Wednesday Night Service 7PM - Rick Hawkins

Well, welcome, everyone. Good to have everybody here. Please stand with me, if you would.

Oh, Lord, I want to just thank you for bringing us together this evening, Lord. I know that you brought each one of us here for a purpose, and we're looking forward to see what that is, Lord. You know, as Psalm says, it's one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, so it's good to be here. So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Can we see Job goes through some tremendous trials,

and he loses all of his animals, which that was really considered their wealth. All his servants, his sons and daughters were all killed, and all that remained was his very supportive wife, who said, you should just curse God. And here's what Job did. He fell to the ground, and he worshiped, and he said, naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I shall return there.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know, that would be a difficult thing to do, wouldn't it? I mean, I don't really know that I could do that. I would hope that my heart would desire that, and I know that God would help us through something like that. If you'd like to continue standing, please do. If you would prefer to sit, however you would desire to worship is,

then the most comfortable. It would be great. Kind of hard to do, I know, for me, because I really thought to just give everything up is pretty hard. But if your heart desires to do that, even though we may fail, I believe Jesus says, just give me, teach us how to do that, or just show us how. You know, fill this room this morning or this evening with your spirit, Lord,

that we can hear your word and what you have to say to us. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated.

Good evening. Can you hear me? All right.

Long time since I've done this.

We're going to be looking at God's covenant with Abraham. And what I really want to kind of look at for the most part after we do that, we're going to look at that and how it sets the stage for the Mosaic covenant and the other three covenants that are mentioned in the Old Testament. But the main thing after that I want to really look at is how in that covenant that God made with Abraham, how did God strengthen Abraham's faith? And the main thing that God seemed like he used in Abraham's life is he made Abraham, wait on the Lord.

And that's been one of the trials that I've been going through lately. I mean, it seems like every door I try to walk through, the Lord's been closing the door and he's making me step back and I'm having to wait on him. And so I figured if I'm going through that, there's other believers that are going through the same thing. And so I figured this would be a good time to just teach on this.

So we're going to start out in Genesis chapter 12. We'll go through Genesis chapter 22. Just hit the subscribe button. We're going to start in different passages and then it'll jump to Hebrews chapter 11. Look at what it says about Abraham there. And then we'll finish up in Romans chapter four and five. But I'm going to go ahead and open up with a word of prayer before we get started.

Father, just thank you for your word. And I just pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would speak to us through your word tonight. I pray that you would strengthen us and encourage us and cause us just to grow in you like we never have before, Lord, because we really, we really need to draw close to you. And I pray that you would just use this night just to minister to us and help us all just draw close to you as we can.

In Jesus name. Amen.

God entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham. And it's known as the Abrahamic covenant. And this covenant takes place between Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 22. And what this covenant consists of is a series of conversations between God and Abraham. And all the conversations that take place between Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 22,

is what makes up this Abrahamic covenant. And the basis of the covenant is found in the first three verses in chapter 12. It says, Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be blessed, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, to understand about a covenant, we have to define what a covenant is. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties, where at least one of the parties is making a solemn oath to keep a promise that affects the other party. I know this sounds like a tongue twister, but I'll repeat that again.

A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties, where at least one of the parties is making a solemn oath to keep a promise that affects the other party. Now, in the Abrahamic covenant, God is the one who's making the promises, and Abraham is on the receiving end.

This covenant is unchangeable. It mentions that in Hebrews chapter 6 and Galatians chapter 3, and it's also everlasting. It mentions that in Genesis chapter 17 and Jeremiah 31. And by the way, while I'm thinking about it, I printed off some copies of my notes. I told her not to worry about putting the... because I bounce around so much, and I don't want you guys having to bounce all over the place.

I know some of you like to take notes, but I've made some copies, and I've printed off some copies of my notes. So, if you don't want to try to keep up with me with your notes, you can just listen, and I'll just give you a copy of my notes, and you can take them home, and you'll have all the scriptures and everything already there for you. So... So, anyway.

Now, there are five covenants altogether that relate to Israel. The first covenant is the Abrahamic covenant, and it sets the stage for the Mosaic covenant, and acts as an outline for the other covenant, and that's the three covenants that deal with Israel. There's five covenants altogether mentioned in the Old Testament that relate to Israel. And the first one is the Abrahamic covenant, and the main thing the Abrahamic covenant deals with is titles.

In the Abrahamic covenant, God gives Abraham and the descendants through him, Isaac and Jacob, the Jewish people, gives them title to the Promised Land. They get title to the Promised Land. In this Abrahamic covenant, God gets title to the Jewish people to be their God. That's what the whole Abrahamic covenant is doing. It sets the stage for doing titles. Then the Mosaic covenant comes along,

and it's one thing to have the title to some property, it's another thing to possess it. And the Mosaic covenant deals with possession. In the Mosaic covenant, there is an if-then arrangement that didn't exist before the Mosaic covenant. So, in other words, if the Jewish people could keep God's commandments, then they get to possess all the land that God has promised Abraham, and God gets to keep the Jewish people as his eternal possession and be their God.

If they can't keep God's commandments, then they won't get to have all the land that God gave them as a promise, and God won't get to keep them as an eternal possession. Well, the Jewish people promised to keep God's commandments, but they failed. So, but God's not surprised by this. God knows the end from the beginning. And so there's three more covenants that are taking place.

And where the Abrahamic covenant set the stage for the Mosaic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant acts as an outline for these last three covenants that are mentioned. And the next one that we're going to take a look at is called the land covenant. It's found in Deuteronomy chapter 30. And it turns the if-then arrangement that's in the Mosaic covenant into a when-then arrangement, because with God, there's no ifs.

He already knows the end from the beginning. There's no ifs and don'ts. There's no ifs and don'ts involved. And it turns this into a when-then situation. And the land covenant, what it is, is it deals with Israel's history. And Israel is the only country in the entire world whose history is outlined in the Bible from beginning to end. From its birth with Abraham to the thousand-year reign of Christ, Israel's history is outlined for us to see.

And if you want to know where we're at as far as end times events, all you need to know is where God is at in dealing with the nation of Israel. In the Bible, God said that there was going to be four separate regatherings of the Jewish people to their land. Three out of four of those regatherings have already happened. There's only one gathering left, and that's the one that's dealt with in Deuteronomy chapter 30.

It takes place at the end of the tribulation period going into the thousand-year reign of Christ. The ones that have happened so far has to do with Moses. When Joseph was sold into slavery, he went into Egypt. There was a famine. The family came and joined him. They grew to be a mighty nation in Egypt. They became slaves. God raised Moses up. And he took them back to the Promised Land.

That was the first regathering of the Jews back to the Promised Land. The second one was the Babylonian captivity. God said, you're going into captivity for 70 years. We're going to give the land rest. And at the end of 70 years, you'll come back. And that's exactly what happened. After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews returned to their land. The third regathering took place in 1948 when Israel became a nation again.

They've been scattered throughout the world for over 1,800 years. Their language ceased to be a living language. And they became a nation again. And now they've been a nation for 77 years. And the next event on Israel's calendar is the tribulation period. We call it the tribulation period. But in Jeremiah chapter 33, it's referred to as the time of Jacob's trouble

because the Jews go through a terrible time, a tribulation, where two-thirds of the Jews are going to get killed during the tribulation period. So that's the land covenant. The fourth covenant that the Abrahamic covenant outlines is the Davidic covenant. It's found in 1 Chronicles chapter 17, verse 7 through 14, and also 2 Samuel chapter 7. But in this Davidic covenant, what's neat is that God establishes David's dynasty in his throne.

And then a descendant of David will always sit on the throne of David. And he established Solomon's throne, but he didn't establish Solomon's dynasty. He established his throne in 2 Samuel chapter 7. In 1 Chronicles chapter 17, he established David's dynasty, and he established his throne. So there would only be a descendant of David sitting on the throne. Well, what ended up happening with Joseph and Mary is that Mary is a descendant of David through Nathan,

and Joseph is a descendant of David through Solomon. And in Solomon's line is where all the kings came down through. And then in Jeremiah chapter 22, at the end of that chapter, God says, there's a guy named Jehoiachin, and God says, no descendant of Jehoiachin will prosper sitting on the throne. And so all those, everybody after Jehoiachin, there has never been another king through that line because the natural descendants through that line will not sit on the throne because God didn't establish Solomon's dynasty.

He only established Solomon's throne. So you have Joseph and Mary getting married before Jesus was born. Mary was a natural descendant from David, and Joseph was in the line of the kings through Solomon. But because Jesus was virgin born, he was able to fulfill, still sit on Solomon's throne because he's not a natural descendant through Solomon. And it was neat to see how God put a roadblock that there was no way that man could fulfill this,

but God was able to do it in such a way that you knew that Jesus was the Messiah. It's just neat the way God does stuff. The last covenant is mentioned. It's the new covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 31, and it replaces the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant was a temporary one. And in Isaiah 42, 6, it says, Lord, I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,

and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations. God is talking about Jesus, making Jesus a covenant to the people. Now remember, a covenant is an abiding agreement between two parties. But God is making Jesus in himself a covenant to the people. In other words, Jesus represents both parties. He's 100% God, and he's 100% man. Both parties are represented.

In Jesus Christ, the only way that you can enter into the new covenant is by entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ, because the new covenant is bound up in him. You have to have a personal relationship. That's the only way you can get into the new covenant, because it's bound up in him. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Now we as believers in Christ have entered into a covenant relationship ourselves with God in the new covenant based upon the blood of Christ, in which God is the one who again is making the promises that affect us. It too is an everlasting covenant. Now there are two reasons why the church exists today. One is to call people out from among the Gentiles to be God's people.

And the other reason is to make the Jews as a nation jealous, because we as believers have already entered into the new covenant, and they have not entered into the new covenant yet. They're still living under the law. And it makes them mad that we're saying we're into the covenant, and that covenant's intended for them, but we're taking part in it. And Paul all the time was saying he was trying to make the Jews jealous because he wanted them to come to know Christ.

The Jews will not know the ultimate fulfillment of all five of these covenants until the thousand-year reign of Christ. During the thousand-year reign of Christ, Israel will possess all the land God has promised them in the Abrahamic covenant. Two, Israel will reign over the Gentile nations, as mentioned in the Mosaic covenant. Israel will experience all the blessings associated with the land covenant.

Jesus will sit on the throne of David according to the Davidic covenant. And the Jews as a nation will have accepted the new covenant that's in Christ. All that's going to happen during the thousand-year reign of Christ. Now, all this started with Abraham. And Abraham is known as the father of faith. And I'm going to read Galatians chapter 3, verse 6 to 9 to you.

And I'm reading out the NIV. It says, Consider Abraham. He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the gospel in advance to Abraham. All nations will be blessed through you. So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Abraham serves as a model for us on how to grow in our faith relationship. Abraham did not do anything to try to earn the promises of God. Abraham simply responded to the promises of God by demonstrating acts of faith in God. When he first left the Mesopotamian region, he trusted God enough to follow his leading. After his dad died in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham trusted God enough to move when God told him to move.

In Genesis chapter 13, Abraham set his focus upon the promises of God. In Genesis chapter 14, Abraham gave a tenth of all his good to Melchizedek. The giving of a tithe that's in the law hasn't happened yet. He was giving this tithe out of faith, not by law. In Genesis 15, Abraham believed God. In Genesis chapter 17, Abraham walked blameless before God. He humbled himself before God.

He was circumcised physically as a sign of the covenant. And Abraham obeyed God sacrificially. Now we're to respond to the promises of God in the same way that Abraham did. We're to trust God enough to follow his leading. We're to move when God tells us to move. We're to set our focus upon the promises of God. We're to give a tenth of our finances, we're to trust our finances with God,

and give a tenth of our finances by faith, not by law. God wants a joyful giver, a loving giver. If you're not giving it joyfully, you might as well go use your money to go buy a taco or something. Because God would rather you, he wants you to give. And when you give by faith, then you get to see God move in a way that you wouldn't otherwise. Because, and I've learned this myself,

I don't know how many times in my history, that if you, I've seen people after people say, I've got too many bills to pay, I can't give, you know. But if you're giving by faith, and trusting God to take care of your finances, somehow, someway, those finances stretch, and things get taken care of. And you get to see God move in a way that you wouldn't if you didn't step out in faith and do that. Abraham, Abraham, Abraham.

We're to believe in God. That means to trust in him, rely on him, cling to him. We're to walk blameless before God. We're to be humble before him. We are, in Philippians 3, 3, it says that we are circumcised spiritually. And what that means is we don't put any confidence in our flesh, we put our confidence in Christ. We're not trusting in ourselves, we're trusting in him.

And then we're to obey God sacrificially. Now Abraham grew in his faith just as we grow in our faith. And in Acts chapter 7, Stephen's talking about how God first told Abraham to leave his country and his relatives and go to the promised land. But what Abraham did, he didn't leave his family. He took his father and his nephew Lot with him. He didn't obey him like he should have.

They get as far as Haran, Syria, and they stay there until his father passes away. And then in Genesis 12, 1, God tells him again to leave his country and his family and go to the promised land. But he still takes Lot with him. They get to the promised land. There's a famine. So they go to Egypt. They get a whole bunch of cattle and flocks of sheep and a whole bunch of stuff.

They come back to the promised land after the famine is over. And they got so much stuff that they can't live together anymore. So God tells Lot to pick where he wants to go. So Lot goes down by Sodom. And once Lot is out of the picture, then finally in Genesis 13, verse 14, God says, Now lift up your eyes and see the land I will give you. It took him three times to get to the place that God wanted him to be in

so that God could speak to him. So the guy could speak to him and show him what he wanted. And God was patient with him. God wasn't upset. God didn't say, you know, this was going to be, if you didn't do what I want you this third time, this was going to be strike three and you're out. I'm going to find somebody else to work with. He didn't do that. He was patient with Abraham and let Abraham grow in his faith.

And it's the same with us. There's times in our lives that God just has to grow us till we get to a place where he can actually show us what he wants to show us. We're not mature enough. Even though Abraham was faithful to God, he wasn't perfect. Twice he failed to trust God to protect his life. Instead, he lied about Sarah and actually told Sarah to lie. In Genesis 12 and Genesis 20, he told his wife to tell all these kings

that she was his sister, not his wife. And it wasn't a total lie because she is his half-sister. They both have the same father. But he was afraid that if they knew that she was his wife, they would kill him and take her to be their wife. So he lied. God still protected Sarah and protected their marriage relationship. And he trusted God for these promises. But he had trouble trusting God to protect his life.

Then Abraham and Sarah both had what I call honest doubt. Remember, Abraham was 100 years old and she was 90 years old when they gave birth to Isaac. And there were some times in the Scriptures, and we're going to see it, that they laughed at the whole idea that God was going to do this. You know, we're old. This is not going to happen. You know, just use Ishmael.

And it kind of reminded me of in Mark chapter 9 where the guy that has the sign that is demon-possessed, he takes him to the apostles, and they can't cast the demon out of him. So he goes to Jesus and says to him, if you can, could you cast this? And Jesus responds almost like, what do you mean, if you can? He says, oh. He says, all things are possible to him who believes.

And the guy responds and says, I do believe, but help me unbelieve. And that's kind of where Abraham was. Abraham believed that God could do this, but he was just really struggling with the whole thing, being old and going to have a son. In Genesis 12, 2, God told Abraham, I will make you a great nation. Abraham was 75 years old at the time. Abraham inquired of God about this because he and Sarah were childless.

In Genesis chapter 15, in verse 2 through 6, and I'm going to read out the New Living Translation on this. He said, but Abraham replied, O sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since you've given me no children, Eleazar of Damascus, a servant of my household, will inherit my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.

Then the Lord said to him, no, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir. Then the Lord took Abraham outside and said to him, look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have. And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Ten years went past from the first time that God told him that he was going to make a great nation out of him, and they still didn't have any kids. So they decided to do what most of us do. They decided to help God out. They decided. And when things don't go according to our timetable, we get frustrated. God's still in control, but he's not doing things according to our timetable.

And when we try to help God, we just make situations worse and find ourselves getting in the way rather than helping God. God doesn't need our help. He needs our cooperation, our being willing to submit to his will, and his timing because his timing is perfect. In Genesis chapter 16, Sarah gave her maid servant to Abraham to be his wife so she could have a child to be raised by Sarah.

When Hagar conceived, Sarah was jealous and treated Hagar harshly, and so Hagar fled. God told Hagar to return to Sarah and submit to her authority. God told her she was going to have a son, and she was to name him Ishmael, and that her descendants through Ishmael would be too many to count. Many of the problems in the Middle East today between Israel and the Arabs and between Israel and the Islamic world can be traced back to Isaac and Ishmael.

When Ishmael was born, Abraham was 18. Ishmael was 86 years old. And after Ishmael was born, Abraham still had to wait 13 more years before he had the son that God promised him. He had to wait 25 years altogether. God spoke to Abraham when he was 99 years old in Genesis chapter 17. In verse 5 of that chapter, Abraham's name was changed from Abraham to Abraham.

The name Abraham means exalted father. The name Abraham means father of a multitude. He would not only be the father of a great nation, like he mentioned in Genesis chapter 12, but God tells him he will be the father of a multitude of nations. And then he tells Sarah in verse 15 that he's going to change her name from Sarai to Sarah. And Sarai means my princess,

referring to Abraham as just being, she's just his personal princess. But when she changed it, it's still princess, but it means more of a princess of royalty because now she's going to be the princess of a multitude of nations. Genesis chapter 17, and I'm going to read this out of the NIV. I mean, not the NIV, but the New American. It says in verses 16 through 21, it says,

And 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 people shall come from her. 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 Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee.

But God said, No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him, I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of 12 princes,

and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season. Next year. Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Excuse me, I'm in the wrong spot. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Sarah was 90. They had waited 25 years from the time God told Abraham that he would first be a great nation until the birth of Isaac.

After Isaac was about two or three years old, Ishmael, who was then about 15 or 16, was mocking Isaac. And Sarah told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. So Abraham sent them away. And after sending his oldest son away, 15 to 20 years had passed, and God had then told Abraham to sacrifice the only son he had left, his only son born to him through his wife Sarah.

In Genesis chapter 22, verse 1 through 18, it's a lengthy passage, but I'm going to read it. It says, Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son.

And he split wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder, and he will worship and return to you. And we will worship and return to you. And Abraham took the wood and the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.

And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father? He said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place which God had told them. And Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. He said, Here I am. He said, Do not stretch your hand out against the lad and do nothing to him.

For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked. And behold, behind him a rampart. And he was caught in the thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ramp and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day,

and the mount of the Lord it will be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, I have not withheld your son, your only son. Indeed, 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.

And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Isaac would have been close to the same age as Jesus was when Jesus was crucified on the cross. There are several parallels between Isaac and Jacob. There's probably 25, but I just listed seven of them. The birth of both of them were prophesied and they were named before they were born.

They are both referred to as the only son of their father by promise. They both were to be sacrificed in the land of Moriah. They both carried their own wood to the sacrifice. Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering. Christ carried his cross. They both submitted willingly to be sacrificed. Isaac was 30-some years old, but Abraham was 130-some. I mean, if Isaac didn't want to be burnt, you know, he could have very easily gotten away from his dad.

But he willingly submitted to his father, just as Christ submitted to his father. They both had three days from the announcement of their death to life again. Christ died on Friday and he rose again on Sunday. From the time that God told Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your son, until he was able to get his son back because God provided a sacrifice instead, was three days.

I mean, there's a lot of parallels there. God provided a substitute sacrifice for Isaac, but Christ was the substitute sacrifice for us. God had already told Abraham that. He established his covenant with Isaac. He established his covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him, before God told him to sacrifice his son. So in Hebrews 11, verses 17-19, it says that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead

if necessary to fulfill his promises to Abraham. Abraham got to where, over all this time, he learned to trust God's word. When God said he was going to do something, he believed it. And God already told him he was going to have descendants through Isaac. And if God was telling him to sacrifice Isaac, he believed that God was going to raise him from the dead.

Because he knew that God would keep his word. He'd learned through all this waiting that he could trust God's word. God told Abraham that in your seed, singular, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Paul points to this fulfillment in this promise in Christ in Galatians 3, verse 16. It says, Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, and to your seed, that is Christ.

Abraham was a man of faith. I'm going to read in Hebrews chapter 11 now about Abraham's faith, starting with verse 8 through 16. It says, By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise and as a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore also there was born of one man, and him as good as dead, at that as many descendants as the stars of heaven, and the number of the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them, and having welcomed them.

And they were all blessed. And having seen them, and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles of the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. Indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is the heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared a city for them. All this time that God had promised him. For 25 years to have Isaac, and as far as seeing the land fulfilled, he didn't see it in his lifetime. He died still looking for the fulfillment of that promise.

And he never stopped trusting in God through the whole thing, even though he didn't get to see it happen. Not only was Abraham's faith in God credited to him as righteousness, but it was for our sake also. We also are declared righteous by faith in Christ. In Romans chapter 4, I'm going to read this out of the New Living Translation. It's lengthy. It's a little page of scripture, just to let you know.

It's Romans chapter 4, verse 16 through 5 and 11. But it's dealing with what we're talking about. So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it whether or not we live according to the law of Moses. In other words, what he's saying is whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, it doesn't make any difference. If we have faith like Abraham's.

For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the scripture means when God told him, I have made you the father of many nations. This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping. Believing that he would become the father of many nations.

For God said to him, that's how many descendants you will have. And Abraham's faith did not weaken. Even though at about a hundred years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead. And so was Sarah's womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was recorded for our benefit too. Assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins. And he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand. And we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son, while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. It's important to remember that God is not limited by time. God is eternal. He knows the end from the beginning. His timing is perfect. Ryan's been talking a lot about this lately in a lot of sermons. He's been talking about how God's time is perfect, so we don't have to worry about things if we just trust in his timing.

But a lot of times we think the things that we want for our lives are the things that the Lord wants for our lives. And that's not necessarily true. And that's when God starts closing doors, and things start happening. We're wondering what's going on. And we tend to run ahead of God, and then he starts closing doors. And God is wanting us to take a step back,

spend some time just waiting on him. We wait on God because he is God and we're not. If God answered our prayers the way we want them answered, when we want them answered, we'd be the ones calling the shots, not God. God answers our prayers in one of three ways. He either says yes, no, or wait. And we all love it when he says yes, because everybody thinks it's really neat

when we pray something and God does what we ask for, and we just think, oh, that's so wonderful. God heard my prayer. And no is not so exciting. We don't like hearing no. But you know what? I'd rather hear a no than a wait. Because at least with a no, I know the answer, and I can start saying, all right, Lord, what's next? But the waiting is something that I don't enjoy doing

because I don't know what's going to happen. When I grew up as a kid, we didn't have microwaves. And we didn't have cell phones. And we are so used to having everything instantly now. I look back at growing up, and I'm thinking, how did we ever get by without a microwave and without cell phones? You know? And we just take them for granted today. But we take everything, we want everything instantly.

And it's important that we learn to die to self, surrender our rights to God, submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God. And that is what happens when we learn to wait on the Lord. As we wait on the Lord, he reveals himself to us. He reveals his faithfulness, his goodness, and the fruit of his spirit become real to us. And so then as he reveals that to us,

we learn to trust in his faithfulness. We learn to trust in his goodness. And we begin to see those fruits of the spirit developed into our lives. But it takes waiting on him and allowing him to be the one who's in control. So I'm going to wrap up. I'm going to read verse 3 through 5 in Romans 5 again, because I think it applies with what some of us are going through.

Maybe not all of you are going through it, but I'm going through it. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Remember that God loves you. If you're going through difficult times right now, and it seems like God is closing doors, and you're wanting to know what's going on, it's not because he stopped loving you. Take a step back, wait on him, and know that God disciplines those whom he loves. If he loves you, and you need discipline, he's going to discipline you. And be glad that he does.

Because when you step back and you just wait on him, and you give him a chance to direct you, he will reveal himself more to you than any other time. But sometimes you just have to go through that. But you'll know that he really does love you. Because a lot of times when you go through these kind of trials, you start having doubts. You think, well, I'm not doing something right.

And there's that one song, I can't remember the guy's name, I think it's Zach, whatever his name is, that talks about how God's not up there with a fist. You know, there's that one song, and he's got a little bit of a stomp on you every time you do something wrong. He sent his son while we were still enemies, because he loved us while we were still enemies. And if he loved us enough to die for us then, and we've accepted him as our Savior now, he loves us enough to try to conform us into his image.

And he'll do whatever he can. So you don't have to worry about him not loving you, because he really does, no matter what you're going through. So that's all I've got to share, and by golly, it's just about the right time too. So let's go ahead and pray. Father, I don't know who it is that's here, that's going through the same kind of trials I'm going through,

as far as having to wait, not knowing what you're doing, looking for answers, and the answers aren't coming yet. But I pray that you would help us just to step back, to trust you, and to wait on you, and allow you to reveal yourself to us in this time that we're waiting, so that we can get to know you better, and in the process know that you're in control, and your timing is perfect, and that you will answer according to your will. I pray that you would just draw us closer to you, help us to build each other up and encourage each other while the day is still called today, and just let us just give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, thank you guys. By the way, I've got some extra pet copies if anyone wants to know.