Abraham’s Promised Seed (Selected Scriptures) | Worship Service

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그리고 이것은 저의 가장 아름다운 공간입니다. 이 공간은 제가 가장 아름다운 공간입니다.

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이 공간은 제가 가장 아름다운 공간입니다. 이 공간은 제가 가장 아름다운 공간입니다.

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아름다운 아프리카입니다.

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아름다운 아프리카입니다. 아름다운 아프리카입니다. 아주 아름다운 consequence 私は私の右手にあるので、私はすべての神が私の前に立っていることを誇りに思い出します。私は震えることはありません。ですから、私の心は幸せです。私の全身を祝福します。 私の体も安全に住む。あなたは私の魂を放棄しないでください。あなたが一つしかないなら、私はあなたが破壊を見せる。私はあなたの救助と力を持っています。私はあなたをとても愛し、あなたを助ける。 이 영상은 유료광고를 포함하고 있습니다.

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이 영상은 유료광고를 포함하고 있습니다.

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이 영상은 유료광고를 포함하고 있습니다. 이 영상은 유료광고를 포함하고 있습니다. 이 영상은 유료광고를 포함하고 있습니다.

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나에게 예생을 대ع해 나도 예상을 대하여 난 나라는 국조한 내가 될 것이라며 나는 나라 속에서 예상한 행복을 만들어 국조된 해에서 굿모닝 .UTNE

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Church에 오신 것을 환영합니다. 오늘 며칠에 여기 특வத하겠습니다. The psalmist says in Psalm 72, Blessed be Yahweh God, the

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God of Israel, Who alone works wondrous deeds, And blessed be His glorious name forever.

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And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Would you please stand as we sing,

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Blessed be Your Name. Blessed be

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Your Name In the land that is plentiful,

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Where streams of abundance flow, Blessed be Your Name.

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Blessed be Your Name When I'm found in the desert place,

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When I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be Your Name.

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Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise.

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When the darkness closes in on me, Still I will say,

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Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Blessed be Your Name.

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Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Blessed be Your glorious Name.

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Blessed be Your Name When the sun's shining down on me,

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When the world's all as it should be, Blessed be Your Name.

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Blessed be Your Name When the world's barred with suffering,

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But there's rain in the offering, Blessed be

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Your Name. Every blessing You pour out,

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I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in on me,

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Still I will say, Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Blessed be

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Your Name. Blessed be the Name of the

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Lord, Blessed be Your glorious Name. You give and take away,

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You give and take away, My heart will choose to say,

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Lord blessed be Your Name. You give and take away,

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You give and take away, My heart will choose to say,

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Lord blessed be Your Name. Every blessing

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You pour out, I'll turn back to praise.

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When the darkness closes in more, Still I will say,

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Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Blessed be Your Name.

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Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Blessed be Your glorious Name.

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Blessed be Your Name In a land that is plentiful,

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Where streams of abundance flow, Blessed be Your Name.

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Eternal God, unchanging, Mysterious and unknown,

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Your boundless love unfailing, Grace and mercy show.

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Bright seraphim in ceaseless fight, Around Your glorious throne,

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They raise their voices day and night, In praise to You alone.

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Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Lord, we are weak and frail,

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Helpless in the storm, Surround us with Your angels,

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Hold us in Your arms. Our cold and ruthless enemy,

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His pleasure is our heart. Rise up,

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O Lord, and He will flee Before our sovereign

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God. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Let every creature in the sea

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And every flying bird Let every mountain, every field

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And valley on the earth Let all the moons and all the stars

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In all the universe Sing praises to our living

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God Who rules them by His Word. Hallelujah!

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Glory be to our great God. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great

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God. Hallelujah!

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Glory be to our great God. O creatures of our

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God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing

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O praise Him! Hallelujah! Thou burning sun with golden beam,

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Thou silver moon with softer gleam, O praise

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Him! O praise Him! Hallelujah! Let all things their

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Creator bless And worship Him in humbleness

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O praise Him! Hallelujah! Praise, praise the

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Father, praise the Son And praise the Spirit three in one

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O praise Him! O praise Him!

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Hallelujah! All the redeemed washed by His blood

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Come and rejoice in His great love O praise

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Him! Hallelujah! Christ has defeated every sin

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Cast all your burdens now on Him O praise

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Him! O praise Him! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

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He shall return in power to reign Heaven and earth will join to sing

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O praise Him! Hallelujah! Then who shall fall unbended knee

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O creatures of our God and King O praise

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Him! Hallelujah! O praise

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Him! O praise Him! Hallelujah! You need a discount code for being part of Kootenai Community Church.

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You can get that from myself, or from Josh, or from Marsha, or from Kathy.

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Anyone of them will be able to give that to you. And I think we have arranged, and I might be wrong about this, to have somebody taking registrations in the foyer.

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If you need help getting online and paying for that, then you can see somebody who's supposed to be set up in the foyer today.

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And if it's not this week, it'll be next week for sure. Turn please to Hebrews 11, verse 8, for the

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Scripture reading. Hebrews 11, verse 8. We're going to read together from verse 8 through verse 22.

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Hebrews 11, verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

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By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

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For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even

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Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

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Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

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All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

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For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own, and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they had went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

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But as it is, they desired a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their

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God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.

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It was he to whom it was said, In Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, by which he also received him back as a type.

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By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.

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By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.

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Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

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Our Father, you are a great God, merciful, true, kind, and good in all of your dealings. You are sovereign and majestic and powerful and mighty, and you are a

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God who makes promises and keeps promises. You are a God who has ordained all things that are coming to pass.

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And we thank you that we live in a world that is under your sovereign control. You rule all things by the word of your power, and you uphold all things by the word of your power.

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And we are grateful that we serve such a God, and that we can entrust our times, our days, our lives, in this world and our life to come into your hands.

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We know that you will accomplish your every purpose concerning us, your people, the nation of Israel, your church.

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We thank you that you are working all things according to your own purposes, for your own glory, and we can rest in your sovereignty.

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Thank you that you are good towards those who have named the name of Christ and are included in what he has done by virtue of faith and repentance.

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We thank you that you are faithful to your word, that you always keep it. And we thank you that you have worked in our hearts to bring us to salvation.

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And while the world around us seems to be falling apart, we know that everything is unfolding according to your plan, and that you are even right now accomplishing your every good pleasure in this world, ultimately to bring to pass the blessed hope, and that is the glorious appearing of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Keep us faithful in this world to live as strangers and aliens in this land, to live by faith and to walk in obedience to you, that you may be glorified in and through your church and through our lives, both now and forever, we pray in Christ's name.

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Amen. God moves in a mysterious way

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His wonders to perform He plants

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His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm

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Deep in His dark and hidden minds With never failing skill

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He fashions all His bright designs And works

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His sovereign will So God, we trust in You Oh God, we trust in You Oh fearful saints, new courage take

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The clouds that you now dread Armed with words we hath will pray

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With blessings on your head Just stop the

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Lord by feeble stance But trust Him for His grace

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Behind a frowning prominence He hides a smiling face

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So God, we trust in You Oh God, we trust in You When tears are great and comfort few

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We hope in mercies ever new We trust in You God's purposes will ripen fast

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Unfolding every hour The bud may have a bitter taste

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But sweet will be the flower Life on belief is sure to e 'er

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And scant is work in vain God is

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His own interpreter And He will make it plain

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So God, we trust in You Oh God, we trust in You When tears are great and comfort few

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We hope in mercies ever new We trust in You So God, we trust in You Oh God, we trust in You When tears are great and comfort few

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We hope in mercies ever new We trust in You I will be with Him in His distress

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I will rescue Him and honor Him With a long life I will satisfy Him And I will show

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Him my salvation I will dwell within the shelter

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Of the God who reigns above I will rest beneath the shadow

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Of the mighty King of love

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Though a sickness hides in darkness

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Though a flame destroys my day

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I will stand upon His promises

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Christ will be my hideaway In You, my

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God, I trust You are strong and here with us

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In You, my hope remains

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Christ will be my hideaway Angels gather to protect me

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When they hear my Savior call

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Sovereigns are ever ready

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To humble me should I fall

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Safe beneath His wings of refuge

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All my fears are kept at bay

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I am shielded by His faithfulness

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Christ will be my hideaway In You, my

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God, I trust You are strong and here with us

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In You, my hope remains

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Christ will be my hideaway Though a thousand fall around me

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Though death looks me in the eye

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Evil shall not have the victory While the

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Lord is at my side God in power raised my

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Savior I no longer fear the grave

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God in power raised my Savior I no longer fear the grave

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Through this fragile life and evermore

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Christ will be my hideaway In You, my

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God, I trust You are strong and here with us

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In You, my hope remains

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Christ will be my hideaway In You, my

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God, I trust You are strong and here with us

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In You, my hope remains

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Christ will be my hideaway Christ will be my hideaway

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Christ will be my hideaway You may be seated.

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Let's begin with a word of prayer before we open our Bibles. Our Father, we ask now that You would show us

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Your nature, Your glory, Your goodness, Your mercy, Your grace, Your eternal plan, a redemption that we may know

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You more and worship You as You are revealed in the Word of God. We pray that our hearts and minds would be conformed to Scripture and that all that is said and all that is done here may be an encouragement to us as we see

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You and Your work in history. Bless, we pray, this time and our study together and give us illumination in Your Word, open our minds and our hearts to it that we may understand and obey and love

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You more. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Turn now, if you will please, back to Genesis chapter 17.

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You may have been expecting me to say turn to Hebrews chapter 11. There's a reason we're going back to Genesis chapter 17 and that is that as I was going through Hebrews 11 this week

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I realized that we started to pull a little bit of a thread in Genesis last week and we didn't quite pull all of the thread in Genesis last week so while I only said about 1 % of what could be said about Abraham and his significance

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I really said about half of what needed to be said about Abraham and his significance so we're going back to pick up where we left off last week and I sort of hit the brakes and changed gears midstream, the middle of this week which is a little bit of an odd thing for me to do but I just realized that we have a lot of unvisited stuff yet in the book of Genesis that we needed to follow all the way through to the end so that we can understand that the promises that God gave to Abraham then went on through Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and so we just want to follow that, keep pulling that thread until we get at least to the end of the book of Genesis and I have more material this week that I need to cover than I did last week last week's sermon was longer than normal which means that we have to hit the 1 .5

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button today on the sermon so that we can get through everything that I have prepared here for this morning so back in Genesis chapter 17 we looked last week at the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 and 13 and 15 and 17 that in Genesis 12 there is the skeletal outline of the

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Abrahamic covenant that is given as God promises to Abraham physical descendants which would outnumber the sand of the seashore and that nations would come from him and then

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God promised him a land that he had not yet seen and not yet been to and then God promised him that through him in some way all the nations of the world of the earth would be blessed and that's the basic outline, the skeleton of the

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Abrahamic covenant but then as we go into chapter 13 and 15 and then 17 the Lord adds more and more details to that covenant as Abraham moves into the land and begins to see it for himself and God gives him more and more revelation and we saw that there were details that were added to that like the boundaries of the land from the river

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Euphrates all the way through to the great river in Egypt Abraham was told that nations would come to him that kings would come to him that the heirs of the promise would be in slavery in another nation and that they would then spend 400 years there and then come out plundering that nation and that Abraham himself would never see this but he would die before he ever actually possessed the land but then his descendants would possess it and possess it forever and that everything that Abraham was being told was part of an everlasting covenant and all of the promises that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12, 13, 15 and 17 in those four chapters every promise that has been fulfilled to this day has been fulfilled literally just as the promise was given and if you want to know how future prophecy is going to be fulfilled you need to look at how past prophecy has been fulfilled and I think that that is an indication as to what lies ahead that tells us how it is that God fulfills the prophetic word but then we come to an interpretive question up to this point, that is

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Genesis chapter 17 the promises seem a little bit broad to this point because we might ask ok, descendants of Abraham Abraham had more than one son he had

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Isaac and he had Ishmael and then later on after Sarah died he had other sons after that and we are going to look at some of that before we are done and so to which of those descendants was this promise given?

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Do all of the descendants of Abraham inherit that land? and if it is to all of the descendants of Abraham then we might look at modern day

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Jordan and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Turkey and we might say ok, so it looks to me as if that promise has been fulfilled but if in fact it is only a narrow portion some of Abraham's descendants and not all of them then we would have to say up till today that that promise has not been fulfilled because the descendants of Isaac have not inhabited that land and possessed everything that Abraham was promised and then we also have to recognize that there is in scripture a spiritual seed of Abraham there are the spiritual children now, if you are of Jewish descent here this morning and you are a believer in Christ then you are both a physical descendant of Abraham as well as a spiritual descendant of Abraham but if you are like me and there is probably not a

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Jew anywhere in your history and you are as Gentile as Gentile can possibly be but you have faith in Jesus Christ then you are a spiritual descendant of Abraham and this is what

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Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 4 when he says in verse 11 and he, that is Abraham, received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised that is to say, he is the spiritual ancestor the spiritual forefather of all who, apart from circumcision and trying to keep the law and being part of the physical descendants of Abraham those who believe, they are the spiritual children of Abraham we look to Abraham and he is the father of all the faithful in the physical sense he is the father of all of the

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Jewish nation and so every Jew can trace their lineage back to Abraham he is their physical father of those who are outside of that lineage me for instance by virtue of faith in Jesus Christ Abraham is my spiritual father

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I look to him and say he was a man who was made righteous in the sight of God apart from circumcision apart from being a descendant of anybody else he was justified by faith and faith alone so he is my spiritual father so Paul says in Romans chapter 4 for this reason, that is salvation, is by faith in order that it may be in accordance with grace so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants not only to those who are of the law but to those who are of the faith of Abraham you might say, well all the descendants wouldn't that be spiritual and physical?

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Paul in Romans chapter 4 is not talking about the land promise or the covenant promise there he is talking about salvation

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Romans chapter 4 is talking about salvation so this promise of being justified by faith is for all those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as is written, a father of many nations have

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I made you in the presence of him whom he believed even God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in Christ and if you are a

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Jew who believes in Christ then he is your spiritual father as well as your physical father if you are a Jew who does not believe in Christ he is not your spiritual father he is your physical father and you are outside of Christ and therefore outside of the blessings of salvation even though you might be a descendant of Abraham so we are spiritual descendants of Abraham do you remember the song

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Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham I am one of them and so are you Josh wanted to sing that for worship today and I said no we are not going to do that because we do the right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot spin around, fall down people think we are a charismatic church we are not going to sing that song it might be true as far as it goes but we are not going to sing that song so is the land promise then to all of Abraham's seed his physical as well as his spiritual descendants or was that land promised to the physical seed of Abraham what part then do the spiritual seed have in that promise that is an issue that we have to address before we get out of Hebrews chapter 11

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Genesis chapter 17 let's pick it up where we left off verse 1, now this is going to be a bit of a reiteration just getting this for context to kind of remind you of where we took off last week or where we landed last week we are going to take off from the same landing strip as it were,

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Genesis 17 verse 1 now when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him I am

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God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless that is not a condition of the covenant that is simply a command other people were commanded to be blameless as well this is not saying if you walk before me and if you are blameless,

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I will do this remember that God had already sworn to Abraham put Abraham to sleep, made the covenant with Abraham he had no part in any conditions to that it was an unconditional covenant so verse 2,

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I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you and you will be a father of a multitude of nations no longer shall your name be called

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Abraham but your name shall be called Abraham for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations I have made you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings will come from you

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I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be

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God to you and to your descendants after you I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their

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God now this is not a promise that is given to anybody, Abraham's physical seed

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Genesis chapter 17 we're going to find out now verse 9, we're going to find out now that it is not all of his physical seed that are included in this promise, but only some verse 9,

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God said further to Abraham now as for you, you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you and every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in your house or who is brought with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants a servant who is born in your house or who is brought with money shall surely be circumcised thus shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant but an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant, so the circumcision was given as the sign of the covenant to Abraham the covenant that was unconditional, the same covenant from Genesis chapter 15 and circumcision had a wider application than just merely the sign of the covenant because not everybody who was circumcised was included in that promise, because later on Abraham circumcised

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Ishmael and Ishmael is excluded from the land promise so while everybody who is included in the promised seed is circumcised not everybody who is circumcised is included in the promise of the land and the descendants that promise, that covenant is going to pass down through a specific lineage but Abraham was to observe the terms of that and the sign of that as a reminder of what

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God had promised to him throughout his generations this becomes obvious in the next section verse 15, then

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God said to Abraham as for Sarai, your wife you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name

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I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her, then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of peoples will come from her now here's the key,

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Ishmael by this point had already been born, because Abraham had taken Hagar, Sarah's handmaid, and had a child by her in an attempt to fulfill the word which

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God had given to him, and to gain a descendant so Abraham by this point already had a descendant, and now the

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Lord is reiterating the promise back to him that one coming from Sarah, not Hagar will be the mother of this promised seed look at Abraham's response

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Genesis 17 verse 17 then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart will a child be born to a man 100 years old, and will

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Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child so 100 years old and 90 years old, now I need to say something at this point about Biblical time frames and ages of the patriarchs and I should have said this probably back in Genesis regarding Noah when you're talking about people living to be 900 years old, we should not think when we read about the age of the patriarchs that somebody aged to be 90 years old, and that they were the same 90 that you and I would be at 90 ok, because then if you think, ok so they lived to be 90 years old, and then lived another 900 years after that, that is that rate of decay really makes for a bad long old age, that's not the way that that worked out the age, what would you call it, the age curve was about the same, it was just stretched out over a longer period of time so that in Adam's day a 900 year old man would be like a 90 year old man today, because we die around 90 or 100, and I know that there's some wiggle room there but bear with me, and a 900 year old person would be like a 90 year old

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I would be like a 500 year old person in Adam's day ok, so the age curve is the same, it's just stretched out over a longer period of time, the aging process was slowed down, or was slower we should say, in the early years, so when it says that Sarah is 90 years old and Abram is 100 years old

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Abraham lived to be 175 so if we take the 175 and you mark it out to about 100 or 90 of what we would die today that means that when

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Abraham was 100 years old it would be like a 60 year old man today when

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Sarah was 90 years old it would be like somebody in their 50's today so possible past the point of time where she would be able to conceive a child, but not past the point of time where she would be able to give birth to a child so when it says that Sarah is 90 years old, don't think of your grandmother giving birth to a child and carrying a child like that, it would be different, it would be as if a lady in her mid 50's or late 50's would bear a child, physically she would be able to do that,

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I'm not saying it would be easy, I just said physically she would be able to do that, I looked up there are people in modern today who have children in their 50's and even past the age of 60, google it it's scary

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Genesis 17 verse 18 Abram said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before you, he already had a son so it's almost as if Abraham is saying we can make this really easy,

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I've got Ishmael he could be the one to whom you give all these promised blessings that Ishmael may live before you, but God said no, but Sarah your wife will bear a son and you shall call his name

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Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him, as for Ishmael I have heard you, behold

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I will bless him and I will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly, he shall become the father of 12 princes and I will make him a great nation, all of that unfolded exactly as it happened verse 21, but my covenant

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I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year, and when he finished talking with him

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God went up from Abram so now the Lord has narrowed down who it is that's going to receive this, let

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Ishmael live before you, he could be the one nope, Sarah's going to bear a son, you'll call his name Isaac, I will establish my covenant, this eternal covenant that I have told you about back in chapter 12 and 13 and 15 and 17 that covenant is going to be established with Isaac, not with Ishmael, so it is the physical descendants that the

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Lord is being very specific it's the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac that will receive the promise of this land and the promise of the blessings not all the descendants of Abraham only

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Isaac, so that rules out Ishmael and all of the nations, all of the kings, all of the countries that have come from Ishmael, they're ruled out of this they're not included in this promise

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Genesis chapter 22, this happens after oh let me point out Abraham had three wives or women with whom he had children during his life,

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Sarah bore him Isaac, Hagar bore him Ishmael, Keturah who he married or took as a wife after Sarah died, he had six sons from her, and we see that in Genesis chapter 25, so all of this lineage, this promise is traced through one line of Abraham out of the eight sons that he had, there's one who is the son of promise, and that's

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Isaac now after Abraham offers up Isaac and gets ready to sacrifice him on the altar,

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Genesis chapter 22 turn over to Genesis chapter 22 verse 15 Abraham was faithful and obeyed the word of the

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Lord so verse 15 says, then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself

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I have sworn declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son indeed, look at the reconfirmation now of this blessing and promise indeed

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I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice

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Sarah died in Genesis chapter 23 look at 23 verse 1, now Sarah lived 127 years, these were the years of the life of Sarah, and then

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Abraham after Sarah died, sought a wife for Isaac, turn to chapter 24 verse 1 now

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Abraham was old advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way, Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who had charge of all that he owned, please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the

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Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom

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I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac the servant said to him, suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land, remember they're in the land of promise suppose she's not willing to come back from where you came from suppose she's not willing to come back to this land, should

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I take your son back to the land from where you came verse 6, Abraham said to him beware that you do not take my son back there, the

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Lord the God of heaven who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying to your descendants

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I will give this land he will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there, but if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath and only do not take my son back there, so the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abram his master, and swore to him concerning this matter, see

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Abraham would not let his son leave the land, why? because Abraham was convinced that Isaac was going to inherit that land and that blessing then after the death of Abraham, Isaac becomes the central figure, look at Genesis 25 verse 1, now

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Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah, this is after the death of Sarah, she bore to him Zimron, and Jochshon, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuon, Jochshon became the father of Sheban, and Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were

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Asherim, and Lethushim, and Lumenim, the sons of Midian, hey don't laugh, you just be thankful, you're not the one up here reading these names, the sons of Midian were,

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I think I already read that didn't we, verse 5, now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines

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Abraham gave gifts while he was still living and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the land of the east, now why did

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Abraham give all that he had to Isaac, he gave gifts to his other sons, sent them away from Isaac and gave everything, the entire state to Isaac, even though Isaac was not the first born, who was the first born

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Ishmael was the first one born but Isaac was the son of promise therefore everything Abraham gave he gave it to Isaac verse 19, now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son,

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Abraham became the father of Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, of the

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Armenian of Padon Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife, Isaac prayed to the

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Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived, but the children struggled together within her and she said if it is so, why then am

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I this way, so she went to inquire of the Lord, the Lord said to her two nations are in your womb and two peoples will be separated from your body and one people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger she had two nations in her womb, notice the language of the

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Abrahamic covenant that comes to bear, there are two nations in your womb remember God had said to Abraham, I will bring nations from you, this is the first record that we have, we have two nations that are being described,

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Esau and Jacob and Esau became the father of the Edomites so this is the language of the

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Abrahamic covenant that is used here and one of them would be preeminent, and this was to establish God's choice by sovereign election, that Esau the firstborn was not the one who inherited the promises again, this is not going to go to the firstborn child this would go to the secondborn, it would be

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Jacob Jacob was the son of promise so this was to establish God's sovereign election, it's not the firstborn,

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Jacob is the chosen one, Genesis 26 this is Isaac then settling in the land, now there was a famine in the land besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham, so Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech, the king of the

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Philistines, the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt, stay in the land of which I shall tell you, sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you and to you and your descendants

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I will give these lands and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and will give your descendants all these lands and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge my commandments, my statutes and my laws, now notice that all the terms of the

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Abrahamic covenant are now reiterated to Isaac Isaac now receives all of these promises verse 23, then he went up from there to Beersheba, the

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Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of your father Abraham, do not fear for I am with you,

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I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham so it's obvious now that all these promises have been bestowed upon Isaac, Isaac not

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Ishmael is the chosen seed Isaac's blessings are confirmed again then Isaac has the two sons

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Jacob and Esau, Esau is the first one born Jacob is the second one born and you say, how is it that the second one born would end up taking preeminence and that the older would serve the younger and that the younger would be greater than the older, how can that possibly happen, well it was through Jacob's trickery and you know how the story unfolds

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Esau was a fleshly oriented man who ended up selling his birthright to his brother for a bowl of soup, so he received by Jacob's coercion

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Jacob received, ended up receiving that promised birthright, then through his trickery he ended up receiving the blessing that belonged to the first born as well, remember how that unfolded, remember that Rebecca and Jacob ended up conspiring together to trick

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Isaac into bestowing the blessing Isaac was getting old, his eyesight was failing and so he dressed up in sheepskin or goatskin or whatever it was and came in, he smelled like an animal he felt like an animal, he looked like an animal and Isaac couldn't tell the difference between any of that and so he felt him and said that smells like my son, beginning of verse 27, so he came close and kissed him and when he smelled the smell of his garments he blessed him and said, see the smell of my son he thought it was

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Esau, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed, so then he gives him the blessing verse 28, now may

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God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine may peoples serve you and nations bow down to you, be master of your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you, notice the language of the

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Abrahamic covenant, cursed be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless you that's the language of the covenant,

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Jacob's deception ended up accomplishing the purpose of God because God uses sin sinlessly to accomplish his purposes and that's what's happening with Jacob Isaac later on realizes that he had been tricked and then rather than fighting against the purposes of God, he confirms the purposes of God in Genesis 28 verse 1, so Isaac called

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Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, arise, go to Padan Aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father and from there take to yourself a wife from the descendants of Laban, your mother's brother may

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God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples, may he also give you the blessings of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you that you may possess the land of your sojournings which

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God gave to Abraham so now this would belong to Isaac sorry, to Jacob Isaac recognizes that and he gives these blessings to Jacob, verse 10 then

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Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran does the name Haran sound familiar? It should because last week we saw that that is the place where God called

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Abraham back in chapter 12 so now Jacob is leaving the land of promise to go back and to fetch a wife for himself and God interrupts that plan, doesn't distract him from going out of the land, but in verse 10 or verse 11 of 28, he came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place he had a dream and behold a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it and behold the

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Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac the land on which you lie,

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I will give it to you and to your descendants your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed behold,

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I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what was promised.

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So Jacob was on his way out of the land, so now the question is if Jacob leaves the land, does he forfeit the promise? Right? Abraham was there, he stayed in the land

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Isaac was there and he stayed in the land, so now the question is, if Jacob leaves the land, does he give up the promised blessing?

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Does God then say, okay that's it, you disobeyed me, let's go somewhere else. No, on his way out, God stops him and says, don't worry about it,

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I'm going to be with you, everything I promised to Abraham and Isaac, I'm giving to you, hands it all to him reiterates all the promises of the covenant and says,

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I will be with you and I will bring you back into this land. So now we have to fast forward many years, Jacob finally returns to the land,

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Genesis chapter 35 Then God said to Jacob, arise go to Bethel and live there and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother

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Esau. Now remember Esau was, he was upset to put it mildly, and he hatched his own plan, like if I kill the one who's supposed to receive all the promises, then that makes me not just the first born, but the only born able to receive the promises that was his plan, so then

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Jacob had to flee, and then after many years have passed, Jacob has received not one, and not two, and not three, but four wives and all kinds of children, he's on his way back, he meets

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Esau, verse 9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Padon Aram, and he blessed him, and God said to him, your name is

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Jacob, you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, thus he called him Israel God also said to him,

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I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you, the land which

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I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you, again, this is all physical descendants that are being described, now we have to fast forward

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Jacob has had a number of sons, he's had twelve of them, Joseph ends up getting sold into slavery and taken down there, he's made a servant in Potiphar's house, and he's falsely accused there and thrown into prison, he rises to preeminence in prison, and then

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Pharaoh brings him out, because Pharaoh had some dreams, Joseph interpreted the dreams, and through a series of events, Joseph is made prime minister over all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, he ends up saving the land of Egypt through the drought and the famine the famine becomes so severe that Joseph's Jacob's other eleven sons end up traveling back down to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, they didn't know

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Joseph was there they didn't know that that was Joseph, and through that beautiful series of events, Joseph ends up revealing his identity to his brothers, and then he says, go back and fetch dad, and fetch all the servants, and all the animals, and everything, and bring them back down here,

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I will care for you, because there are still a number of years left in this famine, and if you don't come down here, you will all die so the sons went back, and they got

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Isaac yeah, no, yeah, they got Jacob, sorry, I'm just going through this so fast, they got

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Jacob, and they brought Jacob back down into the land of Egypt, and all of the sons, and all of the descendants of Abraham now that we've traced this promise through it, all the descendants are there in Egypt, now look at verse 48, now it came about, after these things, that Joseph was told, behold, your father is sick so he took his two sons,

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Manasseh and Ephraim, with him, so Joseph's going to visit his father when it was told to Jacob behold, your son

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Joseph has come to you, Israel that is Jacob, collected his strength, and sat up in bed, then Jacob said to Joseph, God almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and he said to me, behold,

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I will make you fruitful, and numerous, and I will make you as a company of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you, for an everlasting possession, now,

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Jacob is in Egypt he's not in the land, he's in Egypt and he knows that that land belongs to him, even though he was not living in it at the time, but look at his faith he is still reiterating the promise right,

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God has said this, we know it will be true, and he's on his deathbed dying, and he is still citing the promises of God, concerning that land that God had promised him now he eventually died, turn to Genesis chapter 50 verse 22 look at Joseph, Joseph grew old, and got ready to die

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Genesis 22, now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father's household and Joseph lived 110 years

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Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim's sons, that's one of Joseph's sons and also the sons of Mecur, the son of Manasseh that's

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Joseph's other son, they were born on Joseph's knees, Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die, but, look at this,

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God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land, to the land which he promised on an oath, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, then

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Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here, so Joseph died at the age of 110 years, and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt, that's how the book of Genesis ends now we have traced this promise from Genesis 12, all the way through to the end of the book of Genesis, I think

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I have captured every citation of this promise, or hint of this promise, all the way through there's numerous accounts of it, right?

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Abraham, not Ishmael but Isaac, and of Isaac not Esau, but Jacob and from Jacob down to Joseph and now we get to the end of the book of Genesis and we have seen this promise reiterated and passed down over and over, generation after generation, and you get to the end of the book of Genesis and guess what we find?

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That none of the promised seed are in the land at the end of Genesis they've all been promised this land, and you get to the last verse of Genesis, and none of them are living there,

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Abraham has all kinds of other descendants who were living in the land at the time the sons of Ishmael and his descendants, the other sons of Keturah and their descendants there's all kinds of Abraham's children that are in the land of promise but not the promised seed, all the promised descendants, the physical seed of Abraham to whom these promises have been given, they're all in Egypt now we have only traced this promise through the book of Genesis, it's taken us two weeks to do that, there are thirty other books, thirty eight other books of the

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Old Testament that we could look at, now not all of them have promised land, blessings, etc you read the Song of Solomon in vain looking for some promise of the promised land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not every book of the

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Old Testament has that but this promise is reiterated throughout the Old Testament, over and over again in the

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Psalms, in the rest of the law in the book of Joshua in the prophets it is not let me sum all of this up and when

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I say sum it up I mean that I'm going to use the rest of our remaining time here, however much it is this is a long summary so be prepared for that, here's the summation of it, the promise of the land was given first of all to Abraham's physical seed, the promise of the land was given to Abraham's physical seed this is obvious, it is not to all of his descendants that are intended by this blessing it's not, it's

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Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Jacob's sons, that's it I understand that excludes today, billions of people from that promise, but it's only one set of descendants and it's only the physical descendants of Abraham it was

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Isaac and not Ishmael it was Jacob and not Esau God promised to Abraham's physical descendants a physical inheritance in a physical land, with physical blessings, in a physical world it was what was promised to him to them were promised the land now there are spiritual children of Abraham, those who have faith, we are saved, we have salvation in Christ eventually we will enjoy the blessings of the kingdom the spiritual blessings are promised to the spiritual seed of Abraham and the physical blessings are promised to the physical seed of Abraham the promise of land prosperity and dwelling in the land forever are part of an everlasting covenant and that is given to none but the physical descendants of Abraham at no point ever in the book of Genesis or anywhere in the

01:05:51

Old Testament are those promises transferred to anybody else it is only the physical descendants of Abraham that are promised those blessings and only his physical offspring second the promise of land to this day has never been fulfilled, it has been partially fulfilled, but it has never been fully fulfilled,

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I showed you the map last week, that outline of what was promised to Abraham, the Jews have never occupied anything but a sliver of that land, even to this day now some say that in the time of Joshua and Moses, when

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Joshua brought the children of Israel under Moses, with Moses, out of Egypt and then Joshua eventually into the promised land that that was the fulfillment of that land promise but the boundaries of the promised land are given in Scripture and the boundaries of what

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Joshua occupied are also given in Scripture and those two things do not overlap so to say that the blessings were fulfilled when

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Joshua entered into the land is like saying that the blessings were fulfilled or the promises were fulfilled when Abraham bought a parcel of land to bury

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Sarah Abraham did possess part of the land, right, I don't know, was it an acre, two acres what it was, but it's a chunk of land where he buried his family, where the patriarchs were buried but that did not constitute a fulfillment of that promise, neither did

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Joshua's occupation in coming into the land because they possessed the land, yes they dwelt in the land, but they dwelt in a corner of it and they never actually possessed any of those boundaries some say also that Solomon's reign ended up fulfilling the blessings of the land promises to Abraham because Solomon said he ruled over all these regions and those kings brought tribute to Solomon, so that he ruled over them and they brought tribute to him, them bringing tribute to him for military protection or trade or whatever that involved, does not mean that they possessed that land because they didn't possess it

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Solomon ruled it, they were vassals of his, just like Israel was a vassal of Egypt and Assyria and Babylon at different times so if that promise was fulfilled in the days of Solomon, and here

01:07:40

I think is a key question then why is it that all the prophets who lived after Solomon foretold of a time when

01:07:47

Israel would be gathered back into the land in fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham if the promise was fulfilled in the days of Joshua or fulfilled in the days of Solomon then why do the minor and the major prophets foretell of a time when

01:08:01

Israel would be gathered back into the land and those blessings that were promised to Abraham would finally become theirs, and in those prophets even more details are promised,

01:08:09

I'm going to give you a number of references and I'm going to read a number of passages from the prophets, buckle your seatbelts, here we go Isaiah 11 verses 1 through 11 and verse 12,

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Isaiah 27 12 through 13, 43 verses 1 through 18, 49 verses 8 through 16, 66, 20 through 22,

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I know you can't write that down, that's not the point of having you take notes at this point those are all passages that describe

01:08:30

Isaiah, this is the after Solomon, long after Solomon that described God gathering together Israel back into the land when was that fulfilled then?

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if that was fulfilled in Solomon's day, why is it a thousand years later that those promises are reiterated again, so that wouldn't make any sense would it?

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you say well maybe that's already been fulfilled, okay we'll deal with that in just a second, Jeremiah 23 verse 3 says this then

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I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and multiply,

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I will raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them and they will not be afraid any longer nor be terrified nor will any be missing declares the

01:09:02

Lord behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land, now

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I ask you, every Jew who heard that prophetic promise by Jeremiah, what did he understand the land to mean?

01:09:20

that land, he will reign and do justice in that land and Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and by his name by which he will be called the

01:09:32

Lord our righteousness, therefore behold the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say as the

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Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but instead they will say as the Lord lives who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them then they will live on their own soil, there is the promise of regathering and the promise that they will live and they will dwell in that land, that is what is promised to them

01:09:56

Jeremiah 31, thus says the Lord who gives the sun for a light by day and a fixed order of the moon and the stars by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the

01:10:03

Lord of hosts is his name if this fixed order, that is the sun and the moon and the stars and the sea and all that that involves, if this fixed order departs from before me declares the

01:10:12

Lord then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below then

01:10:20

I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done declares the Lord that's God saying, no matter what they've done all their idolatry is irrelevant to the promises that I have made, if Israel if you can plumb the depths of the earth and measure the expanse of the heavens, if you can keep the sun from rising and the moon from rising, then

01:10:37

Israel will cease to be a nation from before me, can you keep any of those things from happening, that's why Israel will never cease to be a nation with those distinct promises before the

01:10:45

Lord forever you know why there are no Girgashites and Jebusites and Hittites and Parasites and all of the other ites of the

01:10:51

Old Testament, but you got Israelites today, you know why that is because God has said this nation will exist before me forever, the

01:10:57

United States will come and go it will pass off the face of this planet if the Lord tarries there will be a day when the name

01:11:03

American is no longer never ever said, it will not even be coming to anybody's mind eventually but Israel will always be a nation before the

01:11:11

Lord because God has promised something to those people Ezekiel 11 verse 17 thus says the

01:11:17

Lord God I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered and I will give you the land of Israel this is happening at the time of and after the exile, the

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Babylonian exile Ezekiel 20 verses 30 to 38 34 verses 11 through 16 Ezekiel 39 verse 25 therefore thus says the

01:11:32

Lord now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel I will be jealous for my holy name then they will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they have perpetrated against me and they will live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid that has never happened never happened in the history of Israel that they've dwelt in their own land with nobody to make them afraid they've been in fear under subjugation for as long as they've been a nation since the time of Solomon after the time of Solomon there was never a time when they lived unafraid, secure in their own land but that time is coming because Ezekiel promised that it's going to come when

01:12:05

I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies and then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of many nations then they will know that I am the

01:12:13

Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations and then gathered them again to their own land and I will leave none of them there any longer

01:12:20

I will not hide my face from them any longer for I will have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel declares the Lord and that's in the context of the blessings of the new covenant

01:12:28

Hosea 1 verses 10 -11, Joel 3 verses 17 -21, these are all ones that I could be reading, I'm not going to, one more

01:12:34

Amos chapter 9 verse 11 in that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David and wall up its breaches,

01:12:40

I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of Eden and all the nations who are called by my name declares the

01:12:47

Lord who does this behold days are coming declares the Lord when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seeds when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved

01:12:56

I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit

01:13:05

I will also plant them on their land and they will not again be rooted out of their land which

01:13:11

I have given them says the Lord your God that was not fulfilled when they returned from the Babylonian captivity how do

01:13:17

I know that? because after the Babylonian captivity they were driven out of the land again in 70

01:13:22

AD and they were out of the land until 1948 when suddenly Israel became a nation again so if the land promises were fulfilled in the days of Solomon or fulfilled in the days of Joshua then why is it that the

01:13:35

Lord with the prophets who were written long after the days of Solomon and Joshua why did God reiterate the terms of the

01:13:40

Abrahamic covenant and say to your descendants to your physical seed I will give this land and I will plant them there they will be secure they will be safe they will dwell in safety and security and one king whom

01:13:50

I will raise up will rule and reign over them in that land why did God make those promises to that nation? 1948 they became a nation again when

01:14:01

Israel and I were in sorry when Deidre and I were in Israel when Deidre and I were in Israel a few years ago we were in the city of Nazareth at this tourist event where they kind of reconstructed what

01:14:12

Nazareth would have looked like in the days of Jesus so you walk back in time people walk around in dress and play acting and all this stuff our tour guide was a fantastic young man he spoke just impeccable

01:14:23

English had something of like a midwestern accent that he couldn't hide and he was a believer because he was talking about Jesus rising from the dead etc.

01:14:31

he was very evangelistic in what he was talking about as he was giving us a tour of this ancient city of Nazareth so I went up to him kind of before he was done and I said to him what's your name and I forget what his name was

01:14:41

I said you speak impeccable English you sound like you come from America he said I do I said where do you come from he said he was born in I think it was

01:14:48

Colorado or Indiana or something like that I forget what it was I said what brings you to Israel how are you here in Israel and he said however many years ago it was back when he was in his late teens early twenties wherever it was he said my dad and my mom and my siblings and me we all moved back to the land of Israel we were in Colorado my dad was in the military there and we're all

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Jewish and we decided to move back here from the states I said why did you come back to the land of Israel and here's what he said to me as a believing

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Jew in Christ he said this land was given to our fathers this is going to be center stage in end times events and whatever

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God is going to do here to prepare for the return of Christ me and my family want to be part of it that's amazing do you know that there are between 20 and 30 thousand

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Jewish people who go back to the land of Israel every year to move back there they immigrate from there from all the nations of the world he said 20 or 30 thousand that doesn't sound like a lot not till I remind you that Israel is the size of the

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Idaho panhandle then you're like wow that looks like the last couple of years here in Bonner County people moving from all these exiled places

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Californistan and Oregonistan and Washingtonistan and coming back here to free

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America it's a lot of people coming isn't it 20 to 30 thousand people a year go back to Israel why it's almost as if almost as if the

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Lord is getting ready to fulfill a promise to Abraham that's how I read it the nation exists they're there they've never possessed that land and God in believing

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Israelites as well as unbelieving Israelites he is gathering them back into the land in fulfillment of all the

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Old Testament promises God did not fulfill that promise in the days of Joshua or in the days of Solomon you say well then did he fulfill it spiritually this is really the issue between the different eschatological positions post millennialism amillennialism and premillennialism you know

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I do not believe that amillennialism and postmillennialism are heresies if I believed that we would be driving out certain people who are here we don't do that we welcome you your brothers and we love you you understand that we have a different perspective and to be clear postmillennialism and amillennialism believe that there is a future for Israel we just disagree on what that future is going to look like for Israel and how that is going to be fulfilled and unfolded that's it we both agree that there is a future for Israel so are these promises fulfilled in a spiritual way and to that I would just simply say

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I do not understand the perspective at all that says that God fulfills the promise of physical things through spiritual realities

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I don't believe that God fulfills his promises by changing the terms of the promises I see it as a changing of the terms of the promises my postmill and amillennial brethren do not see it as a changing of the terms of the promises and I do and that's why

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I'm not an amillennialist or a postmillennialist God did promise spiritual things to those outside of Abraham's line but that does not mean that the physical promises to his physical seed can be spiritualized

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God will find a way to fulfill the physical promises to Abraham's physical seed while also giving immense spiritual blessings to the spiritual seed

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God can do both of those things and I believe that in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ that is described in Revelation 20 and that's not the only place because I see all of these passages that I have described from the prophets also describe this kingdom but I see that millennial kingdom that 1000 year reign of Christ as being the fulfillment of the

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Abrahamic covenant as well as the Davidic covenant as well as the new covenant all of them come together in that kingdom all of them and God fulfills his word just as he has said now why is it that I believe there is a physical promise to physical

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Israel still to come that Israel as a nation will receive certain blessings that are not promised to Abraham's spiritual seed but they're promised to his physical seed why do

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I believe that because I believe that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable Romans 11 when

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God promises something he doesn't change the terms of it he doesn't redefine it he just fulfills it as it is the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable

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Israel is Israel they exist as a nation they will receive those blessings because God has promised and God is an immutable

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God who keeps his promises exactly as he has promised to keep his promises and not by redefining the terms and again

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I understand I'm sympathetic to my amillennial and postmillennial brother whom I love I understand that you don't view it as a redefining of the terms but giving to one group of people a promise of physical things and then fulfilling or giving spiritual things to a different group of people does not fulfill this promise that promise still stands

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Abraham believed that Joseph believed that which is why Joseph said don't leave my bones in Israel take me back to the land because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph all believed that they would be resurrected and that they would walk on that land they didn't believe that death their death was in any way a prohibition of God fulfilling those promises to them

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Abraham believed that he would be raised from the dead and he would walk in that land I believe the exact same thing that's what we have to hope to that is our blessed hope now as Gentiles, those who are spiritual heirs of Abraham's promises as those who received spiritual things because we're the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith we're also going to enjoy that kingdom because we will be raised as well and we will get to live and dwell and walk in that land along with Abraham Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and all the righteous saints of old that's what the blessing of the kingdom is and that is our blessed hope now

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I think I've said everything that I need to say that I need to say not everything I'm going to say, but everything I need to say about Abraham and so I'm grateful that I don't have to do that for a third week in a row and I understand that my postmeal and all my old brethren who listen to this you're also grateful that I'm not going to do that a third week in a row now we can go on and see what the author of Hebrews does with the promises that God gave and how the patriarchs responded to those promises and we'll start that next week, let's pray

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Father we are so very grateful that you are a promise keeping God we love you and we thank you that we can trust you because you are immutable and you never change our election before the foundation of the world is an unchanging promise and an unchanging reality and with certainty you will gather in and collect all those who belong to you, you will give to us the promises of salvation as you have and as you will continue to do we know that your purposes will be accomplished and you will continue to bless your people this we know because you are unchanging and because you are transcendent you are powerful and there's nothing that can keep you from fulfilling your promises we see in world history how you are working all things out to the accomplishment of your own glory and the greatness of your own name and we're thankful that you take us along with that and that you have bestowed on us such rich graces and rich blessings that we get to be part of what you're doing in this world we praise you, we thank you, we love you and we pray that you would encourage our hearts together with these things in Christ's name please stand and let's sing together

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Father Abraham he leadeth me he leadeth me he leadeth me oh blessed thought oh words with every comfort from what e 'er

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I do where 'er I be still tis God's hand that leadeth me that leadeth me he leadeth me he leadeth me by his own hand he leadeth me his faithful power

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I would be for mine is and he leadeth me

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Lord I would cross thy hand in mine nor ever murmur nor reply content forever of thy righteousness is thy hand that leadeth me he leadeth me he leadeth me by his own hand he leadeth me his faithful power

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I would be for mine is and he leadeth me and when my task on earth is done when by thy grace the victories won in best old way

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I will not please since God through Jordan leadeth me he leadeth me he leadeth me by his own hand he leadeth me his faithful power

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I would be for mine is and he leadeth me

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May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit be with you all.

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Thank you for coming and have a great week. Amen.