You know, I do not know how He loves me, but He does.
I wonder how many today can say, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Our brother spoke that the Lord is the Shepherd of our souls. I do not know how much we consider that or think about it.
But the Lord is the good Shepherd—not just the Shepherd of your life and the circumstances of your life, helping you through these things, but He is the Shepherd of your soul: the soul itself, that thing within you that at times gets heartbroken, that at times is stressed, and at times does not understand God or His ways. That soul is so delicate and fragile.
He loves our soul. He is the Shepherd of our soul, and He is in the business of transforming our soul into the vessel that can appropriately express the life of God. Your soul is very important.
He is working day and night, diligently praying for you, working that your soul might be transformed into that vessel that He always has wanted. There is that song: “He is the Potter; I am the clay.” Oh, how true it should be of these souls of ours, for which the Lord has given His life on Calvary’s cross.
He loves you, and He loves me. He loves us so much that He gave us His only Son on Calvary’s cross to die for our sins, that we might have fellowship with a holy God and with Him, and be a part of His family.
And He has given us His Word that we might grow in the admonition of the Lord. He has given us His Word that, as we study it, we will see Who He is and be transformed, because when we behold Him, we are transformed. And we see Him in His Word.
Recently, I have been sharing out of the life of Abraham. Actually, I started in Genesis 1:1. What is in my heart is that, as we look into His Word, we will have a quest to know God—a quest to know Him and to know His ways—that in these days that are so perilous, we will not be shipwrecked nor turn from the way. Because in knowing Him and understanding His ways, we are kept steady in the storm.
And so, may the Lord really open our eyes this morning. May He open our hearts.
For some reason, I felt like it was important this morning, as I always do, to do a bit of a review and see what we have seen so far of God—Who He is and His ways—as we have looked into the life of Abraham.
First, we saw the God of glory. It was the God of glory Who appeared to Abraham. It was not just anyone, but the God of glory—not just God, but the God of glory—which means that it is the highest expectation.
God’s highest expectation is His glory. When God is satisfied, there is glory. And He had a satisfaction, a highest expectation, in calling Abraham.
Brothers and sisters, He has the highest expectation for you and me, for our souls, when He calls us into being transformed into the image of His Son. In fact, Christ is to lead many sons to glory.
The God of glory has called you—not just anyone. When you accepted Jesus Christ, the God of glory was calling you on.
Often, we just think about being saved from our sins, our ticket to heaven, our exclusion from hell. Brothers and sisters, there is much more in God’s mind than that. He has called us to glory. He called us to glory in His Son, Jesus Christ. What a calling we have.
Not only that, but we see that God is a God of revelation. In Abraham’s life, it says that he saw Christ’s day and was glad. Christ said, “He saw My day, and was glad.”
Later on, it says that Abraham searched for a city that had foundations. God revealed this to him. Abraham never saw Jesus Christ, of course; he lived long before Christ came. He never saw the city. In fact, when he died, the only thing he had in the land was his gravesite for him and his wife. Yet it says he saw a city.
God had revealed to him something very precious that was on God’s heart. God had revealed to him His Son, Jesus Christ. Of course, he lived in the shadow of these things because of Isaac, the promised seed, from which eventually, from the physical side, Christ would come.
He saw these things. He saw these things, and it was only because God revealed them to him.
What revelation do you have today that is real? Often we hear about things of the Lord, but there comes a day when the Lord opens our eyes and our ears, and not only do we know about them, but we really experience them. We experience them through faith, and we receive revelation.
That revelation grips us for the rest of our lives. These revelations—the God of glory appearing to him, him seeing Christ’s day, and seeing the city that had foundations—were what held Abraham throughout his life of faith.
Even though he never actually came into the good of it physically, by faith it was his. He had it.
God is also a God of purpose. He had called Abraham to the promised land. Brothers and sisters, in our lives, we are called to go into the promised land and possess it. And that promised land is Jesus Christ.
We are to possess Christ—not just know Him as Saviour, but learn Him as our all in all. Everything about Him we are to possess.
God is a God of purpose. God has a great purpose, and that purpose is His Son, Jesus Christ: the full revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ, to this universe and to the new heavens and new earth.
There is a vessel that He is raising up to be the helpmeet of His Son, His bride. Believe it or not, the church, in as poor a condition as it is today, one day will be matured and ready to be the bride of Jesus Christ. And in the bride, Christ will be able to fully reveal Himself.
I see the church sometimes like a lampshade. Christ is the light, but through that lampshade you see all the brilliance and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see that God is a God of faith. Abraham is the father of faith. Faith is critical. It says the worlds were made through faith. Faith is a characteristic of God Himself, and He has called us to live a life of faith.
Abraham lived a life of faith. We are called to live a life of faith when we do not see the end of things and we wonder what God is doing. He just asks us to believe Him and to live a life of faith.
We have found in Abraham’s life that God is a faithful God. He was faithful to Abraham. Remember, Abraham got halfway to the promised land and settled down there. He was prepared to stay there until his father died, and the Lord once again came and touched him and said, “Abraham, you need to get on with My purpose.”
Brothers and sisters, God is the Shepherd of Abraham’s soul. He is the Shepherd of your soul and my soul. Sometimes in our lives, we settle down short of what God intended in our lives, short of what God is after—God’s purpose.
We fall short of that, and somehow we settle down. We think that it is okay because it still appears that we are being blessed, our life is going okay, and it is all right. But it is not, because God is faithful.
He shook Abraham out of his condition, and He brought him into the promised land. God is faithful. He is faithful with you and me. I do not know how many times in your life you have had to be shaken by the Lord and awakened to where you really are, and that you need to move on.
But I have. I have experienced that, and I still experience it. Thank the Lord for His faithfulness.
We have learned that God’s ways are higher than our ways. In Abraham’s life, he got to the land of milk and honey. And what did he find there? Enemies—enemies all around it.
He thought, of course, it was going to be a glorious land with no problems: milk and honey, grapes on the vine, a great harvest, many cattle. But what he found was an enemy there, contrary to what he thought concerning God’s way.
We know that Abraham went down into Egypt when there was a famine in the land. There was a famine there in the land of promise, in the land of milk and honey. There was dryness there, a famine. He did not understand it, so he turned back to what he knew, and that was the world’s way of supplying his need.
He got in trouble down there, and frankly, I am surprised that the king of Egypt did not kill him. But he did not. God was merciful. He delivered Abraham from the hand of the king and brought him back into the promised land where he was supposed to be.
These things in our lives that appear so contrary to what we think ought to be are often God dealing with us. He does allow the enemy at times to hinder in our lives, that we might turn back to Him and learn His victory in this thing—learn how to overcome in Christ, not in our own strength.
He allows famines in our lives to cause us to hunger and thirst after Him and to come to Him. His ways are higher than ours.
He is interested, brothers and sisters, in our souls. He is interested in bringing that vessel into the place it should be. He is interested in a life of faith being developed—a strong faith in our lives.
That is His primary interest: to transform us into the image of His Son. He allows many things in our lives, many difficulties, because He is after something much deeper than just physical blessing and the blessings that we seek.
The Lord is interested in you and me. He loves you and me. I believe He spoke a word last week to us because He loves us. I thought He was quite gentle.
For those who were here, I pray that we have been considering what was shared with us last week. I pray that that word will enter our hearts. For those who were not, I think it is important just to say that the Lord’s concern seemed to be that we are hearing the Word, but the Word is not entering our hearts. The Word is not really getting through. It is not really doing the work that He wants done.
He is planting the seed of the Word, but it does not seem to be effective. And why? He says some of the seed is falling by the wayside in our hearts. In other words, our consciences have become so hardened that, when we hear the Word, it does not really affect us at all. When we get up and leave the meeting, we do not even remember what was said.
He said to us that some of the seed is falling on stony ground. In other words, it may touch our emotions for a while, but when we come under the testings and trials of life, it does not hold up. It has no root in us. There is no strength in us, and the seed withers away.
Some, He said, was falling on thorny ground. Our emotions are touched. We agree with the Lord. We say, “Yes, Lord, it is this way,” but somehow our conscience is only slightly pricked. At least it is not touched deeply enough that there is true repentance in our hearts.
Then, as we go on and the cares of life, the things of the world, and all the things that we have to deal with come upon us, it just chokes that Word out. Somehow it is gone. It does not really bring fruit—spiritual fruit—to our lives.
It appears little is making it into good soil. I think this is a word I wanted to share: the Lord is the Shepherd of our souls, and He does not give us words just to cast away or to forget, but that they might truly transform us.
Our brother challenged us last week to consider where we are in the Lord, and I think we ought to do that. This Friday night, we will be sharing around that word that was given, and I pray that the Lord will open our eyes.
But he did go on to share that there is a way to create good ground in us. That is to exercise our spirit, not just our soul—mind, will, and emotions—but our spirit: our conscience, our intuition, and our communion with the Lord.
Our conscience deals with right and wrong. When we are involved in things, our conscience will say, “This is right,” or, “This is wrong.” Often, if we do not really listen and pay attention to our conscience, it becomes hardened to the point where no matter how much or how loud the Lord shouts at us, we do not seem to hear.
I have often said that it appears in my own life that the Lord often has to hit me with a two-by-four. Maybe you all do not know this, but the old farmers used to tell a story that with mules, you just could not get them to listen. Every once in a while, they would whack them upside the head with a two-by-four so they would pay attention. Well, I think often we find ourselves in that situation.
Then there is intuition. Today, there is a lot going on in Christianity. How are you going to know what is right and what is wrong? Sometimes something is presented to you as being marvellous, as being great.
I think of the prosperity gospel that is going out. It sounds so good. You know, if you just believe, you can have a Cadillac or you can have that new house you want. All your problems will be solved.
There should be that intuition in you, that unction in you that is given in your spirit, that says, “It sounds good. It is even backed up by Scripture. But something is wrong.” That is intuition.
On the other hand, something may happen and you say, “What is this? This seems contrary to what God would do in my life at this point.” Yet deep inside, there is that sense that this is of God. That is intuition. We need to listen to our intuition.
Then there is communion. Often, in the busyness of our lives, we forsake communion. We forsake having time with the Lord—just being before the Lord, not necessarily going to Him with petitions or anything else, but just being before the Lord.
These are the things that till our hearts, that plow the heart, that make it available to receive the seed and the rain of the Lord.
That is God’s faithfulness to you, brothers and sisters. That is His faithfulness to me: that He still speaks, that He is still willing to sow the seed even with the hardness of our hearts.
Thank the Lord, even with a hard heart, the Lord does not give up. The Lord works. Even with our mule-headedness, every once in a while—He does not like to do it, I can tell you that—He just has to hit us with a two-by-four and wake us up. But that is His love and faithfulness, not His punishment, but His love and faithfulness.
He is a faithful, loving God. That is what we learn in the life of Abraham, and I hope that is what we are learning in our lives before Him.
We also learn that God is the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. Abraham was met by Melchizedek, the high priest, after a battle in which Abraham had overcome. The Lord encouraged him: the Lord is the Possessor of heaven and earth.
In other words, it is all in the Lord’s hands. He possesses everything. Abraham refused the spoils of war. The king offered him the spoils of war, and he refused them. He said, “I am not going to take anything from you, lest you will say, ‘I have made Abraham rich.’”
It is God Who makes me rich. It is God Who gives me what I need in my life. That is his testimony. That should be our testimony: that we do not have to grasp at the things of the world. We do not have to grasp at promotions. We do not have to grasp to have a house with fifty bedrooms in it and a bath for every person.
Boy, I can still remember the days when I had to go out to the shed. We did not have any bathroom in the house. Well, it was a long time ago. I can remember when an icebox was an icebox. You had to get a chunk of ice every day and put it in that box. You all did not know I was that old, did you? That is what this white hair is all about, I guess.
But all I am saying is, God really does know what our needs are. He has asked us to petition Him concerning these things, but He is the Possessor of heaven and earth.
In this case, Abraham had to give up a lot of riches for the testimony of the Lord in his life. He said, “I am not going to take it. I am not going to take that promotion because God does not want me to have it.”
Now, I have to say that I cannot remember in my own life ever refusing a promotion. But there were a few instances in my work life where I would have had the opportunity to go to other places, and the Lord would not let me.
I do not mean that negatively when I say the Lord would not let me. He would have let me if I had chosen to, but He showed me, “No, you need to stay here.” Regardless of the attraction of the money that was offered, by His grace, I stayed. And I know it was the right thing to do.
He is the Possessor of heaven and earth. We need to learn that in our lives.
Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said:
I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Abraham had gone through this battle with kings. With four hundred and some men, just servants of his, he had defeated these kings’ armies. The Lord was really telling Abraham, “It was because of Me. I was your shield in that battle. I was the One Who caused you to overcome.”
Sometimes we want to begin to take a little credit in our Christian life when we have had a great victory. We say, “Well, boy, look what I did.” We probably would never outwardly say that, but it kind of gets into us in a sneaky way, and we begin to think it is us. But it is really the Lord.
The Lord reminded him that He was his shield. But there is something else in that which is so tremendous. God said, “I am thy exceeding great reward.”
Now, what is your reward in life? Is it the house you own? Is it the family that you have? Is it the power that you possess in your job? Is it the pleasures of life that you are able to enjoy? What is your reward?
The Lord said to Abraham, “Abraham, I am your reward.” I do not know if we have learned this lesson. Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we even think that the blessings of the Lord are our reward—the things that He blesses us with, both spiritually and physically.
We say, “Well, that is a reward from the Lord.” No, not really. There comes a time in our Christian life when Christ Himself is our reward.
It does not matter about His blessings—I should not say it quite like that. His blessings do matter. But what is important is the Lord Himself: learning the Lord, finding the Lord, knowing the Lord, experiencing the Lord.
He becomes your life. Whether He blesses you or not, whether it is hard times or good times, your joy is the Lord Himself. He is your reward. We need to learn those lessons.
God is a God of promise. God has made exceeding great promises to us. One day, it says, we will inherit all things in Christ—a great inheritance. We have come into a family that owns everything, and He says, “You are going to be co-heirs with Jesus.”
Great promises: promises that He will not leave us or forsake us for our whole life. He will never forsake us. He will never leave us. He will keep us and watch over us—great and exceeding promises that we might be partakers of Christ.
Abraham was made promises, and Abraham believed God. But there came a point in Abraham’s life when his faith got weak concerning the promises of God. God came back to him.
We found that God is not only a God of promise, but a God of covenant. God made a covenant by sacrifice with Abraham. He said, “These promises I made to you are going to come to pass. I am going to make a covenant with you by sacrifice.”
Remember how he parted the animals. In those days, a binding covenant was made that way between two parties. It is like a legal document today, except frankly, even more forcible. They would take the animals of sacrifice and divide them, and then the parties would walk through.
If you read that account, you will find that the presence of God, that cloud of the Holy Spirit, walked through. Abraham did not. In other words, the covenant was dependent wholly upon God. God would not break His covenant with Abraham or with you.
How much He loves you. I do not know if you realize it, but God has made a covenant with you by the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary—an unbreakable covenant. God has descended and said, “I will put Myself into a legally binding covenant with you.”
And My heart is to bring you into the fullness of My Son, Jesus Christ, and into the full purpose of God for your life—a binding covenant by sacrifice.
Today, we need to see that one of God’s ways is the way of discipline, and that He is God Almighty. Discipline is a negative term in today’s world, but in God’s eyes, discipline and child training are the same thing.
Discipline and child training—it is never just punishment. That is not God’s heart. He is always training us, and we are always really under discipline. Thank the Lord for that, for His great love.
Let us go to Genesis 16:1-3.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bare him no children:
and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing:
I pray thee, go in unto my handmaid;
it may be that I may obtain children by her.
And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid,
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan,
and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.
Let me set the picture a little bit here. Abraham, who had been called into the promised land, had been there for ten years. The Lord had promised that the land would be his and his descendants’ forever. Not only that, but a seed would come from Abraham through which all the world would be blessed—this promised seed.
Now it was ten years. What a testing of faith. We always want the Lord to act immediately, but often He waits. The test of time is perhaps the greatest test of all.
Abraham, of course, was trying to live there and trying to obey God, yet he still had not had any children.
Let us go ahead and read a little more.
And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived:
and when she saw that she had conceived,
her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Let me give you the point right off the bat: the flesh never wants to wait. Our flesh, our self-life, always wants to do God’s work for Him.
We need to see that in our life of faith with the Lord. The Lord will not accept any of the deeds of our self-life, of our flesh. We need to learn that lesson, and Abraham is going to learn that lesson very deeply at this point.
We can kind of sympathize with Sarah at this point. Her thinking must have been something like this: “Gee whiz, we have been here for ten years. The Lord has made this promise. The Lord is true to His promise. He has made a covenant with us, and I still have not borne any children.”
“Well, there must be something wrong. Maybe it is me. I cannot have any children. But the Lord’s promise was really to Abraham, not to me. Maybe the child comes from Abraham, but not from me.”
“You know, we have this maid, Hagar, and I can just give her to my husband. We can have children by her, but it will be Abraham’s child.”
Now, actually, in those days, having more than one wife was not uncommon. So for her, it was a socially accepted thing. But I want to say this: the socially accepted thing is not always the right thing.
It was socially acceptable, so she goes to Abraham and explains all this to him. Abraham says, “Well, you know, that sounds reasonable. That sounds reasonable. Maybe that is what we should do.”
It was a very reasonable approach. But man’s ways are not God’s ways, brothers and sisters. Man’s reasoning comes from the self-life.
Sarah wanted a child. Abraham wanted the child. They knew God was going to give them a child, but maybe the Lord needed a little bit of help at this point, because nothing was happening. So they helped out the Lord, and Hagar, of course, became Abraham’s wife as well.
In verse 4, it says that when Hagar conceived, and she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Here is the interesting thing about the flesh: when the flesh begins the work, it begets more flesh and stirs up more flesh.
What happens with Hagar? She becomes pregnant, and immediately she begins to think, “I may be the handmaid, but I am the one who can have children. I am better than Sarah, and I am the one that Abraham is going to now love and cherish.”
You see what the flesh does. Now Hagar’s flesh is stirred up. Pride has come, and Sarah becomes quite angry.
Let us go to verse 5. Sarai says to Abram:
My wrong be upon thee:
I have given my maid into thy bosom;
and when she saw that she had conceived,
I was despised in her eyes:
the Lord judge between me and thee.
Sarah is saying, “Yes, this looks like it might have been a mistake, but it was your fault, Abraham. You should have stopped me. You should have said no.”
That is the flesh, is it not? It always wants to blame one another.
That reminded me of a song. I do not know whether it was out of the fifties, the sixties, the seventies, or the eighties. It has been a long time ago. But there was a song written about a girl a man dearly loved. He was singing about all the things he cherished about her, and there was this line in the song: “She’s never wrong; she just changes her mind.”
I thought that was wonderful. That one has always stuck with me, and it has helped me a lot, frankly, over the years: “She’s never wrong; she just changes her mind.”
We see the flesh now having its full glory.
Verse 6 shows Abraham’s reaction:
But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand;
do to her as it pleaseth thee.
And when Sarai dealt hardly with her,
she fled from her face.
Abraham did the same thing that most men do. The flesh said, “Whew, I see the wrath in my wife’s eyes. I am not going to touch this thing. After all, she is the one who came up with the idea.”
But he would not dare tell her that. He would not say, “It was your idea.” He just recognized what was going on and said, “Boy, I am staying out of this battle.”
So he said, “Oh, you just do—she is your handmaid.” He did not say, “She is our handmaid.” He said, “She is your handmaid. You do with her what you want to.” Sarah rebukes her and deals harshly with her, and Hagar runs away.
The Lord meets Hagar.
And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness,
by the fountain in the way to Shur.
And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid,
whence camest thou? and whither goest thou?
And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.And the angel of the Lord said unto her,
Return to thy mistress,
and submit thyself under her hands.
I think it is interesting that she does. The Holy Spirit has to bring order back in. He does not tell her that she has been treated wrongly. He just says, “Look, you need to go back and submit. You need to be submissive.” That is what is missing in this whole thing.
Abraham had made a great mistake. When Sarah had offered this suggestion to him, he did not go to the Lord. He did not take up his responsibility as head of the household and go back to the Lord, submit it to the Lord, and say, “Lord, is this Your way? Is this Your will? Should I have Hagar as my wife? Is this the way that the promised seed is coming?”
He just did not go back to the Lord. We see all this flesh resulting, all the turmoil going on because Abraham failed to go back to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, that is why communion—keeping that spiritual exercise, that communion and fellowship with the Lord—is so critical. If we do not, we do not have that check in our spirit.
There should have been a check in Abraham when this suggestion was offered—a check at least to say, “Boy, I need to go to the Lord about this. This is about the promised seed, the seed that is going to bless the whole earth.”
Human reasoning sounded so good to Abraham that he just accepted it without really going back to the Lord. So the flesh was now fully in control. I do thank the angel of the Lord began to restrain it when he told Hagar to go back and be submissive.
Let us go on to verse 15.
And Hagar bare Abram a son:
and Abram called the name of his son,
which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
And Abram was fourscore and six years old,
when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
The critical thing to remember is that Abraham is now eighty-six years old.
Now let us read Genesis 17:1-2.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine,
the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him,
I am God Almighty;
walk before Me, and be thou perfect.
And I will make My covenant between Me and thee,
and will multiply thee exceedingly.
The Lord appears: “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me.” Abraham is ninety-nine. Ishmael is now thirteen years old. This means that for the next thirteen years, there was no communion with God. Abraham had no communion with the Lord.
Wasted years—all because the self-life, the flesh, man’s reasoning, was in control.
Now, I mentioned God’s discipline. God disciplines to train us, not to crush us. God disciplines us that we might learn and grow. Abraham had made a mistake.
There are things that we often think of as sins—acts that we do that are gross: murder, adultery, these kinds of things. All Abraham did here was say, “Boy, that sounds good,” and he did not go to the Lord to find out if that was what the Lord wanted, the Lord’s way. That was his mistake.
The flesh took over. Abraham’s self-life took over. Sarah’s self-life took over. Hagar’s self-life took over. The self-life was in charge.
As long as the self-life is in charge, the Lord is simply going to back away. The Lord was silent for thirteen years. This is the Lord’s discipline. His silence is often His discipline in our lives.
When the Lord seems to be silent, we should be listening. Sometimes the Lord is shouting, and we are not hearing. But here the Lord just stays silent, and Abraham has to learn this great lesson.
As long as the flesh is in control, as long as man’s reasoning is in control, the Lord will not move. And the years are wasted—thirteen years.
No matter how good your intentions are, brothers and sisters, if it is from yourself, if you have not gone to the Lord concerning some decision that you are making, particularly along spiritual lines, just because your heart is right does not make it right.
Sometimes we have good intentions. Sarah’s intentions were good outwardly, looking at it. So were Abraham’s. But it was not God, and it was not God’s way. In God’s eyes, it is evil and it is wrong.
So He disciplines Abraham for thirteen years. He puts him under discipline. This is a difficult lesson to learn, and one that we do not always learn the first time. But Abraham had basically left the way of faith and gone to the way of reason, and he was put under discipline by God.
Something very critical about God’s discipline: it is possible to be under God’s discipline and not be benefited. As you read on in the story, you realize Abraham did learn his lessons, and he was benefited by the discipline. But it is possible, according to Hebrews 12, that we can be under God’s disciplinary hand and not be benefited by it.
In Hebrews 12, it says, “Do not despise or faint when you are disciplined by God, but submit yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will raise you up in due time.”
Discipline is very important to us because God really has us always under discipline in various ways. But we are not always benefited because, first, we either despise it.
Now, despise means to think little of something. We just do not consider it. In other words, the Lord may be disciplining you in your life; He may have become silent. But you just go on, just like Abraham did, not considering that there must be something wrong.
Our conscience is not even pricked anymore. “What is going on here?” Abraham never even questioned what was happening or why there was silence from God, or at least it does not appear that he did.
We always need to think about what is going on in our lives in reference to what God is doing, and that He is child-training us. When we just see life as life, as something we have to endure or go through with the help of the Lord, so to speak, that is not the proper way. The Lord is using everything to train us, and we need to realize that.
We can think little of it, ignore it, or just say, “I will just have to deal with it. I have to live with it.” The other response is to faint under it.
In other words, we get distraught because the Lord is disciplining us and we cannot do what we want to do. We may even feel like the Lord is not treating us fairly in what is going on in our lives. “This is not fair, Lord.” I have heard many Christians say that.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is merciful, but we are taking a lot on ourselves when we say the Lord is not fair. I have to say that in light of knowing some real deep problems that many Christians in our midst have had to go through.
But when we come up with this thought that it is not fair, the fair left in October. Do you know what I mean by that?
You do not understand. I can see Stephen did not understand it. There is a fair every year here in Richmond, and it is in October. The bottom line is, that kind of fair just leaves.
God is always fair—I want to say that much—but that is not the basis on which He is dealing with us. To us, being fair is relative. This brother or sister is not having to go through this trial. They are not having the problems I have. “That is not fair.”
The Lord does not look at it that way. The Lord decides what is fair. The Lord knows what is best for us in discipline and training. That is why He takes us the way He does. We all have a different way, but the Lord is after the same thing: that Christ might be formed in us.
If we begin to think the Lord is not fair, eventually we will become despondent with the Lord, and probably bitter. I have seen some of that—just get bitter with the Lord.
The answer to discipline is to humble yourselves before the Lord, just like the angel told Hagar. He said, “You go back and submit yourself to Sarah.”
The Lord will say to us, “You just submit under My disciplining hand until I choose to lift it. I will lift it at the right time.”
As long as we are under that discipline, we just have to humble ourselves, yield to the Lord, and say, “Lord, I know that You are doing this for my good. As difficult as it is, Lord, have mercy.” You can always ask the Lord for mercy.
If we really love the Lord, if we are really seeking to know the Lord, discipline is extremely important in our Christian life. We should always look at it not as punishment, but as His child training, because we are all His children.
We should take it seriously, not ignore it or just pass it by, but submit to Him. Out of that will come great spiritual increase—great spiritual increase.
Thank the Lord for His love. I do not know if you can thank the Lord for the circumstances you are in today, but all I can tell you is that I know He loves you.
The reason I can tell you that is that I have had a little experience with difficulty and have seen the love of the Lord in it. I think we all have, to varying degrees. But may we not forget His love and His discipline.
The Lord says to Abraham, back in Genesis 17:1, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect”—be matured.
Why did God, at this point, present Himself to Abraham as God Almighty? A couple of things we need to know.
First of all, God revealed to Abraham that He was his shield and reward, that He was the Possessor of heaven and earth. These were things that God was for Abraham.
But this is what God is to Abraham. That prayer was prayed this morning: “God, not only are You God for us, but You are God to us.”
Let me say it another way. In the past, Abraham had seen what God was for him: his shield, his reward, the promise-keeper, the covenant-maker—all for Abraham.
But now he sees God and Who He is in Himself: “I AM. I am the Almighty God.” Abraham, that is where you failed. That is why you turned back to the flesh: because your faith would not lay hold of the fact that I am Almighty God.
Therefore, your faith was weak in this issue of the promised seed. You missed My will, and Ishmael was born.
Today there is a lot of trouble between the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac. The whole centre of this world is beginning to revolve around that one issue. That just shows you what the flesh can beget.
The Lord says, “But I am the Almighty God. That is what you missed. Your faith needs to lay hold of the fact that I am God Almighty.”
I am the all-sufficient God. I am the God Who is able.
I do not know if in your life you have been challenged by God Almighty. Is He God Almighty to you? Have you seen Him as God Almighty—the Almighty One, the God of the impossible? Have you experienced that?
Sure, you have experienced some of His blessings in your life. I know you have. But here Abraham sees God Almighty. God reveals Himself in that way, and Abraham’s faith is greatly increased.
Do you know that you can trust Him? If so, you can walk before Him. For thirteen years Abraham did not walk before Him because, basically, he had not seen that God was Almighty and that God could do exactly what He said He could do.
“Walk before Me, and be perfect.” You will be matured. Just remember and believe that I am God Almighty. I am your fulfilment. I am your purpose.
Let me say it another way: Is Christ enough in your life? Whatever problems you face, whatever difficulties there may be, is Christ enough?
That can be tested. Is Christ enough, or do we need the pleasures of the world? Is Christ enough, or do we really have to throw ourselves into our work and make that our passion?
Is Christ enough, or is it your family that is your passion? Good things. Can you be fulfilled in your life with Christ alone? Is He enough for your fulfilment?
In the spiritual realm, the early Christians fell into legalism. They thought if they could just follow the Jewish laws, they would be perfect. They were Christians. Paul’s admonition was, “You have turned away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have turned to legalism. Christ is not enough for you.”
Others turned to ritualism—rituals. Christ was not enough. Others turned to philosophy. They were Christians, but they started trying to take up the philosophy of the times. Christ was not enough.
Some turned to what today would be called psychology, dwelling into the depths of the mind. I am not against psychologists; do not get me wrong. But it cannot replace Christ.
Mysticism: when Christ was not enough, they became mystics, delving into angels. Not that there are not angels—of course there are—but they were worshiping angels. Christ was not enough.
Today, one of the things I see as so prevalent is this prosperity gospel that has permeated Christianity. It is because Christ is not enough.
“Yes, I love the Lord. I really do,” and they do. I have seen so many dear ones say, “I love the Lord, but, Jerry, if you just believe, man, you can have all these marvellous things. God wants you to be rich.”
I have to say, I do not believe that. He may make me rich. He has not so far. I certainly have plenty.
But that is not what God is after. He knows that these things can actually draw us away from Himself.
So I have to ask: Have we seen God Almighty? If we have, Christ is enough. These other things will never capture our hearts. They may touch us in some ways, but they will never capture our hearts.
Then in Genesis 17:10, the Lord says to Abraham, after He appeared to him and made the promises once again that the land would be his and that there would be a promised seed that would come not only from him, but from Sarah:
This is My covenant, which ye shall keep,
between Me and you and thy seed after thee;
every male among you shall be circumcised.
Let me go ahead and read Genesis 17:15-18.
And God said unto Abraham,
As for Sarai thy wife,
thou shalt not call her name Sarai,
but Sarah shall be her name.
And I will bless her,
and moreover I will give thee a son of her:
yea, I will bless her,
and she shall be a mother of nations;
kings of peoples shall be of her.Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed,
and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old?
and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
And Abraham said unto God,
Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!
Our faith is tough. It is tough to have faith. The Lord had just appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty,” revealing Himself to him as God Almighty. Then Abraham began to consider this thing once again: “I am one hundred years old. Sarah is ninety years old. Her womb is dried up, proving that you cannot have children.”
“Oh, may Ishmael live before Thee.” He had become very attached to Ishmael. I can understand that. Ishmael was thirteen years old. If you read the Bible, Ishmael was a man’s man—a hunter, you know, kind of out there.
Abraham, of course, had become very attached to this child. But Ishmael was not God’s promise. He was not the promise.
In Abraham’s mind, he is thinking, “Lord, I see it is possible. May Ishmael live before Thee. He is my son.” And the Lord said, “No.”
He cannot do it. In other words, God is saying, “I can never accept the fruit of the flesh. I can never accept the fruit of the flesh.”
The promised seed will come because I am God Almighty. I am God Almighty, Abraham, and you will have a promised seed. It will not be through the weakness of the flesh, but the promised seed will be brought forth because I am God Almighty.
He did not tell him this, but I am sure God was saying, “That is why I have waited until you are one hundred years old and Sarah is ninety years old—because it is impossible, man. It is impossible. But there will be a promised seed because I am able. I am God Almighty.”
The Lord had to show him that. The Lord said, “Abraham, you need to circumcise every male in your family,” and he does that.
That tells us that Abraham has now entered into a covenant with God. He has finally said, “Okay, You are God Almighty. I believe You.” The reason we know he believed Him is because he circumcised all the males. Abraham did obey.
Does circumcision have anything to do with Christianity today? Let me say it another way. This covenant that He entered into with Abraham was conditional. “Abraham, you will see the promises that I make with you, but it is conditional. You need to be circumcised.”
We just talked about this unconditional promise God had made. Do you want to experience Christ in your life? Do you want to know the inheritance that God has for you? Then there is a need to be circumcised—but it is a spiritual circumcision, not physical.
Galatians 5:24 says:
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Then in Philippians 3:3, it becomes very clear:
For we are the circumcision,
who worship by the Spirit of God,
and glory in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh.
We are the circumcision that has no confidence in the flesh. You have been circumcised in Christ. The flesh has been dealt with in Christ. Now it needs to be made real in your life.
The way it is made real in your life, brothers and sisters—the way the self-life is dealt with—is: deny yourself daily, take up the cross, and follow Me.
That is the way circumcision is made real in your life, to you personally. It has been done in Christ. Now it needs to be made real in your life. The way it is made real, frankly, is through faith.
When self wants to do its own reasoning, you say, “I do not know who you are. Why have you come to me with the reasoning of man? I deny you.”
You say, “Lord, this is difficult for me. It is not what my will would have, but Your will must prevail.” That is taking up the cross and following the Lord.
Do we really want to know the joys of Christ, of the Promised One? Do we really want to have our inheritance made real in our lives today? Then there is this matter: denying self, taking up the cross, and following Him.
Lord, we come to Thee today. We are thankful that You have given us Your Word, that we might see Who You are, that we might know You, that, Lord, You might plant Your seed in our hearts and that it might make a difference.
Lord, today we want to confess that we have been those whose hearts are like the wayside, that just will not even hear; like the stony ground, that gets emotional and does not stand the test; or, Lord, where Your Word touches us in some way, but the cares of life take it away.
Lord, today find good ground in our hearts. May the seed of Your Word really take root. May it really bring forth fruit. Lord, deal with us in these days. You are coming soon, and Lord, we need to be ready.
Lord, we just lift this Word before You now, that it might bring forth fruit. In Jesus’ name, amen.