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5-7-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Meditations of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: Genesis 17:1-8

Speech title: Almighty God Appears in Despair

        God foresaw Abram living in Babylon and called him and said:

¶ Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: (Genesis 12:1 KJV)

       When God called him, he gave him the word of promise:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3 KJV)

        God came to Abram in a vision and said:¶ After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (Genesis 15:1 KJV)

       Until then, God had not given him a child, but he still did not doubt God’s promise, and he spoke thinking that God would fulfill His promise through the steward’s children rather than his own: …what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. (Genesis 15:2-3 KJV)

        Immediately, the word of God came to him, saying: This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:4-5 KJV)

        It is unknown how many years had passed since he left Haran at the age of seventy-five, but it is certain that a considerable amount of time had passed. Thinking that God would not give him a child, Abram undoubtedly believed God would find another way to fulfill His promise.

        But when God appeared again and showed him the stars in the sky, the Lord credited it to him as righteousness when he believed what He said (Genesis 15:6).

         At that time, God made a more specific covenant with Abram:

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:18-21 KJV)

        Afterwards, because of Abram’s wife Sarai’s unbelief, he made the mistake of giving birth to Ishmael at the age of 85 by going into their maidservant Hagar.

         Then after another fourteen years, at the age of ninety-nine, when neither he nor Sarai could bear any more children, Almighty God appeared and said:…I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. (Genesis 17:1-2 KJV)

      When Abram fell on his face before the Lord, God spoke with him:

¶ As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 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. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, 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 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:4-8 KJV)

         The Lord God refined Abraham for twenty-five years, made him wait until he had no hope at all as a man, and finally came to know that he was Almighty God.

         After the Lord God had given the word of promise in advance, he appeared in human form with two angels and spoke again:

¶ And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. (Genesis 18:9-14 KJV)

         God sometimes allows hopeless circumstances for modern day Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again of the Holy Spirit and become descendants of Abraham, so that they will fullly trust in the Lord. It is then, while living in faith in Almighty God, looking forward to the day when the words of the covenant given by God are fulfilled, you will live a life of bearing fruit by believing in Almighty God to the end.

         Apostle Paul testified of Abraham believing in God Almighty:

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, ¶ (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. ¶ Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:13-25 KJV)

        Apostle Paul testified of Abraham’s faith even when he was tested to sacrifice his only son, Isaac:

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. (Hebrews 11:17-19 KJV) 

       Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and become the descendants of Abraham believe in the words of the Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ, even if they live in despair that leads unto death:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26 KJV) Amen! Hallelujah!