Abraham: The Life of Faith - Part 2 — Roy Hession

Now will you open your Bibles to the same passage we were reading yesterday, Genesis chapter 12. We will not read this whole passage again because we read it yesterday and our subject is really a closer consideration of this great early chapter in Abraham's life.

Abraham as a Model of the Life of Faith

I remind you that we are thinking of Abraham as illustrating the life of faith to which every one of us is called. Sometimes you prefer to be called to any other life than the life of faith. For faith is the opposite of sight and how we love to walk by sight but God has to teach us to walk by faith and that's what we I trust will see very helpfully illustrated in this history of Abraham.

Yesterday we saw the grace of God calling Abraham, God taking the initiative and although God asked him to make a great renunciation he offered him a glorious vision a thousand times better than anything that he was called to lead and he responded but he responded only by faith.

He dared to believe that God meant what he said and that to hang on to where he was would be to be impoverished himself when he could be part of a glorious universal worldwide purpose of God for humanity.

Today I want us to look at three things in our passage. First of all Abraham entering the land and then Abraham dwelling in the land and then Abraham's temporary relapse when for a time he forsook the land and ultimately returned to it.

Canaan as the Fullness of Life in Christ

Now before we go further it might be helpful if we ask ourselves of what is the land of Canaan here to be regarded as a type? Well, I would say first of all I think God would have us see it to be a type of the fullness of life in Christ, a type really of Jesus himself.

Someone has said there's only one victorious life in the world and that's the life of the victorious Christ and therefore if Canaan is a type of the victorious life then it's a type of Christ for there is only one victorious life in the world.

It's not mine. It's not yours. It's the life of the victorious Christ in which he wants us to be of be partakers. Perhaps you'd like to turn to corroborate that Hebrews 3 14. Hebrews 3 14. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.

We are not made imitators of Christ not merely followers of Christ, but partakers of Christ himself. Indeed, Jesus said it's like eating bread and drinking wine. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood I dwell in him.

You partake of Christ. He offers himself to us, not only his his salvation, but himself, not only his blood but his very life to be lived again in us and there's only one chance of us ever knowing anything of victory and blessing is for us in an ever-deepening measure to be partaking of Christ so that the Lord Jesus is living again his life in us and that I would suggest is the only victorious life there is in the world.

Maybe you've seen a little tract called The Life That Wins. It's written by an American of a generation ago. What was his name? Editor of the Philadelphia Sunday School Times. Trumbull, yes. And you say, well now, this Life That Wins, that's wonderful, and by the time you finish it you find what the Life That Wins is.

It's Christ. Indeed, he tells how in his experience he was longing for a deeper experience. He kept on bumping into people who had what he felt he needed and then he went to a certain meeting and the title was The Resources of the Christian Life.

So he settled himself down expecting to hear a talk on the resources of the Christian life, one of which of course was prayer and the other, which of course would be Bible study, and the another would be perhaps the means of grace and the sacraments.

And he was surprised when the speaker said, the resources of the Christian life are just Jesus Christ. And as he laid hold of that it became a new chapter for him as it has for many another. So he is our land of Canaan, and if we see that we shall see how it is we enter in to be partakers of Christ.

Where it's no more our working wisdom or power, but the life of Jesus flowing through us, hour by hour, where we aren't the doers of what is done, but he is. The Christian life is not our nature improved, but his progressively imparted.

But then I think this land of Canaan here is a type of something linked with that, but a little different, and it is that place, that situation, where God's purpose for our lives can be fulfilled. It's finding the will of God for your life.

Now, we must be careful here lest we get one another into bondage. God has a marvelous blueprint for our lives as I've said, but you don't step straight into the completed blueprint. It's progressively unfolding.

The will of God for you, you may not quite know what it is, but the next step is revealed to you, and if you're obedient, it will surely lead from there to that. And Canaan is that place where I should be at this moment in the will of God, where this blueprint can progressively be unfolded and implemented in my life.

Abraham's Two-Stage Entrance into Canaan

And so this land of Canaan, may I suggest, typifies those two things. Of course, they're inextricably linked together. Now, Abraham's entering into the land. The interesting thing is that whereas he had this call way back in Chaldea, in Ur of the Chaldees, the land of his nativity, his actual entering into the land of Canaan, the promised land, was in two stages.

If you look at Genesis 1131, you will see the family starting the great emigration. They got their visas, maybe, and they started off. Quite interesting, on the Queen Mary, you see, you know, who are the immigrants?

See, I only have a visitor's visa, but others have got an immigrant's visa, and they always carry a great big package with them. You know what that is? It's an x-ray of their chests. You see, they've got it all ready, they're making the great venture, because, and then you see the doctors looking at each x-ray before they're even allowed into the United States.

Visitors, well, you can come in with a funny old chest, but you're going to go out soon, so they don't mind too much. Well, now, this little immigrant family, they set off with high hopes to obey God, to go into this land, which they didn't know much about, but they got it in promise, and they went, we read, they set out to go into the land of Canaan, well done, and they came unto Heron and dwelt there.

They stopped short, and it was only after a number of years that the journey was completed, and in the next chapter, chapter 12, verse 5, you have, and after a certain man had died, one of the party, they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan, they came.

They stopped short, and instead of getting into Canaan, they stopped at a place called Heron, and they dwelt there, obviously, for a number of years. And so it is with ourselves. Jesus approached us, the grace of God took the initiative, woke us from our sins, and we found the Lord Jesus, and we began to venture out into this new life.

There were intimations of the glorious possibilities of it, Christ living again his life in us. Nothing was impossible to him, impossible to us. We began to get a glimpse of a new type of life available to us, and we got a glimpse of a glorious purpose that was going to be implemented through us.

And we ventured out, and we took the step, the initial steps, and then so many of us stopped short. We never immediately got into the land of Canaan. It isn't of necessity that you should have this experience, but so often it is our experience.

It's very interesting that this was the danger that Paul envisaged when he was writing to the Hebrews. If you turn over to the Hebrews, you will see this very danger pointed out there. Hebrews 4 verse 1.

Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Any of you should set out from Ur, but not get to Canaan, lest any of you should stop at Her.

Of course, here he is referring to the Israelites' entry into the land many years later. And you'll remember they didn't get into the land for 40 years. They stopped and had to wander in the wilderness.

And so there is that possibility. We've stopped. We haven't got right in. We don't know the fullness of life in Christ, and maybe we're not in the place of God's appointment. Things aren't working out as he intended, and we're in Her.

Well, there's a very sad situation to be in. Out, but not in. Halfway house, and you haven't got the glad assurance that the purpose of God is being worked out with you and for you. And maybe we're not rejoicing in a Savior that's more than enough for all our needs.

The Old Man as the Cause of Stopping Short

We're struggling to meet those needs ourselves, and failing all the way along. Now, why did Abraham stop short? Well, we read in verse 31,. And Terah, his father, took Abraham his son, and Lot the son of Heron, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abraham's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan.

And they came to Heron and dwelt there. It was because of his father. Now, this call had not come to his father at all. It was for Abraham. Indeed, part of the call was that he must get out of his own kindry, and also out of his own land.

But here, Terah goes along with them. And will you notice, it's not Abraham taking Terah, it's Terah who takes Abraham. Maybe Abraham shared this revelation that had come to him in the night watching.

And, you know, Terah was tremendously impressed. He said, how wonderful. In any case, this is not too good a spot, and maybe there's a wonderful land where we can strike roots. Come along, we'll go. And Terah, I imagine, got all enthusiastic.

And it was he who took Abraham. Though the revelation was never initially made to Terah, but to Abraham. And it was Terah who took the initiative. It was the wrong man. Ideally, he should have been left behind.

Though, of course, Abraham could hardly avoid taking his father, when his father was so enthusiastic about it all. But, of course, the old man, he soon ran out of petrol. He wasn't the sort that could go on and on in their covered wagons across the prairies or the desert.

And the first nice, lush bit of pasture, and he said, this is it. And there they stopped. And so it was because it was the old man that took Abraham, that they stopped halfway. Well, now, I hope you don't think I'm trying to be flippant, but there's quite a lot in the Old, in the New Testament spoken about the old man.

The old man. Put off concerning your former manner of life, the old man, says Paul, who is a corrupt according to deceitful lusts. And elsewhere, we're told that God thinks so little of the old man that he has crucified him and buried him with the Lord Jesus, that we should walk in newness of life.

Well, if you know your epistles of Paul even a little bit, you'll find every now and then reference to the old man. Now, what is the old man in the New Testament? Why, I would suggest, he's the man of old.

The natural man, the man you used to be. The man of which self is all the time the center. Now, this man of whom self is the center can be very dissolute, because the central letter of the little word sin is I.

You look at a dictionary and see all the words that begin with self. Self-indulgence, self-pity, self-abuse. I is at the center of every conceivable sin from the most respectable to the most disreputable.

But at the same time, the old man can try and be very good. He can be very religious. Just because self is at the center doesn't mean a man doesn't want to be good. Why doesn't it? It doesn't improve his prospects.

Doesn't he get a better reputation? To do what some of his passions would dictate, but get him into trouble, and therefore concern for himself will keep him on the path of decency. And are there not great compensations in being a Christian?

And how wonderful to be used. Isn't it wonderful? And so the old man who can indulge himself in the most disreputable ways can also try to be a very good Christian. And as with Kira, he can get all enthusiastic.

And when the message of salvation comes, yes, he'll be converted, and he'll live the Christian life, and he gets all enthused. And the old man sets out to go to Canaan. And I tell you there's a tremendous lot of that.

I suppose we've all had touches of it. Of course we have. There's some people, they get converted, you'd rather hold them down. They've got some books. Oh, we're going to use those. You won't. God won't use them.

You've got to die first. And maybe we who are in the Lord's work encourage some people to sue. Just because a man may have had a distinction in the world, we think, well now he must use those for the law.

That'd be a big advertisement for Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't need advertisements. The old man. But the energy that's displayed is natural energy. It isn't the work of God. And deep down, there are darker undertones.

Such a man, if he's crossed, won't take it easily. He likes doing what he's doing. And of course, the old man doesn't last long. The first touch of difficulty, the first real desert journey, he runs out of petrol.

He hasn't got what it takes. Not even the old man, when he's converted, hasn't got what it takes. When he's directing his life to the things of God, he hasn't got what it takes. God's vision of the Christian life is not me improved, but me supplanted.

Jesus has come not only to save me, but to supplant me. The Christian life is not possible to the old man in his most exalted moments. And of course, his exalted moments are invariably followed by the most debased moments, because it's self-indulgent.

Now, this is what we're born with. This is what we are. And the estimate of the old man, perhaps we may as well look at least one reference to him in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, Ephesians 4 .22.

That he put off concerning the former manner of life, the old man, this is God's estimate of him, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts. The trouble is they're deceitful. He deceives you. You think he's all right.

He's making improvement. He's getting on. He's improving. Much better fellow now than when he was first converted. I haven't found that my old man has improved one little bit. And God's intention isn't to prove the old man, but to progressively supplant him by the new man, which is Christ in us.

And when our Christian lives are actuated by the old man, we come short of what God had intended for us. And we find a comfortable place halfway between, and we settle down. Not only do we find we haven't got what it takes when it comes to it, but then sin comes in and compromise.

And things aren't repented of. Attitudes are indulged in. Sin is left. And we get blinder and blinder to ourselves. We're so right. And though we're not at first very satisfied with herein, we say, well, maybe that is the Christian life.

Judgment of the Old Man at Calvary

We get used to this halfway house herein. And all the time God had something so much better for us in the land of Canaan. Well now, this is the truth I think God wants us to see. We will remain coming short of the promised rest in Christ until the old man died.

It wasn't till Terah died that they started their emigration again. And ultimately got into the land of Canaan. And it's not until the old man dies in some real measure that we move into a new place with God.

And that, the death of the old man, listen, can only happen when you see it's happened already. If you say about your sins, Oh God, please put them on the Lord Jesus. Take them away and put them on him, Jesus will say, I won't.

God will say, I won't put them on him. Why not, Lord? I've done it already. You've got to believe it. Searches with this deeper problem. Not our sins, but the sinner. Ourselves. This man of which self is the center, who always breaks down.

You say, Oh God, crucify him. God says, I won't crucify him. I've done it already. And when was it done? At the cross of Calvary. Not only did Jesus bear our sins, but he wore our likeness. Not only did our sins get their judgment when he cried, it is finished, but the man who produced the sins was likewise judged in the Lord Jesus.

Romans 8, 3 says that Christ was made in the likeness of sin's flesh. He became an effigy, a living effigy of that for which God has nothing but judgment. He doesn't intend to improve terror. He's got no purposes for terror.

The only thing he has for the old man is the cross. And that he's already done. He's given his judgment on me at my best, as well as at my worst. That derelict figure out there on the tree, forsaken by man and God, is a picture of me at my best, as well as at my worst.

And God wants me to consent to the judgment that he has passed. It's not suggesting for a moment that he won't express himself, but you've lost all confidence in him. You no more have confidence in the flesh.

You have begun to agree with God. You no longer expect any good from yourself. And if self doesn't produce any good, well, that's exactly what you've come to see. It's serious. It humbles you, but it doesn't surprise you.

It's what you've really come to expect. You don't let him get away with it. You judge him with the judgment which God's already pronounced upon him. But it isn't a terrible surprise. You've come to know yourself, if only by looking at the cross, by seeing the place that the Lamb of God had to take for you.

He didn't die on a bed about which there's nothing disgraceful. He died on a cross which was a punishment reserved for criminals. And that's what you deserve. And Paul says, that's me up there. And he says, way 1900 years ago, I was crucified with Christ.

And the only way in which this can become real at all in our lives is seeing that it's already happened and consenting to that judgment and judging that man and his expressions in deep repentance at the foot of that cross.

Only so can I enter into the land, quite obviously. Only so can Christ live again his life in me when judgment is to be pronounced on that old eye of mine. There cannot be an entering into the land without that, quite obviously.

Maybe you've heard the story that's often been told of George Muller, that great saint of God, that apostle of faith through whom God did such great things. And someone asked him the secret of his Christian life.

And the dear old saint bowed very low in his chair. And he said, there came a time when George Muller died. It didn't really mean that the old man had ceased to exist in George Muller. But he saw, as he'd never seen before, himself on the cross.

He accepted that verdict on himself. He began to judge self and take it to the cross. And the result was another, mightier than he, took over. And what was wrought was not wrought by George Muller. George Muller was at Calvary.

Crisis, Failure, and Ongoing Repentance

He was in the land. Christ was his land. And it's not until we're prepared for that, that we really get into the land of Canaan. Now, this picture would seem to suggest that this is a very definite crisis.

This departure from Haran to the land of promise. It would seem as if it is a second blessing. And without any doubt, it very often is. It's like a second conversion to some. I believe it was a very important time for me.

I could regard it as, if you like, a second conversion. I don't need a second new birth. You don't need to be born again and again and again. You're born once, that's enough. You're born again once, that's enough.

But all in our experience, there very often is an important crisis. And very often this crisis comes to us through a great failure. All the ministry of failure in our lives. It was so in Peter. You see, Peter, well, we'll assume, shall we, he got out of Ur of the Chaldeans.

But I say, who was the main force of Peter's Christian life? Why, it was the old man. He was so full of confidence. He was going to do this. He'd never deny the Lord. The Lord says, you don't know. You don't know what the old man's like.

And he had to find out. And he found out that the old man hadn't got what it took. And he denied the Lord. And he wept bitterly. He said, Lord, I can never, never trust my promises again. That's what I've been waiting for, Sister Lord.

And in a very real way, it was his crisis. When he entered, he passed from Haran into Canaan. And then the other life, the life of God, the Holy Spirit, entered into him. And so it can be like Peter. And very often the crisis comes via a great failure.

Praise the Lord for failure. The best thing that ever happened to Peter was when he failed. He was really empty out of this self-confidence that had to be replaced by Jesus Christ. But whereas we say that, that's not the whole picture.

Because this going to the cross has got to be constantly reiterated. If I'm going to be in the land of Canaan, as I said, there's no internal operation whereby the old man is taken out like a bad tooth.

We'd all like that if it were possible, but it isn't there. But God says, there's my verdict on him in the Lord Jesus. And you're to judge every evidence of his activity and back to the cross in deep repentance.

And the heart is cleansed and the Lord Jesus moves in afresh each time. I only know yesterday morning when I was thinking about this subject and I found the Lord giving me precious things, I found pride getting in.

And I found myself thinking of myself. And I said, my, the brethren of Motee will like this, they'll think that's rather good and I'll gain in their estimation. And it came at me again and again and again.

And I had to stop. I said, this isn't worth it. This isn't Jesus. And I had to take time out. Going to the cross, this is the man that God has nothing for but judgment. They have other forms in you and me.

Oh, we Christian workers, minister, what's the real motive? Are you taking the judgment of self seriously? When did you last see the desire to excel? When did you last have the motive exposed that the reason why you wanted souls to be saved was that it should be passed round?

Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction. When did you last have the motive exposed that the reason why you wanted souls to be saved was that it should be passed round?

When was the last time we bowed at Calvary? That's the reason why we didn't hear it. Though we may have had a crisis years ago, we may not be there now. And this has got to be taken to count. And not only Christian workers.

Every other, wherever we're called, whatever God's purpose is, this old man is infiltrating as he can all the time. But Calvary stands, Calvary's tree is planted. That judgment on myself is all the time available for me to accept.

There's forgiveness and cleansing all so quick as I do so. And then in the Lamb, afresh and anew, every time I do, Christ becomes my all. And so we see Abraham getting into the Lamb. Well, I suppose that's our experience.

We didn't get in, perhaps, all in one piece. Of course we did. And converts very often do. They get into a place of blessing quicker than the old stuck Christians that we are. But even if it was like that to begin with, you've had your time at Herod.

God helps us to move out of that wretched halfway place into the life which is the life that wins Christ. And where you pass those lesser concerns, those competing interests, to apprehend that for which you've been apprehended.

Dwelling in the Land by Faith

Now we have Abraham dwelling in the Lamb. If you look at chapter 12, you will see, verse 6, that Abraham passed through the land unto the place of Sikkim, unto the place of Moreh, and the Canaanite was then in the land.

And the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. When he got into this land, only to find it wasn't vacant.

It was already in possession of the Canaanite. And all the appearances of the hour were to Abraham against the fulfillment of that promise. This was the land he was going to give me. This is where he was going to build this nation.

But the Canaanite is already in the land. And at first there seemed no probability of the promise being fulfilled. But no sooner had he come into the land and seen the Canaanite, than Abraham had his second appearance of the Lord.

And the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said, You see? I don't care who's in it. Unto thy seed will I give the land. And here's this man of faith. He takes his eyes off things seen. He looks to Jehovah himself, accepts that promise, and he builds an altar unto the Lord.

He takes that promise at its face value and he's fully persuaded that what God's promised he's going to persist to fulfill. Now so it is for us. We do come into a new place with the Lord as we come to the cross.

But the place we come into very often doesn't seem a suitable place where the victorious life could be worked out. The Canaanites are in the land. Things are just as difficult at Paris. You find yourself taking up a job where everybody's ungodly.

There are all sorts of difficulties. You're cut off from fellowship. This doesn't look like the place that God promised for you. Things are difficult. Difficult to have our quiet times maybe, not enough solitude.

Someone was complaining of that to me about their home situation yesterday. He said, I don't think this is much of a land. But you know, this wonderful Lord of ours knows how to appear to us again. And you'll find he's there.

He'll appear to you. He says, this is the land. But I'm going to give it to you. This is where I'm going to live again, my life through you. And I'm adequate for this situation. This is the place where my blueprint is going to be progressively developed for you.

And you have got to accept that fact by faith. You began by faith, the big venture, and you've got to continue that way. Abraham, it didn't matter to him who or who wasn't there, he was fully persuaded.

This is my land, and you and I can be too. This is where you may crack, but this is the thing God's got to teach us, to walk by faith, which isn't by sight. And by faith to endure a seeing him who's invisible.

To know the resources of the Christian life are Christ. And is he not enough for this situation? I want you to notice how his faith expressed itself. It expressed itself in two ways. First of all, he built an altar.

And that was a direct answer to this gracious revelation. He built an altar. The same promise was reiterated in Genesis 26 to Isaac. This is the land. And he built an altar of worship and praise. And so it is with us.

Our response to the promises of grace is to be that of faith which expresses itself in praise and worship. Can you praise for something you can't see? You've got to. You've got to learn. God made a gracious promise to David that from his line would come the Messiah.

And though there was just yet, of course, no sign of it, the first thing he did was to sit before the Lord and say, oh, what a wonderful God. Who am I to have this privilege? And, my dear friends, there have got to be precious, exalted moments and they will be yours when faith sees the promise, embraces it, and rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

You don't rejoice because you feel it. You rejoice in faith. Whom having not seen, we love. Whom though now we see him not yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of joy. I'm not very interested in just a peace that comes or a joy that comes if it isn't the result of believing in this immense grace.

Have we learned this? Of amazing exaltation, but they're not dangerous. They aren't just, they come at you. They're all rational, very, very rational. The Christian's joy is rational. It's based on the promises of grace.

And it's by faith that he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory. It isn't mere emotion. You see a man, I've sometimes seen people in this hall as they sing a hymn, merely taking off the glory.

If I asked them, they could give a reason. What was it that made you look as you did and sing as you did? What was it that filled you? I'll tell you. Jesus showed me that in that moment. I lost my burden.

I saw the promise as good as done. I could do nothing else but pray. Oh, the building of this altar. And of course the building of the altar was the place where the blood was sprinkled. And for us it means that there may be failures, there may be deflections, but there's this precious altar by which I may stay in the land.

For there the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. But going back a moment to this faith that takes the promise, will you turn over to Hebrews 11, where there's reference to Abraham, of course. In Hebrews 11, verse 17 we read that Abraham, breaking into the middle of verse 17, it says, He that had received the promises.

You see? So Abraham received the promises. But in verse 39 it says, these all received not the promises. Abraham received the promise, yet he didn't receive the promise. What do those two contradictory things mean?

There's a difference between receiving the promise and receiving the fulfillment of it. Actually, Abraham never did see the fulfillment of it. He says, all right, I'm content. Apparently the ultimate fulfillment will have to be in glory.

All right. But he received them, and it affected his whole attitude. In fact, he didn't care too much about the fulfillment. The receiving of the promise was as good as done for him, and he lived in the power of it.

So the actual fulfillment he left to God, that didn't matter much to him. Oh, all this is involved in this building an altar. I wonder how it is with us. Has faith built an altar of acceptance of the promise?

But see, won't he ask, praise the Lord, there's the blood upon that altar for you. Calvary is there available. You can still go on confident. This is the only way. We've got to learn to live in this rarefied joyous atmosphere of faith.

Pilgrimage and the Tent of Faith

I don't always do so. I fall under the power of seeing things seen, but I've got to go back to my altar again. Back to my place of holy confidence in Him. But there's another thing, and it's this. He not only built an altar, but he pitched a tent.

I haven't got time to show you the references in Isaac and Jacob, but they were all the time doing it. Two things, built an altar, pitched a tent. Built an altar, pitched a tent. Wherever Abraham, Isaac and Jacob went, built an altar, pitched a tent.

Now what does this tent pitching mean? Why, a tent is a temporary building. The great point in which it differs from any other building is it hasn't got a foundation. And it says in Hebrews 11, we haven't time to look at it again, but you must look at it.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt in tents. So they looked for a city that had foundation. In other words, he says, we're going to have this whole land one day. We can build our cities, we can have our foundation.

Till then, only tents. Now, what he might have done with this now, this is my land, it's promised. Well, it isn't very easy to actually possess it, but we ought to get moving in that direction. And he could have come to business terms with the king and bought land off it at quite a big price.

And then he could have built houses that had foundations. He says, I'm not going to spend any money doing that. The whole thing is going to be mine one day, great. I'm not going to sink any capital in what's already mine.

Till it actually becomes mine, I'm going to dwell in a tent. I'm not going to give my finger to try and help God fulfill his promise. It's up to him. And oh, what dangers he avoided because of it. He dwelt in tents.

You know, there's a promise of God and his purpose to you is along a certain line. How do we try to help him out? How do we try to fulfill it ourselves? And we only get our fingers burnt. You know, I used to pray a long time with a dear friend of mine and I learnt much of him.

And years ago she says, Lord, we're not going to lift a finger to help you out to fulfill your promise. We're going to meet him, we're not going to lift a finger. And how God owned that thing. Things happen that man couldn't do.

That's the way. We don't need to try and buy land and build a house that has foundations till the actual fulfillment we're going to dwell in that God is going to fulfill his promise. And this meant, of course, that Abraham was so different from the others.