Bible Teaching
Calvary Temple Teaching Library
Promises, Promises Pt.5
Pastor Scott
March 15, 2000 Wed PM
Audio | Purchase Audio | Related Devotionals | Bible Teachings | 
Print
If for some reason, the doors don't open, then what we're praying for—and something that I pray for continually not only there but here in Sterling—is that the Lord would open doors of utterance for us. I trust that's what you're praying on a daily basis when you go to work. Lord, give me doors of utterance. Give me someone to speak into their lives and to challenge with the gospel. I think it's important that each one of us realizes the need of winning someone. The Lord's coming back real soon. How many of you have won someone for Jesus this year? How many of you have influenced lives for the soon coming of the Lord? We need to pray and consciously be aware of that opportunity to sow seed and to be able to believe then for the Lord to water through other vessels, and then ultimately bring the increase. Be in prayer not only for there but for here that we can have those doors of utterance.
I was handed a very important note. We've been finding that some of you are leaving these services lighter than you should. You're leaving behind piles of fingernails on the floor—clippings piled up looking like little rat's nests under your chair with all kinds of germs and disgusting effects on the rest of the body of Christ. Hard to get out of the new carpet, just plain bad manners, disgusting, but other than that, it would be nice if you didn't do it. Okay. Maybe the culprits are not here today, so the rest of you watch during service, and if you see it, make a note, and we'll send Vito to see them. Let's consider the house of the Lord. It is disrespectful, and those that around us—there's been some cases of gum being found in some of the different areas and carpet having to be taken up. Make sure that you are good examples to the children. The children are not allowed to have gum here in the facilities, so we know that you're living by divine example and looking at them and saying follow me as I follow Jesus, gumless, and they'll be blessed by that.
The alumni game this Friday. We want to encourage all who are past alumni to be a part of that. We're excited about it. We're changing it this year. There's going to be some changes made. We've made up some distinct units. We've got all the names. Everyone will play the same amount of time. In the last year or so, there's been a number who haven't got playing time in. We're not playing for anything but fellowship and fun, and we're going to—this is one time that we're just playing for our enjoyment. Everyone is going to get to play the same amount of time, and we encourage you to come out and be a part of that. We've devised it in a way—we think we have, anyway—where we've taken the existing team and the alumni, and we're broken them down into certain squads, and we believe that we can play competitively for the whole time the game's going on at the different levels. That will be an exciting thing. One change we've made that could be interesting is that with—and we'll do it for the next years to come—with the existing boys' team, we're going to have playing with them all of the former coaching staff. Hopefully, it would be nice to be able to get Forbe down from Maine; that would be worth a laugh. We'll be seeing playing with the boys some of the coaches. It should make it just a lot of good fun, fellowship. Of course, the team from Baltimore's going to be down to play our junior boys. Our alumni women's team will be able to hand our girls' team their third defeat this year. We know that our existing team has no chance against the powerhouse that they'll be facing, so we're looking forward to that. Everybody come out, and we should have a lot of fun. I shouldn't have said that about you other ladies, but it's the truth.
Let's turn, if you would, to the book of Hebrews. We want to pick up where we were in our study and taking a look at the promises of God. Every promise of God in Christ is yea and amen to the glory of God by us, the Scripture says. The Lord's promises, his covenant, is sure to a thousand generations. When we talk about the promises of God, we're really talking about the declared purpose of God because the promises and the purpose of God are synonymous. The promises are sure because it's what God has purposed. It's not a thing of us having to somehow make them happen; they're going to happen. What God has promised is going to happen. How is it going to apply to our life, because not every promise is unconditional to every individual. Just because God made a promise doesn't mean that we are all going to receive of it in the same manner.
We talked about how we can appropriate the promises through faith and understanding the promises that are particular toward us—some that are immediate, some that are eternal. We've been talking about understanding the spiritual universal application of the promises of God. We said at the same time, however, we can't become apathetic and just sit back and say, well, God promised. If He promised, it's going to happen. It may happen for me; it may not. I may get healed now; I may get healed in eternity, so we'll just wait and see what happens. God's promises don't allow us to take that approach. We saw the necessity of believing God for the immediate, for the instantaneous. We looked at the three Hebrew children, remember? We saw that they said our God will, but even if He doesn't. So we're believing for immediate response on our behalf because we've understood that it's Father's good pleasure then to give us the kingdom, and that it's the Lord's will that we bruise Satan beneath our feet, the Scripture says how? With speed. We understand then that the Lord wants to effect these in our lives as immediate as will bring about eternal good for us and for the kingdom.
God will then allow something to be prolonged if it's going to work something more eternal in us because the Lord's more desirous for you to be whole spiritually than He is for you to be whole physically, though He wants you whole physically. The priorities of the eternal versus the temporal and all of these things that we've been looking at, and in the process, we've been looking at the life of Abraham and trying to learn through Abraham, the father of faith, just how God's promises effect themselves in our lives and how some of the manifestations are instantaneous and some of them are for a lifetime and some not manifesting until the eternal realm—some having died not having obtained, the Scripture says, but seeing these things afar off were fully persuaded of them, the Scripture says.
Hebrews 11—let's go ahead and take a look at that—verse 8, "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." The promises of God are obtained by faith. We don't know. We don't always see. We follow Him who's invisible. We look for an eternal city, the Scripture says, seeking that country, the better country, the heavenly country, verse 16 of this 11th chapter tells us. Abraham our father goes out and by faith he is sojourning in the land of promise. That's where we left off Sunday morning, if you remember.
Let's go back to Genesis and talk about that sojourning process. You remember he was wandering and God was speaking to him, and in the process, we left off Sunday morning with Ishmael. So far, what we've seen the father of faith accomplishing in his life was he took with him on his journey what? A Lot—a Lot that he should have left behind. In this process then, God is going to have to somehow purge that out of his life to bring about the purity of the promise. How many of you realize tonight that you have a Lot that you shouldn't have brought along? Yet, we want the promise to manifest, and we still have our Lot. God is interested in purging these other things out of our lives. He can still bless us in this process, but there still has to be the separation from a Lot. That took place in the life of Abraham, as you know, through the abundance of the blessing so they couldn't exist together any longer. They got so blessed they couldn't live in the same vicinity. Isn't it interesting how God can sometimes separate us through blessings? You know, like people in our lives, that get so blessed. They get the raise; they're making forty times more money than they ever made and all of this, but now they're out of your life, and God blessed them. We don't know the workings exactly of what's taking place, but we do know that the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord.
Abraham is going into this journey, and he's following, and God's appearing to him and revealing things in course as he's going along. We find that there's a separation that's taking place with Lot. We found also that he went into the natural realm and because of the pressure of time coming upon him, because of the facts that were facing them that Sarah could not bear children and the fact that God said that Ishmael would not or Eliezar would not be the heir, it would be one of his own loins, they came up with a good way to bring about some seed. The tradition of the day was that a handmaiden could bear the children, and pass that child on then to the matriarch, and that, that would be that woman's child.
In the process, we saw then that Hagar despised Sarah. There was a mocking that was taking place. It wasn't all that Sarah had hoped for and not the fulfillment that God had ordained, but they had been able to lend God a little bit of help, and since it was going to be one of his own loins, here we have Ishmael. At eighty-six years of age, chapter 16 of Genesis, verse 16, tells us when Ishmael was born. Now, we have Abraham ninety-nine, dead within his own body; Sarah, incapable in her youth, and God still says, I'm going to bless you, Abraham and Sarah. In your union, you're going to produce a child. The Scripture tells us that with that announcement, Abraham did something. What was it? Chapter 17, verse 17, "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed…And Abraham said [verse 18] unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: [laughter]…" We left off there, that so often as they looked upon this child, they would remember that they had laughed at God, and that the question being asked ("Is any thing too hard for the Lord?") was right before their very eyes. Nothing's too hard for God. What He's promised He's able to perform, the Scripture says. The covenant, verse 21, was to be established with Isaac "which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." I like that, verse 21.
Now, in all of this journey that Abraham's been in, God is finally speaking specifically and says not only are you going to have a child, but it's going to be by this time next year. One of the problems we have, beloved, is this. We live our lives thinking that God's going to answer every prayer that way. This man's been following God for years and years and years and has one specific statement from God. How many of us think that every hunch we get, every feeling we get, every goosebump, every premonition, every inclination is God confirming something in our lives that's going to happen here immediately.
The whole life of Abraham was a walk in the general promises and the trust that what God had promised He was going to perform. Isn't that what Romans 4 tells us? He was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform. He didn't have an understanding of how it was going to happen. He just knew it was going to happen. How many times have you gone into circumstances knowing how it was going to happen, and then you were disappointed, heartbroken? I was sure it was that person I was supposed to marry. I was sure that that was going to manifest, and the bill was going to be paid on time. I was sure that the pain was going to leave my body as soon as I said in the name of Jesus. It didn't happen. God failed. I failed. The fact of the matter is neither one did. The process of the promises of God are still in motion, but somewhere there's going to be the statement, this time next year, the set time, she's going to bear the child.
Beloved, let me give you some good news tonight. There's a set time. You don't know it, I don't know it, but there's a set time. God's working on our behalf, praise God. Now, we'd like to know and be able to rest and be comfortable and have all of that spelled out before the end, but if that were the case, something would be lacking. There would be a force lacking called what? Faith. Without faith it's impossible to… Our whole lives are going to be a walk of faith. We're not going to know. We're not going to understand his time, his ways, his purposes, but in his promises—when we started this teaching—but in his promises, what do we understand? That God cares for us, that his desire for us is good all the days of our lives, He's the giver of every good and perfect gift, and that it's his good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
The Lord speaks, verse 21, says now at the set time. Let me give you some encouragement here and some advise. Stop looking for the set time. God will declare it. The longer you look for the set time, the longer you prolong it because you haven't learned anything. You're moving in anxiousness. You're moving in presumption. You're thinking that somehow you're going to force this situation. I'm going to make it happen. The deliverance will come at this time; the deliverance will come in this way. But faith only comes by one method. What is it? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the set time, the purpose, the proclamation, the word of God—or as we've shared with you before, "word" means what? Audience. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by an audience with God. Faith doesn't come by reading this book. Faith does not come by reading this book. You can read this book tonight before you leave here, and faith will not manifest in your life. Knowledge will, but not faith. Faith comes when out of this book, God speaks to you. You've had an audience. You have not read an autobiography. You've had a visitation from the individual. God has appeared and spoken to you and said at a set time the child will be born. Now, it's a done deed! Now we begin to rejoice and thank God and understand that nothing's going to thwart his purposes. What a time of rejoicing. What a time of expectation.
Finally, after all this time, things are going good, man. We're on a roll, and then the Lord appears to him with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the visitation, the Lord, in revealing to him the judgment that's going to come, now begins to confront Sarah, verse 9 of the 18th chapter. As the Lord's speaking here, and they're having fellowship, [verse 10] "And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women." Okay, so big whoopee. She couldn't produce in her youth—twice dead now. Now, not only do you have the supernatural question, here I am a young person in my prime and, yet, not able to conceive and what's wrong here? You all remember the environment of that day—when someone was barren, it was perceived generally that they were barren because of what? A curse, the judgment of God. You're having to deal with all of this. Is there something wrong in my life? Am I cursed? What's happening with me? Why isn't God favoring me? We know the judgment of God that came upon those that were about to defile Sarah, and He closed the wombs of all of his house. There was a reason for these people to think along those lines because many times it was a judgment of God—not in this particular situation.
What was perceived by some as a judgment was only what? Preparation for the glory of God, the miraculous power of God. Who did sin that this man was born blind? No one sinned, but for the glory of God, he was allowed to come to this time that his eyes might be opened, that God would be glorified. There are eternal purposes that we're not always aware of. The Spirit's speaking here, the Lord's speaking and making the declaration. Sarah now ceasing to no longer to function after the manner of women, laughs. You see, her laughing here tells me something, that even though she hadn't conceived, there was still some hope. There's still something in me. There's still life in me. Somehow I'm going to be able to produce something here, and now she's dead—no longer any ovulation. Abraham—dead, and God says next year. Can you see these two old codgers? Can you somehow visualize what has to be going on in their minds? What about us? What is that in us—man—that as long as there's something that we can do, we're going to be God's little helpers, think we're moving in the will of God, think we're trusting God, but all the time trusting in that last little ounce of strength that we have. So often God wants to totally allow us to come to that depletion so that not only will He receive all of the glory, but we can come to that place of maturation and being able to answer this question, verse 14, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?"
"Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" What can God do without my help? We don't verbalize these things. We just act it out; we just live it. How often we fail to understand that these circumstances in our life, the time frame, etc., is all to work those things out in our own lives, so that we could be able to trust Him more. The fact of the matter is this, beloved, the degree of our love for Him is in direct correlation to our trust in Him. He knows how much we love Him, not by the amount of choruses we sing, the poems we write, but by our ability to rely on Him. One of the greatest indications—and I'm getting a little off course; I don't want to go too far here but—one of the greatest indications of our trust in Him is our ability to serve one another, to humble ourselves in the midst of the body of Christ and love and serve one another. That becoming servant, which makes us greatest of all, is what indicates our trust in the Lord because natural man wants to be lord, wants to dominate, wants to take care of himself, have all of the bases covered. The real love for God is seen in our ability to love one another and serve one another. That's another story.
Sarah laughs within herself—within herself. This wasn't some big belly laugh, you know, like the old fat woman at the boardwalk. I guess that's dating me too, isn't it? Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about. You remember how you could walk down the boardwalk, and for the whole length of the boardwalk, whether it's Coney Island or Atlantic City or the boardwalk out in Santa Cruz or whatever, and they'd have the fat lady at the fun house just having that big belly laugh. One of those things where you can't hardly, you can't hear it and not laugh. It's one of those kind of laughs. The longer you stand around, the more you laugh. The more you laugh, the more other people laugh, and it's kind of a contagious type thing, and makes everybody look stupid. That's not what's happening here. This is not a discernible laugh; it's within her. How many of us have laughed internally? Nobody else has heard us laugh, but we've laughed at God. Everybody else thinks we're right on course, but we've laughed at God. Our hearts are known—the secrets of our hearts known by the word of God, searched out always by our response to the word of God.
She says within herself, "After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" How can I have the pleasure now of embracing that little child, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh? We're both dead in our bodies. How is it that we can have that offspring? Who is this going to be? Who is this great giant of faith going to be because the Scripture says in Isaac shall thy seed be blessed? What's contributing to this man? Two laughers. We all know that genetics are very real. It's a real thing. The more time I've given, the more meditation I've given to genetics and trying to understand why people do the things they do, and in studying genetics and knowing that genetics is a far greater force than environment—environment affects us, but genetics are phenomenally powerful in determining our course, our actions—from all the study I've been able to do, I can only see one thing that can alter genetics, and that's the blood of Jesus. But that blood is not a one-time, once-for-all alteration. That blood of Jesus is a continual application as we walk in the light as He is in the light, and his blood then cleanses us from all of our sin. It's a continual illumination and understanding of who we are that makes us be able to walk free. When I know who I am, when I know what my tendencies are, when I know what I am without Jesus, then I can more effectively serve Him because of his Spirit indwelling, because of the word of God reordering my course. I can only be aware and illuminated of the course when I'm aware of the condition of my heart and who I am without Him. I can fully appreciate who and what I am in Him.
So Sarah here is laughing, and we have Isaac—how can we have this pleasure of our own child, seeing we're both dead? The question I would ask is, yeah, and what's this kid, what's this child going to be like? The good news is that he's not going to suffer the genetic deficiencies because he is a child of promise and because he's going to be born supernaturally natural—not the incarnation, not like Jesus, not sinless, not divine, but at the same time miraculously. Beloved, I've said all that to say this one simple statement: If we'll let God birth it in the supernatural, it'll make the course easier! Isaac wasn't some kind of a great hero. Isn't it interesting that Isaac is somehow sandwiched in there between Jacob and Abraham? We don't find a lot of the spectacular in the life of Isaac. A lot of the dynamics are missing, but the thing I want you to see is that he's a child born of the supernatural. He is that representation of consistency. He was able to convey the blessings and send it on into the life of the patriarchs. A lot of what's supernatural isn't flashy; it just works. It doesn't get all the press, but it's constant. It keeps the course. We're so prone to the articulate and the ones that are demonstrative and the ones that can tickle our ears or entertain us, but the Scripture says we're to be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God. Isaac was a man that brought about that consistency, and it was because of his birth being supernatural.
Verse 13, "Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?" Let's answer the question, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed [You all remember there was an appointed time.] I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid." You know, lots of times we become afraid when people begin to read our mail, look into our hearts—when we're having to come to grips with who we are, and others around us are beginning to find out. I didn't laugh! Yes, you did, but your laughing won't thwart the purpose of God. There's an appointed time. It's not depending upon you. You didn't choose me; I chose you. Does that make you comfortable tonight? You should be able to rest in that tonight, beloved. I'm chosen of God! This thing doesn't depend on me! God chose me! He's put me here! He's working in my life; praise God! My steps are being ordered of the Lord! I'm a stumble bum, but God's going to turn it out for his good! We can rest in what the Lord's accomplishing in us.
Well, the Scripture goes on. We know the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah takes place. Then we read on in the narrative, and we find ourselves over in chapter 21 at the appointed time. Abimelech's scoping her out in chapter 20; she looked good pregnant. I don't think she was probably showing at that time. Chapter 21 says, "And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said,…For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, [say it with me] at the set time…" The promises of God manifest—say it with me—at the set time.
Now, isn't it interesting that the whole focal point of this story is what? Isaac, the conception, the birth, the conception, the birth, the conception, the birth, the promise, the promise, the promise, but how many of you can see when I started this whole study off weeks ago, how many of you can see that in the midst of all of this time of waiting for the promise, how many of you've seen a whole bunch of promises manifesting? Hasn't God been fulfilling promises? Hasn't all of the eternal things that have been necessary to the life of Abraham, in the life of Sarah, been working? So often we get our eyes off on one thing, that we miss the promises that God's working that are for some reason not emphasized in our thought processes, but are more important in God's purposes, and He's working all of these things, and then the promise at the set time manifests. Hindsight's great. You can look back and say man, look at all that God worked in my life. Look at how that all worked out for good.
Three of the pastors in the meeting yesterday spent quite a bit of time sharing. They said the other week—whenever it was, Sunday morning or Sunday night, I can't remember whichever service—when I shared about the warfare that we had been in prior to Janet's surgery and the different things that we were battling in our lives. They were talking about how that just so encouraged them and ministered to their lives, and they played it for their congregations and the different ones, and they were edified by hearing the testimony and the endurance and where we were sharing our heart in some of things that we were facing and how that encouraged them. You look back over all those years and you see what Father taught you through it, and some of the good that's come out of it, but, frankly, beloved, in the midst of it, you don't see all that. That's what faith does, it just says, I know that if God's for me, nobody can be against me. I don't understand all of the eternal purposes. I can't comprehend why we're not seeing the manifestation now. Lord, it's my desire; if it be possible, let the cup pass, but nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done.
That's how we journey, and then we can look back historically. We can look back into the recorded history here of Abraham's life and see all of the good things, but Abraham wasn't seeing all this. He was only knowing that things weren't going the way he thought they were going to go, but he continued faithfully seeking God, and that's why he's in the faith hall of fame. That's why God says about him in chapter 4 of Romans what He says and doesn't factor in all of these other incidents that we look at when you look at every detail of our lives. Don't judge your life or anybody else's by the immediate circumstance but the whole journey that we're in! If you're judging yourself or others by the immediate circumstances, you're going to think you've failed, you're going to think they failed, you're going to think God failed, but the end of the matter is this, beloved: if God's for us, nobody can be against us. If we don't faint, we will be saved. That's how we address the promises of God.
It's very interesting as this goes on, that Sarah conceives, the child's born, the covenant of circumcision, and then you have the conflict of the law versus faith—of Jerusalem versus Sinai that Romans speaks of—through Ishmael and Isaac and how God responds. You want to learn something about Ishmael? You want to learn something about the law and trying to relate to God by law instead of grace and faith? You'll get blessed. There's benefits from that relationship and that association, but it's not the eternal promise that you'll be inheriting. There's a lot of people using biblical principles for their own gain whether it's peace of mind, finances, moral, environment, whatever it might be.
As we read on, I want to finish with this part for this evening anyway into chapter 22. As we find the birth of Isaac, and we find the conflict with the law, which is what Ishmael was a type of—see, the law was going to come four hundred years later, but in this we find Ishmael as a type of the natural, a type of covenant and law, and we find Isaac as the child of promise and faith and grace. These two will always conflict, Romans tells us. Then a very interesting thing happens in chapter 22—that God tempts Abraham. Now, what's this testing all about? Well, the Scripture tells us very clearly in the new covenant why we go into different temptations, tests, and trials. What does it say? Count it all joy when you fall into different types of temptations, tests, and trials, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. If you'll allow patience to have its complete work in you, you will then be made perfect and entire wanting nothing. God now tempts Abraham. This testing of the heart of Abraham comes down to the real culmination of the maturing in our life.
Beloved, the greatest faith is not in receiving the promise of God but in offering it up. It takes greater faith and greater maturity to offer up the promise than it does to receive it. You know, in all of those things that God said He was going to do or work in your life, and now it seems like they're going to be gone. You're in a position right now where all of the questions are going to be asked: I thought God was for him; I thought God was blessing him; I thought God was blessing me; I thought the Lord intended for us to live this particular way, to inherit these particular things. Abraham is going to enter in to this trial that isn't unique to him because we understand that Job endured it. Abraham's to endure it. If you read the 11th chapter of Hebrews, Moses endured it. If you understand clearly the Scriptures that talk about the captain of our salvation who learned obedience through the things that He, say it… Jesus endured it. How many of us walk in this journey of faith, inherit the promises, experience the victories, know the blessings of God, and faint when the promise is required of us to be offered up for a reason we don't understand?
This life of Abraham's very interesting. God tempted Abraham and said, Abraham? He said, Yes. I wonder what's going on here? Here we are in chapter 22. Whole bunch of years have gone on since chapter 12 when the Lord said get out of your country. You know, it's interesting that you come to that place many times. I know I have, and I'd like to be able to portray the image that at all times you're just saying praise God, here am I, Lord, send me. You know, there's times—and I can almost see it with Abraham when the Lord says, Abraham. You go, oh, not again. You see, you don't hear from God all the time. You only hear from God when something big's going to happen. I'm not talking about the awareness of his presence, the peace of knowing that He's with us and will never leave us nor forsake us. I'm not talking about the comfort that comes from his Word. I'm talking about when God appears to you, He speaks to you, He says get out of the country, at a set time this is going to happen, build an ark, whatever it might be. Those of us who have heard the voice of God for consequences that are significant beyond ourselves, when you hear from God, something's going to happen that's going to shake your life up. It's not always, oh, praise God, because many times, beloved, these promises wring you out.
The real issue is, can we say, Lord, your eyes are looking to and fro. You're looking for a person that you can use and show yourself mighty in their midst, for your own purposes and glory. Here am I, Lord, send me. Beloved, you better count the cost of entering this journey, and you better not go if you're not sent. Now, I'm talking about into the realms of inheriting promises. Let me just get very practical for just a second. Let me tell you something, beloved. You better not enter into the realm of marriage if you're not sent. I just want to talk to some of you single young people for a moment, you young adults. Oh, everybody's getting married. I need to get me somebody. I want you to know if God hasn't sent you there, it is unbearable! You can't do it, incapable without God's presence, without Him being the source of the love, of understanding what your roles are, to lay your life down and serve another, to be there. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm saying without God having ordained it. If God is the author of it, then everything is lovely. We look at it from the outside, and we're looking at that guy, and all we can see is he chews his food with his mouth open. And you love him, and you're saying, boy, he has beautiful teeth. We see him differently, don't we? We see the spinach hanging out, and you say, I'm so glad he's getting his iron or whatever spinach has. What? Does spinach have iron in it? I don't eat the stuff, so I don't know. It's green.
The supernatural, the tempting of Abraham, the proving of his heart, that can be so painful, but it is, beloved, the Gethsemane that we talked about. It is the fiery furnace. It is the lion's den. It is the proof of whether we love the Lord more than these. In all of our lives, we're going to have to come to grips with this. Somewhere, somehow, in the midst of all of this, we come to our Gethsemanes. We come to our Mount Moriahs, to where the Lord then says to us, now I know. Everything you've been through tonight, beloved, up to this point in your life has been the process of bringing you to the place of hearing from God: now I know that you love me. You mean God didn't know? He's not saying that He didn't know. He's saying now you know because the fact of the matter is most of us still have that as an unanswered question in our lives. Oh, you may have already resolved it. Oh man, praise God, what do you mean unanswered question, man! Though they all forsake you, Lord, don't worry; you got me. The Lord says, yeah, that's what I was concerned with. I know; I got a whole bunch just like you.
This process that we're going through, the promises of God to bring us to being able to apprehend that ultimate promise. What is the promise? What is the promise? The promise is this, beloved: We'll see Him, and we'll be like Him, and we'll ever be with Him, praise God! Isn't everything else that's a process of bringing that about worth it? Aren't all of these other things that so many people count treasures and the promises that are so vital to us that we think that we have to apply and have to have in this vapor—this life which is such a vapor—the things that we think will make us happy and that we have to obtain that are so meaningless from the eternal perspective? Our lives are just vapors. I mean, they're here and then gone.
I was talking to my grandmother just the other day, and she was sharing saying it was just [like] the other day. She said, I can still smell that aroma coming from the kitchen when mama was cooking—the mush or whatever—and her mind, you could see in her eyes the sparkle. She was back there. She was a kid, and grandma, next week I think it is, she's going to have her ninety-third birthday. May 7th she's meeting us in Fort Lauderdale to go on a cruise. Her older sister, Aunt Gladys, my Aunt Gladys—mom said Aunt Gladys is really slowing down. I said really? She's really slowing down. She's no longer trout fishing in the streams. Aunt Gladys at ninety-eight—she's out fly fishing, wading in hip boots. My grandma last year, she's ninety-two—well, actually, in the last twenty-four months Grandma's been to Alaska twice, Hawaii three times, Australia. I think her theory is that if I keep moving, I can't die because since she's been ninety, she's been to China and wherever, and she just keeps cranking. She's like Red Skelton. Red Skelton said if I open my eyes in the morning, and I don't see flowers or candles, I get up. Okay, I remember why I got over there. Life is a vapor. Here in her eyes, I could see them sparkle, and she was, in her mind, just that little kid yesterday. Now, it's ninety years later, and she can still remember the smells and the feel, and how quickly it happened. She said it's like yesterday; time's gone by like that.
Are we going to allow those things, Hebrews chapter 11, to become our treasures, or are we going to leave these treasures in looking for an eternal, a better country, a city who's builder and maker is God? Are we going to leave all of the treasures of Egypt, so that we might obtain the real treasures and promises of God? That's basically what Abraham's going through right here.
We're just about out of time. I want to get this one point here. We'll close in just a couple of seconds. "Take now thy son, [And I love this phrase; don't you? What?] thine only son…" What about Ishmael? What you do in your own strength doesn't count. It won't last. It doesn't have significance with God. If God's not the author of it—without me, you can do what? [Nothing.] You can't do anything that I'll accept. If I'm not the source, if I don't author it, if I don't produce it, it's not acceptable. It will not stand up under the trial of my holiness. Oh, beloved, how many things we've built with our own hands. How hard we try to impress others through our legalistic application, through our individual tenacity, so that we can appear to be something that Christians are instead of just saying here's where I am, here's what God's doing in my life, and I believe that what I've committed to Him, He's going to keep against that day. God can use that. That image you built, however pretty it is, it's going to burn. It's going down. It's wood, hay, and stubble. The Ishmaels are not accounted as part of the family: "…thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest…"
Let me ask you a question. Did Abraham love Ishmael? Yeah, he did. We skipped over that part of the story, but we understand the love he had for him, the compassion, but there's no way you love what you've produced when you hold it up against knowing what God has given you. To a person that really knows the Lord, there is no problem discerning the real treasures of life when you're honest, and you look at them and say here's what I produced, and here's what God's given me. In your own strength, you could have been out laboring and built this great business and this great portfolio and this home and all of the trappings that go with it, and then you have over here the re-creation, and you become a new creature, and you're moving in the menial. You're now not the teacher but the student, and you're able to just humbly serve in the body of Christ. Cleaning the house of the Lord means more than sitting in the chairman's seat in the board meeting when you've really seen the treasures of God.
We're going to stop here for tonight because we didn't get far enough into this. Abraham is getting ready to establish the treasures of his heart—the promise or the relationship with the giver. Moses had to experience that. Go ahead. I'll send an angel, but I'm not going with you. If you don't go, I won't go. I have no interest in anything that you can give me. My interest is in you, in your presence.
Father, make it real in our lives, in Jesus name. Help us to stop being a pursuer of the promises but of the person who's made the promises, not the provision but the provider. It's in our nature, Lord. We're selfish, and we're frail, and we're afraid. Our value and our worth is so often equated by our accomplishments, and we ask you to help us to see our acceptance in the beloved. Lord, unconditional love is so foreign to most of us. We ask that we could see the promises not being legal obligations, but a Father who will never leave us, a Father who intends us good all the days of our life, a Father whose good pleasure it is to give his kingdom, a Father who in wisdom will not give over the kingdom until there's been the chastenings, the disciplines, the maturing, so that it can be handled properly for the glory of the giver. Help us not to be adolescents, doubting your love for us because of your restrictions. Help us not to be adolescents thinking that we know more than the Ancient of Days. You promised, and that promise is not limited to a specific statement but a general purpose. If we don't get what we think we were going to get, what we do receive will be exceeding abundant above anything we could have asked or even thought. That's the confidence we have in you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let's stand before the Lord tonight as Gary plays for us, and we just rest in the love of our Father and in those promises that He's made us. We talked about it a couple sessions ago—don't try to hold God's feet to the fire and say you promised, and now it looks like you're changing your mind. If it appears to you God's changing his mind, it's for your good. I said if it appears to you that God is changing his mind. God doesn't change; you change. Your perception gets clearer. If it appears that God's changing his mind, it's for your good. God, you said I could do this, and now, it doesn't look like you're going to let me do it and how—it's for your good. Yeah, but you promised, and I'm holding you to it. Keep your word. You're not a man that you could lie. Of course He's not going to lie. Maybe you've just confused his intentions with the set time. The promises will come. They are yea, and they are amen. What's needed is for you to have confidence in who your Father is, what his purpose and intent for you is, and it's to do you good all the days of your life. Thank you, Father. You're more important than the inheritance.
Let's sing it together and just worship Him. [Lord, you are so precious to me…] Hallelujah, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We worship you, Lord. Let's sing it again; just worship Him. He's worthy of praise. Hallelujah, Jesus. Oh, Lord, we thank you for your presence. Lord, we thank you for your desire to do us good. We thank you for the promises of God that are yeah and amen.
Father, we thank you tonight that the biopsies in Lovenia were negative, and we thank you for that touch in her body. Father, we rejoice in your goodness. We ask for a finished work, Father, that you would heal the body and remove the pain, Father, and bring back, Father, in her body the strength, as that blood, Father, is brought back to its proper red count, the anemia gone in the name of Jesus. Father, as you're making Carol strong tonight, Carol Smith, in that time of trial, Father, in healing her from that heart attack and, Father, making right in her body all of those areas. It's your good intent that we rest upon. The healing, Father, in Neil's body and for Larry, Father—we thank you tonight, as we don't seek the benefit, but we seek your presence, and even now the anointing rises in these bodies, Father, and makes whole the children of God—healing now in the bodies of our brothers and sisters. Father, we thank you that those bodies are made strong because of the anointing, because of the presence. Oh, we rejoice in it, Lord. Hallelujah. Oh, we delight in it, Father. Even now the extensive tests in Becky's head, Father, all the research that's been done, let them see your greatness as those things dissolve in the name of Jesus. As each growth subordinates to the presence of God, and for one reason alone, Lord, that we might boast in you, the goodness of our God.
Lord, we know all of the dynamics of your obedience and Father's good pleasure to bruise you and that by your stripes we're healed. We thank you, Father, as we know the purposes of the prayer of faith, the authority of the name of Jesus, but, Father, those are all the vehicles. The power is in who you are and your intention for us, to make us a people whole. We don't just serve a God who can. We serve a God who wants to, who wants your children to be with you and to be like you, so we boast, Father, in what you're doing right now. We're not going to tell you how. We're not going to tell you when. We just thank you we're a people healed. We're a people at peace. We're a people who have a God who's gone before us, who battles on our behalf. We just thank you, Father. We thank you for the peace tonight of your presence.
Father, we sense you here in our midst tonight, as your word has come forth to discern the thoughts and the intentions of our heart. As your word has come forth and illuminated our own motives and in the process said here's where you are, and my grace will take you through. It'll make up the difference. You suffer a deficiency in your natural, but my grace is sufficient for you, and your faith will be the victory. Our hope's in the Lord.
Before you go, turn to somebody and say, Is anything too hard for the Lord? Hallelujah. Go in peace; God's peace go with you.
Back to Top | Audio | Purchase Audio | Bible Teachings | Print