The Coming of Abraham

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.720 --> 00:00:18.589 Please remain standing and let's hear God's Word From Genesis Chapter Eleven. Genesis eleven 2 00:00:18.629 --> 00:00:24.699 versus ten through thirty two. So that's verse ten through the end of this 3 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:29.780 chapter. I this this section brings us to the end of chapter eleven and 4 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:37.130 also the end of this section in genesis that's sometimes called the prehistory, all 5 00:00:37.170 --> 00:00:42.490 the things that happen really before Abraham. Starting with chapter twelve, things slow 6 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:46.969 down a little bit and we get a lot more details about Abraham and other 7 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:52.079 ways of God's dealing with his people, particularly through the Covenant of Grace. 8 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.640 We're going to take a little bit of a pause in Genesis after this point. 9 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.799 Not sure when we're going to come back to it, but this will 10 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:07.430 end our the section. This genesis one through eleven, is prehistory that God 11 00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:11.870 has given us. So let's give our attention now to the reading of his 12 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:19.540 word, beginning at verse ten. These are the generations of Sheem. When 13 00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:25.459 Shem was a hundred years old, he fathered a Parkishad two years after the 14 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:30.500 flood, and SEM lived after he father to Park Ashad five hundred years and 15 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:34.689 had other sons and daughters. When a Parkashad had lived thirty five years he'd 16 00:01:34.730 --> 00:01:41.689 fathered Shella and a Parkashad lived after he fathered Shella four hundred and three years 17 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:47.010 and had other sons and daughters when Shella had lived thirty years. He fathered 18 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:52.280 Eber and Shalla lived after he fathered eber four hundred and three years and had 19 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:57.560 other sons and daughters when Eber had lived thirty four years. He fathered Paleg 20 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:01.870 and Eber lived after he fathered pay leg four hundred and thirty years and had 21 00:02:01.909 --> 00:02:08.469 other sons and daughters when Paleg had lived thirty years. He fathered Rayyu and 22 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:14.430 Peleg lived after he fathered Rayu two hundred and nine years and had other sons 23 00:02:14.469 --> 00:02:19.659 and daughters when it when Rayu had lived thirty two years. He fathered Sir 24 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:24.180 Rugg and rayu lived after he fathered Sir Ug two hundred and seven years and 25 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:29.740 had other sons and daughters when Sir Rog had lived thirty years. He fathered 26 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:35.090 Nahor and Sir Roug lived after he fathered Nahor two hundred years and had other 27 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:39.449 sons and daughters when Nahor had lived twenty nine years. He fathered Tara and 28 00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:45.599 Nahor lived after he fathered Tara. to H or one hundred and nineteen years 29 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:50.120 and had other sons and daughters. When Tara had lived seventy years, he 30 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:55.800 fathered Abram, Nahor and Harn. Now the is are the generations of Tara. 31 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:02.030 Tara fathered Abram, Nahor and Harun, and Haroun fathered lat. Harun 32 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:06.229 died in the presence of his father, Tara, in the land of his 33 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:09.949 kindred, in the ear of the colds, and Abram, in Nahor, 34 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:15.659 took wives. The name of Abram's wife, Abram's wife was Sarah. The 35 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:20.099 name of Nahor's wife Milka, the daughter of Harun, the father of Milka 36 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:25.979 and Esoch. Now Sarah I was barren. She had no child. Tara 37 00:03:27.210 --> 00:03:30.689 took Abram, his son in lot, the son of Harun, his grandson, 38 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:35.530 and Sarah his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife, and they 39 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:39.650 went forth together from her of the Calde's to go into the land of Canaan, 40 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:45.439 but when they came to Harun, they settled there. The days of 41 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:52.280 Tara were two hundred and five years and Tara died in Harn. This is 42 00:03:52.360 --> 00:04:15.659 God's word, may bless it to us. Please be seated. If you've 43 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:20.899 ever had a chance to visit a war memorial where you've seen a long list 44 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:29.089 of names of people who have died, soldiers perhaps, who gave their lives 45 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:33.089 up in service of their country. I'm you know that this isn't just a 46 00:04:33.529 --> 00:04:39.879 list of names. You haven't just bumped into something that is just a bear 47 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.720 record of the facts, as though it was just a piece of paper in 48 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:48.000 a filing cabinet somewhere. And you know that because of the context in which 49 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:56.029 those names are set, etched carefully into concrete or granite or something like that. 50 00:04:56.709 --> 00:05:00.750 I'm the shape of the memorial'll the space around it, the air above 51 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:06.980 it, the the various plaques and information that teaches you how you ought to 52 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:15.100 approach and respect the the the memorial and the people that are represented by those 53 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:21.170 names. A similar thing happens in these genealogies, and I hope you've begun 54 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:26.370 to see that, because we've had a lot of genealogies in genesis one through 55 00:05:26.410 --> 00:05:31.009 eleven. There are some more throughout the Bible and Genesis as well, but 56 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:38.879 a high concentration of them here in the beginning, and I hope what you've 57 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:43.519 begun to see, and we'll see again here in genesis eleven, is that 58 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.720 when God gives us these genealogies, he's not just giving us a record of 59 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.949 names, just something in a five heling cabinet that you might look at and 60 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:55.870 say, Oh, well, okay, I guess that's interesting, a little 61 00:05:55.870 --> 00:06:00.550 bit of information. But no, God has put them in a particular context, 62 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:09.180 like the war memorials. He surrounds them with information space that we are 63 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:13.420 to read it in light of he says. Particularly, he puts the names 64 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:17.379 in a particular way to tell us that this isn't just a record of history, 65 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:23.329 but it's to shape US somehow. It is a to get make a 66 00:06:23.449 --> 00:06:28.730 particular point about who we are and who God is. So that means we 67 00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:31.769 have to pay attention. It means we have to come with a posture of 68 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:36.399 learning and humility. It means we have to come with a posture of respect 69 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:42.079 as we see what God it is, what it is God has put in 70 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:44.720 front of us and what it is he wants to say to us, even 71 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:49.790 today in this genealogy. Well, this one, like the others, is 72 00:06:49.990 --> 00:06:57.589 no different when we see how this genealogy is placed here, particularly in the 73 00:06:57.750 --> 00:07:02.500 context of the sin and pride of the people of Babel, the disorder and 74 00:07:02.579 --> 00:07:06.980 the confusion that results from that. Will See how God extends His grace and 75 00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:13.019 humbles us so that we might receive it, in as he gives us these 76 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:18.370 names. So let's first a consider its context, to the a surround it, 77 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:25.689 around the genealogy on either side. You remember from last week we have 78 00:07:26.050 --> 00:07:30.279 the the the story, the account of the Tower of Babel in genesis eleven 79 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:38.319 one through nine. Here on the whole Earth is unified in this really great 80 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:46.430 way. A mankind is expressing his humanity in a united way and organized way. 81 00:07:46.949 --> 00:07:53.350 He's ambitious, he's moving toward a high goal. When I say he, 82 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:57.550 I of course don't mean just one person, but all people. We 83 00:07:57.709 --> 00:08:03.100 read in genesis eleven that as they migrated on toward the East, they made 84 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:07.019 this decision to begin to build for themselves. Come, let us make bricks 85 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:11.860 and burn them. And then in verse four, they they take that work 86 00:08:11.019 --> 00:08:16.649 project even further. Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its 87 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:20.889 top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest 88 00:08:20.930 --> 00:08:24.250 we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. So here we see 89 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:30.199 humanity working towards a particular goal, but not a goal that God has given 90 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:35.399 them. God has called them to live in the world, a particularly under 91 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.600 this covenant that he made with Noah, in a way that respects the moral 92 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.110 order that God is set in place. They are to live under his sovereign 93 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:50.830 authority. They are to live according to justice, they are to live according 94 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:56.019 to ways which would cause humanity to flourish and grow. Yes, but in 95 00:08:56.059 --> 00:09:03.820 a way that's always I'm recognizing God as a lawgiver, has sovereign instead, 96 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:07.860 however, these people, which is to say all people, decide to construct 97 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:13.210 for themselves a tower that reaches to the Heights of Heaven. I'm not to 98 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:18.129 protect themselves against one another, but to protect themselves against God. They want 99 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:22.129 to make a name for themselves. They want to make a name for themselves 100 00:09:22.490 --> 00:09:28.600 instead of receiving a name from God. They climb up into the heavens. 101 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:35.960 I'm to take hold of them, I'm to express their authority and sovereignty apart 102 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.029 from God. Well, God does not look kindly on this or overlook it, 103 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:46.669 but he sees it for what it is, this great expression of Man's 104 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:50.269 pride, and he comes down and he sees this tiny tower that they've built 105 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:56.340 and he says to them behold. They are one people and they have one 106 00:09:56.419 --> 00:10:00.820 language, and this is the only the beginning of what they will do. 107 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:07.850 And then God restrains their evil by dividing their speech, dispersing them over the 108 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:11.889 face of the earth, creating confusion in their language. He makes them unable 109 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:16.370 to speak to one another, work together unite in the way that they had 110 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:22.080 been able to before. And in many ways this confusion and disorder, I'm 111 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.679 represents the kind of confusion and disorder that is in their own hearts. Despite 112 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:33.919 their very organized way and ambitious, goal focused way that they work together to 113 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.029 create the Tower of Babel, it's really inside their hearts things were all mixed 114 00:10:39.070 --> 00:10:45.470 up, their priorities were wrong and they sought to rule over God of rather 115 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:52.019 than under God. Well, God confuses their language, he spreads them over 116 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:54.059 the face of the earth, and in this we remember that there is a 117 00:10:54.580 --> 00:11:00.539 sub mercy in that he doesn't flood the earth again, as he promised to 118 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:03.370 do, and he's certainly would have been right to do in this situation. 119 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:11.330 But despite God's judgment, despite His mercy and allowing them to live and and 120 00:11:13.009 --> 00:11:18.720 continuing to allow them to flourish, man doesn't learn, as he is still 121 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.919 true today. I'm God judges us, he disciplines us, he he strikes 122 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.840 us down, he shows us the ways of our sin the misery that comes 123 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:33.710 from it. And yet we continue to fight against him, we continue to 124 00:11:33.830 --> 00:11:37.830 not give him the glory that's do his name. We continue to be shortsighted 125 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:43.990 and establish a name for ourselves man, the story of Man, you might 126 00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:48.379 say, as a story about a a failure to learn over and over and 127 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:54.820 over again. And we see that even a little bit here in this genealogy 128 00:11:54.340 --> 00:11:58.419 and we'll see it more in as you read on, in the coming chapters. 129 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:05.409 In Genesis there's idolatry, there's short sightedness. Instead of pursuing a life 130 00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:11.610 according to God's laws, as are embedded in nature, they go after other 131 00:12:11.730 --> 00:12:18.159 gods. They pursue their own ways. In the book of Joshua, some 132 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:24.919 of the background about this is filled out a little. In Joshua Twenty four 133 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:30.950 two, Joshua says to the people of Israel, long ago, your father's 134 00:12:31.070 --> 00:12:35.830 lived beyond the Euphrates. If Euphrates Tara, the father of Abraham and Nahor, 135 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:41.269 and they served other gods. Joshua says this to them. To say 136 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:46.100 this is the family that you came from. You came from an idolatrous family. 137 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:50.419 You came from a family that was serving other gods. You do not 138 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:54.419 be like this. Let me. If you'd like, you can turn with 139 00:12:54.580 --> 00:13:03.690 me to Joshua Twenty four and I'll read you one more verse, verse fourteen. 140 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:11.129 So the verse I just read was Joshua Twenty four two. In verse 141 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:16.399 fourteen, he takes this background information and and puts before them, the people 142 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:22.320 of Israel, this very clear command in twenty four fourteen. Now, therefore, 143 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.870 fear Jehovah and Serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the Gods 144 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:33.750 that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah. 145 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:37.669 There's this command that he gives to them. He says, don't do like 146 00:13:37.990 --> 00:13:43.059 you used to do, don't act like the family from which you came from. 147 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:48.500 We even have hints that this is what's going on already in the genealogy 148 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:56.129 itself, in Tara's genealogy. In Verse Twenty Seven of Genesis, Chapter Eleven, 149 00:13:56.570 --> 00:14:01.970 I'm Bruce Walkin mentions that they go to a place, they settle in 150 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:07.289 areas that are particularly important for this moon God cult. This Moon, God's 151 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:16.080 is somewhat ironically and aptly named sin S I N and they go. They 152 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.639 settle in these places, in Er, in Harun and places that are particularly 153 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:28.909 important for this for this cult. We also know that not only do they 154 00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:33.909 settle in these areas, but Sarai and Milka are most likely named after sins, 155 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:41.179 consort and daughter respectively. Tara's name even might be related to Yara, 156 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:50.820 which means moon. These likely things point to further evidence of what Joshua says 157 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:54.649 is obvious. These people served other gods. They were naming their children after 158 00:14:54.730 --> 00:15:01.850 them, they were moving to important cities that served these gods. As you 159 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:05.289 see this, what you realize very quickly, as this point I was making 160 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:09.919 a moment ago, that man fails to learn. Can you imagine? God 161 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.679 has just flooded the earth, man built up this great tower for his name 162 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:20.600 and he struck them with confusion. Every day now they're facing these obstacles of 163 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:24.750 trying to talk with people they used to be able to talk with. Divide 164 00:15:24.789 --> 00:15:31.309 it up, and yet still still, mankind continues, continues to go after 165 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:39.419 sin, both these particular God and sin itself, serving other gods, living 166 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:48.779 in a way that is not according to God's law. Well, it's in 167 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:56.049 this context, in this disorder, in this confusion and all of this sin, 168 00:15:56.210 --> 00:16:00.370 that we have genesis eleven, ten through thirty two, that we have 169 00:16:02.769 --> 00:16:08.480 this genealogy. And what do we see in this genealogy? A genealogy that, 170 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.799 on the one hand, hints, as I mentioned, in these names 171 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:18.240 and in these places, of the sin that's going on, but a geneology 172 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:23.070 that in many ways is breathing life, the life of God. How do 173 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:26.269 we see that? You see it in number ways. First of all, 174 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:30.549 you see it in the order, the lack of confusion. Man is spread 175 00:16:30.549 --> 00:16:34.259 out all over the face of the earth, there's all kinds of confusion in 176 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:41.899 his language, he's no longer united. And yet here's this genealogy. Mankind 177 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:48.009 continuing to prosper, one son after another. I'm being born again and again. 178 00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:55.250 There's another way that God reminds us and is foreshadowing in the genealogy the 179 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:00.440 promise, his promises. You remember back in a very similar genealogy, back 180 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:07.000 in chapter five, there was a long list and some ways parallel with some 181 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:15.509 of these things. I'm in chapter five and we read this, listen to 182 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:19.829 how this genealogy goes. When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, 183 00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:26.710 he fathered enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh eight hundred and seven years 184 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:30.339 and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were nine 185 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:34.259 hundred and twelve and he died. When Enosh had lived ninety years, he 186 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:41.220 fathered Keenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Keenan eight hundred and fifteen years and 187 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:45.210 had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were nine hundred 188 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:48.490 and five years and he died. Now, when you compare that, and 189 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:53.089 it continues to go on like that with chapter eleven, you notice that something's 190 00:17:53.130 --> 00:18:00.200 missing. Do you know what it is? And he died. That strong, 191 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.440 powerful refrain that happened over and over again right after the fall, reminding 192 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:08.680 us of how sin came into the world and he died and he died and 193 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:15.509 he died and he died. Genesis eleven is a little bit different. We 194 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:19.190 don't read and he died, but each of these blocks of the genealogy and 195 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:23.069 with something different, and he had other sons and daughters and he had other 196 00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:26.900 sons and daughters and he had other sons and daughters. So instead of each 197 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:33.140 point in the genealogy coming to a full stop again and again and again with 198 00:18:33.299 --> 00:18:37.140 this death of these people. Instead it's spreading out and he had other sons 199 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:40.579 and daughters, and he had other sons and daughters and he had other sons 200 00:18:40.619 --> 00:18:47.849 and daughters. This kind of life, as mankind, is spreading across the 201 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:53.250 face of the earth. This living is attributed to only one thing, to 202 00:18:53.369 --> 00:19:00.480 God, to God keeping his promise not to flood the earth but to hold 203 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:07.319 man are, to hold his judgment at bay until Jesus returns, but also 204 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:12.630 his promise from the very beginning that through the children of man, through eves 205 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:22.109 children, would come one who would be a savior, and that this genealogy 206 00:19:22.349 --> 00:19:26.500 takes us up to one of the most important people in that promise, to 207 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:33.380 Abram. We read of Abram being born to this man Tara, along with 208 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:38.049 his we hear of his wife and other relatives of his, and then when 209 00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:45.250 we come to chapter twelve, God settles the story down and will for many 210 00:19:45.410 --> 00:19:52.569 chapters on this one person, Abram. If you have your bibles open, 211 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.240 you can read with me at the beginning of Chapter Twelve, and this provides 212 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:03.920 the other part of the context around Genesis Eleven, as the word, the 213 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:10.230 spirit of God settles down on Abram to give us information and about him. 214 00:20:10.470 --> 00:20:15.190 We read this now. Jehovah said to Abram, go from your country, 215 00:20:15.430 --> 00:20:19.549 your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 216 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:25.940 In light of what we've heard about Tara already, we see what God is 217 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:30.259 doing. Man Has, in many ways been separating himself from God since Genesis 218 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:37.450 Chapter Three, but now God is going to separate Abram and his family from 219 00:20:37.609 --> 00:20:41.049 man, in a sense, from the cities and places that he's established, 220 00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:48.650 and particularly from these, particularly from Er. He says golf, from your 221 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:52.680 own country, leave the cities that you've built, the family that you have, 222 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.559 and go to the land that I show you. God tells Abram to 223 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:03.400 depend on him, to put his faith in him, and then he makes 224 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.750 promises to Abram. First, two and I will make of you a great 225 00:21:07.789 --> 00:21:12.750 nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you 226 00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:17.710 will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him 227 00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:22.140 who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the 228 00:21:22.259 --> 00:21:30.619 earth will be bred, blessed. Various other things happen and various other promises, 229 00:21:30.660 --> 00:21:36.049 and God makes an official covenant with Abram and in Genesis fifteen, giving 230 00:21:36.089 --> 00:21:40.609 the sign of it later in genesis seventeen. But, as we see in 231 00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:45.730 this these few verses will be expanded out as these promises are given to Abram, 232 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:52.759 these great promises, one in a context of sin and two in a 233 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:57.119 context of barrenness. This is what is said of Sarah, isn't it in 234 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:03.309 the genealogies and Chapter Eleven, that Sarah I was barren, Abram's wife? 235 00:22:04.670 --> 00:22:11.069 So God is making promises that in many ways seem impossible. God is going 236 00:22:11.190 --> 00:22:17.180 to make Abram a father of of many nations, that the fan all, 237 00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:22.500 that all the families of the earth will be blessed in him. God, 238 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:26.180 what we see, what we see here, is what God is doing, 239 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:33.490 is he is beginning to expand on that promise, in that work of that 240 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:40.690 promise. Now, going back to genesis eleven, what this all teaches us 241 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:42.970 us is that out of the sin, out of the misery, out of 242 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:48.240 the confusion, out of the disorder, God is taking and will take man 243 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:55.200 from there to here, and he does, and he does in a very 244 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:59.509 specific way. And this is what I want you to focus on for the 245 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:04.470 for the rest of our consideration of this passage. God's salvation, whenever he 246 00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:11.109 brings it, is always very specific. It's always very particular. A lot 247 00:23:11.150 --> 00:23:15.259 of times we fall into the error of thinking of God's salvation and a very 248 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:19.579 kind of abstract way. It's sort of like a bumper sticker that sort of 249 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:25.859 means something but isn't really filled out with many details. What the Bible does, 250 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:29.369 though, what God does when he tells us his word, is he 251 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:33.730 fills out those particulars and he tells us that his salvation is not abstract or 252 00:23:34.009 --> 00:23:38.009 just sort of floating out there. are somewhere, something we kind of leave 253 00:23:38.130 --> 00:23:42.559 in. That is good, but it's this very, very particular thing, 254 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:49.640 so particular that you might say it like this. When a parkashot had lived 255 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:56.029 thirty five years, he fathered Shella, and a park ashod lived after he 256 00:23:56.109 --> 00:23:59.750 fathered shell a four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters. 257 00:24:00.670 --> 00:24:06.670 It's that particular. God's salvation is so particular that it comes down to the 258 00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:14.099 these very specific names of specific people living at an exact time in an exact 259 00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:18.460 place, with an exact number of years, not only of their lives, 260 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:22.579 but of events in their lives. And of course we know from the rest 261 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:27.490 of scripture, from our own personal experiences, these specific periods of time just 262 00:24:27.890 --> 00:24:33.289 don't only relate to birth and death and the birth of sons and daughters, 263 00:24:33.329 --> 00:24:38.359 but everything, every moment of it. Our lives is providentially ordered by the 264 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:45.400 will of God, every single moment. Our Salvation, in other words, 265 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:51.240 is not abstract, vague, difficult thing to really express, less in the 266 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:56.349 words it's given. In many words, it's shown to us again and again 267 00:24:56.349 --> 00:25:00.509 and again. And what we have here in genesis eleven is the particulars of 268 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:07.339 God's Providence, one after another after another, leading up to this man Abram, 269 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:12.779 who then will lead up to a man named Jesus, this particular man 270 00:25:12.940 --> 00:25:18.700 in a particular place, born in a very particular way to a particular woman 271 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:26.009 by a particular God, are Triune God, who she conceives by the Holy 272 00:25:26.049 --> 00:25:32.849 Spirit coming over her Mary. It gives forth and bears forth this son, 273 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:40.559 who is called Jesus, who is God, God, comes into a the 274 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:47.559 world in a particular way and he dies on a particular cross between two particular 275 00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:52.069 people. God's Providence, in other words, the way that God works in 276 00:25:52.109 --> 00:25:57.430 the world and has worked in the world is not sort of Willie Nilly or 277 00:25:57.549 --> 00:26:02.710 just reacting to events or kind of making it up as he goes along. 278 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:10.140 It's very exact, it's very particular. This includes, of course, the 279 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:15.339 son of God dying on the Cross, when the people of Israel, these 280 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:22.369 people that called themselves sons and daughters of Abraham, rose up against the son 281 00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:29.049 of God and put him to death, being joined with gentile rulers. It 282 00:26:29.210 --> 00:26:33.960 wasn't an accident. They were deliver Jesus was delivered up unto death by these 283 00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:37.079 people, to be sure, but he did so, but he did so 284 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.400 according to the will of God. God's sovereignty and plan was over this particular 285 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:48.109 action as well, and it was so that we would be saved. And 286 00:26:48.349 --> 00:26:52.349 this, beloved, brings us a lot of hope, a lot of confidence 287 00:26:52.470 --> 00:26:56.869 in God, if you would have eyes to see it, because just as 288 00:26:56.910 --> 00:27:03.019 all the saving work was done according to the perfect will of God in these 289 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:07.660 particular ways, from the time of Shem to the time of Abraham and from 290 00:27:07.700 --> 00:27:11.819 the time of Abram to the time of Jesus, so true for the time 291 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:22.289 of Jesus to today. Your names, your particular names are also written down 292 00:27:22.890 --> 00:27:27.170 in the book of life. When we put our faith in Jesus, we 293 00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:32.799 don't put our faith and some kind of abstract good plan that has something to 294 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:37.559 do with positive thinking and joy of some sort. It has to do with 295 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:41.359 Jesus. And when we believe in Jesus, God promises to us that we 296 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:47.390 belong to him in a particular way. He know ows US, he saves 297 00:27:47.430 --> 00:27:52.509 us, he's chosen us. You, your name, you as you are 298 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:57.900 before the foundation of the world, that he might save you through Christ's work 299 00:27:57.980 --> 00:28:07.180 on the Cross, and as your salvation was chosen by God and worked out 300 00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:12.250 according to his promises and his providences. This is true not just of your 301 00:28:12.410 --> 00:28:18.569 beginning in his plan from all eternity, and not just in the particular dates 302 00:28:18.609 --> 00:28:22.609 of your life, your birth, your death, maybe major events, but 303 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:26.559 in all of the events of your life. You might think about how it 304 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:32.720 is you came to salvation in Jesus Christ. Maybe it was Sunday school teachers 305 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:38.799 or preaching or your parents raising you according to God's word, teaching of you 306 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.829 these promises, of these gospels. Maybe it was a friend, maybe it 307 00:28:42.910 --> 00:28:48.670 was a particular time, a particular place. These were not accidents. These 308 00:28:48.670 --> 00:28:56.980 are God's works and they are great, aren't they? They're marvelous and excellent, 309 00:28:56.099 --> 00:29:02.059 and it means that we can depend on God not only for our salvation 310 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:07.220 in a general sense, but in a specific sense in the particular moments of 311 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:12.289 our lives where we have to face decisions and we decide, will I choose 312 00:29:12.490 --> 00:29:18.130 one thing or choose another? Well, I trust in God's saving grace, 313 00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:23.839 or will I not? When we face these particular challenges, trust in your 314 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:30.880 particular God. Trust that he is sovereign even in you, these moments of 315 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:36.000 trial, these ways in which he is testing you. And this is what 316 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:38.950 we read of in First Peter, isn't it? Earlier? We read that 317 00:29:40.069 --> 00:29:44.990 God brings about various trials in our life to test our faith. Don't see 318 00:29:45.029 --> 00:29:48.710 those as apart from God, but see those as him working in you, 319 00:29:48.910 --> 00:29:55.619 saving you and bringing you to the end. All of these things, I 320 00:29:55.740 --> 00:30:02.019 should bring us great hope, when we read a genealogy like this, when 321 00:30:02.019 --> 00:30:07.289 we consider our own names written in God's book, that all the genealogy that 322 00:30:07.369 --> 00:30:14.210 we have is one that is also connected to this genealogy, that we are 323 00:30:14.529 --> 00:30:19.289 sons and daughters of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. Let us give praise 324 00:30:19.369 --> 00:30:25.640 to God right. Let us humble our hearts and be thankful to him for 325 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:32.319 bringing us out of chaos and disorder and sin and idolatry to belong to the 326 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:40.390 family of God, all because of his sovereign and particular grace. Let us 327 00:30:40.430 --> pray