(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12, this is where we get into Abraham and we really get into the story of Abraham. And obviously Abraham was mentioned in chapter 11, more so with his dad. And we see in here, this is where Abraham is departing out of Ur the Chaldees. This is where he's departing out and going into the land that God has promised to him. And so there in verse 1, this is a very famous passage and one that's quoted in the New Testament. But in verse 1 there it 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, 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 them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And so this is a very famous passage, but this is an often, very often twisted passage for Zionists. And this is often, this is the passage that they, this is their go-to passage on why we need to bless the nation of Israel. And so what I want you to see, obviously, and I've preached on this so many times I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. But go to Galatians chapter 3, because when you're looking at Genesis chapter 12 here, what you first, you have to realize is that he's saying this to Abraham. And even in this passage right here, it doesn't say it even to the seed, it's just saying to Abraham, the person. And so obviously we see later on when we get into Genesis 22 dealing with Isaac, where he gets into, thy seed shall be blessed, and I will multiply his seed and all this stuff. And so, but I want you to see that in Galatians, this is quoted as far as all nations shall be blessed in him. But what's that dealing with? Is it dealing with just the fact of who he is, or the bloodline of Abraham? Because that's what the Jews were hung up on. The Jews were hung up in Jesus' day and Jesus rebuked them for it, but now we have a bunch of Christians that are just like the Pharisees that are stuck on bloodlines and stuck on genealogies. And they get to this verse here, and usually they're using another version of the Bible, and so they don't put in the these and the thou's. Well this is where the these and the thou's are very important and very precise as far as knowing that he's not talking to a group of people, he's talking to one man. Abraham, or Abram. This is before he's called Abraham, before he's even circumcised. And so, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 6, notice what it says. It says, Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore that they which are in faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So what's this all pertaining to? Well, actually what Galatians shows us is that what he was saying to Abraham here was the gospel. Now, we know what's the gospel in the New Testament, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, in Galatians 3, if you go on down, it says, Now that Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ. So we know that what was the promise, that the Christ would come through him, that all nations would be blessed through him, and that all those that believe would be blessed through Jesus Christ. The Galatians 3, anybody that's a Zionist, they must have to rip out Galatians 3 and 4 and Romans. Well, actually they go to Romans 11, but they skip Romans 9, you know, and they skip Romans 10, they go straight to Romans 11. And so the Zionists must hate this chapter because this chapter destroys Zionism. But even if you were just to look at the Old Testament, the passages that they bring up destroys their argument too. And so, Galatians is very clear to say, hey, there's a reason why it said seed and not seeds, plural. Because it wasn't talking about a multitude of, like a nation of people, it was talking about the Christ. But it says, and if you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise? It says at the end of the chapter in Galatians. So it's very clear that he's saying that all those will be blessed with faithful Abraham, and so it says, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. All these people that are going to be blessed, that this promise is made to, that those that, it says I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee, that promise is only made to those that are with faithful Abraham, those that have put their faith in Christ, like Abraham did. And so it's not this curt blanche just because you're of some bloodline and of Israel. Now I was reading through some chapters in Genesis, and we'll get there, but it's funny because it calls Abram a Hebrew, not a Jew. Okay, so this whole idea of the Jews and all this stuff, the Jews aren't even mentioned until we get into the kings after Solomon. So I mean, this whole idea, Abraham was not a Jew. He was not a Jew. And so this whole idea of the Jews and all this stuff going back to Abraham, it's a lie, it's not biblical. The Jews have to do with Judah, and Judah's not born until we get into the end of Genesis. So, anyway, I want you to see that, you know, I beat that horse so many times, but I do want to just kind of reiterate that, that this promise is made to Abraham himself. And why was it made to him? Because he had faith. Now, he had faith, you know when it says Abraham believed God and was imputed unto him for righteousness? Now that's not mentioned, so we'll get to that in Genesis chapter 15, but I believe he had that faith before he even departed to leave his country, because go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. So I just want to talk about Abraham a little bit here, and obviously he's called Abram in this passage. He's called Abraham when he has circumcision instituted, that's when God calls him Abraham, and he calls Sarai Sarah. So, pardon me if I call him Abraham and Sarah, because, you know, that's what we're used to saying. But in Hebrews chapter 11 or verse 8, notice what it says. Hebrews chapter 11, and we're going to get back to Hebrews 11, we'll be talking about that, because it actually talks about Abraham quite a lot. But Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8, it says, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out, not knowing whether he went. So by faith he did this. So that means he had faith before he went out. Does that make sense? Before he left Ur the Chaldees, he had faith to do that. Now in Hebrews 11, every time it says by faith he did this, it's not like he's getting saved over and over again. Obviously as a Christian you do things by faith, but he had the faith, he had faith, it's not like he was unsaved and then he went out by faith. So he had faith, but it was being perfected obviously. And obviously when we get to Isaac being offered on the altar, we'll see that his faith was perfected. So by faith he offered up Isaac, but that's not him getting saved. And so he may have been saved before this. All I'm saying is that he was at least saved right before he went out and left his country. So his dad was probably saved and someone else was probably saved. But God is talking to him here. In verse 1 there it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country. And so who's talking? It's God. So that's why when it says in Galatians 3, In the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham. So who preached the gospel unto Abraham? God. But we know that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So I believe that someone would probably preach it, but he's preaching it to him again. So just because he's preaching it to him in 12 doesn't mean that he wasn't saved before, but he's just stating what the gospel is. But anyway, the truth of the matter is that the gospel was preached to him way before circumcision, way before he offered up Isaac. He was definitely saved way before that. Even in Genesis 15, before he was circumcised and before he offered up Isaac is where it says, Abraham believed in the Lord and was imputed on him for righteousness. So we know that to be true. But back in Genesis chapter 12, we just want to read how he departs. And we kind of talked about this already with his father Terah and how he, they tarried in Haran, or Karen as it's said in Acts. But in Genesis 12 verse 4 it says, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai 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 Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sychem, unto the plain of Mori, and the Canaanite was then in the land. 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. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Haai on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed going on still toward the south. So we see that his journey is going down. He's going into the land of Canaan after his father dies. Go to Acts chapter 7 and we'll see that again. But what I want you to see is that in verse 7, so as you're going to Acts chapter 7, but in Genesis 12 verse 7 it says, Unto thy seed will I give this land. So what we'll see in Acts 7, it clarifies that he's telling Abraham, hey your seed meaning, and obviously Isaac was of the seed, Jacob was of the seed, and Christ obviously. And when you look at long term, what you're looking at is Christ is going to inherit the land. And all of us that are in Christ are of that seed, so we're all going to inherit the land. But he's making a point that hey, you physically aren't going to inherit this land while you're alive. And so he's making that point that unto thy seed will I give this land. And so in Acts chapter 7 it really clarifies that. And we know that to be true, right? We know that Abraham dies way before they go into the promised land. We already know the end of the story. But in Acts chapter 7 verse 2 it says, 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 Karen. So that's what we're dealing with in chapter 12 here. Before he goes into Karen, he said this unto Abraham, and he appeared unto him, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Karen, and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on, and yet he promised that he would give it to him for possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. So obviously he didn't have a child yet at this point when we're in chapter 12, but he's making a point that saying, hey, and even in Genesis chapter 12 we see that God is saying unto thy seed, go have this possession. So he's making that point that it's not going to be him. He didn't give him one bit of inheritance. Okay, and so we know that to be true just from reading through the rest of Genesis. But Abraham had faith and he did it anyway. He went, he obeyed, not knowing where he went. So that takes some faith. That takes some faith to leave your house not knowing where you go. This makes me think of moving to a good church and how people will pick up where they live, where they're from to go move to a good church, only in that case they kind of know where they're going. But in this case with Abraham, he doesn't know where he's going. He's just by faith God's going to lead him somewhere and he's going out of his land from his own kindred and going into a strange land where he has no possession. Okay, so that's got to be a little fearful. You've got to imagine a little bit fearful to just pick up your roots and just go somewhere not knowing where you're going to go, not knowing how you're going to live. And so great faith that Abraham had. No wonder that he's called the father of faith. And so we'll get into that as we go through with talking about Abraham throughout these chapters. But go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 just gives us a lot more information about Abraham. And again, this is where when you're reading the Old Testament, you don't realize necessarily all the stuff that they know. And so the New Testament gives us light on this. The New Testament, especially with Moses, it gives us light about Moses. Moses knew that God had chosen him to be the judge for Israel before he left into Midian and before he fled. And so there's information that the Bible tells us in the New Testament that if you were just reading the Old Testament you wouldn't know. And so what's interesting about Hebrews 11 is that we see a lot of information as far as what Abraham, what he believed, and what he was kind of looking forward to. And so in Hebrews chapter 11, in verse 9, notice what it says. So we read verse 8 where he left his country by faith. In verse 9 it says, So he knew that he wasn't going to inherit that land, that physical land, but he looked for a city whose foundation, whose builder and maker is God. So he knew he was looking for another city. Not the physical city, he was looking for the heavenly city. As you go on down to verse 13, notice what it is talking about, not just him though. All these prophets, and we're talking from Abel to Noah, and we're getting into Abraham here, and notice what it says in verse 13. These all died in faith. So all the people that are talked about up to that point, he's saying these all died in faith. So we're not just talking about, you know, we're talking about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, but all the people that were before him, Noah, and all that. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. So this is the mindset of, you think about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. What was their mindset? None of them received the promise, right, because it wasn't until after they were in Egypt for 430 years that they finally got out, then another 40 years of them wandering in the wilderness that they finally get into the promised land. And so way past them, and even like it had to go down the line quite a bit before they finally get into the promised land, but they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Isn't that what we confess? Has anything changed from the Old Testament? And obviously what we're dealing with right here is not even the Old Testament yet, because the Old Testament doesn't start until Moses, when he's on Mount Sinai. Even when Moses is in Egypt and Moses is out in Midian having kids and all that stuff, that's still not the Old Testament yet, even then with Moses. But nothing's changed. It's always been the same. Believers have always been looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. That's always been the case, and it still is the case today, that we don't look for a physical possession. Do you care about the land of Israel out there now? We're looking for a heavenly city, New Jerusalem. As we go to Hebrews chapter 12, you're in Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. So it's interesting to kind of get the mindset of Abraham, because that's the mindset that he had, was that he knew that he wasn't going to see that physical land that he was in, he knew he wasn't going to possess it in his lifetime. But he knew that he was just a stranger and a pilgrim on the land anyway, and that we're looking for the city that God has built for us. And remember, Jesus said that I go to prepare a place for you. And so we know that God is preparing that place for us, New Jerusalem. And my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, it's very clear that that's the case, but in Hebrews chapter 12, notice what it says in verse 22. Hebrews 12 verse 22. And if you know Hebrews 12, it just got done talking about Mount Sinai, and how they were going through that mountain, which could not be touched. But now it's going into verse 22, it says, But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. So we see here that obviously what city are they talking about? So it gives us the answer in the next chapter, that that city is obviously talking about New Jerusalem. It's talking about the city, the mountain of God. The mountain of God is talked about throughout the Old Testament, that Lucifer was on the mountain of God until there was iniquity found in him, and he was cast down. That mountain's been up there, and eventually that mountain's going to come down here, that holy city, that New Jerusalem's going to come down at the very end with the new heaven, new earth. That's what we look for. That's the foundations. Talking about the foundations, remember all the different stones that were on the foundations, all that stuff's described in Revelation chapter 21? And so that's what we're looking for. And so just like Abraham, that's the mindset that we need to have. We need to have the mindset of things that are eternal and not things that are temporal. And so people get this confused. I actually just preached a sermon about going to now, thinking about now and not tomorrow. So when I say that, what I'm talking about is you need to think about what you're doing now, but it needs to be for things that are eternal. Does that make sense? So what you're doing now needs to be things that are eternal, not for things that are in the present. And so that's what I'm talking about is that you're just thinking about right now, you're not worried about tomorrow, but you're doing things now that are for things that are way in the future. Because a lot of times what you're working for in life are things that are just going to be here and gone tomorrow. And obviously there's things that we have to have, like food and clothing and stuff that's not going to last, but you just have to have that to live. But your mindset needs to be on things that are of eternal value. Go to 2 Corinthians 4. So obviously Abraham had that mindset, and he didn't care to leave his own country where he probably had possessions, he probably had something built up there. And he left all that to go into a country that he didn't know, a strange country that he had no possession in, because he seeked another country, he sought a better country, a heavenly country. And that's what we need to be thinking about. Obviously we need to be just in the present, worried about things that we're dealing with now, don't worry about tomorrow, don't worry about how you're going to get by tomorrow, just worry about what you're doing now, but what you do now needs to reflect as far as, okay, what am I working for though? Am I working for things that are just temporary, or am I working for things that are eternal? So 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17, it says, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Now isn't that exactly what Abraham, when he was in the country, he could see it. He could see the country that he was standing in, but that was a temporary country, just as much as the Jerusalem that's here today, that the anti-Christ Jews and the, you know, Islam that's the anti-Christ as well, and Catholics are anti-Christ themselves. So we have three major religions over there in Jerusalem right now, and they're all false religions, but those religions are in a land that's temporary. Everything's going to be melted with fervent heat. Everything. And so that land is just temporary. But I do believe Christ is going to rule and reign in it for a thousand years before the new heaven, new earth, and before the new Jerusalem comes down. But it's not something that we should be looking at and say look at all this, look at this is what we want to, you know, focus on. You need to focus on things that are eternal, on heavenly things. You need to be living for the now, the here and now, but you need to be focused on what are you working for though. Are you working for things that are temporary, or things that are eternal? And so in Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12, this is a great verse, I love this verse. So if you ever get caught up in things of this world as far as you see other people and they have nice things, or they have like the nice house, the nice car, and they have all these great things, you need to remember that that's not what life's about, that's not what we should care about. I'm not saying it's wrong to have nice things, but that shouldn't be what your life's about, it shouldn't be what you're working for, okay? And so in Luke 12 verse 15 it says, And he said unto them, Luke 12 verse 15, And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. That's what we need to constantly be reminding ourselves, not to be materialistic, not to be worried about things that are gonna perish, okay? And so we need to just have our mindset on, okay, I need to be doing things, what I do in life is gonna be reflected in eternity. So you gotta think about, okay, all the stuff that I'm doing, if you just made a spreadsheet of everything that you were doing in life, day to day life, what part of what you're doing in that day, would you say, okay, this is for eternal value? And if it's lopsided to where it's mostly temporary stuff, and like I said, there's certain things that have to be, okay, you gotta provide for your family, and that's an eternal value, obviously, so I'm not saying like going to work and putting bread on the table and bringing home the bacon is wrong or anything like that, but what I'm saying is that shouldn't be the only thing that's on that list. And so you need to be looking at your list and saying, okay, what am I doing? Am I going soul winning? Am I reading my Bible? Am I doing things that are gonna be of eternal value? You know, raising your kids to serve the Lord, obviously that's eternal value, right? And so there's a lot of things you could put on that list, but you gotta be thinking about that mindset, okay? Am I reading my Bible or am I watching TV? Or YouTube? Or some other streaming thing, okay? I gotta put all that in there because it's not just TV anymore, okay? Because we can waste time on social media, we can waste time on YouTube, and so there's a black hole of YouTube, okay? And everybody's got sucked into it. I'm sure anybody that's been on YouTube has been caught into that black hole of all the related videos, okay? And all I'm saying with that is that some things are profitable, obviously, to watch on YouTube. I'm not against it, but there's a lot of things that are not profitable and things that are just frivolous, okay? And so cat videos, I don't watch cat videos, but that was like how it started, right? The cat's playing piano or something. So anyway, all I'm saying with that is you need to be thinking about things that are eternal. But go to Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs chapter 13, and look at verse 7. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 7. And when I think of Abraham, this is what I think of. And when I think of Christ, this is what I think of. Remember, he became poor to make us rich. He gave up, and that's in 2 Corinthians, where it talks about how he gave up everything for us to be rich. And so that's what we need to be thinking about. Hey, if you want to be rich in eternal life, if you want to take hold of eternal life, if you want to have great rewards in eternal life, then you need to do the work now. You need to be poor now to be rich later, okay? Even in life, that's what you would say. If you're going to start a business, you're going to start doing something to where you're going to make a lot of money, usually you have to like take some sacrifices and be poor and just really grind it out before you're going to get the reward in the end. But instead of dealing with a reward in the end in this life that's going to burn up anyway, why not be poor and work for something that's going to be for all eternity? I mean, there's a huge difference between that. And so you're going to enjoy it for what, 10 years? You know, a lot of people that work all their lives and then they're like 70 years old by the time they're actually enjoying it, at that time they can't even enjoy it like they would have enjoyed it if they were younger. But, you know, in eternity, there is no age. You're not going to worry about it, okay? And you'll have it forever. But in Proverbs chapter 13, verse 7, that's what it says. There is that maketh themselves rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh themselves poor, yet hath great riches. So think about that in the aspect of dealing with a Christian life. You know, you're going to make yourself, you know, it says there is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. So you can be rich in this life and have nothing in the end. Because when you die, all your works are going to be burned up because it was all wood, hay, and stubble. And then you're going to have nothing, and you're going to suffer loss. You're going to be saved, right? Yes, so as by fire. But you're going to have nothing to show for it. But there's those that make themselves poor, yet hath great riches. Go to Revelation chapter 2, and I'll give you an example of this. Actually, the Bible gives us a great example to show this. Revelation chapter 2. And you're probably all telling me, yeah, we're all poor, so preach it to the choir. Okay, I understand that. What I'm saying is that don't worry about it. You know, don't be like, oh, you know, I wish I had this, I wish I had that. Hey, listen, you know, all this is going to burn up anyway. So don't worry about it. Actually, just focus on the things that are eternal because that's going to last forever. And so don't envy the wicked, is what I'm trying to say here, because it's easy to do. It's easy to get sucked in to seeing all the nice things, seeing all the things that you could have, but don't get sucked into that because your life does not consist of the things that you possess. That should not be what your life's about. And so Revelation chapter 2, verse 8, notice what it says. It says, And I know the blaspheming of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. So notice this, he's saying, I know that it works in tribulation and poverty, but notice what it says, but thou art rich. He's making a point, he's saying, hey, you're suffering trials and tribulations right now, you're poor, you're in poverty, but you're actually rich. Why? Because there is that maketh themselves poor yet hath great riches. Because what they're suffering and what they're doing in the tribulation that they're going through and not having anything is just giving them great riches in heaven. So I want to give you hope tonight, you know, as a fact that your labor is not in vain. You know, all the work that we do for the Lord is not in vain. If you read Ecclesiastes, there's a lot of things that are vanity and vexation of spirit. There's a lot of vain things in this world that you could do under the sun and guess what it has to do with the labor of your hands and all that stuff that doesn't matter or that's just going to perish anyway. But the only thing that is not vanity and vexation of spirit is to fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. You want to know what's not vain? Serving the Lord. Serving the Lord, being steadfast and unmovable in him. Your labor is not in vain if you do that. And so Abraham saw that. Moses saw that. Moses saw through that that the riches of the suffering of Christ were greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, which Egypt was one of the, you know, the richest place on earth probably at the time in Moses' time, right? We were talking about Babylon and the heads of the beast. Well, I believe Egypt was that number one head after the Tower of Babel and so they were a very rich country and he's saying the riches of Christ, he esteemed them higher than the treasures in Egypt. And I believe Abraham had that same outlook. Go to Matthew chapter 6. So I just want to, this is the last thing I'll say on this, but I just kind of wanted to talk about that. Dealing with Abraham and how he knew he wasn't going to possess this country that he moved into, but he wasn't seeking that country. He was seeking a heavenly country. He was seeking a city whose foundations and builder is God. And so that's what we need to be seeking. And so Matthew chapter 6 verse 19, Matthew chapter 6 verse 19, it says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is there, where your heart be also. So you have to decide today where your treasure's going to be. Where's your treasure going to be? Because that's where your heart's going to go. Is your treasure on the things in heaven? Is your treasure thinking about, I want a crown. I want the crown of life. I want to endure temptations and get that crown of life. I want to get that crown of glory. I want to have that, you know, just a martyr's death. It doesn't have to be like you put to death, but just the fact that you die for Christ. You die living for Christ. And do you want that? Do you want to win people to Christ, which is our crown and glory, as the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians? Do you want to have that type of reward in heaven? Or do you want the riches of this world, that moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves can break forth and steal? Thieves can break in and steal everything in your house, steal all your money. They can drain your bank account because it's all fictitious anyway, right? We don't even have paper money anymore. It's all electronic. They can just say it's not there anymore. And so, why care about that? Why worry about that? But I think about this when I think about the rich, you know, where moth and dust corrupt, you know, all those treasures, because in James chapter 4 it says, Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we shall go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain, right? But right after that there's another time where it says go to now. It says, Go to now you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. For your garments are moth-eaten and it goes on to your silver and gold, your gold and silver shall be cankered. So it's interesting that it shows you those two things. One's following the Lord of doing good, therefore the hymn to know what to do good and do what to not, to him it is sin. And then you go into the go to now you rich men. See the contrast? And so just something to think about as far as Abraham's mindset, that should be our mindset. And Abraham's a great person to look up to. Read Romans chapter 4, okay? Abraham is the person that we're supposed to be looking to. Sorry. I think I swallowed a fly. Abraham's the person we're supposed to be looking to as far as an example of a believer. Not only for salvation, although he is the example I would go to for salvation, but also for someone that perfected his faith and was the friend of God. So Abraham's a great Bible character. But now we get into Abraham doing something kind of not smart. And he goes into Egypt, okay? And so again we're talking about, we just got done with the Tower of Babel. We're getting into chapter 12 here and Egypt is one of the first nations that's ever mentioned in here. And so in verse 10 there, I wanted to read through this and just talk about Abraham being in Egypt or Abram as he's called here. Genesis chapter 12 verse 10, it says, And there was a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt to 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 Sarai his wife, And Sarai his wife, behold now, I know that thou art a fairer 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 thee alive. Say, I pray thee thou art my sister, that it may be well with thee for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee. And so this story is basically, he's going into Egypt because of a famine. And actually the first thing I think about with this is Ruth. Isn't that why they went out of the land and went into the land of Moab was because of a famine. And so it just seems like always bad things happen when they leave the land for a famine. Okay, but he goes out, he goes out because of this famine, they go into Egypt. So they're sojourning in Egypt. What's interesting about this is this is like almost like a little foreshadowing of what's gonna happen to the children of Israel because don't they go into Egypt and why did that happen? What started that? There was a famine for seven years, right, with Joseph. So they go into Egypt, there's a famine. Then Pharaoh gets plagued in this chapter. Isn't that what happens? So it's just kind of like this little foreshadowing of what's gonna happen. And this is the very first chapter dealing with Abraham. But so first I want you to see is that that Abraham obviously wasn't trusting in Lord Holy because he was afraid. Basically his wife was very beautiful apparently because not only did he know that but the Egyptians saw that and they saw that she was fair. What's interesting is that Abraham was 75 at least. We don't know exactly how old he is here. But we know he's between 75 and 86 because he has Ishmael at 86. So there's somewhere in between there. But I would say he's a little above 75. Which means Sarah is at least 65 because she's 10 years younger than Abraham if you go through. She was 90 when she had Isaac and he was 100. So that's how you know. But she's 65. And all of Egypt's like this is a fair woman. So that's interesting to me if you're ever feeling old, okay. Anyway so they go in here and he's basically saying they're gonna kill me for her. He's thinking. And so he's like say that you're my sister so that they don't like kill me so that they have you. But it doesn't make any sense because do you want them to have your wife? I mean it doesn't make sense. Like would you rather die or them have your wife, okay. And so that's what's going on here. But go to Psalm 56 because I just want to talk about it. This is a familiar chapter or familiar stuff in the Bible. But when we go into these situations we need to not fear what man's gonna do unto us. We need to trust in God. We need to have boldness, okay. And this is where Abraham just lacks some boldness when it comes to God protecting him. Now it could be the fact that maybe it doesn't say God told him to go into Egypt, okay. So it doesn't say you know go into Egypt because there's a famine. He just went into Egypt when there was a famine. And so it could be the fact that you know he wasn't really doing what God wanted him to do. He wasn't trusting in God to begin with. So you're not gonna have too much boldness if you're out of the will of God, okay. If you're living in sin you're not gonna have a lot of boldness. It's just not gonna happen. You're not in the spirit. You're in the flesh. And so God is not mocked for what so ever man soweth that shall he also reap. So I mean I wouldn't have boldness either. But we need to remember that we need to trust in the Lord. So Psalm 56 and verse 3. That's what it says. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Now this is something that's brought up in the New Testament quite a lot actually. In Hebrews it talks about I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And Hebrews chapter 13 verse 6. So it's just the same thing that it's talking about here in Psalms. But Jesus you know who are we supposed to fear? Well we're supposed to fear God and keep his commandments. So we're supposed to fear God. But in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 28 it's telling us who we should fear. So we should never fear what man is going to do unto us. The only time we should ever fear man so to speak is if it's like you know ordained by God to execute judgment. Okay when you think of like the governing of you know government you know that God has ordained government to execute judgment upon evil doers. It says you know you should fear that. But again it's the higher power. So you're going to fear what God has set up as a power to judge you. So ultimately you're fearing God. Or if you're fearing your master it says you're supposed to serve him as unto the Lord. So you're ultimately fearing God. So you should never fear man just inherently fear man. You should only fear man like if you fear your parents, children. You should fear your parents. Why? Because God has set them up as an authority over you. Does that make sense? And so you're not inherently fearing your parents without God being there. So but anyway in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28 it says and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So you know you say well you know am I supposed to fear that he's going to send me to hell? No that's not the point. The point is he's saying listen don't fear someone that's only able to kill the body and not able to kill the soul. Does that make sense? He's showing his power he's saying listen I'm way more powerful than man because I not only can kill the body I can kill the soul too. And so that's what he's making a point as. So as Christians we need to fear him that is able to kill both body and soul in hell because he's obviously way more powerful than man. So that's you know obviously the hierarchy of who we should fear. God. And so Abraham, Abraham obviously wasn't trusting in the Lord here. He was fearing what man would do unto him. And so he goes down into Egypt and you know says that it's his sister. Now this isn't the only time he does this. He actually does this again with Abimelech. We'll get into that. That's going to be a whole chapter dealing with that. But it's interesting that he always calls, he's like this is my sister. And then his son does the same thing. So Isaac does it. So your children will emulate what you do. But what's also interesting is that Pharaoh he's plagued here. Like I said this is interesting that he's getting plagued. So it's like this little mini preview of what's going to happen in the future. But Pharaoh actually fears God here. So you kind of have the reverse here where you have Abraham who wasn't fearing God. He was fearing what man would do unto him. And then Pharaoh's over here fearing God because now he sends him away. He's like why have you done this to me? Because God has plagued him because they took his wife. And it doesn't sound like they did anything with her. You know like it doesn't sound like she was defiled or anything like that. But it does sound like you know he was making sure that didn't happen. So anyway this makes me think of the fact too that just because someone's not a believer doesn't mean that they can't fear God or they can't understand right and wrong. Pharaoh knew that when he found out that Sarah was his wife that that was wrong. That it would be wrong for another man to have her because you know they had the law in their hearts. And I covered this but go to Romans chapter 2 I just want to hit this again. Romans chapter 2. This is where the Calvinists don't understand the Bible because they talk about total depravity. The only people that are totally depraved are reprobates. Now I'll say that because they're under every good work reprobate. So but when it comes to just unsaved people it's not like they can't do anything good. Okay that's just not biblical. It's not true and I'm going to show you that and obviously I've hit on this before. But Romans 2 verse 14 it says For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. So we see here that the Gentiles do by nature the things that are contained in the law. Why? Because the law is written on their hearts. See everybody that's born into the world has a conscience. Unless you're a reprobate. Then you're without conscience. You're without natural affection. Then your conscience is seared with a hot iron if you're a reprobate. And so that's where you get into the fact that they don't even retain God in their knowledge. And so but most people are not reprobate. And most unsaved people are not reprobate. Most unsaved people have the law. They didn't know that murder is wrong. They know that stealing is wrong. It's just ingrained in their conscience. It's something that they know. They don't need to be taught that. Okay they know that that's wrong. And I would say once they reach the age of you know or the time where they would understand good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil is where they would know hey this is definitely wrong. This is wrong. And they could even understand it. Kids that are younger don't even understand death I'm sure. They don't understand that. They don't understand the concept of it. But with Pharaoh here he understood that it would have been wrong. Adultery would have been wrong. And so this wasn't even as you know obviously adultery is wicked and wrong. But it's not even dealing with murder. Obviously I would say murder that would be higher up on the list where people would definitely say yeah that's definitely wrong. I mean you find some I guess you find some really wicked people that would say murder is not wrong. I'm sure they're out there. But obviously you have the people that think abortion is okay. But they're either wicked as hell or they're trying to justify the fact that that baby is not a life. That it's not murder or something like that. So but that's what's going on here at the beginning here with Abram. Abram comes out of his country has faith to come out of his country. And he's looking obviously to things that are in the future. He's looking to the eternal value of a city. He's builder and maker is God. And that so he knows he's not going to inherit this land that his children are or that the basically other people in the future are going to inherit it. But you know he's looking for a heavenly country. But then we also see the story where he's going down into Egypt. And he tells them that that his wife is his sister. Now it's partially true. Okay. Okay. Because they're both saved. Okay. So my wife is my sister in Christ. Right. And so but it's still deceiving. Right. If I went up to somebody said this is my sister. You know they that's not that's not being you know ever heard of lying by omission. Okay. And so you can say stuff like that but you're obviously not trying you're trying to deceive by saying that. And so in a later place he clarifies like well she's my sister on this side but not this side like half sister or something like that. So and I don't know if that's true. He says that. We'll get into that when we get into Abimelech because I have to study that out before we get there. But I think when I was looking at it he may just be making that up. Okay. So and again when you're reading through here when they say stuff when even a man of God like Abraham Abraham you know who's a friend of God. When you're reading a story just because they do something or say something doesn't mean it's right. Okay. So there's plenty of cases in here where we'll get and it's they clearly weren't saying right and they clearly weren't doing right. And so but if the narrator speaking we know that's true. We know that that's 100 percent right. And if Jesus is talking or the Lord's talking we know that's 100 percent right. But it's true that they said it right. It's true that Abraham said these words. It just may not be accurate as far as we should follow that. Okay. But that's Genesis chapter 12. Definitely a great chapter. I could probably rip face all day long on the Zionism stuff and trust me I probably will. When we get further along here. But you know just looking at this we see Abraham's great faith. We see the faith that Abraham had to leave a country that he grew up in and to go into a strange country that he doesn't have any possession in. And so something to look up to. And you know I just automatically think of people that would move and leave everything to go to a good church. And so I think of when I was out of faithful word there is a lot of people from different. I mean it was like going to an event of like if you want to see everybody in the world at one place. Kind of faithful word because there was like I ran into like three or four people that were from Hawaii. Which I guess isn't that far away from them. To us it's definitely far away. But there's people from all over. From Virginia to Ohio to like all these different places and I was meeting all these people. I'm like this is so cool because it's just like you're getting like every culture. There's people from Africa. There's people from all kinds of countries that are there. And so but you got to know that they all picked up their roots and just came there. Why? Because they wanted to be in a good church and to follow God. And so you know that's an example of Abraham. What did Abraham do? He went out. God called him to go out into this strange country. And so and I'm not saying you guys need to move. Obviously I believe this is a good church. I'm not saying you need to go move out somewhere. But all I'm saying with that is that that takes a lot of faith. And so we're going to see a lot of cases where Abraham has a lot of faith. And there's a good reason why he's called the father of faith in the New Testament. Because he's a great example to look to. So let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for today. And Lord just thank you for your word. And Lord the book of Genesis just so many great stories that we can use and apply to our lives. And Lord just pray that you'd give us safe travels as we go home. But also as we sing another song for you. Lord pray that you'd be glorified in it. And Lord again thank you for this church. Thank you for everybody who came out. And Lord we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.