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Bro. Otis Fisher
Come with me again this afternoon to Genesis the 17th chapter, please this chapter
May be the key to understanding the entire Bible And when
Abram was 90 years old and nine 99 years old
The Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him I am the
Almighty God Walk before me and Be thou perfect We have a new name given to us for the
God of the heavens. I am the Almighty God El Shaddai, I am
God all -sufficient Shaddai comes from the
Hebrew word Shadda And it means to shed or to pour out
So in his telling us he was the Almighty God He's telling us that he is the one that pours out blessings
Who gives them richly? Who gives them abundantly and continually?
El Shaddai Now hold your finger at Genesis and go over to the fourth chapter of Romans, please
We want a little bit of background on What's going to take place here?
Romans the fourth chapter verse 19 is where I'll start And you follow along and Be not weak in faith
He considered not his own body now dead When he was about a hundred years old neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief But was strong in faith giving glory to God The word staggered means to vacillate from one thing to another
He didn't do that and being fully persuaded that's just as David said more fully
He's as fully persuaded as possible He believes it.
He doesn't have to touch it to see it Being fully persuaded that what he had promised meaning
God. He was able also to perform and Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness
Now it's the faith that's imputed not to believe 23 now it was not written for his sake alone
That it was imputed to him but for us Fred who is the us you and I Yes but for us also
To whom it shall be imparity future Which it shall be imputed if we believe on him
That raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, but let's be sure we understand this word believe
Go quickly over to Philippians 1 29 for unto you
It is given In the behalf of Christ. It is the gift to us bill
And it's because of what Jesus the Christ did in behalf of Christ Not only to believe
On him but also to suffer for his sake so back in Romans 424 but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
We cannot believe unless been the belief has been given to us Now we come to the rest of that verse that says
Let me get back and be thou perfect in the first verse
Be thou perfect Let's be sure we understand the word perfect It has two meanings first one is what you would suspect a finished product
It is perfect The other meaning to it is as any product is being shaped molded or grown
It must be at any moment in time perfect for that time in its progress
Example a Peach can be perfect when it is only ten days old if There are no blemishes
If it is at the stage of growth that it's supposed to be it's a perfect peach
On any day of inspection, it must be just where it should be for that time in the life of the peach
None of us will be perfect while we're in this body Because it's a sinful body
But we can be perfect in our growth process right now
I Would that we were all at the level that we're supposed to be Thereby being perfect right now
There will be more added now back to Genesis 17 to And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply to thee exceedingly
Greg who is speaking in verse 2? God himself
And I will make my covenant Greg is this a voluntary covenant on the part of God?
Yes Man has nothing to do with it. He says I will make my covenant between me and you
And I will multiply thee exceedingly Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying as for me
I thought this was rather strange David's the only place I have found this in the
Bible where God says as for me Behold My covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations
God says for me. That's what's going to be As far as I'm concerned, that's what it is as far as my law that's what it is
The promise is introduced here with high dignity
As for me says the great God behold Behold and admire it
Behold and be assured of it My covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations
This implies one or more things first That his seed after the flesh should be very numerous both in Isaac and in Ishmael and in the sons of Keturah and And there have been and are more of the children of men descended from Abraham Than from any one man at equal distance from Noah Folks that's a bunch to that all believers in every age
Should be looked upon as his spiritual seed talking about Abraham As the father of the faithful in this sense the
Apostle directs us to understand this promise that it was made to Abraham and to us
Did you see how Abraham was a father before he had any children? Because God said so Same as done and he had no children yet Isn't God awesome
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram But thy name shall be
Abraham For a father of many nations Have I made thee
I have made you Abraham to be the father of many nations
David why the changing of his name? What do you suppose was the reason?
That's right And it's to confirm to him to the realness of this covenant and Yes At the same time the document
God is part of this lab and so each of them had part of each other's name to their name so the
Abraham are Was the ending of the last was part of the
God's name the first letter His name and then henceforth
So they kind of adopted it was a sign of their adoption I don't know
I wish he were here He could say all that But that's about what
I understood verse 6 And notice the
I wills and I will Make thee exceedingly fruitful
Not you Not the neighbor Not a maid I will
God speaking and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and Thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant
To be a God under thee and to thy seed after thee Ever lasting covenant
What's that mean great You mean it's in effect today
Then bill tell me how long is everlasting How long is eternal?
All right that explains it exactly verse 8
And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all of the land of Canaan For an everlasting possession and I will be their
God Several I wills in here Deborah What does it mean when it says
I will do something? Could we say it's the same as done with God For an everlasting possession the land of Canaan Have they ever possessed all of it
Very small part of it David do you think they ever shall possess all of it?
God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore Thou and thy seed after thee in their generations
So as each successive generation comes on stage They keep the same covenant
It's passed from one to another Word of mouth Did you realize that?
We have an oral history going all the way back to Christ And it doesn't have to go through very many people to get back there
This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child
Among you shall be circumcised Was it the circumcision
Greg that produced the covenant You sure
Absolutely It's your final answer Used to be
I could shake Greg loose like that But I can't anymore Or did the covenant produce the circumcision
Great You're disagreeing with No, he's right
The covenant did not God did but it is a sign of the covenant which can only follow the covenant
In today's world of religion Is that the baptism that produces your salvation
Not in this world We're in a different time zone
You must understand that and you must have some pre -recorded answers because I guarantee you will be answered ask and I want you to have a
Good scriptural answer Don't ever say Otis Fisher says
Now that you have left the home of your parents Each one of you do you or maybe
You do not do certain things to remain a child of your parents
Do you do anything to remain a child of your parents Do you then do not not do certain things to remain a child of your parents
Well, it's the it's the it's exactly the same with our spiritual life with God Can you do anything to cause him to not own you
Why We didn't belong to him.
I mean we didn't belong to us did we? He'll have an and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you and He that is eight days old
Shall be circumcised among you every man child in your generations He that is born in your house or bought with money of any stranger
Which is not of thy seed So here it's expanded into the
Gentile It's expanded into the world of God's children wherever they are and whenever they will be
But I have a question why the eight days be can you answer no
No All right
But there were no Animals that could be offered for a sacrifice
Until they were eight days old Why?
That's a good research question Go back and look in their law but Well, I'll tell you in case you don't go look
Previous to eight days. They were considered to be unclean He that is born in thy house and he that is brought with thy money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his
Foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off From his people.
He has broken my covenant The uncircumcised
Shall be cut off the simple meaning seems to be that Such should have no right or Share in the blessings of the covenant which we've already seen were both to the temporal and spiritual kingdoms
And if so, then eternal death was implied For was impossible for a person who had not received the spiritual purification
To enter into eternal glory You cannot do that. It must have the spiritual
Purification the spirit of this law extends to all ages All Dispensations and all people he whose heart is not purified
Cannot enter into the kingdom of God Just as simple as that Until you're regenerated born again made a new person
Until God has placed you into Jesus Christ, you cannot expect to go to heaven
It everything passes through Jesus Christ in both directions always 15 and God said unto
Abraham As for Sarah thy wife thou shall not call her name Sarah by Sarah Shall be her name
Shall her name be John I'm so glad we finally got their names changed
So she too has something added She too is to be the mother of what
Nations and I will bless her and give thee a son also of her Now this is the very first time
That Abraham has received direct word as to where his son was to come from Or from where it was to come and I was through Sarah an impossible situation
Yea, I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of people shall be of her
Then Abraham fell upon his face and he laughed and said in his heart Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old and Shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear a child
Why did Abraham laugh Roger I forget the junior clan and some others are over there
That wasn't the That wasn't the purpose was it Harvey and Pat knows that if I can't see them
I forget they're here Roger why did Abraham laugh
Well, let me ask you was it from unbelief Bill was it from unbelief
I I Do too from joy
Abraham said unto God all that Ishmael might live before thee David did he love his son
Ishmael? Yes, sir But God's thoughts are not man's thoughts are they
They never have been And God said
Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed And thou shalt call his name
Isaac Greg why did they name him Isaac? What's Isaac mean
Laughter and I will establish my covenant with him
For an everlasting covenant And with his seed after him
So when Abraham asked God about Ishmael God said no, and that was the end of it
Don't let anybody tell you that God approves of polygamy just because it's in the
Bible He doesn't and every time it brings problems
And as for Ishmael I have heard thee God speaking
Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly
Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation Now David this looks like a similar blessing made to Ishmael But it isn't
Right Absolutely the one to Abraham for his offspring was spiritual
Who's talking to me Is it, is that not true that the covenant is with Abraham and not with Ishmael It's the spiritual covenant is not with Ishmael.
It's with Abraham but he gives a Blessing to come upon Ishmael, but just material
Yes absolutely But my covenant will I Establish with Isaac which
Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time next year now
John what's he mean at this set time? Okay So would you say that God knew what was going to happen?
Turn to Ecclesiastes 3 .1 Greg read that when you get over there
God speaks of things that are not as though they are There is a time for each and every thing in the world
Did you realize that there was a time ordained for us to meet here at 148
Today For this length of time it was ordained before there was ever a creation
There is a time set aside for every event and that applies to every event all over the world
Tell me he doesn't run things He left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham he said that's all folks
There's no need of you talking with me anymore, that's it Says Abraham you might as well just keep quiet because I've spoken and it's same as done
You know, we're the same way at times today some folks
Pester God in prayer When they already have the answer
And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day as God had said unto him and Abraham was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael His son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin
In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all the men of his house
Born in the house bought with money of the stranger were circumcised with him
David helped me out a little bit on Why has it been mentioned over and over that not only
Abraham and his offspring But everybody that belongs
Abraham Those that have bought with his money born in his household
That's true and to not have anyone associated with him that was not
That's right. Absolutely Now does that apply to us today? Very very much
We are to be particular who joins the church now
God puts them in his church but we have to use wisdom and Keep the riffraff seed of Satan out of here
Brother Willis said do they mind marriage?
Yes sir Abraham said serve it out find a wife for his son and he said be sure you pick one and another same thing
That's an extremely interesting story We'll go over it sometime
Next week We'll see Sarah the cook and Abraham waiting on tables
Something to look forward to I have opened up I have opened up an awful bag of worms
That'll be a week from Sunday No two weeks from today
I'm gonna disappear next week and It'll be up to David and Greg and Bill to decide who's going to speak or up to the
Lord I'll put it like that Anything from anybody? Roger dismiss us please