Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Promises, Promises Pt.4

We were ministering at the Expo yesterday. A lot of literature got out, but interestingly enough we were able to deal with a lot of people who name the name of Jesus but aren’t real confident in their personal relationship and the persuasion that they’re ready for that coming. That’s a lot of what it seems like we’ve been able to share this go-around—people that have professed a relationship but really don’t understand that reality. We thank God that’s becoming more and more a part of each of our lives.

Let’s go ahead and turn to the book of Romans. We want to pick up where we were Wednesday night, looking at this teaching on the promises of God and being followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting those promises. We talked about how important it was to know those that are laboring among us and those that are of like precious faith with us, and being able to glean from one another and encourage one another in the times of trial and adversity that are manifesting in the world.

In this fourth chapter of Romans, you remember we were talking about the life of Abraham and how Abraham, who is the father of our faith and one of the greatest examples, is someone that we need to emulate—one of the key men in that great cloud of witnesses that is before us. In the life of Abraham, we begin to really be encouraged because we find out that he is a man of like passions such as we are. We see in this man the frailties that are in every one of us, and yet with frailties you always see the faithfulness of God. Our frailties reveal the faithfulness of God. So many times we’re deluded into thinking that we have to be the source; that unless we get everything just right, God’s not able to perform. I want us to understand that it’s so important to realize that when we’re not getting it right is when God most of the time performs in His greatest demonstration of power and might. The enemy would have us believe that we’re responsible. We realize that faith is the grace of God at work in our lives based upon our trust in His promises.

Chapter four of Romans. Let’s go ahead and read where we were Wednesday as we were understanding the life of this man. Verse 13 says, "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." So we begin to see right now that the promises don’t come to us based upon the letter of the law. You’re not going to get the promises by trying to get the Bible, holding it up, and saying, "God, You’re obligated. You promised, and therefore You are obligated to perform." We saw that it’s based upon not the legal aspect, but based upon relationship. The most important thing is to understand our right standing with Father in the finished work of Jesus. We begin to understand that it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Dad wants you to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It’s through righteousness. Verse 14 goes on and says, "For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect." If you can get it some other way than by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, then it makes His death unnecessary, ineffectual. To make a statement like that, of course, is blasphemous.

Then he goes on and he says in verse 16, "Therefore it [this that we’re walking in] is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed." Faith makes this a guarantee for you and me. These promises that we’re trying to acquire—whether it’s peace of mind, health in our bodies, whatever victory is necessary at the time—we have to understand that it’s already by the grace of God, unmerited favor, and that it’s assured to us. It’s a guarantee, the Holy Spirit being the seal of that—that these promises will manifest on our behalf.

Then verse 17—the key to this study and what we’re going to look at here in our next couple of sessions—where it talks about that this is all seen or capsulized in the life of Abraham. It’s that which is manifested in the presence of God "before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth [makes alive] the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Abraham is beginning to embrace the character of God and know that we serve a God who calls things that are not as though they were. We become a people that call things that are not as though they were. We’re a people who have our confidence in the invisible realm.

Our father Abraham, verse 18 says, was an individual who hoped against hope. "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of [faith, or the example of obtaining the promises of God]…" We want to start off there for this morning—hoping against hope. The word "hope" means what? Favorable expectation. We go into every incident—as we were talking about with the three Hebrew children—with favorable expectation. I don’t know about you, but I go into every situation expecting something good to happen. Remember Oral Roberts’ "something good is going to happen to you today?" Everybody wants good to happen. We don’t go into the day thinking what’s going to happen today that’s lousy? Everything else in my life is lousy; surely something lousy is going to happen today. We may understand that there’s a lot of bad stuff going on and we may be realistic about it, but how many of you go into favorably expecting God’s word to manifest in your lives. Without that, how can there be any real peace and joy, without hope? Let me say it again; I want to run it by. I didn’t say you couldn’t be at peace, and that you didn’t have joy because there were bad circumstances. In the midst of bad circumstances you can have peace and you can have joy, but you can’t have peace and joy in adversity without what? Say it. Hope. You’ve got to have hope; there’s got to be the expectation. It’s an exciting, exciting endeavor to be able to venture out into life as we know it, especially in these days, and realize that God has gone before us and that He’s working on our behalf.

Abraham was walking and hoping. This hope began to develop progressively as he saw things not working out the way he thought they should. Most of us start off almost with a naivete. When we receive a promise, we expect it to manifest instantly, and then it doesn’t. Now we have to deal with the process of God working these promises in our lives.

The Romans account of Abraham makes him sound like a superman. Verse 18 says, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken... and being not weak in faith…" How many of you would like that to be said about you? "There’s a guy that’s not weak in faith. He is a mighty man of faith and power." We’d like that kind of a testimony, and that’s the testimony Abraham has here by the Holy Spirit. He was "not weak in faith." He didn’t consider the natural circumstances. Many of us have been accused of being crazy at times for refusing to believe the facts. (You know like Jack Webb, "The facts, ma’am, just the facts." A lot of you don’t even know who Jack Webb is. Sorry about that. If you don’t remember Dragnet and Sergeant Friday, then you’re probably under forty.) We’re looking at these facts, and we’re a people who serve a God who calls things that are not as though they were. We’re a people who are following an invisible God, the Scripture says, and our eyes are fixed upon Him. We can see by faith what other people can’t see. We’re a people who, the Scripture says here, consider not what medical science would declare about any given situation that we might be facing, or that the natural sciences of physics don’t always apply to us. When we make those kind of statements, confess that kind of a hope, people really do think that not only are we stupid and ignorant, but also that our God is a myth. Yet Abraham, the Scripture says here—because he was strong in faith—would not give final credence to the natural circumstances. I think that’s what we need to do to convey our hope to people more accurately. We don’t deny that we have pain; we don’t deny that these circumstances are in fact in place. What we’re saying is that it is not going to be concluded this way. We do not acknowledge them as the ultimate force or power in our lives. I’m not denying that it exists; I’m denying it’s right to exist or to continue to be dominant in my life. Faith begins to refuse the dominance of natural laws. That’s very important for us to understand. Many of us want to deny the existence. We don’t deny the existence of the natural; we deny the dominance of the natural. Abraham had to learn this through a process. You and I get to read it, or learn it, by his example. We get to learn from Abraham. He got all the hard knocks, and we should be able to learn it a little easier than he did if we’ll have confidence in this great cloud of witnesses that’s gone on before us.

"Not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he [God] had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore [because of that] it was imputed to him for righteousness." Let’s look at a couple of these words, because these are really cool words: "staggered not," "strong in faith," "fully persuaded." Write those phrases down because that’s where every one of us needs to be. "Considered not the natural," "staggered not at the promise." There are many promises that you and I have given to us here in this book that can cause the natural mind to question, pause. What we have to come to grips with whenever we are facing these kind of circumstances in our lives, we have to ask this question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" That begins to settle it. We say, "Well of course there isn’t." If we’ll be honest with ourselves, then the question that’s really being asked and that has to be answered is this—we’re not asking if God’s able; we’re asking if He’s willing. We’re not asking, "Can God?" We’re asking, "Does He care?" Is it what He really wants for me? Wednesday we spent quite a bit of time trying to develop the relationship aspect and know that He’s our loving heavenly Father, the giver of every good and perfect gift. The fact that He wants to bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places; the fact, beloved, that it’s His good pleasure to give us the kingdom; the fact that it’s the Lord that causes us to be able to walk into the obtaining of those great treasures. It’s the Lord that makes us rich and adds no sorrow with it. We come to understand how Father wants us to walk and what He desires to manifest in our lives. Once you become persuaded of that, you don’t stagger at the maturing process that we call trials which each of us are facing.

Let’s go back to the book of Genesis for just a second and take a look at this guy Abraham who was not weak, this man who staggered not at the promises, this man who was fully persuaded. I don’t know about you, but when I read Romans chapter 4, I can’t identify with that. I look at where I am in my own life and I can’t identify with that being the description of my walk. But I’m here to encourage you this morning with the fact that it is God’s declaration of who each one of us is in Jesus Christ. Romans 4 is how God sees us because of the finished work of Jesus, and we need to begin to have our confidence in that and not in our current circumstances.

Let’s go back and look a little more into this man’s life and see if we can identify—maybe if not with Romans 4—if we can identify a little bit with Genesis 12. In Genesis 12, we begin to look at the life of Abraham. The Scripture says, "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 shew thee." The Scripture says in Hebrews 11 that he went not knowing where he was going. He obeyed. That’s the great indicator of true faith working in our lives—obedience. Hebrews 11, verse 8 says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." "He went out not knowing whither he went." We see Abraham willing to take that first step—the excitement of walking in faith. You hear the promise of God, and how exciting it is to make the initial step with an expectation of the miraculous. But when it doesn’t manifest, then that excitement begins to turn into concern. Did I miss God? Am I failing to live up to certain standards now that would make this manifest more rapidly? What’s required on my part to bring about the manifestation of these promises?"

[Genesis,] chapter 12 gives us a little more insight into this. God said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew 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." I like verse 3, don’t you? "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." I think that’s a statement primarily being made to Abraham and it goes on and says, "and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." What is that making reference to? That’s a prophetic statement concerning his seed, Christ. Abraham the man did not bless the world; Abraham’s seed, Jesus, was a blessing to the world. We see that so many times in our lives that it’s not what’s happening immediately in our life, but what is the consequence of that that can affect people. I’ve shared that with the guys as they’re going over to Africa. I said, "Don’t get discouraged whether you’re ministering to just a half dozen people or it might be thirty or forty. We might have thirty or forty churches that we pour into over there for twenty years and those thirty churches may have between them a couple hundred people or a couple thousand people. But that’s not the issue. If in our lifetime we can reach one Mohan, just one who in the next generation can reach his nation—just like what took place in India. All of the giving that you as a fellowship have done over the years, the hundreds of thousands of dollars that we sent to India, we were able to influence in that one man’s life, beloved, and now he has the largest church in India touching thirty thousand people a week. You never know whose life you’re touching.

Yesterday, at the car show down there I was able to talk to John Force. If any of you know anything about racing, he’s one of the best-known drivers in the world. In fact, he was voted by the drivers themselves, the associations that they all belong to, two years running he was voted the Driver of the Year. That’s talking about NASCAR, Indy cars, Formula One cars. The guy’s a drag racer. He’s an ex-truck driver. The little truck he drives now is quicker than the one he used to be in. As he drives those funny cars, and they’ve just dominated. He’s going to become the "winningest" driver of all time, beating Glidden’s record this year. He has an interesting personality, and he was signing autographs. Jason Felton went and stood in line for us for two hours. As he finally got up the platform where he was signing autographs, he called me on the cell phone and we came across the building and got in line to talk to him. There was something that I wanted to share with him. When I talked to him, I said, "John, do you remember Jesse Winters?" He said, "Of course I do. I know Jesse very well." I said, "The reason I ask is because I led Jesse to the Lord twenty-seven years ago and I told him that when I saw you next I would get you some of this information." He said, "Every time I saw Jesse he would talk to me about Jesus. You’re the guy that converted him?" I didn’t go into all of the explanation that I didn’t convert him, but that Jesus did. I said, "Yeah, I led Him to the Lord a number of years ago." He said, "Their family." I said, "Yeah." The whole family we had reached for the Lord in Bakersfield years ago. He said, "How’s he doing?" I exchanged a little bit of that and then I asked him how he was doing. I said, "Jesse’s been sharing with you all this time. How are you doing with the Lord?" He kind of got a little bit sheepish and to make a long story short, we had one of our Finish the Race shirts folded with the logo facing up showing the cross, and I said, "I just want you to have this and what I want you to do is every time you look at it or every time you think about this, just remember that it’s not by chance that you’ve crossed paths with these lives and that Jesus loves you and there’s a work to be done in that area." Sowing seed again. I’m saying all that to say this: here’s a young kid that was touched with the gospel in Bakersfield as a teenager, who went on to build his own multi-million dollar business sponsoring race cars. Touch a life that’s able to touch others, a life that many are not able to get to. This is a guy that always has security around him and all of these different things, and how God can, years and years before, make a provision for you to be able to go in and speak a word in season for His glory. Who knows what’s being accomplished in the lives that you’re touching?

The twelfth chapter of Genesis says, "I will make of thee a great nation." God is not making of us anything as individuals. It’s the building of the kingdom of God; it’s the seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these other things being added to us. Verse 3, I believe this. I believe that God will bless those that bless us and curse those that curse us. I believe that if God is for us, nobody can be against us. Do you believe that this morning? That’s part of partaking of the promise. How can you ever have hope, and hope against hope, if you don’t realize that God is an enemy to your enemies and that God is looking to bless you? Some people think that’s arrogance; some people think that it’s something that’s prideful. It doesn’t have anything to do with pride. But beloved, do you live your life believing that you’re invincible? That God will bless you and bless those that bless you? I don’t know about you, but I don’t very easily speak Godspeed on somebody—"Oh, God bless you, brother." How often do you say that to people? I don’t say that very often, but I’ll tell you one thing-when I say, "God bless you" to someone, I expect God to bless them, because God will bless those that bless us if we’re about Father’s business; if we’re about the building first of the kingdom of God.

Abraham, the Scripture says in verse 4, departs "as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him." Remember years ago we did a teaching and I spoke a phrase over and over again? I’m sure that—years ago this was done—and this was probably one of the things that some of you remember, a phrase spoken so many times in that particular teaching when we talked about the fact that right here we begin to see some of the "humanity" of Abraham. Called to leave all of his family, his kindred, his land, but how many of us always want to keep something that we’re familiar with that gives us a little comfort? We all have our little Linus blanket, don’t we? There’s something that makes us comfortable—people we want to have around us, or certain things that we’re able to trust in—and we like that comfort zone. Abraham had that, I believe, as he was taking his nephew Lot with him. Yet when you see the real declaration of God, the fact that Lot went with him was an indicator of some disobedience in his life. We were talking about Lot and we’ve said—you remember this phrase—we said that when disobedience is the issue, a little disobedience is a "Lot"; a little is a lot. Every time you and I begin to surround ourselves with the familiar, as little as it might be, it’s a "Lot." It’s a "Lot" that’s going to someday potentially cost you your life and your blessings as you have to go and risk your own men’s lives to rescue him and his goods back from the onslaught of the kings. You remember the great slaughter and the great devastation that came into Sodom as the kings came through and they took Lot prisoner. Abraham had to go and of his own men—now this was a rich dude. The Scripture talks about him being very rich in cattle and land and in these men. He had three hundred and twelve, I think it was, trained warriors on staff. This is a bad dude. He went and whipped up on nations because God was with him. Not because he had more, but because he had better.

Do you want me to tell you what the promises of God will do for you? Do you remember the three Hebrew children? They had the promises of God working in their lives, and they said, "Let us do this. Don’t make us eat of the king’s dainties, but let us eat our familiar food. Let us eat the pulse that we’re used to. If our countenance drops and we’re not able to produce, then fine, we’ll go ahead. But our God is going to sustain us. We’re not going to partake of the king’s methods." You all remember the story. As they partook of that which was the blessing of God, not only did it keep them strong, but also their countenance was better than it had ever been, better than those around them. The Scripture said they were able to perform ten times better than anything the world could produce. Filet mignon; mush. The promises of God; the trust of the arm of the flesh. What are we going to look to in this walk of faith? Are we going to expect the promises to always be transferred via the vessels of gold, or do we realize that the glory of God manifests itself in earthen vessels? It’s not always pretty. It’s not always man’s price tag on it that’s impressive. But, beloved, the promises of God in Jesus Christ are yea and amen. They are sure to a thousand generations. Where’s your hope this morning? Have you already set up the method in which you will accept God’s blessing, and if it doesn’t come that way it must not be God? Have you made provisions for the flesh already, and taking a "Lot" with you that you should not be taking? How much excess baggage do you have this morning? A "Lot"? How much are you relying on your own intellect, your own natural abilities of tenacity, and your own personableness? How much are you trusting in God’s presence to deliver you? Is it His glory that you’re seeking, or your ease? How do you handle the songs of the masses when they say, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands?" How exciting is it when you’re not the man in front? These are all questions that have to be asked if we’re going to be recipients of the promises of God.

Let’s move on. I want to get to a couple of pertinent things as it pertains to the man who was fully persuaded, who staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief. Abraham our father, the Scripture says, obeyed. Now we have that about him. Thank God for it. You read Hebrews 11, you read Genesis 12, and the one thing we know is that Abraham went. But he’s carrying a lot of luggage with him. So here he is carrying with him what the Scripture calls "weights and sins" that do so easily beset us. The Scripture says we’re to do something with these. What are we supposed to do? We’re supposed to "lay aside" all of these things. Once we recognize that we’re being burdened down, we need to begin to set these things away from us. The Scripture goes on and says in verse 6 that they came "unto the plain of Moreh.... And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." A couple of points that I want you to see here as you receive the promises of God. You get the initial promise; you obey; and then God will appear to you again. So many of us in obtaining the promises want to understand the beginning to the end. "If you can show me everything that’s going to happen, and I can really understand it, then I’m ready to go." Beloved, that’s not faith. Faith is believing that God will appear to us in the journey, that He’s going to order our steps, that He’s going to constantly be redefining the course that we’re on and the revealing of Himself. Because we can’t understand the workings of God. We don’t understand why on every hand these trials, adversities, and mistakes—how God can take them and work them out for His glory. All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His eternal purposes. So the Scripture says that the Lord appeared to Abram again and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land."

Do you want to see something else that’s really kind of interesting here and something that we need spend a little bit of time meditating on? How casually some of us take the voice of the Lord or the promises of God! When God appeared to Him, what did he do? He built an altar. Every time God speaks to us, beloved, it ought to change your life. It should become a memorial that you can identify and say, "I know because I can tell you the hour, the place that God spoke to me because I’ve taken time out to worship Him and honor Him." I don’t take this stuff lightly. I live my life based upon trust in God’s word and the fact that I personally believe that the steps of the good man are ordered of the Lord. I believe that. I believe that nothing happens to my by chance. In my life, God has spoken to me numerous times with certain promises, and they will transform your life. I’ve also run into people that are saying, "Oh, God spoke. God spoke. Oh, promise, glory to God. God promised me this. I’m believing for that. Amen." And next week they can’t even remember what they were believing for because now they’re really believing for something big and better and newer. And you look behind them and all you see are a bunch of empty confessions and no altars, a bunch of rhetoric about God and no life changing experiences. I want to tell you something—when God speaks to you, it will change your life. When a promise of God becomes a reality of your heart, it will change your life. The Scripture says the Lord had appeared to him and spoken to him and he built an altar.

"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord, who appeared unto him" (verse 7). The Lord appeared to him and he was thankful and built an altar. Now he sets out in his journey to see how God is going to manifest this promise and as soon as he establishes himself in what appears to be a place that God can move in his life, he builds another altar, looking for the direction of God. "Lord, I just want to worship You. I just want to honor You. I just want to hear Your voice. I’m not just setting my own course."

"And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land..." We know the story here and how God is blessing Abraham and being an enemy to those that could potentially be enemies to him. He is released and supernaturally preserved from defilement of Sarah, from destruction of his own life. And verse 13 says then that he leaves Egypt. (We understand that Egypt is a type of the world.) He leaves Egypt, verse 2 says, "very rich." But after this experience, he’s a little bit disoriented. "I went south, Egypt, the world. It’s obvious that all that there was there was confusion. So what do I need to do?" Look what verse 4 says: "[He returned] unto the place of the altar [in Bethel]." We’re waiting on the promises of God, circumstances have changed and they have gotten adverse. There’s some confusion here. What do I do? Let me tell you what to do: you always return back to the last time you heard from God clearly. If ever there’s confusion in your course. If ever you’re wondering, "What happened to the promise? What do we do now?" You return back to your "Bethels," and you say, "This is where I know God spoke to me. This is when I know my life was free of the cares and the burdens and the weights. I want to reaffirm the promise and the course." "And there Abram called," verse 4 says, "on the name of the Lord." "I thought I knew where I was going. I didn’t. I’m back. Lord, what do you want me to do?" And the Lord says, "I want you to get rid of a Lot." We understand, then, that God was blessing Abraham and blessing Lot for Abraham’s sake, the Scripture goes on to tell us. You know, there are a lot of us who are saying, "Praise God. The Lord’s working in my life and I’m this and I’m experiencing that." A lot of times it is just because of whom you’re hanging out with. God will bless those around you for your sake if you’re walking in His promises.

The Scripture goes on and tells us that God was wanting to separate Lot from Abraham, and Abraham is going to now begin to, through his actions, reveal to you and I one of the greatest truths of receiving the promises of God that we can ever learn. We’ve talked about it before. There was the strife between the herdsmen. You remember the story, how the land couldn’t sustain the two of them. Abraham says in chapter 13, verse 8, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right [you take the high road; I’ll take the low road. Go ahead; make your choice] And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered." The Scripture says it was "even as the garden of [Eden] of the Lord." Those of us who have been over there have seen that it doesn’t resemble anything like a garden. In fact, it’s so dry the jackrabbits carry canteens over there. It’s totally devastated by the judgment of God. But at this particular juncture, it appealed to the eye—the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—it was very attractive. So Lot looks and says, "Well, since I have first choice and I can have anything that I desire, I’ll take that down there." "Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan" (verse 11). The Scripture says, "Abram," verse 12, "dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom." The promises of God.

How many of us, in obtaining the promises of God, think that somehow God is always going to give us first pick. "Hey, I’m blessed going in and coming out. God’s made a promise; therefore I’m going to get prime pick. I’m going to be first in line." You need to understand, beloved, the greatest, the greatest revelation here of the promises of God is this—that if God has promised, it doesn’t matter who may or may not be obtaining the best at this moment. God’s promises are for the end of a thing, not necessarily the beginning. God’s promises are for the end, not necessarily the duration. Abraham is the greatest example of that. Abraham’s heart was, "Wherever God is, is where the promise is manifesting." God is for me. I’m not as concerned—listen—I’m not as concerned with prime real estate as I am getting strife out of my life. What was the strife all about? What were these guys battling about? What was causing the conflict? Whose flocks were going to get the best food; who was going to be strong; who was going to prosper. Abraham is saying, "I don’t need anything in the natural to prosper. God is my source. It’s not going to be said that any man made Abraham rich." Do you live that way today as it pertains to the promises of God?

I’ve lived my whole walk in the spirit that way. I’ve probably to a fault—I’ve shared that with you before. Janet has mentioned things in the past. To a fault I just absolutely—I would turn down offers that people would make me, opportunities, everything that in the natural appeared to give me a foot up, whether it be people’s wealth, the position, opportunities in the past—come and meet the President in the Oval Office. "No, man. That’s all right. I’m not interested." I kind of wish now I had done some of those things. I don’t know if I was faith, stupid, or prideful. Probably all three, but I can say this: that if there was pride involved, it wasn’t the prominent force. We can make a good argument for stupidity, but I want you to know that I am convinced that the prominent force was a jealousy for that one spirit—if God’s going to do it, then He’s going to get the glory. It’s not going to be said that any man made Abraham rich, that any man made anything happen that we’re involved in. If God’s not the source, I don’t want it done. Period. Abraham moved in that kind of a spirit. I know, and even more so as you mature somewhat, but I know that God uses men. I know that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. I know that God is able to touch the heart of a Cyrus. I understand that God uses natural means, but maybe it’s the fact that somewhere in the natural, prior to my conversion, that I trusted too much in those other methods—who you could get next to, what kind of influence they had. The fact of the matter is if you’re going to succeed in the natural, it is not what you know, it is who you know. There were a lot of good singers that didn’t make it back in the forties, who were not part of the Mafia. It’s a very interesting thing that’s natural to all of us. Abraham, the father of faith, the receiver of the promises, was walking in that kind of a spirit of absolute trust and reliance. God’s bringing him into that. He says, "Choose whatever you want. I’ll take God, and His promises are going to manifest."

Let’s go on to chapter 15. There are a couple other things that I want to hit. This is a man who was fully persuaded. This is a man who staggered not at the promises of God. He obeys, but he takes Lot. He goes to Egypt and lies to try to sustain his life because he is afraid. He is delivered of the Lord. He’s back to Bethel. He’s up. He’s down. Now he’s on course. He’s been to Bethel. Strife in the camp. Let’s get rid of it. I’m trusting God. Abraham is on a roll.

Chapter 15, "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." "Fear not." "Fear not." Does this mean that Abraham was a fearful man, a timid man, a man who was afraid of his own shadow? That’s not what this "fear not" is all about. This fear, or the anxiousness. I think Abraham was a man who was capable. He was a man who could make things happen. The fear was not a fear of "I can’t do anything." The fear I think that Abraham is dealing with is, "I can do stuff, and I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want to do this in my own strength." He says, "Fear not [don’t be afraid], Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (verse 1). "I said I was going to bless you; I was going to bless your seed. I was going to bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you. Your seed is going to be the blessing to the nations. Don’t be afraid. What I’ve promised will come to pass."

Now we look into the heart of our father Abraham—had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. As Abraham is looking here at his circumstances, he says, "Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is mine heir." Let’s boil this down a little bit. What’s he saying? "Lord, You made all these promises and there’s no evidence. What are You going to give me? Am I missing this thing? Maybe Your promise was just in the spiritual realm and the way You want to bless me is not literally to give me a son, but to bless my house and that Eliezer, then, will be heir and that these promises will manifest through him." God said, "No, you’re getting in a hurry here. You’re trying to apply the promise before its time." It becomes typical of the natural man; it’s typical of every one of us. Virtually every one of us before we’ve received the Isaac, tries to somehow effect the promise through an Eliezer or an Ishmael. How many of you are guilty of trying to make the promises happen? How many of you are guilty of trying to spiritualize them, or naturalize them, diversify them, instead of saying, "God has not manifested the promise yet." It’s a lot easier to make the promise something other than what it really is so that it can appear we haven’t failed, or that God hasn’t failed—because we have to protect God. God promised; now I know it hasn’t manifest, but somehow I’ve got to cover for God because we don’t want people thinking badly about Him. So we’ll tell them, "Look how God has blessed me," but in our hearts we know it’s not God. We know it’s not the manifestation of the promise. It’s not the finished work. We’re just tired of waiting. We’re tired of answering people’s questions. We’re really afraid of dealing with our own fear. "What are You going to give me, Father, seeing there is no seed?"

"And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, [verse 4] saying, This [Eliezer] shall not be thine heir." You want a little more clarification? "But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." "Oh, okay. I’ve got it. No Eliezer. No adoptions. It’s going to be a natural kid out of my own bowels. Sarah, it’s not going to be one of our household. God’s going to bring the promise through the strength of my body, out of my own bowels." "Really?" "Yeah." And the Scripture says, "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Hallelujah. Waiting for it to manifest at any time. It’s going to happen. It’s not Eliezer; it’s going to be supernatural. It’s going to be from my own bowels. Sarah, we’re going to have a baby. And all of a sudden, no manifestation. Chapter 16 says, "Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children," verse 1. But she had a handmaiden that just happened to be what? An Egyptian. What’s Egypt a type of? The world. Let’s go to the world. We have this handmaiden. The Lord has obviously, verse 2, "restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her." And it may not be. I want to tell you something. Egypt will never produce the promises of God. Mount Sinai, the law, will never produce the promises of God. Beloved, we’re going to be so tempted to look to the natural when the pressure is on. How many times does God have to appear to me? I’ve heard all of these promises. There is still no manifestation. "Surely I’m missing it. Somehow God wants us to be involved. God helps those that help themselves." (First Secular Humanist, chapter 3, verse 1; right next to "cleanliness is next to godliness.") What does the word reveal to us? What is God saying? He’s saying to be followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Patience, consistency, waiting for the miraculous for the glory of God; calling things that are not as though they were; hoping against hope-that God might be glorified.

Taking bad advice from your wife. Thank God for godly wives and helpmeets. You’re stupid if you don’t receive input from your wives and their spiritual relationship, the feminine perspective in many things. But if it’s contrary to the word and to the promise, we don’t spare for anybody’s crying. "I want a baby. I’m getting old. If we don’t do it now, there’s no way. I want this baby to hold. Go in to Hagar. At least I’ll have a baby." The world won’t give you anything. The Scripture speaks here and tells us very clearly that Abraham then goes in to Hagar and she conceives, and the moment the world becomes the source, it becomes haughty and lords it over you. I want to tell you something: "the borrower is servant to the lender." (Prov. 27:7) It’s very important for us to realize that when you look to the world as your source, they’ll lord it over you and they’ll despise you just like Hagar despised Sarah.

"And she conceived," verse 4 says, and "her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee." Yeah, thanks. "But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee." So Sarah took vengeance, and we know the story. This isn’t the part I want to deal with. What I do want you to see is this, though. Though that child was conceived in ignorance, though that child was conceived in pride or self-effort, that child being of Abraham still had placed upon it limited blessings. God can even bless our mistakes. He understands our frame, that we are but dust. God is for us this morning, beloved. We need to understand that. We are going to blow it. Although Ishmael received deliverance and God would not allow this child to be destroyed, what does the Scripture go on and say about this? Did you know that some of your blessings become wild men? Some of our blessings, some of our businesses, some of our homes, things that we’re involved in become wild men, uncontrollable; sources that God will use to become—though temporal trials—eternal blessings. That’s what Ishmael was to Isaac, and is to this day.

Let’s finish up with this for this morning. Verse 15, "And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael [or God hears]. And Abram was fourscore and six [eighty-six] years old." It’s amazing what you can do in your own strength when you’re young and vigorous at eighty-six—a spring chicken. "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram." Thirteen years without an appearance. Thirteen years of Ishmael. Thirteen years of Sarah and Hagar. It’ll wear you out, waiting on God. It wore him out; he was dead now. That’s what it says.

"And the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." That’s the first time we hear this. I wonder why God is saying that now. He has appeared to him all these times, but this is the first time He is saying, "Abram, you’re not getting the picture, son. Walk before Me and get it right. There’s a process. I understand there’s a growth process. You’re ninety-nine. Grow up. Walk before Me and be perfect." We know what that word "perfect" means. It’s not sinless perfection, but it’s talking about a maturing. It’s talking about the allowing, now, of the completion of this work. Do you want to know why God never told him to be perfect prior to this? It was because God knew that this process—everything that happened to this point—had to happen in preparation for this miracle at ninety-nine years of age. "And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations."

The covenant—and in a covenant so often there was the exchanging of the names, etc. We won’t go into all of that. We’ve shared it before in the wrestling of Jacob with the angel. There’s a name change and He says, "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a [exalted father, or] father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee… [and there will be an] everlasting covenant… And I will give unto thee...all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Then He gives the rite of circumcision and He says in verse 15, "And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [princess of nations and mother of nations] shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her." Abraham is a hundred; she’s ninety. She wasn’t able to produce in her prime. She’s ninety years old and still a nice looking woman, we see that as the story goes on. Have you ever seen a ninety year old lady and the guys go, "Whoa! Look at that fox!" That’s hope for some of you.

When God says that He would give Abraham a son of her, I want you to see something. Abraham was fully persuaded; Abraham staggered not. Abraham laughed, verse 17 says. Wait a minute. Romans 4 doesn’t sound like 17:17. "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?" "Lord, where have You been?" "And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!" Without dealing too much with the physiology of this thing, I want you to understand something. Abraham is saying, "Look, I’m a hundred years old. Things aren’t working real well. The only thing I’ve been able to produce is that." It reminds me of the old Smokey and the Bandit movie with Jackie Gleason and his stupid deputy son. He said, "This didn’t come out of my loins." Abraham goes, "O that Ishmael [this is the only thing I’ve been able to produce] might be blessed." "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac." What does the word "Isaac" mean? Laughter. "Every time you call your son, you’ll remember when you laughed at Me. Every time his name crosses your lips, it’ll be a reminder that you laughed at the promise of God. You’re going to see the promise and it’s going to be without your natural strength and without Sarah’s." Now, we’re not all going to experience this magnitude of miracles. The promises that apply to you and I don’t always have this great of consequence as it becomes the lineage of the Messiah. But let’s get one thing this morning into our hearts: the promises will not manifest through your natural strength or through your doing because God wants all the glory.

Father, we thank You for Your word this morning and so many of us are in need of the visitation of your spirit. We need to know the hand of God and we need to build the altars to commune with you and to worship. But help us to understand that the worst thing we can do is bring about Ishmaels. The worst thing we can do is look to the world as our source and not to the supernatural. The worst thing we can do is laugh at the promises instead of being fully persuaded that what You’ve promised, You are able to perform. We look at our father Abraham and we know him through Romans 4. Help us to know ourselves through Romans 4. We look at our own lives and all we can see is the failures and the doubts and the fears. Help us to begin to see ourselves through Romans 4, the finished work of Jesus in our lives; and that if we don’t faint, in due season we shall surely reap. What You’ve done for Abraham, You’re going to do for us. So this morning we hope against hope. We favorably expect Your promise though there is no natural indication that it’s going to happen. Help us not to laugh. Help us to sit back and rest, ceasing from our own labors. Help us to put the proper value on these promises and build some altars to worship You and say, "Father, just the promise in and of itself provides for me rest and peace and strength. I thank You for the promise and I expect the manifestation. In Jesus’ name, amen."

Let’s stand before the Lord this morning. As Gary plays for us and in the hope this morning of the manifestation of the promises, just begin to rejoice and thank Him for His love for you this morning. Thank Him that even through this ordeal—the mistakes you’ve made, the misjudgments, the natural applications—that God hasn’t forsaken you. He’s still going to manifest the promise. The enemy will say, "There’s no hope for you now." Yes, there is. You may have to deal with Ishmael, but God’s still going to provide the Isaac. The grace is still at hand for the glory of God, for the glory of God. It’s about the glory of God.

"But I just haven’t heard anything from the Lord for a while." It was seventeen years. "Walk before Me and be perfect. I’m about ready to do something. When it all seems lost, when there is no way, God makes a way. The question comes as you read on in this discourse, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" What do you need this morning? God is for us. Every promise of God is yea and amen. What do you need this morning? Favorable expectation, I expect it now; and if it doesn’t manifest, then when it does it will have been over a course of making me better and bringing God more glory, but it will manifest.

Let’s sing this together and worship Him. "I just want to praise You/Lift my hands and say, I love You/You are everything to me/And I exalt Your holy name on high. I just want to praise You/Lift my hands and say, I love You/You are everything to me/And I exalt Your holy name on high."

Father, just be glorified this morning. We erect this altar this morning and we worship You. We come before You with thanksgiving this morning, Lord, and we boast in the promises of God. We erect this altar that says "Our God is for us; that we’re a people healed by the stripes of Jesus; that we’re a people, Lord, blessed going in and coming out. We are a people invincible. We are a clan who overcomes nations because our God is for us. We’re a people free from Egypt." Abraham, the father of faith, had two little skirmishes—three, actually—with Egypt: two visitations where he lied about Sarah, and the one with Hagar. But in the prophecy of the great vision, the Lord speaks and says, "Your seed is going to go into captivity for four hundred years, and I’ll bring them out rich." There can be some pretty long dry spells in realizing the promises, but they’re yea and amen. Faithful is He who promised, who will do it. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Get rid of a Lot." Go in peace; God’s love go with you.

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