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This blog is dedicated for the most part to publishing Bible lessons from the Bible Study Time radio broadcast. This broadcast was started in Frederick, Oklahoma, way back in 1961 by my father, Pastor James Roberts. In 1996, my father started a series of lessons called A Journey Through the Scripture. The most recent of these lessons you will find on this page with a link to a video clip of that lesson. Previous lessons can be found in the archives to the right.

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Genesis (Part 27)(BST 12-28-08)

Genesis (Part 27)
Bible Study Time 12-28-08
(From James Roberts 2-23-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture we looked at an incident of faith in the life of Abraham. This incident is found in Genesis, Chapter 22, where we read that God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice to the Lord. Hebrews, Chapter 11, refers back to this incident and serves as a commentary on it.

In Genesis 22, we find that without hesitation Abraham obeyed God when God told him to take Isaac to Mt. Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God and by faith offered up Isaac. However, when we look back at the Genesis account, we find that Abraham actually offered up a ram in accordance with God's last minute instructions.

Obviously, when God saw the strength of Abraham's faith, He was willing to accept that ram as if it was actually Isaac. This is because Abraham's faith was based in the promise of God. God had previously given Abraham many promises, and He had said that all of His promises to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac and his descendants. In fact, when God promised Abraham the birth of Isaac, He said, You shall call his name Isaac and in Isaac shall your seed be called.

Well, Isaac had no children at the time that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. Therefore, Abraham knew that if God was going to be true to His word, God would have to prevent the death of Isaac or raise him up from the dead. So when God saw Abraham's faith in the promise of God, He counted the offering up of the ram as though Abraham had actually offered up Isaac and as if God had raised Isaac up from the dead.

Last week we saw that this event pictures the Biblical doctrine of identification. You and I, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, have been counted as though we died with Christ and were buried with Him and were also raised with Him to walk in newness of life.

The book of Ephesians 2 tells us that in the mind of God we have also ascended with Christ to sit with Christ in the heavens, and this certainly does have tremendous implications for us. In Colossians, Chapter 3, Paul says:

Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Now, before we leave Genesis 22, I want us to think for just a moment of another great truth that we find in this passage, and that is the great doctrine of substitution. When Abraham was ready to offer up Isaac in obedience to the will of God, God stopped him and said, there is a ram that's caught in the thicket; you take that ram and offer him in the place of Isaac.

Oh, how beautiful this is. When we compare this with the New Testament and see the application of this wonderful doctrine we see that Christ is our substitute. That ram was offered up and bore the penalty of the judgment of God which was suppose to fall upon Isaac, and in the same way, Christ died on the cross, not for His own sins, not as some great tragedy, but He died the just one in the place of, or as a substitute for, those who are unjust. Romans 5 says:

Romans 5:6 NKJV
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for (in the stead of, in the place of, as the substitute for) the ungodly.

Jesus Christ died for you. You deserved eternal punishment, eternal separation from God, but when the Lord Jesus went to the cross and cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, He was dying in your stead.

That's what it means to accept Christ as your Savior. It means to believe with your whole heart that Christ took your place, that He bore the judgment that you deserved. He died to pay the penalty for all of your sins, and when you believe that, God counts the work of Christ on your behalf so that the penalty for your sins has already been paid. On this basis, your sins are forgiven. What a wonderful truth, this doctrine of substitution.

I wonder today if there is one reading this lesson who has never truly received what Christ did on the cross, that He was really there in your stead, in your place, dying for your sins. I have believed that He died for my sins, that He took my place. I believe that Jesus Christ took James Roberts' place on the cross, and now that I have believed that, God considers all of my sins as having been placed upon Him.

Now, as we go on further in the book of Genesis, I want us to see another act of faith on the part of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 24, we see Abraham preparing to choose a bride for Isaac. Abraham had become old and he was living in the land of the Canaanites, but God had shown him that Isaac should not take a bride for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites. God had obviously revealed to Abraham what He would later reveal to the whole nation of Israel, that if they took wives for their sons from the children of Canaan, they would become entrapped in the religious practices of the Canaanites.

So Abraham believed what God said, and he sent his servant back to the city of Nahor in the land of Mesopotamia to get a wife for Isaac. This servant was to get a wife from Abraham's kinsmen who were still living back in the region around Ur of the Chaldeans. Before the servant left, he asked Abraham what he should do if the woman of God's choosing should refuse to return with him to marry Isaac. In response, Abraham was very clear. He said, do not take Isaac back to Ur of the Chaldeans; if the woman refuses to return with you, you will be released from any obligation in this matter.

Abraham had been taken out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and God didn't want Abraham's seed to go back to Ur of the Chaldeans. After all, all of the promises related to the land of Canaan, and they were to be fulfilled through the descendants of Isaac. Isaac needed to remain in the Promised Land, but he was not to marry the daughters of those who lived in Canaan at that time.

So the servant went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor, and he waited there outside the city by the well. As he waited, he asked God to give him a sign. He said, I don’t know which woman should be Isaac's bride, but let it be that when the woman You have chosen comes to draw water, she will offer to give me a drink and to draw water for my camels. Well, the servant waited and along came Rebecca, who did exactly as the servant had asked.

It's very interesting that Abraham's servant asked for a sign from the Lord because we read in the book of I Corinthians that the Jews require a sign, but the Greeks seek after wisdom. As God was helping Abraham's servant select a bride for Isaac, He was dealing with the nation of Israel in seed form because the whole nation of Israel was to come from Isaac. Therefore, God gave this servant a sign to help him understand the specific will of God.

Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He performed many miracles as a sign to the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament there were certain works which the Messiah was to do, and these works were to be a sign to the Jews that he was truly the Messiah. Just think of all of the miracles that Jesus did. He broke the bread and the fish and fed 5000 men plus the women and children. Then afterwards He had 12 baskets of food left over. Then He said, I am the bread of life. These things were done to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

However, in spite of the miracles of Jesus, the leaders of Israel refused to accept Him as their Messiah. They refused to acknowledge His miracles, but still they came to ask Him for a sign. In response, the Lord said, only one sign will be given to you, and that is the sign of the prophet Jonah; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, even so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus mentioned this sign as a means of pointing to His death, burial and resurrection. When Jesus arose from the dead, all of the Jews should have immediately known that Jesus was the true Messiah because He had indeed been three days and three nights in the grave even as Jonah had been three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. However, after three days in the grave Jesus Christ arose from the dead, triumphant over death, hell and the grave, and this should have served as a sufficient sign for the nation of Israel that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

In the book of Acts, we find the Holy Spirit using this great miracle of Christ's resurrection to prove to the nation of Israel that beyond any shadow of a doubt Jesus was the Christ. Time and time again the apostles showed that according to the Old Testament prophecies, the Christ would have to die and be buried and then raised again the third day. They declared that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the sign of the resurrected Christ. They said that Jesus was alive, and He was waiting in heaven, standing at the right hand of the Father, ready to come back, if only the nation of Israel would repent and receive Him as their Messiah.

But throughout the book of Acts, the nation of Israel rejected this message. Finally, God stopped Messianic message. Jesus Christ was no longer offered to Israel as the one who would come to the earth to establish the kingdom of God. Instead, God used the Apostle Paul to reveal the Lord Jesus as the savior of the world who serves as the Head of the Church which is the Body of Christ. The truth of this new program had been hidden from all of the prophets of previous ages.

One day, after the church is taken up to be with the Lord in heaven, God will once again preach to the nation of Israel the message of the crucified Christ who was raised from the dead and who waits in heaven to be accepted by the nation of Israel. When this message is once again the focus of God's program to the Jews, the nation of Israel will accept Jesus as their Messiah, and He will return to the earth to fulfill all of the great promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Next week, we're going to continue to look at the wooing of Rebecca for Isaac. Until that time we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 26)(BST 12-14-08)

Genesis (Part 26)
Bible Study Time 12-14-08
(From James Roberts 2-16-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw that there were three incidents in Abraham's life that illustrated his life of faith. Abraham is preeminently spoken of in the Old Testament as a man of faith. He was called a friend of God, and he was one who walked by faith.

In the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, we see these three incidents recorded. The first incident was when God appeared to Abraham and told him to leave UR of the Chaldeans and go to a land that He would show him. God said that He was going to give this land to Abraham and to his descendants after him as an inheritance. Abraham, without hesitation, acted upon the word of God, believing what God had said.

The second incident was when God appeared to Abraham and told him that he was going to have a son. Now, Abraham was 99 years old, almost 100 years old, and Sarah was past 90 years of age. Both were well beyond the age of bearing children, so when God promised Abraham a son, Abraham thought immediately of Ishmael. He said, oh that Ishmael might live before You. But God said, no, it’s not going to be Ishmael. It’s going to be a son by your wife, Sarah, the free woman, and you shall call his name Isaac.

In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we read that Abraham did not consider his own body to be dead, but he believed that what God had promised He was able also to perform. Being strong in faith, Abraham did not waver. Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God, but he believed what God said.

The third incident we looked at briefly last week. It relates to God’s command that Abraham should take his son, Isaac, and go to a mountain that God would show him. That mountain was Mt. Moriah, where Solomon’s temple was ultimately built. So God led Abraham to Mt. Moriah, and there Abraham was ready to offer up his son as a sacrifice in obedience to what God had said.

This was a tremendous act of faith on the part of Abraham because, as we saw last week, Abraham told the young men in his company that they should stay at the foot of the mountain with the donkeys because he and the lad would go up to worship and then come back again.

He knew something. He knew that even though God had told him to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice, Isaac would be coming back down that mountain with him. Now, how did Abraham know that? Well, let’s look in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, and we will see a commentary on Genesis, Chapter 24.

In verse 15, we find that Abraham and his sons dwelt as sojourners in the land of Canaan. This means that they did not receive the inheritance while they were living. They received the promise of the inheritance, and they dwelt in tents looking for a city that God had built, a new city, a heavenly Jerusalem, which will be discussed at length later in the book of Hebrews. But now I want you to notice in verse 15:

Hebrews 11:15-17 NKJV
15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac . . .

Here we find the writer to the Hebrews saying that Abraham offered up Isaac, but when we look back in the book of Genesis, Chapter 24, we find that Abraham was ready to offer Isaac. According to the Genesis account, Abraham had the knife in his hand, and he was ready to slay Isaac in obedience to the command of God, but God spoke out of heaven and said, don’t kill Isaac. God said, I see that you love me even more than you love your son, and therefore, if you'll just look over in the thicket, you’ll see a ram that can be offered in Isaac’s stead.

Accordingly, Abraham took the ram that was caught in the thicket and offered it up instead of Isaac. Notice, he offered the ram instead of Isaac even though the book of Hebrews says that Abraham offered up Isaac. Now, let’s talk about that. Just keep that thought in your mind as we continue in Hebrews, Chapter 11:

Hebrews 11:17-18 NKJV
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"

Abraham offered up his son, his only begotten son, that son through whom the promise was given which said that in Isaac Abraham's seed would be called.

Now, why do you suppose the writer to the Hebrews mentioned this little detail concerning the seed being called through Isaac? Well, this is very important to our discussion of Abraham as the man of faith. Notice as we read in verse 19:

Hebrews 11:19 NKJV
19 (Abraham concluded) that God was able to raise (Isaac) up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

God accounted Abraham’s faith as a righteous act, and in the mind of God, God saw that ram as if it had actually been Isaac. What did Abraham believe that assured him that Isaac would be raised from the dead if necessary?

Well, God had said to Abraham, in Isaac your seed shall be called. God had said this when He announced the birth of Isaac, when Abraham was past the age of begetting children, when Sarah was past the age of begetting children. God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son and they were to call his name Isaac. God said that it was going to be through Isaac that the seed would be called.

According to the book of Genesis, Isaac wasn't married at the time of this incident. Therefore, He had no children. So if God was going to be true to His word, Abraham knew that if he offered up Isaac, God would have to raise up Isaac from the dead so that Isaac could have children. Abraham knew that the promised seed had to come through Isaac. The whole nation of Israel, the multiplied seed, had to come through Isaac.

So Abraham said, well God, I’ll do what you tell me to do because I know that if you can give me life even when I am dead in terms of begetting children, then I know that you can give life to Isaac in order to accomplish Your word.

This is a great example of believing what God has said, and this is what faith really is. We walk by faith when we simply reckon upon what God has said. Today, so much of what people call walking by faith is really walking by fancy. It’s walking by feeling. People so often go simply by what they feel God wants them to do. But when we feel that God wants us to do something, it may simply be a manifestation of our own desires.

In reality, faith is a matter of going to God’s word and reading God’s word and believing God’s word. Then we yield to the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit, Himself, take the word of God and guide us through the principles that are set down in the word. This is how we should determine the specific will of God for our lives.

God has a general will for each one of us, and that general will is that we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit who is dwelling within us. Then we must read and study God’s word so that God, Himself, will be able to use the word. In this way the word of God becomes a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

That’s what faith is; it is believing what God has said. We don't look for signs. We don't look for miraculous things to lead us. The Holy Spirit of God teaches us the principles of the word of God as we read and study, and then He leads us according to those principles.

Abraham believed God explicitly, and without any hesitation he did what God told him to do. I want you to notice that as far as God was concerned, Abraham actually killed Isaac. God was able to count that which was not as though it was. Abraham did not literally slay Isaac, but when God looked at the ram, He saw the faith of Abraham, and He counted the death of the ram as the offering up of Isaac.

We also see that God not only saw Isaac as having been killed, but He saw Isaac as having been raised up from the dead. Isaac did not literally die and come forth from the grave alive, but as far as God was concerned, Isaac died and was buried and was then raised from the dead.

Now may I just say this to you? This is a great example of the Biblical principle of identification. God saw Abraham's faith, and God counted it to Abraham for righteousness. In like manner, when you and I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe explicitly what God has said in His word about the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God counts us as though we were actually put to death with Christ, as though we were actually buried and raised up with Christ to walk in newness of life. Then the book of Ephesians tells us that when Christ ascended back to the Father in heaven, in the mind of God we too ascended with Him so that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

Now does that have any implication for our Christian life? Well, in Colossians, Chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says that if we have been raised with Christ, we should seek those things which are above where Christ is seated, for we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God. He tells us that we have died, we have been buried, and we have been raised with Christ so that we can actually say with Paul, I am crucified with Christ; I have been given new life so that I can walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus.

I see our time is gone for this morning. Next week, the Lord willing, in our Journey Through the Scripture, we’re going to look the selection of a bride for Isaac. Well, until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 25)(BST 12-7-08)

Genesis (Part 25)
Bible Study Time 12-7-08
(From James Roberts 2-9-97)

In our Journey Through the Scripture, we have been looking at Abraham as the man of faith. In the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, we see three instances recorded that illustrate Abraham's life of faith.

The first was when the God of glory appeared to Abraham in UR of the Chaldeans and gave him great promises. God promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him and that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed. God said that He was going to make Abraham’s name great.

God told Abraham to leave UR of the Chaldeans and go to a land that He would show Abraham, and we find in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, that Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going. This illustrates the truth found in the book of II Corinthians which says that believers are to walk by faith, not by sight. Accordingly, Abraham went out as the Lord directed him, not knowing where he was going.

The second incident occurred when God appeared to Abraham and gave to him and Sarah the promise of a son. Abraham looked at his own body, and he said, I'm too old to have another son, oh, that Ishmael might live before You. Ishmael, of course, was Abraham’s son by Hagar, the bondwoman.

God said, no, it's not going to be through Ishmael, it's going to be through another son, a son by Sarah; you will call his name Isaac, and in Isaac your seed will be called.

The book of Romans, Chapter 4, tells us that Abraham believed God. He did not consider his own body to be dead, as far as begetting children, but he was strong in faith, not wavering at the promise of God. He believed that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

That reminds us also of Mary when the angel came to her and explained to her that she was going to give birth to the Messiah. She was told that she was going to have a son and that His name would be called Jesus because He would save his people from their sins.

Mary asked, how can this be since I do not even know a man? After all, she was unmarried, and she was a virgin, so how could she have a son?

The angel explained to her that with men there are a lot of things that are impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. Then the angel explained to her how the Holy Spirit would come upon her and create within her body, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He told to her that he son would be the Son of God who would live among men and then go to the cross where He would die for the sins of all men. In this way, He would literally save His people from their sins.

Mary knew that this son that was promised to her was to be the Messiah; the long awaited Messiah was going to be born of her. She immediately began to break forth in a song of praise to God. She praised God for His great grace that He had bestowed upon her, an unworthy handmaiden whom God had chosen to bring forth the promised Messiah.

It was with this same kind of faith that Abraham believed God, and as a result, God counted it to him for righteousness.

The third incident in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, refers back to the book of Genesis, Chapter 22, and I want us to notice this test that God gave to Abraham after Isaac was born. Isaac had been born as a child and had grown to a young lad, but in this account, God puts Abraham to the test.

I have heard people even refer to this event as the first child abuse that is recorded. It’s a story, they say, that tells about child abuse. Oh my, they fail to see the wonderful truth of this account in Genesis, Chapter 22. What we see here is the extent of Abraham’s love for Isaac. It seems as though Abraham's life was just wrapped up in Isaac, and so God says, I’ll give you a test to see if you love me more than you love Isaac.

We find this account in Genesis, Chapter 22, and let’s begin reading in verse one:

Genesis 22:1-2 NKJV
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And (Abraham) said, "Here I am."
2 Then (God) said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

Notice God’s estimation of Abraham's feeling for Isaac. He said, Abraham, take your son, Isaac, whom you my love. This is not a case of child abuse. This is the case of a man who loved his child, but he also loved God and believed God. Abraham believed that the One who gave him Isaac was also able to protect Isaac.

When God said, Abraham, you take Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering unto me, that’s when Abraham reckoned on the character of God and the promise of God. Now verse 3:

Genesis 22:3 NKJV
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Here we see another description of faith. Without hesitation, Abraham moved out quickly on the promise of God. God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering, and so Abraham rose up early in the morning to do as he was told.

I tell you, if it had been me, I probably would have put it off just as long as I could have, but without hesitation Abraham rose up early in the morning and took Isaac and two young men with him to do what God told him to do.

This is a description of faith. Why? Why would I say that this is a description faith? Because you see, God had told Abraham that his seed would be called in Isaac. This meant that Isaac would have to have children. At this point, Isaac was not even married, so he had no children, and how could God’s promise be fulfilled if Isaac were to die?

Well, Abraham believed God. He must have thought:

God, you told me that I was going to have a son and that I was to call his name Isaac. You told me that my seed would be called in Isaac. You said that it would be through Isaac that I would have children and that a great nation would come through Isaac, and that many people would be blessed because of that promise which was given through Isaac. So I don't know how you’re going to perform it, but I believe that you're going to perform your promise. I believe that it is going to be through Isaac that my seed will be called, and that means that in some way, Isaac is going to have to live.

Now, I want to just throw something out to you. In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we get an indication that Isaac’s birth required a resurrection, as it were, in a typical form. In a sense, Abraham and Sarah had to be resurrected in order for them to have a son. They were dead as far as begetting children was concerned. So they had to be given new life from God in order for them to have Isaac.

Now, undoubtedly, Abraham realized that this same God who gave him new life and in a sense raised him from the dead was also able to give new life to Isaac if Isaac were to die.

Now notice, as we go on further in the book of Genesis, Chapter 22:

Genesis 22:4-5 NKJV
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."

Here again is the language of faith because Abraham was fully expecting to come back down from that mountain with Isaac. He did not anticipate leaving Isaac up there on that altar as a burnt offering. Abraham believed that God was going to do something that would enable Him to carry out His promises. So Abraham said, we are going to go yonder and worship, and then we will come again to you.

Now notice in verse six:

Genesis 22:6-8 NKJV
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.

Here again we see Abraham's faith. He was anticipating that God would provide a lamb. The fact that they went on together is a picture of fellowship. They were one in faith as they went up that mountain to worship.

Genesis 22:9-14 NKJV
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."
12 And He said,"Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided."

Now I want you to notice that Abraham believed that God would provide a lamb for the offering, and God did exactly that. Next week we’re going to look in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, where we will see Abraham’s faith in this situation from God's viewpoint.

But the thing I want you to see this morning is that Abraham believed God. He believed that what God had said, God was able also to perform. It went against all of Abraham’s natural reasoning. How Abraham loved Isaac! His life was wrapped up in Isaac. But Abraham knew that God had a higher purpose, and he was willing to put his trust in the character of God and in the word of God.

I wonder today, as we close the broadcast, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Have you thrown your life, as it were, upon the word of God and believed that Christ died for your sins? Have you believed that Christ was buried and that He rose again, completely trusting your life, as Abraham did, to the word of God? Have you been willing to believe that what God has promised He is able also to perform?

God will give you new life, eternal life, if you will trust His Son as your Savior. And then He will protect you, he'll watch over you, and He will direct you even through the hard places of life.

Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing we will take up again next week on our Journey Through the Scripture as we will consider Abraham's faith once again. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 24)(BST 11-23-08)

Genesis (Part 24)
Bible Study Time 11-23-08
(From James Roberts 2-2-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we considered Lot, a man whom God describes as being righteous. And yet, Lot had gone into Sodom and had become great in Sodom. But when God was ready to destroy Sodom, He delivered Lot out of Sodom because Lot had been made righteous in the sight of God.

Lot was rich when he went into Sodom, but as far as we know, when he came out, he lost everything. Just before the judgment came, God dragged Lot out of Sodom and then He rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains.

Lot stands as a picture of Christians who have been made right with God, and yet they become entangled with the affairs of life, with the affairs of this world. They become earthly minded. God will be faithful to deliver them out of the future judgment because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the day of judgment, instead of them being burned up, it will be their works that will be burned up. They will be saved, but they will be saved as Lot was, through the fire. Instead of works that would bring honor and glory to the Lord, they will have done works that will be burned up.

Today, I want us to see the one who stands in contrast to Lot, and that is Lot’s uncle, Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith and was called the friend of God. Even though Abraham failed God many times, he always returned to the altar. He would always go back to the place of worship and fellowship with God. This is a picture of the believer who sins but is willing to return to God where he can walk in fellowship with God, and where he can be used by the Lord to accomplish God’s purposes.

Abraham was a friend of God because he was a man of the altar, he was a man of worship, he was a man of fellowship with God. God could speak to Abraham and reveal things to Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 17, we find that Abraham received a visit from the Lord, and during that visit the Lord established a covenant with Abraham. Now, notice as we begin reading in Genesis, Chapter 17, with verse 4:

Genesis 17:4-5 NKJV
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

No longer “exalted father,” but “the father of a multitude,” because as God said, I have made you a father of many nations. Now, please notice the tense of this. God did not say, I will make you a father of many nation, but he said, I have made you a father of many nations. As far as God was concerned, this promise was an accomplished fact. He said, I have made you a father of many nations.

God can call things that are not as though they are already in existence, and that’s what He did with Abraham. Even though Abraham’s only son was Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman, yet God could say, I have made you the father of many nations.

Now, let’s look at the covenant that established God’s promise to Abraham. God said:

Genesis 17:6-8 NKJV
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Notice that there is no condition here. There was no condition set forth that Abraham had to live up to. God did not say, I will do this, if you will do this. No, God in accordance with His grace, simply made these promises to Abraham. He established this unconditional covenant with Abraham. He said, I will, I will, I will, I will. This was a covenant of grace.

It was not until after this covenant was established that God gave to Abraham the ritual of circumcision as a token of the covenant. The Jewish people who came from Abraham are called the circumcision because circumcision was established for the people of Israel under the Law. That is why they are called “the circumcision.”

It’s very important to keep in mind that God gave this promise to Abraham even while Abraham was still uncircumcised. This turned out to be a very important fact when, after the death of Christ, the New Covenant was offered to the nation of Israel. This was important because the New Covenant was to be based on faith even as God’s covenant with Abraham was based on faith. The New Covenant was to be unconditional, and it was to be based on faith.

Since God’s covenant with Abraham was made before Abraham was circumcised, this opened the door for Gentiles to be saved by faith apart from circumcision and the other rituals of the Law. In the New Covenant, Abraham’s seed through Isaac, the people of Israel, will have a preeminent position. According to the book of Isaiah and all through the Old Testament, it is clear that part of God’s promise to Abraham was that the nation of Israel would someday become a nation of priests. They were to become a holy nation unto God, but they were to have authority over the Gentile nations as they ministered to them.

So, you see, according to the New Covenant, the nations of the earth were to be brought into the New Covenant kingdom and blessed with Israel. This is pictured in the covenant that God made with Abraham in that it was given to Abraham before he was circumcised.

This opening for the Gentiles to enter into the kingdom is not seen in the Law covenant that God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The Law covenant was a conditional covenant which was destined to pass away due to the weakness of those who tried to keep it.

As an aside here, I would like to say that the New Covenant, which is often spoken of in the New Testament, is in essence the same covenant that God made with Abraham back in Genesis, Chapter 17, and it is not a covenant that you and I participate in today. The New Covenant was promised all through the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham.

The New Covenant was confirmed in the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31, where in verse 31. In that passage, we see that the New Covenant will not be like the covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It will be different because it will be based in the power of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus said would come a result of His willingness to shed the blood of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant will also be different from the Law in that it will bring in the Gentiles to be blessed with Israel in the kingdom even though, as Jeremiah 31 plainly declares, the New Covenant will be a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. It is the covenant which will someday establish Israel’s spiritual and political authority over all the earth.

You and I today are not partakers in the blessings of the New Covenant. We are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. According to the book of Ephesians, this program of the Church which is the Body of Christ is an unforetold dispensation because the truth concerning the church was never made known to the prophets of the Old Testament or to the gospel writers or to the apostles during the time period covered by the book of Acts.

The truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was revealed after the Acts period by the Apostle Paul, and one of the distinctive aspects of the Church which is the Body of Christ is that it’s members, whether Jew or Gentile, stand on an equal footing before God. In this church, the Jews have no special authority over the Gentiles.

This stands in contrast to the New Covenant which is based on God’s promise to Abraham. According to the New Covenant, the nation of Israel will have a position of preeminence when the promises of the New Covenant are fulfilled. At that time Israel will be a holy nation, and they will be the ministers of God to the nations of the world.

But please notice that all those who will someday inherit the blessings of the New Covenant will do so on the basis of God’s grace, whether Jew of Gentile. They will all have Abraham as their father because whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, they will enter into their relationship with God on the basis of God’s grace through faith in God’s word. In this regard, the New Covenant is identical to the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.

God had promised to Abraham a son, through whom the covenant was to be established, but Abraham laughed at the promise that his wife, Sarah, was going to have a son. And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you. But God said, No. He said, Abraham, you are going to have a son through Sarah because I will make my covenant with the son of the free woman. You shall call his name Isaac, and I’m going to make My covenant with him.

In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we see something that is precious to us today regarding the faith of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, we see that Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise of God initially, because they considered their own bodies. Because of their advanced age, they concluded that they would be unable to have a son. But then, God said, it’s not going to be by natural means, not through the son of the bondwoman, but Sarah is going to have a son. Romans 4 reports that it was at this point that Abraham:

Romans 4:18-19 NKJV
18 . . . contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, Abraham did initially consider his own body, but when God told him that his son would come through Sarah, that’s when Abraham latched on what God said. Then Abraham said in his own heart:

I believe that. If God says I’m going to have a son, even though I’m a hundred years old, I believe that. Even though naturally speaking that can’t happen. Sarah’s 90 years old and, naturally speaking, she can’t have a son, but God’s not bound by the natural. What God tells me that He is going to do, He has the power to do.

In Romans 4, Paul said that Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body as being dead. He did not waver at that promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and notice this, Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Man by nature, generally speaking, when he first hears the gospel of the grace of God, he considers it to be something that is impossible. How could God save a person today on the basis of the death of a person who died 2000 years ago?

Well, here’s what God says. God so loved you and me that He gave His Son to die on the cross. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on the cross and to taste in full the penalty for the sins of the world, from Adam to the last person who will ever live. He paid it all on that cross, and when He was put in the grave, on the third day, He arose again, triumphant over death, hell and the grave.

I trust today that if you are like Abraham, inwardly laughing at the good news of Jesus Christ, refusing to believe the gospel, that you will listen today to what God has said, it is only by my Son and through His death that a man can be saved. Won’t you be like Abraham and become strong in your faith, not wavering at the promise of God. I trust that you will latch on to the word of God and say, what God has said, He is able also to perform.

Well, I see our time is gone, and we’re going to have to leave you today. But next week, the Lord willing, we’ll take up on our Journey Through the Scripture once again.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/