary’s cross.
Lord, we are so grateful today that we are Your purchased possession, bought with a price—a precious price. And yet, Lord Jesus, there is something so marvelous, so wonderful in Your heart, that You desire to bring us into the fullness of it. And we thank You today.
Lord, I just pray that what we share today will be real. May the Holy Spirit truly anoint, and Lord, may our hearts be touched afresh and anew by the Holy Spirit this morning. Lord, really make our hearts pliable this morning, that we can hear Your word—not mine, but Yours.
And, Lord Jesus, move us a little further into that place of final completion that You are after. Lord, do bless this time. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, I have been sharing recently—well, I do not know, not so recently, about four weeks ago, I guess—but we have been sharing on this matter of God revealing Himself. The flip side of that is discovering God in His word.
The reason I say that is that, from our point of view, we are discovering God and discovering who God is. But, you know, really, it is God who initiates things. You cannot discover God unless He chooses for you to discover Him. In other words, unless He reveals Himself to you, you will never discover who He is, because God is a mystery.
Yet God, being the mystery that He is, has such great desire to reveal Himself. And that is what is on my heart as we go into the word of God again this morning: discovering God because He so desires to reveal Himself.
Just a few summary thoughts from previous messages will help us get to where we are today in the life of Abraham. I have shared recently that, frankly, if you really want to know God, you have the key. The absolute and only key to knowing God is Jesus Christ.
There is no other way to know God except through Jesus Christ. Yes, you can see something of His power and majesty in creation, and that may draw you to God. But to really see God, you are eventually going to come to the point where you have to say, “It is Jesus Christ, and only by Him can I know God.”
In fact, Jesus, when He was here, said that no one can know the Father except by Him. Nobody can come to the Father except by Him. The other word that is so full is that He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In other words, all of the life and aspects of God are in our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has demonstrated those things to us, and He has greatly demonstrated the love of God in dying for us on Calvary’s cross. So we see that Christ is the key.
Secondly, He has given us the word of God. He has given us the Bible that might help us and instruct us in learning who God is—really seeing this Christ and, by doing that, knowing who God is. It also shows us the ways of God. As we learn the ways of God, we begin to see who God really is and why He moves in the way that He does.
Recently, we have been sharing that God reveals Himself through the lives of men. He reveals Himself in the testimony that He puts within men, a testimony of Himself. No one man can carry that full testimony except Christ Himself.
Yet we have the privilege of carrying the testimony of God in our lives—the testimony of Jesus Christ. We have talked about how God will take a man and work in his life. I am not just talking about the ones we have been discussing, but your life and my life.
He works something special and unique in your life that is a specific testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, which probably few others are able to express in quite the way that you can. Or He will take the same thing—for instance, His love—and have it expressed in various ways through different members of His body.
So it is: He does have a testimony in man. We shared on three of them: Abel, Enoch, and Noah.
In Abel, we see the acceptable sacrifice—God’s way for sinful man. There is an acceptable sacrifice. In seeing that acceptable sacrifice, we see that God is a God of sacrificial love, because He gave His only begotten Son for you and for me. That is the life of Abel, the testimony God carried in him.
In the life of Enoch, it says that Enoch walked with God. You know, God wants a relationship. Walking with God means that you are in communion with Him. You are in union with Him. You are walking; you are in relationship with Him, and you learn to know Him.
Christ has encouraged us to take His yoke upon us. Get in the yoke with the Lord Jesus Christ and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly.
The life of Noah: we know that the big thing in the life of Noah was the ark. He spent most of his life building this ark.
The world was judged, but Noah did not come into judgment. Why? Because he was in the ark.
You know, I always love that little note in Scripture. It says Noah went into the ark, and the Lord shut the door. God has put you in Jesus Christ by virtue of faith. By His grace, through faith, you are in Jesus Christ. You are in the ark.
It is a testimony that this is God’s way. It is through the ark. It is through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the testimony that Noah carries: that we are really no longer of the world that is to be judged, but we are in Christ.
So this morning, we now come to God’s testimony in Abraham. Brothers and sisters, this morning all I can do is give an introduction, because there is so much in the life of Abraham—so much that we see of God and so much that we learn of God’s ways.
I will explain that further, but I would like us to begin by reading Genesis 12:1-3.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred,
and from thy father’s house,
unto a land that I will show thee:And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing:And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Genesis 12:1-3
Now let us look at a companion verse out of the book of Acts: Acts 7:2-4.
This is Stephen speaking just before he was martyred:
Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken;
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham,
when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he dwelt in Haran,And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred,
and come into the land which I shall show thee.Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans,
and dwelt in Haran:
and from thence, when his father was dead,
He removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.Acts 7:2-4
When we look at Abraham, the one overriding thing that you will really discover about God is God the Father. We know that God says that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In Abraham, we see God the Father. In Isaac, we see God the Son. In Jacob, we see God the Holy Spirit. So, in these three men, there is a kind of fullness of testimony to the Godhead. We will be sharing on all of these men, but today we want to begin with Abraham. He is a testimony of God the Father.
As you look at and read the life of Abraham—and I hope that you do this—you will discover that God leads Abraham from an idol worshiper to a saint. At the end of his life, he is worshiping and leaning on a staff.
In other words, God brings Abraham through his life of faith. He brings Abraham through failures. He brings Abraham through mistakes. He encourages Abraham. Time and again, He brings Abraham back to Himself.
There are times in Abraham’s life when God does not speak to him. One time, we know for sure that it was thirteen or fourteen years that God did not speak to Abraham, because Abraham was operating in the flesh. You know, he was going on; his life was normal.
Yet God pursued Abraham. He woke him up, spoke to him, and reminded him of the promise that He had made to him. In other words, we finally get to the point where Abraham himself is able, by faith, to offer up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah unto God.
So we see a man of great faith in Abraham. We see God the Father if you read through those chapters, starting with Genesis 12.
Secondly, in the life of Abraham, we are going to discover God’s ways. We see the ways of grace and mercy. Go to Joshua 24:2 for me.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time,
even Terah, the father of Abraham,
and the father of Nahor:
and they served other gods.Joshua 24:2
The God of grace and mercy. Did you know that Abraham, in the beginning, was most likely an idol worshiper? His father was a worshiper of idols. His family was a worshiper of idols.
Tradition—religious tradition—says that his father was actually an idol maker. In digging up those old cities there in Mesopotamia, they found that where he was dwelling, there were many, many gods. Many gods.
Does this not speak of God’s grace, brothers and sisters? Does this not speak of God’s mercy? Here Abraham did not have any hope. He had heard of gods, but it was many gods. It was not the God.
But the word, as we have already said, says the God of glory appeared to Abraham. God initiated the beginning of Abraham’s spiritual life.
Now, brothers and sisters, is it not true? We often think that we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ—and you do have to—but He has been pursuing you from your womb.
The word is very clear. He says, “I have known you in the womb. I have known you in the womb of your mother, and I have pursued you all of your life.”
At some point, I am going to challenge you, and you will have to make that decision: Is Jesus Christ going to be Lord of your life? Am I going to be God of your life? Or are you going to run your own life?
Well, grace and mercy, brothers and sisters—we see that the ways of God are grace and mercy.
The other thought is that He is the Author and Completer of our faith. Look at Romans 4:16.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace;
to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;
not to that only which is of the law,
but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham;
who is the father of us all.Romans 4:16
When the word of God talks about faith, it talks about Abraham being the father of us all, often referred to as the father of faith. The Lord Jesus, in your life, is the Author and Completer of your faith. We will see in Abraham’s life how He develops Abraham’s faith through the years.
God also moves by way of revelation. He has to reveal Himself. Now, in Acts 7:2, which we have already read, it says that the God of glory appeared to Abraham.
In other words, God initiated the action, and He appeared to Abraham. He is the God of glory, brothers and sisters. Do you know what that means: to be the God of glory?
That means that God is determined. It was not just that God met Abraham, but the God of glory met Abraham. He moves in accordance with His glory, and His glory is that He might bring us into fullness, into His kingdom in fullness, and into being complete in Him.
He wants a son—not just a babe, but a full-grown son in the Lord Jesus. He has called us according to glory, in glory.
He does this through revelation. He reveals Himself. Brothers and sisters, how critical it is to have revelation in our spiritual life. You began because the Lord touched your heart. He gave you the revelation that He was your Savior.
The Scripture says it: “By grace are ye saved through faith.” Even that faith is not of yourself, but it is a gift of God. In other words, the Lord had to work in your life in such a way that faith would finally arise in your heart to accept Him.
In some ways, I consider this a great mystery. But it is God’s work, and we should be thankful that God was able to do that in your life and mine.
Brothers and sisters, there are many who have passed away who never knew the Lord Jesus Christ, who never accepted His grace, never accepted the salvation that He freely offers. There will be many in the future who do not.
So the fact that He has been able to reveal Himself in such a way that you come into a living relationship with Him, brothers and sisters, is most precious—and in some ways unusual, particularly in this world.
In the life of Abraham, we also see God’s way—the way of the cross. Go to Hebrews 11:17-19.
By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac:
yea, he that had gladly received the promises
was offering up his only begotten son;Even he to whom it was said,
In Isaac shall thy seed be called:Accounting that God is able to raise up,
even from the dead;
from whence he did also in a figure receive him back.Hebrews 11:17-19
You know, the cross had worked in Abraham’s life to such an extent that God challenged him. God tested Abraham, and Abraham had such faith that he could offer up his own son. He saw that the cross was a way of life.
Just a thought here that we need to be aware of: often we think that the trials we go through are our crosses. Actually, that is not exactly correct.
It is how we handle our trials that determines whether we take the way of the cross or not. The cross is something that you have to voluntarily take. It is not something God just puts on you.
Yes, He allows trials in our lives, but within those trials, are we going to do it God’s way or our way? Sometimes God asks us to do something that is totally against our own will. That is the cross working in your life.
You have to say, “Okay, Lord, I am willing to submit to Your will, to the cross, and go Your way, not mine.” That is the cross. It is voluntary.
God told Abraham, “Take your son, that son of promise—the son on whom the whole world has been hinging—and offer him up in sacrifice to Me.”
Abraham had a choice to make. God did not make him do it, but Abraham did it. He took up the cross and followed the Lord in fullness, offering up that son of his.
Grace, mercy, revelation, faith, and the cross—they are all critical to our Christian life. As we go through the life of Abraham, we will see more and more how God’s grace and mercy continue to reveal Him to Abraham and continue to encourage him with promises.
We see Abraham’s faith growing stronger and stronger as he willingly takes the cross of God working in his life. All of these things work together.
Grace is wonderful, but we need more than grace. We need mercy. Mercy is wonderful, but we need more than that. We need revelation from God. We need that living touch with God. And more than that, we need faith. Faith comes through the cross. So they all work together. You cannot really separate these things.
Now this morning, I would like to talk a little bit—this really is an introduction—about the significance of Abraham’s life. I have shared something already of the significance we see in the word of God in Abraham’s life, but I would like to emphasize a few other points.
Let us go to Exodus 4:5.
That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,
hath appeared unto thee.Exodus 4:5
This is God speaking in this particular verse. Basically, He is saying, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” That is My name.
You might think that is a bit of a strange name for God, but He said that was His name. It is a compound name: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” There is great significance in this name.
What does it say to me, brothers and sisters? When He says, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” He is saying, “I want a personal relationship.” That is what it is about.
“I am not satisfied with a distant relationship with anyone—with a relationship that does recognize Me as God, but has no desire for Me to be a real part of their life.”
No. He wants to be able to say, “The God of Jim, the God of Mary, the God of Bill, whoever it may be—the God of Jerry.”
God has given you His name. Jesus Christ has given you His name. What this phrase, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” means is like a marriage covenant.
Now, in a marriage covenant, at least the one the pastor asked me to enter into, it was the old standard one. He turned to me and said, “You must love your wife with all your heart and soul. You must cherish your wife, provide for your wife, and take care of your wife.” I said the same words back.
Then he asked my wife, “You need to honor and submit to your husband, support your husband”—and her mouth moved, but no words came out. So I am not sure I am in covenant relationship with my wife.
No, no, I am married to her. God heard what was in our hearts. I could not hear it. I always told her I was not sure if she was married. I was married, but I was not sure about her.
Anyway, it was marvelous. She was so nervous—rightfully so. I was nervous too, but I could get the words out, I guess.
But the point is this: there is this matter of covenant relationship. As the husband, what does a husband do? He gives his name to his wife, and she receives that name.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ has given you His name. Remember, in the Scriptures, the Lord said in John, “If you ask the Father in My name, He will give it.”
We are exhorted to pray in the name of Jesus. Now, brothers and sisters, this is not a formula whereby we end all our prayers by saying, “In the name of Jesus,” and automatically get what we ask for. That is not it at all.
When the Lord gives us His name, that means we are under His authority. That means that we honor Him. That means that we submit to Him. That means that we will support Him in all the ways that we possibly can, as a helpmeet to our Lord.
We are committed to Him in covenant relationship. Because we have committed in that blood covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ, He has given us His name. God the Father honors that name.
That is why, when we come in submission and under the authority of the headship of Christ in our life, and we come and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, God responds—because you have the name of His Son upon you.
Not because of who you are, but because of who He is. It is just like the marriage union. When I gave my wife my name, my bank account went with that. My car went with that. My house went with that. Everything that I own is hers.
Brothers and sisters, in the Lord Jesus Christ, He has given you His name, and it gives you right to everything that is His. It gives you right to everything that He has done on the cross on your behalf. It gives you right to your full inheritance in Jesus Christ.
It gives you right to be joint heirs with Jesus because you have His name: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God wants us to come under His name. He wants to be in that covenant relationship with us. He honors it, recognizes it, and, brothers and sisters, it is an unconditional covenant.
What does that mean? It means that He is saying, “You have My name. I am in covenant with you, and I will love you even if your love toward Me grows cold. I will love you even if you turn from Me. I will love you throughout, to the end.”
In fact, if you are a Christian, that love will fully recover you. That is what it means to bear His name. It means that this unconditional covenant He has with you and me is one to which He will be faithful at any cost.
That is why He gave His Son on Calvary’s cross. No cost was too high. Brothers and sisters, do you realize that this cost is still operating today, that He is still faithful to you?
He is going to remain your High Priest. Christ is forever praying for you before God, encouraging you with His promises, picking you up when you fall down. It is all because He has given you His name.
Amazing. What significance the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob really means to us personally.
We need to respond to His love. You know, I need to say this: we know that we are not always faithful. We know that we can fail greatly. Some of the greatest saints have fallen greatly.
Actually, we can get into a condition and turn from God and, frankly, never really fully recover—not in this lifetime. That is possible.
But I want to say this: for those who do respond to His love and faithfulness as Christians, He is going to offer a special reward, that you will be able to serve with Him in His kingdom age while He reigns on this earth.
But I want to say this: God is faithful. It is an unconditional covenant. Even for those who are not able to enjoy that special reward, He is faithful.
When you come to the New Jerusalem, every Christian is there. Every Old Testament saint is there. In other words, God has brought us through into fullness.
The Lord is faithful in His covenant to us. But I also need to say this so that nobody gets too discouraged.
If you look at the life of Abraham, we know he goes down into Egypt. We know he tries to trick the king, saying, “This is not my wife; this is my sister.” We know that Abraham had Ishmael because he worked according to his own devices and at the suggestion of his wife. God did not speak to him for thirteen years.
We know, if you read—and we will go more into this—that when he left the land, he did not fully obey. He was to leave his family. He was to leave the land. He left the land, but he brought his family.
In fact, we find out that Terah, his father, led him out. Abraham did not actually lead. You know what happened? He fell short.
They spent many, many years. It says they settled down in Haran, which is halfway there. They became satisfied with life the way it was. The Lord was not really speaking to them, but they became satisfied.
It was not until his father Terah died—the old man had to die—that Abraham was able to go. But anyway, it was God’s faithfulness, brothers and sisters: this blood covenant, this unconditional covenant, and He has given His name to that.
Well, that is one aspect of the tremendous life of Abraham. Let us go to Genesis 12:3.
And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Genesis 12:3
There is tremendous significance in Abraham’s life. God comes to him and says, “Look, from your lineage, from your seed, I will send One who will be a blessing to the whole earth.”
What a privilege. What an honor—to be told such a thing, to be in that lineage, to be the beginning of what God was going to do and bring in a seed, that promised Seed.
Of course, this is speaking of Jesus Christ. To show you that I am being truthful here, let us turn to John 8:56.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day;
and he saw it, and was glad.John 8:56
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he was glad.”
Brothers and sisters, when you look at the Old Testament account of Abraham’s life, you see his earthly history. You can see all the events. You see his flaws. But when you look in the New Testament, you see his spiritual history.
From this, we know that when God spoke to him of the Seed, at some point Abraham had revelation that this Seed was the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “He saw My day, and rejoiced.” That is revelation from God.
Through Him all the families of the earth will be blessed. Abraham looked forward to that day. Brothers and sisters, we look back, because the Lord Jesus has come and died on Calvary for you and me.
Now, interestingly enough, do you realize that your lineage goes back to believing Abraham? Your lineage goes back to believing Abraham. I put that word believing in there because it is significant.
Now, before you accuse me of heresy, let us go to Romans 4:3.
For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham believed God,
and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.Romans 4:3
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now, Romans 4:11:
And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had while he was in uncircumcision:
that he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be in uncircumcision;
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.Romans 4:11
That he might be the father of all them that believe. Though they are not circumcised—that is us; we are the Gentiles—that righteousness might be imputed to them as well.
Interesting: that he might be the father of all them that believe. Why do we say this? Because Abraham actually has two families.
One is his natural family, which are the Jews that come from his lineage. The other is a spiritual family that comes from all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—in other words, those who exercise faith as Abraham did.
It says that he is the father of all those who believe. Interesting. I would have thought it would say that Jesus Christ is the Father of all believers.
Really, brothers and sisters, we are the lineage of Christ, because we have been born again into new life. But there is some significance here.
Let me share another Scripture that will help reinforce it. Matthew 1:1. I hope it will make a little clearer the point I am trying to make about the significance of Abraham’s life.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David,
the son of Abraham.Matthew 1:1
When Jesus has His lineage recorded in the book of Matthew, it mentions two people. One: He is the son of David, and the son of Abraham.
He is the son of David because this shows that He has right to the throne as King. His kingship is in view when His lineage goes back to David.
But then it goes back to Abraham. It does not go back to Adam. It does not say, “I am the son of Adam.” Why? Because Adam is the head of a fallen race.
We need to understand that, in God’s eyes, Adam became the head of a fallen race. We are born from Adam when we are born. That is why the Bible says that we are born in sin, because that sin nature has been passed on from Adam down through the generations to you and me.
But the lineage goes back to Abraham. Abraham becomes the federal head of a new nation: a natural birth by Abraham of the Jews, the nation of Israel. But he also becomes the federal head of those who, by faith, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is what the Scriptures are saying. That is why the Lord takes His lineage back to David and then to Abraham, and He stops there. He does not go back to Adam.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible is clear. It says Jesus was the last Adam and the second Man.
Jesus was the last Adam and the second Man. Adam was the first man. The first man failed. Jesus came, and when He came, He said, “The whole race is going to end with Me”—the Adamic race.
On the cross of Calvary, the Adamic race was put under judgment and is forever gone in God’s sight. But a new race began, and that new race is in Jesus Christ.
That is why your spiritual birth is of the Lord—not from Abraham, but from the Lord. However, your new birth is because you have faith. You have righteousness before God because you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
That is what Abraham began with: faith in the Seed, the promise. That is why he is called the father of nations.
Remember, God said, “Look out.” I think He said the sands of the sea or the dust of the earth. That is the Jews. He says, “Your children will be as the sands of the sea, the dust of the earth.” That is the nation of Israel.
But then He takes him out and says, “Look at the stars. Your children will be as the stars of the sky.” That is His heavenly people. That is the Christians. So it includes both Jews and Gentiles.
Abraham—God started something tremendous in the life of Abraham. He made it very clear in the life of Abraham that righteousness before God comes only through faith. There is no other way.
Of course, Enoch, Abel, and Noah had faith too. But it seems that when He comes to Abraham, God wants to put this testimony of righteousness through faith in Abraham. Abraham carries that special, unique testimony. That is why he is called the father of faith.
The third area I wanted to touch upon concerning why Abraham’s life is so significant is that, in Abraham’s life, for the first time we really begin to see God’s eternal purpose.
We see a progression from the testimony being carried in individuals to the testimony being carried in a people—the Jews—and being carried in a nation, Israel.
That progression has gone on. The testimony of Christ is carried in the church. Eventually, it will come into fullness when we see the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven.
In other words, in Abraham, God begins the fulfillment of having a testimony—a corporate testimony. Not just His testimony in individual lives, which He still has and for which we are still responsible, but also this matter of a corporate testimony, which is much fuller than any one individual could ever express of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us read Hebrews 11:8-10.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out
unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance;
and he went out, not knowing whither he went.By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise,
as in a land not his own,
dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise:For he looked for the city which hath the foundations,
whose Builder and Maker is God.Hebrews 11:8-10
Brothers and sisters, this city is God’s eternal purpose. What is this city? This city is the Lord Jesus Christ as King, as Head. It is the full Body of Jesus Christ, including the Old Testament saints, having a fullness of the testimony of who God is.
It is more than just all of us individual Christians down through the ages and all the Old Testament saints. We have all been put together, and God looks at it. He does not see so much you and me, but He sees the city. He sees this full testimony of His Son.
That is God’s eternal purpose. It is really His Son, and that requires a vessel of testimony—a corporate vessel of testimony. We see that beginning in Abraham’s life.
We know that God, brothers and sisters, is looking for a dwelling place in His people. Later in the Old Testament, we see that He has a tabernacle made so that He can dwell in the midst of His people. He has a temple made so that He can dwell among His people.
Now let us go to Ephesians 2:22.
In whom ye also are builded together
for a habitation of God in the Spirit.Ephesians 2:22
Brothers and sisters, all of this Old Testament is a progression. It is a preview of what God was going to do in the spiritual. It says that we are to be built together as living stones.
Not only are we called individually, but we are called to a corporate expression of the Lord and to be a part of it. Let us go to 1 Peter 2:9.
But ye are an elect race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for God’s own possession,
that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.1 Peter 2:9
Was not Israel chosen as a special people? But you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood.
Now, interesting. We believe in the priesthood of all believers, right? That basically means that each one of us can go before the Lord. We can go to our Head. We can have fellowship with the Lord. That is what the priesthood of all believers is.
We do not have to go to another Christian to go to God for us, or like the Catholic system, where if you want to speak to God, you have to go to the priest first. No. It is the priesthood of all believers.
But, brothers and sisters, it does not say that you are a royal priest. It says that you are a royal priesthood. God is looking for a priesthood.
He wants all the many priests, who are Christians. All of us are priests before God. We should exercise that priestly ministry of worship.
When we come to the table, you really should verbally exercise your priesthood. You are a priest to God. That is part of what you have been called to.
When we gather to pray, we should pray. It is part of the priestly function. We pray for one another. That is part of the priestly function.
But we are to be a part of the priesthood. That is the priests working together as a corporate person before God.
A holy nation. It is corporate again. He did not say “holy individuals.” He did not say that we are holy individuals before God. He said, “A holy nation.”
Now, that is significant, because if you are part of a nation, that means you have come under the government of the head of that nation. But you have come under that government in union with whoever else lives with you under that government or is part of that government.
In other words, if you live in Virginia, which most of us here do, we are under the government of Virginia. We are Virginians. We all have to come under that government, or we go to jail, I guess—the option.
Well, we are a holy nation. It goes on to say we are a peculiar people. Now, we realize that, I hope, by now—that we are a bit peculiar. But you know what? We are supposed to be.
I do not know if the world thinks you are peculiar or not, but I know some people think I am a bit peculiar because my life honestly revolves around fellowship with the saints and being a part of the corporate expression.
They think that is a bit peculiar because they feel, “Look, why can’t you pay your dues, just go, give your tithes, sit in the pews, and say a few prayers? That is all you really need to do.”
But, brothers and sisters, that is just attending. That is not being a part of a chosen people, a royal priesthood.
Of course, we are to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We can do that as individuals.
But, brothers and sisters, as we were together this morning around the Lord’s table, and different brothers and sisters offered up prayer, it was very obvious that, for many, their hearts had been touched concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf.
It is right that we express that as a priesthood.
Let me catch back up here. I get ahead of myself so often.
I think it is time to bring it to an end. I think I will. Let me end it this way.
God was able to call Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Can you say the same? Can you say that He is your God?
If not, you need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the only way you can come to God. It is the only way you can have a relationship with God: through Christ. Christ was very definite about that.
I know in the religious world today—I have heard it, particularly in some other churches, which really shocks me—that there are other ways, other religions, other ways to know God, right out of the pulpit.
Brothers and sisters, that is absolutely a lie, deceit from the enemy. It comes out of the pit of hell, and it is birthed in humanism in this United States, which is a great tragedy that we have in the United States.
It is not a direct assault by the enemy. It has been a very cunning device to get us to love ourselves more than God, to be more concerned about our humanistic ways than God Himself.
Well, forgive me for getting a little off there. But it really does fire me up when I hear that Christ is not the only way, because it is so deceitful, and many will go to hell because of that—because they believe it.
We need to be able to say, “God is my God,” and that He is in covenant relationship with me. We need to realize, brothers and sisters, that He has given His name to you. You come under His name.
It is a marvelous gift to have: to be able to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; to be able to say that you are His, and He is yours in covenant relationship with Him.
He is your Lord. He is your Shepherd. He is your High Priest. Do you believe that?
Abraham went out not knowing. You know, the Lord Jesus has not promised us a rosy bed ahead of us if we accept Him—that everything in our life would be roses and there would be full provision for everything. There will be full provision for your spiritual needs.
Abraham did not know exactly where he was going, other than it was a land God had promised him. He knew that he had seen God, that he had had revelation, and that God had spoken to him. He did respond. That is the point I want to make.
Do we respond? Are we responding to the Lord when He speaks to us, when He reveals Himself to us?
Abraham saw the Lord of glory. Have you seen the Lord of glory? Do you know what that means? It means that He is calling you to glory. That is what He has in mind for you. He is calling you to glory.
I have thought about this quite a bit, brothers and sisters. This call—the Lord of glory—it seems to me Paul obviously met the Lord of glory on the Damascus road, because the bright light was so bright that it blinded him for three days. He could not gain his sight back until a brother came and touched him.
Peter, you know, when he first came to the Lord, was a bit wishy-washy. He left his nets immediately, but if you keep reading on, you find out that he went back and started fishing again.
But the day the Lord Jesus Christ came to his boat and said, “I want you to go out,” they said, “Look, we have been fishing all night long and have not caught one fish. I am a fisherman. I know these waters. You are not going to catch anything.”
The Lord said, “You just take the boat out and drop your net.” The nets became so full of fish that they were breaking the nets and sinking their boats.
Peter saw the Lord of glory. He said, “Lord, get away from me,” and he jumped in the water.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord of glory—that is when he realized that Jesus was the Lord of his life. He did have failures after that, but he did consistently follow the Lord.
The Lord of glory—I always feel like it is that point in your life. You know, in the Christian life, when we are saved, when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, we should all, like Paul, automatically realize that He is Lord.
That was the first thing that came out of Paul’s mouth when God revealed Himself to him. He said, “Lord, who are You? What do You want me to do?” He recognized that He was Lord.
Unfortunately, for many of us, we probably accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and did not realize that He was really Lord of our life until years later, maybe. But He is Lord—the Lord of glory. Are you following the Lord of glory?
Abraham saw the city. He saw the corporate expression. He did all in his generation, brothers and sisters, to do his part in bringing that vessel—that corporate vessel—about.
Actually, he did not end up possessing anything but a gravesite in the land of promise, but he had seen the city. He knew that God would be faithful, and he died in faith. He knew the city was coming.
I do not know if God has touched you with this matter of the corporate expression and its significance, but it is very significant to the Lord. It is really called His eternal purpose—God’s eternal purpose.
We are called not only as individuals, but we are called to a corporate expression. That is why it is so important, brothers and sisters, that we learn in Christ Jesus to submit to the Head, to submit to one another in love, to be forgiving, and to be patient as well as we can before the Lord Jesus Christ.
This great corporate expression that God is after is not for you. You know, responding to God’s call to follow Him meets your need. But God’s need—what He is really after—is not met until we respond to the corporate calling, to be a corporate expression.
It completes what God is after. Both are necessary.
Well, I hope we have seen something of the tremendous significance of Abraham’s life. I will probably be sharing in about a month, and you might want to take the opportunity to read some of the details of his life, because I intend to basically go through his life.
I do not know how quickly it will take me—maybe a couple of times—and just point out how God brought Abraham, this idol worshiper, to become a real man of God.
Lord, we come to Thee today. Lord, we are Yours. You have bought us with a price, Lord. You have called us out.
Lord, You have promised to be the Author and Finisher of our faith. Lord Jesus, You have given us a revelation of the God of glory. You have given us some glimpse of the city You are after.
Lord Jesus, indeed, we find ourselves as a part of the lineage of Abraham—that believing man who believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Lord, we worship Thee today. Lord, You are so loving. You are so great. How can we ever express, Lord, who You are and what You mean?
Lord, bless us all. Lord, reveal Yourself to us. Whatever in this time we have had together that You want to stick in each heart, Lord, make it so, I pray in Jesus’ name.