Amen. Okay, so we're up to Genesis 12 already and as is a way we'll just remind you of Genesis
chapter 11 because it kind of is worth, I mean, I would say here especially more, you
know, as much as other places in the Bible to remember where you're at as well because
I think often you can think about Abraham and almost detach it from, detach his life
and everything else from obviously Noah and the flood but we're not a long way off from
that and we've just seen all those events in Genesis chapter 11 which started with the
whole earth being of one language and one speech and we talked about this afterwards
actually how maybe rather than dialects maybe they all have one language and of one speech
kind of like you see today where you see people that just seem to be all of one speech, right,
they just all kind of say the same things, have the same views, have the same opinions,
have the same everything. Maybe that was kind of more the point there, right, that they
were just this, like we're seeing now, this kind of just generic sort of person, right,
with all this same sort of thing, they all have one language and one speech and then
we saw how events with the Tower of Babel were pictures and I would say lessons too
about the end times to come. It was a whole world at this point, we were a hundred years
post-flood, over a hundred years post-flood and therefore there were multiple thousands
of people, we kind of just kind of showed you just the bare minimum it would have been,
you know, like well into the multiple of thousands. They were united, united in their building
of the Tower which is, you know, I don't think anyone would argue is isn't a picture of work
salvation but also for me a way of snooping and control as well. So you have this united
sort of, you know, this united work salvation which is what the ecumenical world religion
is going to be, everything's a path to God, isn't it? Barring the gospel because it's
all, they're all just work salvation, aren't they? And that's what we're going to see because
I think a lot of people think well how are they all or because they all just agree with
each other because they're all not fast. It's always been a way, isn't it, with these people,
they don't care, they're happy with another work salvationist as long as they're not coming
and saying it's a free gift. But also like I said I think it will be, there's a picture
of snooping control, a tower in one city, a big tower that reaches up to the heavens
is able to see everything going on. So I think that's a picture of that as well. They
were united in their defiance of God who, if you remember, commanded them to replenish
the earth. Okay, so that was the command and they weren't trying to replenish the earth,
they were all trying to be one in case they were scattered, weren't they? And wanted a
name for themselves and wanted to be in this one place in the plain of Shinar there. It
was a one world government with Nimrod the head of it. We saw him in the previous chapter
in the Antichrist described as a mighty hunter, and again we talked about the Antichrist
being a mighty hunter of Christians. There was one language, and again that's something
that we're closer to now more than any time in history, aren't we? A one world language,
I mean English, I don't think there's, other than this point in history obviously, I don't
think there's been any other time in history where so many people in the world all have
at least an ability to speak this one language, right, and so many do it seems. God said that
nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do because of this unity
and one language, and again we just looked at how just to control the influence that
can come from a very minority of people through everyone speaking that one language and having
that control in our world of the media, of everything, you know, popular culture and
even education, everything as well. He got intervened, so he scatters them, and again
something that we will see when Christ returns and unleashes his wrath. Then we saw that
genealogy from Shem through to Abraham with the lifespans decreasing, if you remember,
with Abraham's father Tirah dying at 205 years old, and obviously Noah died I think 950.
We did the maths and Abraham was born 292 years after the flood with Noah dying 350
years post-flood, so Abraham was born 58 years before Noah died. So that's my point
there is that this isn't a long way off all of that and we're still at a point where,
you know, the nations of the earth are families aren't they, and I think it's kind of handy
to remember that sometimes. So look at verse 31, it says, And Tirah took Abram his son,
and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's
wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, this is verse 31 in Genesis
11 by the way, to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran and dwelt there.
And the days of Tirah were 205 years, and Tirah died in Haran. Then Genesis 12 begins
with verse 1 which says, 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 show thee, and
I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou
shalt be a blessing. Now I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. I'd like to pray before
we continue. Father thank you for your word, thank you for, well this chapter of the Bible
which teaches us a lot, Lord help us to, help me to just preach what, you know, I believe,
you know, some of the interpretations here that I, what I believe, Lord, just clearly
and accurately and in a way that people, you know, be able to understand it and really
follow along with, with, you know, the, how I, how I believe this chapter's trying to
teach us, Lord, and just, just guide my mouth there as well please, Lord, guide, guide everything
I say, just be according to your will, have everyone to have attentive ears, Jesus' name
for all of this, Amen. Okay so, turn over to Acts chapter 7, obviously keep your finger
there, and while you're turning there just say, I did miss when we finished off chapter
11 last week, that in fact there was a good reason why they made that initial 600 mile
journey to Haran. I was kind of just waffling on a little bit at the end there and, and
really, look, there, there was a reason Acts 7 makes it clear, in Acts 7 Stephen is before
the council being falsely accused, so he, he's, he, he's being falsely accused by, by,
you know, what, what's basically the council of the, the chief priests and elders and he
says in verse 1, Acts 7 verse 1 it says, Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father
Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in, in Charan, or Charan, which by
the way is just another word for Haran, Mesopotamia is that region of Iraq with Ur which was Chaldea
being in the south of that, okay. Verse 3 says, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy
country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came
he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan, and from thence, when his father
was dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell. So basically that initial journey
was because God had already appeared to Abram when he was in Ur. Abraham or Abram at this
time persuaded his, well, I don't know, had maybe persuaded his father-in-law to come
with him or maybe not, maybe he ignored this calling, so there's a couple of ways you can
look at this. Verse 31 of Genesis 11 says this, so we can go back now, verse 31 of Genesis
11 says, And Tyra took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai
his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the
Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. So who
took Abram? Tyra. However, we see that Abram was called to go into Canaan. However, it
seems that his father took him and Lot and Sarai his daughter-in-law, and then they went,
well, they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan.
Now some would say, well, Tyra kind of overrode him. However, Haran is northern Syria, okay,
so it's not a direct route. However, I think to make it to Canaan maybe without going across
like literal desert, you would possibly go on this sort of north west it would be, sort of trail,
and then come back down the coastline without going across which is pretty rough like wilderness
otherwise. So possibly they were on the way there. I think they probably were. I think maybe he'd
persuaded to because it does say that they were going to go to Canaan, but they ended up in Haran
and look, but it was Ur, it was in Ur that the Lord appeared to him, which is why then Genesis
15 says, and he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought the out of Ur of the Chaldees to give this
land to inherit it. So the Lord brought him out of Ur. It wasn't that they first travelled and then
after that, but for some reason they stopped in Haran, and I don't know how long that pit stop was,
but I think it was probably maybe due to his father's health. Maybe that was an issue. He dies
in Haran and it was only then that then he continues the journey to Canaan. Now because
that's how I see it, but it's not exactly clear, but what we do know is that he was called
back in Ur of the Chaldees. However, it was his father then that then seemed to be leading them
to Haran. Genesis 12 said in verse 1, now the Lord had said unto Abram, and that's the key bit here,
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 show thee. So that was in Ur and it seems that, look, maybe
his father couldn't complete the journey. Maybe, look, he did say though, get thee out of thy
country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house. So maybe you could argue that Abram didn't
actually follow what he was told to do here. Abram managed to persuade his father to come along and
that ended up being a bit of an issue because it's then it's not till he's 75. Now we don't know at
what point he was told this, but we do know that that it kind of got to 75 years old and that maybe
a lot of those issues and those issues going forward with the age of Sarah and everything else,
maybe some of that came from the fact that Abram maybe didn't respond how he should have done and
kind of gone and gone on that journey himself away from his family possibly, but it's not clear.
Verse two then says 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'll bless him that bless thee and curse him that
curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So this is a verse, by the way,
I don't know, anyone ever heard this taken and misused by some of the more moronic Zionists out
there? Yeah, I remember listening to some early preaching on this and being and it was
confusing for me because I, you know, before I got saved I was kind of had quiet and I would say it,
you know, I was probably off on a lot of stuff but I had quite a fair idea about the ridiculousness
of Zionism. I had a fair idea about a lot of wickedness going on with that and there was a
lot of just obvious brainwash, the whole thing was just an absolute sham and then I got saved and then
suddenly I'm going to churches and listening to preaching where they're going you've got to bless
these people or God's going to go, I was like this doesn't sound right and maybe I was, you know, I
was, fortunately I was, well I don't know if fortunately or not, but I was fairly humble with
it and just thinking well I must just be wrong about all of this. I must have spent years kind
of thinking I was right about this and maybe I'm wrong, maybe kind of God knows better until, you
know, I started to learn the Bible and realised these guys are talking nonsense, okay. So what they'll do is
they go with this verse and they will then say, they will say basically you have to, that God's
going to bless you if you bless the Jews, yeah, because he said to Abraham I'll bless them that
bless he and curse him that curse he and he'll curse you if you don't bless them and if you curse
them and in fact you will need to send more money to Israel. This is what comes from this sort of
just false doctrine, taking a verse, just getting it completely wrong, but I'll tell you what, there are
probably, I don't want to quote a number, but there are a lot of churches around the US and the
ones in this nation, I don't know, I don't know about with other denominations if you want to
call it that, we're not a denomination, but aside from Baptist, how many of these, I don't know, maybe
maybe the Pentecostals are on this stuff as well, maybe some of these others are, but I know full
well that there's a lot of Baptist churches in the US where they're all sending money to Israel with
their Star of Rem fan behind them somewhere basically quoting verses like this,
going we've got to bless them and then we'll get blessed, and it's the complete opposite, it is
a complete opposite, but I've heard that a lot, I've heard it preached from pulpits where I've been
present, I've heard it preached online as well, but is that what God is saying to Abraham
here? Well turn to Galatians 3 which makes it very clear what this is actually about, okay, so Galatians
3 kind of just solves this and again it's concerning isn't it when you're thinking well
these people are claiming to be Bible believing churches, they're claiming to believe the whole
word of God stand on the King James Bible, but they don't seem to be able to read the book of Galatians
or they read it and they don't believe it, or they read it and they are not willing to at least
admit what it says because it would go against then they're going to fall out with their peers,
I don't know, it's probably a combination of some of those and well let's see what he's saying in
Galatians 3 because verse 5 he says this, Galatians 3, 5 says, he therefore that ministering
to you in the spirit and worketh miracles among you doeth he it by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness
okay that's why he was righteous because he believed God, know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, they're the other people that believe, the same are the children of Abraham
and the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith
preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations be blessed, it's a gospel,
Genesis 12 3 said no bless them that bless thee and curse him that curse thee and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed, so remember families by the way it's the same thing
the nations had only in fact recently been scattered and started as families didn't they
so the scripture there is showing that gospel that glad tidings of salvation basically
through the coming Christ as being preached unto Abraham okay that's what it says here preach
before the gospel unto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations be blessed, verse 9 says so
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham who's of faith that's us
that's believers that's who's blessed with faithful Abraham for as many as are of the works
of the law who's of the works of the law well the bits of it that they want to be of the works are
people like those that they're talking about in Israel Jews and other and all the other works
salvationists but as many as of the works of law are under the curse for it is written cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do that you
want the law good luck to you you can be judged by every single part of it but that no man is
justified by the law and the sight of god it is evident for the just shall live by faith clear as
day isn't it but what does that say about these people therefore that that seem to that these
guys seem to think are being blessed in Abraham still but they're all of the works of the law
it's the opposite verse 2 back where we were in in genesis 12 says 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 we saw in verse 9 so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham so who's he talking about there it's us it's us those promises those blessings are
for each and every one of you here if you're saved you can call on you those promises are to you
and you know what i'm not giving my blessings over to some christ-hating eastern european converts
who believe in some wicked blasphemous religion of Judaism i'm giving them my blessings apparently
it said here so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham quoting this exact
verse it's us it's those who believe these guys aren't of faith in fact they're not they don't
just not believe the gospel like most religious folk out there they actually hate the gospel and
they hate the lord jesus christ it's it's so it's so messed up isn't it yeah again this sort of
thing this sort of preaching will get you kicked out of a of probably the vast vast majority of
baptist churches in the world sadly little leaven leaven's a whole lump doesn't it and he's and i
mean what are the people in their pews sitting there thinking do you know they're sitting there
thinking well it's probably not my gift to read and study the bible because i don't really
understand it that's probably what they go well you just want to get it you want to get it because
you know you're not scofield or someone else you know don't worry i've got it i've got it
solved i'll just tell you what it says crazy but get you don't have to end it but what does second
chronicles 92 say chronicles 92 says the opposite in fact that's how that's how it's not only just
ridiculous it's not only laughable it's actually wicked it's absolutely wicked what they teach
because second chronicles 92 says the joy of the son of henani the seer went out to meet him said
to king jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the lord that's what we
call jews today isn't it therefore is wrath upon thee from before the lord you help the ungodly you
love them that hate the lord and wrath is on you wrath is upon you from the lord and you've got
nations around this world and and let's be honest there are church sorry church around as well there
are half these churches have got safe people in them a lot of these churches i'm talking about
anyway these ones that i'm thinking about i think they've got safe people in them they might have a
safe guide behind the pulpit anymore but a lot of them do a lot of them just these old kind of
safe guys who just kind of be brainwashed by stuff preaching this rubbish and what they're doing
they're basically encouraging these people to have wrath on them from from the lord absolutely crazy
isn't it but that's the world we live in and and that's why look a church like ours will always
encourage you read your bible read your bible read your bible and you can't say it enough can you
because when you're reading your bible read your bible and when the sermons just involve so much
bible which is something that that sadly a lot of even like the good ifbe churches of old didn't
have enough of but then you can't argue with this stuff can you how do you go to to galatians three
and argue with that you can't but you know what if i stood here and i just went and i just read
that verse and said uh uh uh verse three and just said in genesis 12th and i will bless them that
bless thee and curse him that curse thee the knee shall all nations of the earth be blessed
shut your bibles i've got an hour sermon on on on how you need to bless the jews you could see why
people would be like well yeah i mean that's what the bible says doesn't it because that that that
preacher that you know why wouldn't i not trust him he said that's what the bible says and i saw
that verse in front of me did it not just say that in genesis 12 3 and sadly that's that's what
you're dealing with isn't it and that's why we should be turning shouldn't we should be here in
the bible look some sermons you're going to talk a bit more than you're going to turn and
vice versa but it has to be bible based isn't it okay so verse four then it says so abram departed
as the lord had spoken unto him a lot went with him and abram was 70 and five years old when he
departed out of haram old yes okay however we're still not down to the ages that we used to now so
don't remember that when you read this okay because you're looking at going man he must have been like
really old i mean i you know i i turned 40 you know sort of a year and whatever ago year and a
ago and i just feel like man things have changed everything hurts a bit more you know just hurts
in the morning clifford's looking going well you complain about that but but it does but you look
at this you think 75 you know what on earth but but look his father lived to 205 okay so i get a
feeling that things may be slightly different no i was building an ark at like 500 years old or
something wasn't it okay so okay so things are a little bit different still okay and his great
grandfather syriq lived till 230 years old so when great-grandfather gets to 230 75 isn't a
great age is it okay as we would think now and abraham does end up making 175 years old by the
way okay so if you look at it that way he's well he's not even halfway through his life yet okay
so he's more like a kind of young faulty you know 30 40 something like that okay so uh so yeah he
can't complain here but um okay and and even the ages some of them were having kids it's clearly
different okay so verse five then says and abram took sarah his wife and lot his brother's son and
all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had gotten in haran and they went
forth to go into the land of canin and into the land of canin they came so remember in the last
chapter that lot's father had died in earth okay and the souls they had gotten is talking about
for me hired workers staff they were employing verse six says and abram passed through the land
and to the place of sycam unto the land of mori and the Canaanite was then in the land so sycam
or shechem i think or shechem that we know after and mori being approximately i think if you look
to a map there'd be approximately halfway between jerusalem in the south and nazareth in the north
okay of that land there so about halfway in between and the lord appeared unto abram and said
unto thy seed will i give this land and there builded he an altar unto the lord who appeared
unto him so you've got these cursed Canaanites in the land who maybe weren't so impressed as abram
hanging around with all his animals and people and stuff god came and told him don't worry i'm giving
this land to your seed okay and he built an altar to him what's an altar for well for sacrificing
animals isn't it so why is he building an altar for sacrificing animals and you know i remember
preaching this a while back when i preached on tithing that i think i think from early on we see
noah do it as well we see them bringing an offering in in genesis chapter four don't we and i think
from early on people were aware of giving of your substance to god okay and now i i i you bear with
me here because i i'm not sure if at least at this point i think it might kind of merge into the next
verse we're going to look at when we think when i believe abraham was saved verse eight says
and here he's abram it says and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of bethel
and pitched his tent having bethel on the west and hay on the east and there he built
builded an altar unto the lord and called upon the name the lord now this is somewhere near the
jordan river between bethel on one side hay iron and we it's later called i think ai on the other
now i don't think this is speed altar building he's got um he's got animals servants it's not
a pop-up tent either you know like just just pitching up and everything i'd imagine was
probably a bit of a job he's moving and when he's moving he sacrificed the i think of his substance
to god but you could argue that verse eight is basically expanding on verse seven so look at them
again if you look at it that way and the lord appeared unto abram said unto thy see will i give
this land and there builded here an altar unto the lord who appeared unto him and he removed from
thence unto a mountain on the east of bethel and pitched his tent having bethel on the west
and there he built an altar unto the lord and called upon the name the lord okay so perhaps
they're kind of it's just expanding what he did because it's all in the same area right
maybe but but here we we just read that abram calls upon the name the lord and there are a
few ways of looking at this okay so number one is that this is a point that abram gets saved
yes he went where god had said yes he'd been sacrificing to him uh or unless it's the same
point however it's at this point he puts his faith in the coming christ to save him from his
sins yeah okay point number two option number two is that abram was already saved he'd already
called upon name the lord he'd put his trust in the coming christ here he's just worshiping god
and maybe calling him for some sort of physical help at this point okay and and by the way calling
on the name of the lord isn't just for salvation however you need to be saved or it's for salvation
that you call on name the lord okay so or you can call but you ain't getting nothing if you're
unsaved right okay so and then number three abram wasn't saved yet but got saved in chapter 15 this
is another view people have you want to turn there quickly chapter 15 and verse 5 where it says and
he brought him forth abroad chapter 15 verse 5 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 and he believed in the lord
and he counted it to him for righteousness a verse quoted many times show that abraham was
righteous through faith not through works yeah and we see that in a few different places in the new
testament but did it say that he didn't already believe this verse 6 didn't say at this point
abram believed did it just that he believed in the lord said and he believed in the lord and he
counted it to him for righteousness go back to chapter 13 okay we just read chapter 12 which
said in verse 8 and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of bethel we're going to
look at the beginning of chapter 13 by the way and pitched his tent having bethel on the west
and hay on the east and there he built an altar unto the lord and called upon name the lord
genesis 13 makes mention of this point in time too genesis 13 in verse 1 and abram went up out
of egypt he and his wife and all that he had a lot went with him into the south and abram was
very rich in cattle and silver and in gold and he went on his journeys from the south even to
bethel unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between bethel and hay i
unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first and there abram called on
the name of the lord so for me i think it's still talking about the calling in chapter 12
and verse 8 rather than okay now he's gone and called again it said unto the place the
altar which he had made there at the first seems to be a key point here and there abram called on
the name the lord so rather than here in chapter 13 i think that's talking about chapter 12 is when
he called and for me it's therefore clearly an important moment now you're going why isn't this
just completely clear because that's the and the bible is yeah the bible sometimes you've got to
study these things out especially in the old testament as well for salvation okay because
it wasn't as clear as then the new testament shed so much light on it okay so it's an important
moment it said which he made there at the first okay which is why by the way melchizedek then
referred to abram in the next chapter as abram of the most high god before chapter 15 didn't he
he said in genesis 14 and verse 19 genesis 14 and 19 says and he blessed him this is melchizedek and
said blessed be abram of the most high god possessor of heaven and earth so for me he had to be
saved at this point so i don't believe it was in chapter 15 not the sort of title you give to
somebody who's unsaved would you yeah blessed be abram of the most high god possessor of heaven and
earth surely not now this is where the um just just and and i have to hit this stuff when it
comes up in the bible this is where that you don't have to call upon the name the lord jokers
who want to separate it will say but it didn't say that he believed yeah so they'll go well it
didn't say he believed you know he just just called the name the lord but it's the same thing
okay believing is having faith i mean it's the first thing i've said this many times and i'm
going to have to keep preaching this stuff because it keeps coming up okay it's the same thing when
you when you we explain this one of the first things you explain when you get to the gospel
part of your presentation is what believe means don't you and you don't go to him it just means
you know just believe it's true now you say another way of saying that is to trust to to
put your faith in someone i've got and some might use an analogy to show but if i said i believe in
you it's not just saying i believe you exist it's not saying i believe that what you said
it's saying i'm putting my faith my trust that i have faith you can do this right okay so
it's putting your faith for trust the gospel and the savior and the point that you do that
is when you call upon the name the lord for salvation isn't it that's when you put your
trust your faith in the lord is when you call upon the name of the lord turn to first corinthians
chapter one now there is calling on the lord in other situations like i said earlier i might call
on the lord to protect me from the wicked right i might call upon the lord to sustain me through
a hard time in life but salvation is dependent upon calling upon the lord which is putting your
trust your faith in him it's believing on or in him to save you it's the same thing
in first corinthians chapter one paul's addressing the church at corinth at the beginning of his
letter look what he says first corinthians chapter one and verse one says paul called to be an apostle
of jesus christ through the will of god and sus thenos our brother unto the church of god which
is at corinth to them that are sanctified in christ jesus called to be saints with all that in
all that in every place call upon the name of jesus christ our lord both theirs and ours so he's
everyone's lord that last bit theirs and ours basically he's everyone's lord that calls upon him
but it's so he's a call upon him right the saints those that are sanctified in christ jesus called to
be saints are the same people with all that in every place called upon the name of jesus christ
the lord they've had to have called upon the name of jesus christ our lord right to be considered a
saint or sanctified in christ jesus then says grace be unto you peace from god our father and
for the lord jesus christ so corner paul in first corinthians here chapter one and verse two the
saints are all that in every place call upon the name of jesus christ our lord yeah so why wouldn't
someone call upon the name of the lord then and why would someone want to argue that you don't
have to ask him because this stuff keeps coming up they'll say i just believe the gospel you heard
these people out there right okay and obviously there's an online attack on this a lot as well
and it was someone interesting that managed to build up this big channel and a load of support
through seemingly being you know on the side of nifb church and everything else and and then had
all these i think he had a lot of audio bible on there so it got a lot of subscribers and stuff
like that and then suddenly comes out with this and people are clever you know they build up this
kind of this this at least respect and following and everything else and then ready to wash down
the false doctrine they'll go i never called on his name because basically for me they haven't
called on the name of the lord that's why because they never called on his name now turn to psalm
53 and just to make it clear when we turn there okay there are weak christians there are babes in
christ there are moments of doubt that this attack on the gospel appeals to okay let everyone here
could have a moment where you're like oh oh okay i haven't thought about it like that and and the
idea with it is that and they'll try and use a scripture or two or five or whatever else to try
and get to you you know and we're bible believing christians so sometimes a verse out of context can
maybe put a little bit of doubt in your mind okay and you may have had your head turned by this and
if you have i'm not accusing you of being wicked okay however psalm 53 4 tells us about a type of
people that haven't that won't that can't call upon the name of the lord okay psalm 53 4 says
have the workers of iniquity no knowledge works of iniquity children of the devil reprobates false
prophets etc who eat up my people as they eat bread they have not called upon god and so often
what is it why is it it's because of pride they won't humble themselves to ask jesus for salvation
that's what it comes to with people you get those people don't you sometimes and i had someone
recently okay and and he said that you know he was i was preaching to him he had he had some
people there okay and you could go maybe he was just a bit embarrassed in front of people he got
to the end he he listened to the whole thing got to the point of right okay well let's ask him for
salvation no now you would think okay maybe he would have gone afterwards but you know what he
turned quickly he turned quickly to suddenly you're thinking this guy like seems to hate god
now you know he just suddenly just turned started mocking god mocking hell well whatever if i go to
hell it's like it wasn't like i'm just embarrassed i need to go away it was just this bizarre
turnaround because he wasn't ready to put his faith in jesus christ it wasn't that oh well he
just believes it all it's just like well say if you want if not he's probably said it in his heart
hasn't he no because there's a difference to believe in what you say is true a lot of people
believe the gospel is true but they won't put their faith in christ they won't get saved it's
two separate things and and these people here they have not called upon god okay and it's pride a lot
of the time but there are varying flavors of these types of people there's a work salvationists that
will claim to believe yeah i had this last week they'll repeat a prayer like believe it i would
have gone to hell all of this and until they're already saved you know we've just gone through
the whole like they've literally just said i would have gone to hell no you're right yeah i
was wrong everything else yeah and you're thinking i do seem really prideful like kind of where else
do i go here they're claiming to believe it all we've recap we've gone over it all we've gone
through everything okay and then after is it's like yeah well i was already saved what are you
doing like people will literally just lie through their teeth sometimes this is a mormon or at least
you know seemed to be a possible x mormon but then by the end of the conversation same thing
happened at the end of the conversation so this is something that came to but but if you're if if
she thought really deep down if she was just trying to please or distract really and just try
and try and time waste me if she afterwards believed well yeah but i was already saved
did she call the name of the lord no this is the same like it goes both ways okay it's not just
saying something with your mouth it's believing it in your heart putting your faith and trust in
jesus christ she wasn't doing that but she's claiming to do that afterwards she's basically
back to like well the book of mormon and everything else okay and look then obviously look it there's
two sides of it aren't there but no because calling your name the lord goes hand in hand
with belief okay with trusting jesus for your salvation not your own works however look that's
more obvious isn't it so work salvation is just for us for most people here that's an obvious
attack isn't it okay when you see a work salvation attack you see through that quickly don't you
to the point where now you just start to recognize loads of it don't now now and again if i see a
church statement of faith for one reason or another it's a lot easier to just notice that
little you know and repentance will come up or whatever they won't even necessarily use that
word just like you'll see the fruits of that salvation stuff you're like you're just back to
front works you see all this sort of stuff don't you okay but this attack of trying to say that
calling on the lord his works can appeal to us right because we're like yeah we hate work
salvation so this is a subtle one isn't it because it's going actually we're pointing out a new form
of work salvation and we're obviously anti-works it pricks our ears okay and then what they try
to do is they try to separate belief and calling but because that doesn't work does it okay because
those of us who know our bibles and and many verse in the bible show wait a second they're
they're the same thing verse like first corinthians one we've just seen uh first
is one two among others then it's well do you have to do it audibly have you heard this one
before yeah so so so you know they'll come out with what about the mute the terminally ill
you know they try that one yeah anyone here that think that mute people can't get saved
anyone think if you're mute sorry you're done anyone think that if a child had his tongue cut
out when they were when they were young some horrific accident or something they can't get
saved of course not okay that's ridiculous isn't it absolutely ridiculous so of course you could
call the name of the lord in your heart but this is what's a very strange concept to me
that i was presented with recently is someone that is perfectly capable of verbally calling
but doesn't so they're perfectly capable it's not like you know well they were about to get beaten
up if they did you know they just did it in their heart they're just just simple on their own heard
the gospel yeah perfectly capable of calling on the name of the lord but didn't
like i don't get that but said but i called on in my heart and didn't verbalize it so someone
asked said to me that they didn't verbalize for two years i i just i don't understand that because
i look everyone i again tell anyone tell me if i'm wrong here but most people here when you heard
the gospel you you might have been watching something on a youtube seeing maybe something
saying well just just calling him something like these words and you might have been a bit more
like dear jesus i know i'm a sinner you might have done it quietly in a room maybe didn't want it for
me i think the kids are upstairs in bed or you might have gone yeah please save me or something
like that yeah however which way you did it i just i don't know i just find it hard to imagine
someone hearing the gospel for the first time maybe it wasn't for the first one but to the
point where they're like i'm ready to get saved and then they see this prayer come up on the screen
they just go i don't get that anyone like can you imagine that but i was presented with this
recently and it just struck me it's really bizarre it like the natural response to the gospel
is to say yeah please say yeah i want to get whatever way you want to say isn't it i don't
know because i'm gonna start asking people this because i just found this anyone here
do it silently and anyone here can imagine anyone doing that i'm not gonna like have a go if you do
i just found it really odd right so i didn't really know where to go with that because if
you're perfectly capable and of course with the mouth you know confession is made under salvation
etc you just find that very odd don't you and then but then the argument is what are you saying
that you you know you can't just call the name of the lord of course people can pray in their heart
right okay the example you could give just an obvious one would be hannah in first samuel
chapter one right and and it however actually didn't her lips move as well so even with her
her lips were moving you know maybe he couldn't hear her but it sounds like she's probably like
mouthing something and you might quietly just be like please jesus save me whatever else but you're
still you know it's not it's not a volume issue i'm talking about here it's just for me like
the question of never saying anything turn to uh psalm 116
because a point i want to make to this because this is what they're trying to attack with this
is it's not adding to the gospel okay it is the gospel okay we get that straight here it is the
gospel the gospel is put your trust believe on believe in however you want to word it the lord
jesus christ and you do that by asking him for salvation okay it's pretty clear isn't it so it
doesn't it's not like well i had to have seen romans 10 9 to realize i had to actually say
something i mean that just doesn't make any sense to me psalm 116 verse 13 the psalmist says i will
take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the lord it's the same thing and here's the
thing if calling on the lord is works yeah then so he's taking the cup isn't it is it taking that
cup works and in fact jesus christ was a work salvationist in john 4 10 where it says that
jesus answered said i said unto her it with the woman at the world if thou knew it's the gift of
god and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would
have given thee living water jesus christ preaching works salvation according to that logic right
in fact according to that logic maybe believing the gospel is works too
in fact maybe hearing the gospels work look it actually takes a bit of effort you actually have
to sit there stand there listen to someone preach you the gospel work salvation they should have
just no they shouldn't have had to hear a thing they should have just said i believe in fact they
should have said i believe they should have just in the heart believed something because they
shouldn't have had to say it's it's ridiculous it's absolutely ridiculous isn't it but back in
genesis 12 okay and that does look i'm sorry if you're thinking that you talk about this quite
a lot yeah maybe i should have just done like a single sermon because i keep talking about it
keeps coming up not but again like i said i got questioned with this recently and i just i i don't
know it just bewilders me it bewilders me the hair splitting with it and everything else it's
like it's it's crazy but what is it really it's just attack on soul winning attack on biblical
churches i'm not saying that everyone that's wondered about that is trying to attack but
that's where it ultimately comes from doesn't it okay so genesis chapter 12 verse 8 says and
he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of bethel and pitched his tent having bethel
on the west and hay on the east and there he built an altar unto the lord and called upon
the name of the lord now you could say hold on what about verses one to three where god
spoke to him so if this was the point he got saved remember verse one said now the lord has
said unto abram get thee out of thy country from thy kindred from thy father's house unto the land
i will show thee and i will make of thee a great nation i will bless thee and make thy name great
and thou shalt be a blessing and i'll bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed but here's a question didn't god speak
to you through his word before you got saved didn't he anyone get saved the second that they
heard the first word to come out of the bible no sometimes it some people it might have taken more
than one time as well some people heard maybe uh watched a biblical uh documentary first and heard
a lot of the word of god and then heard the gospel and got saved other people maybe they
heard the gospel once and got saved but it wasn't on the first verse that was read out right so here
he's speaking to him and with most of you here didn't he call you to believe him he did call you
to believe it on him and i'm not talking about in a calvinist way because he draws all men to him
doesn't he yeah he draws all men to him john 12 32 says and i if i be lifted up from the earth
jesus christ speaking will draw all men unto me all men calvinist out there by the way all men
he draws all men unto him by the cross okay and abram well like you and i responded to that call
didn't he that's what i believe and i believe yeah in a way he's preached the gospel here in verse
three that's what we saw when comparing it to i think it was in galatians but he responded to that
verse four says so abram departed as the lord has spoken unto him a lot went with him and abram
75 years old when he departed out of haram and then in verse seven you could argue that he's
that he's being maybe preached the gospel still verse seven says and the lord appeared
unto abram and said unto thy seed will i give this land and there builded he an altar unto
the lord who appeared unto him who's abraham seed well you don't turn there it's a famous
verse for most people here galatians 3 16 says now to abraham and his seed were the promises made he
saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is christ so the promise
was to jesus christ the seed being singular yeah verse eight says where you are and he removed from
thence unto a mountain east of bethel and pitched his tent having bethel on the west tower on the
east and there he builded an altar unto the lord and called upon the name of the lord and for me
that was a point of salvation that's what i believe i believe that was a point that abram
at this point got saved verse nine says and abram journeyed going on still toward the south
so he's built this altar he's called the name of the lord and there was a famine in the land
and abram went down into egypt sojourn there for the famine was grievous in the land and
it came to pass when he was come near to enter into egypt that he said unto sarah his wife
behold now i know that thou art a fair woman to look upon therefore it shall come to pass when
the egyptians shall see thee that they shall say this is his wife and they will kill me but they
will save me alive say i pray thee thou art my sister that it may be well with me for thy sake
and my soul shall live because of thee so just because abram is saved is he sinless
no just like the rest of us he has the ability to mess up doesn't he to make bad decisions
and this is a good example of that isn't it so he's almost i mean this is not just just a bad
decision this is pretty heinous really if you look at this story what on earth is he doing
he he's almost giving his wife away to save his own skin i mean that's what he's doing he's saying
you take my wife pretend you know basically anyone can have you just pretend you're my sister
and hopefully i won't get killed i mean that is messed up isn't it so i do believe there's a
picture here too where the word of god often you know being represented by food and water right
there's a famine in the land and you could kind of see a picture of a famine of the word of god
which results in abram sojourning in egypt what's egypt a picture of the world worldliness right
the result is crazy decisions like this one here because it is a crazy decision yeah perhaps as
well you could argue fueled by some sort of paranoia here too again probably from not being
in the word enough or something else it's just bizarre verse 14 says and it came to pass that
when abram was coming to egypt the egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair now
some argue but she was 65 here however regardless of your views on that like i said they seem to age
a lot a lot a lot slower here as well the prince also pharaoh saw and commended her before pharaoh
i mean so i was obviously a very beautiful woman and a woman was taken into pharaoh's house
i mean that got worse didn't it so not only is he pretended that she's now being taken into pharaoh's
house because of abram and his his just ridiculous selfish decision here he's basically giving his
wife away and then look at the result as well and he entreated abram well for her sake and he
had sheep and oxen and he asses and men servants and maid servants and she asked him come on now
some would argue i gotta see abraham got blessed by god with all this wealth but it's actually
the opposite yeah he gets wealth but where does that wealth end up it ends up with with what
happens with lot doesn't it what's what's on the back of this lot ends up in sodden because they
have too much wealth from when he was lying about being his sister and getting all and it was an
undoing of it this is a great for me this is a great passage of scripture with the following
chapter and then obviously what we see ends up with sodom as well to say look seeking wealth and
money and everything else and and what comes with it often is going to ruin your life and if that's
your focus in life if that's what you're looking for if that's your goal and everything else
well look you've got issues right you've got problems anyway god ends up intervening with
this okay and it makes you think doesn't it as well as what happened half a century later with
the exodus as well i mean it said here verse 17 verse 16 17 says and he treated abram well for
say yeah sheep and oxen he asked the men so it's made so she asks the camels and the lord plagued
pharaoh in his house with great plagues because of sarai abram's wife so god ends up intervening
and and and like i said you know it does make you think of exeter so whether or not it's prophetic
it is a reminder that god's plan isn't getting scuppered by some fleshly falliness okay so
foolishness sorry so you've got look you got you know he's got this plan for abraham
abraham makes a big error i mean not just big area this is like wicked sick okay he's just
discarding his wife almost to save himself and everything else but god can still make things
right in the end okay because god's got a greater plan sarah was to go on and to do what she was
going to give birth well to isaac and a line that would eventually result in jesus christ and was it
going to be scuppered by basically marrying you know being i don't even know if they would have
met i don't even know what would have happened because they probably assumed she was unmarried
but verse 18 says a pharaoh called abram and said what is this that thou has done unto me why did
thou not tell me that she was thy wife he's he's basically saying what's your problem abram what
sort of you know crazy plan was this then it says in verse 19 why said thou she is my sister so i
might have taken her to me to wife now therefore behold thy wife and take her and go thy way so
the plagues did result in pharaoh letting sarah go didn't they again same as you could you could
argue you know that happened sort of 500 odd years later and pharaoh commanded his men concerning him
and they sent him away and his wife and all that he had so a kind of funny turn of events but like
i said we see late you know later on this sort of thing happened a couple of times more uh once more
i think with abram we see it uh later on as well with isaac and and however you know you could argue
that the the repercussions in the next chapter were were were like i said a lot then going to
sodom so what came of this of this lying of them being let go they probably would have stayed in
egypt the wealth that came with it with it was that they're not able to dwell together in the
land a lot ends up going to going to sodom and what a mess that ends up being what a destroyed
life and where did it all come from it all started with some wicked life it all starts with a lie
doesn't it and um and you know that's a good reminder isn't it that look and i know this is
a serious thing abram does there but but a couple of points number one this sinless perfection thing
i don't think we even need to preach out that such nonsense it's ridiculous okay but number two
look at the repercussions of lying yeah planned plotted lying look everyone look all look let
god be true in every man alive okay everyone's lied before everyone sadly will lie in the future
however when you're like planning and plotting these lies and dishonesty and to see that's
wicked okay and you're gonna you're gonna mess things up because of that and abram was a great
guy yeah he ended up being a great guy as well however this is a bad part of his life isn't it
and uh that's what we've just seen in genesis chapter 12 so we're gonna finish up there um
look i don't know obviously you can't be dogmatic about abram's salvation here um you know
however for me i i believe that's what we're seeing there but uh but you can't be dogmatic
about calling on the name of the lord okay on that let's pray
father thank you for your word thank you for this uh great chapter of the bible i thank you for
um you know the lessons that we have already and we're going to continue to learn um you know
through through abram here and abraham um eventually uh the father of nations lord and and
we um we we we just want to learn what you want us to learn lord we want to uh just just grow and
be be what you want us to be lord to just try and learn from others mistakes and to not make them in
our lives help us to all do that lord help us to kind of reflect on what what we've seen here with
that and not get our heads turned by false doctrine either to help those that have had
their heads turned to just try and guide them and help them to uh to to get things right and to um
to just just be right on like the clear clear doctrines of the bible lord of which that's one
of them they're calling on the name of the lord help us to uh just preach that loudly and clearly
as well lord and help us to get out there and get people so get them to call the name of the lord
lord help help us to get people uh get saved this this weekend thursday first at the sole winning
time and thursday evening tilbury and then on saturday with the uh with the marathon in south
off in jesus name for all of this amen