Showing posts with label The Life of Abraham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Life of Abraham. Show all posts

Monday, December 18, 2017

Genesis 22 :1-24 - “The Sacrifice of the Son of Promise “

Vv. 1-2 :  God’s command to Abraham
Vv. 3-14 :  Abrahams obedience
Vv. 15- 19 :  God’s covenant promises reaffirmed
Vv. 20-24 :  An important footnote  concerning  Isaac’s future wife, Rebekah. 

This recorded piece of sacred Scripture must surely rank as one of the supreme tests[1] and acts of faith in the Bible. But let’s face it - as much as we would admire the faith of Abraham, so as much many would find themselves perplexed by  the nature of what God requires here of Abraham.  Is it possible that God could require such a thing? The God who said, ”You shall not murder?" (Gen. 9:5,6; Ex. 20:13).  

I have reminded you so often from this pulpit that we need to learn to see further than the end of our noses. We need to learn to read Bible texts, such as this one, in the light of the whole Bible, and particularly in the light of the full revelation of the NT Scriptures, otherwise we will always be like children, swayed by mere appearances and swayed by mere emotions of the moment.  What strikes me so very often about Bible critics and cynics is that they take a verse such as this and say, “Oh, really, so this is your loving God who commands a father to kill his son?”  So, they take verse 2   and think themselves justified to pull apart the whole of Christianity on the basis of this verse and text, without understanding the context of the entire Scriptures.   We need to learn that the weight of the entire Bible stands behind this text!  

By way of introduction I also wish to remind you again that all of the OT anticipates and foreshadows the Messiah- Jesus Christ, the Lord. We saw that last time in Genesis 21.  Isaac, the son of promise was born under miraculous circumstances and at the right time, determined by God. This child was never born according to man’s will and in man’s timing. And this child never ultimately belonged to Abraham and Sarah – just like your and my children don’t ultimately belong to us!  We receive these gifts  from God to be raised for the glory of God.   Now  with this thought in mind  we must  understand that Isaac was born to be an illustration of something  even greater that God would do later in the  history of the world.

Isaac in his birth, and in the act of being sacrificed by his father foreshadowed ultimately the birth and the death of the greater Son of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we need to see the logic of this passage ultimately in that light.  All this is so very big and breath-taking, and so I want to encourage you to  see this test of Abraham’s faith  in an  entirely positive  way and not through the eye  of  the superficial  modern  person  who cannot see the glory of God in the face of Christ  and who whose who would  simply cry, “child abuse!”

22: 1-2:  God’s command to Abraham

"After these things God tested Abraham…”.The fact that God tests His people should not be construed in a negative manner. There is a crucial difference between testing and tempting. Satan tempts people in order to make them fail. God tests His people to further sanctify and refine them.  In both, the Old and New Testaments the words translated “test” mean “to prove by trial”.  When God tests His children, His purpose is to prove that their faith is real.  James says that the testing of our faith develops perseverance, which leads to maturity in our walk with God (Jas. 1:3–4). James also goes on to say that testing is a blessing, because, when we have “stood the test” we will “receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1:12).  So ultimately testing comes from our heavenly Father who works all things together for good for those who love Him and who are called to be the children of God (Rom. 8:28).

In a sense God tested Abraham all his life. He tested him when he left his familiar home in Ur. He tested Abraham through a drought when he arrived in the Promised Land. He tested him in his relationship with Lot and by means of the happenings in Sodom and Gomorrah. He tested him by keeping him waiting for 25 years for a son to be born to him and Sarah.  God tested him causing Hagar and Ishmael to leave the home, because the sibling rivalry between Ishmael, the son of the flesh and Isaac the son of the promise   was threatening to destabilize Abraham once again. 
When Isaac was born   Abraham might have thought   that this would have been the end of all his trials, but it was not so! The greatest trial was yet to come.  We read, “After these things God tested Abraham…”.   To be sure, the nature of Abraham’s test of faith is a specific one, and you and I will never be asked to do this. But God may ask you to give up your son or daughter to His service in a very dangerous mission field. Be prepared!    But this specific request in 22:2, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering…”, is  at face value  a tough one.  Abraham knows what is at stake.  What would Sarah say if he came home to tell her that he had to sacrifice Isaac? But far more profound is the fact that if Isaac dies, the promise of Abraham’s seed and offspring cannot be established.   The Messiah, according  to promise,   could not be born! There is a lot at stake here.

22: 3-14 :  Abraham's obedience

V.3 “So Abraham rose early in the morning…and went to the place of which God had told him.”  The place to which he takes Isaac is of very deep significance. To miss this, is to miss everything. Abraham is told to go to the land of Moriah to offer him there as a burnt offering.  And now for some perspective, as we take a look forward in history; In 1 Chronicles 21   David had sinned by calling for an unauthorized census of his people. It was a self -willed census, motivated by his pride. A terrible judgement from God followed as a result. 70 000 people died. It was on Mt. Moriah, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite in Jerusalem that the angel of death was commanded by God to stop the divine wrath. David then bought this place from Ornan the Jebusite and here he made burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. (1 Chron. 21:26). This place would later become Israel’s house of worship, having been   built under the supervision of Solomon (2 Chron. 3:1). This place became Israel’s God appointed place of sacrifice and worship, and many, many sacrifices would be made there in the course of history.  And it was in this vicinity that the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away our sin   was crucified on Mt Calvary, outside the gate. So, I trust that you see the significance of all this. An ordinary reading of this text, without investigation would have caused you to miss the point of this story!

So now, let us think again. Why does God call Abraham to make such an enormous sacrifice?  Two reasons:

(i)               On the one hand God designed this as the supreme test of Abraham's faith and trust in God. Has Abraham grown in his faith? Yes, he has!  And we know that Abraham does not fail this test.  

(ii)      But in a greater and more profound sense God was preparing the world for a future happening, and He caused it to be recorded in the Bible, to be seen by those that have eyes to see and ears to hear.  Here God, through this incident was foretelling   what He would do in the offering up of  a very real sacrifice  of His only Son  on the cross.   So  Abraham is taking his son where God took His Son, to that place where  He would  die for the sins of the world-  and there  was the  place  where the just wrath of God was stopped for all  who believe in  the substitutionary death of Christ  for themselves. 

Incidentally, nowhere else in the Bible will you find such a command, the sacrifice of a son, ever again. In fact, you will find it written in the law of God that all child sacrifice is expressly forbidden.

Now, Abraham did not see everything as clearly as you and I can today with the benefit of the full revelation of God in Christ. But the important point is that Abraham believed in God and he  trusted God in this, and this is what is revealed in  vv. 3-14 !And it is revealed in the important   commentary on this passage in Hebrews 11:17-19. In his heart, difficult as it was, Abraham determined to trust God for this.  When Isaac asks that gut wrenching question in 22:7 , “My father…Where is the  lamb for the burnt offering?”, Abraham answers in v.8, “God will provide for himself  the lamb for the burnt offering…”.   The commentary in the book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham expected God to resurrect Isaac from the dead. But that is not what happened. Instead, God provided a substitute! And here we have one of the great doctrines associated with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ–His substitutionary death  for  sinners.  His life for those that believe. The life of the Lamb of God for them that trust  Him to save them from the righteous wrath  of God.
And  as Abraham  prepares Isaac for sacrifice,  and as he  trusts God for the  outcome, the angel of the LORD intervenes (22: 11, 12). “Do not lay a hand on the boy.” The test is over. Abraham has passed it. He has stood the test. No further proof is necessary. Abraham’s faith is vindicated. It is real. He really , really has learned to trust God.  

22:13 tells us that Abraham lifted up his eyes  and  saw a ram caught  in a thicket by his horns.  This ram becomes the illustration of the great biblical doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice, or atonement of Christ for those that believe in Him.  Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of our sin.  The ram dies in my place, and my sin is atoned for.  But it is an unequal sacrifice. The ram is an animal. How on earth can an animal atone for the sin of a human being?  It can’t! By God’s forbearance, He allowed it to be so, but  the blood of bulls and goats cannot take sin away  (Hebr. 10:4). There is only one  who has been appointed in history to take away the sin of people!  Where on earth will such a man be found? Who will redeem a man, since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Only the Son of Promise foreshadowed by Isaac can! 
And once a again the letter to the Hebrews and particularly the 10th chapter helps us to understand this. Do you see the profundity of Scripture? Does this not put a new awe for God into your hearts?Brothers and sisters, I exhort you then to put your trust in the Lord Jesus ! Abraham is our example. He trusted in God. And he was rewarded by God. He figuratively received his Son back from the dead. Isaac was given to Abraham a second time. He was Abraham’s son  by birth and now he is Abraham’s  so by redemption. And you too need  those two births - your physical birth and your spiritual birth . And you can be born again, by looking to Jesus. And you can live forever.  God the Father received his Son back from the dead. He  did allow His Son to see corruption in the grave. And you too who hope in Christ will rise in triumph with him.

And so in 22:15-18 God finally reaffirms and renews all the covenant  promises to Abraham and his descendants. They will become as numerous as the stars and sand on the seashore.  And in  22:19-24 God prepares  the next chapter of his covenant family  as He introduces us to  the family  of Rebekah, the future  covenant wife of Isaac, who will both be challenged  in a very similar way  in their walk of faith.

Trust God for your future in a new and radical way, based on what you have learned from the Holy Scriptures! Amen.




[1] Other tests in the Bible : e.g.  Ex. 16:4

Monday, December 11, 2017

Genesis 21 :1-21 “The Son of Promise “

As we come to Genesis 21 we shall find here a birth that we have been eagerly waiting for - Isaac the promised son of the covenant. 
His name means   “laughter”. And so it is. The birth of this boy brings new joy and laughter into the lives of this old couple. And it is by all accounts a miraculous birth.   All this   reminds us very much of the language of the time in which we find ourselves right now - the  Christmas season-the remembrance of the birth of Christ our Lord. The story of Isaac in a sense prefigures the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was long awaited, and born under mysterious circumstances, and who has brought laughter into the lives of many that have trusted in Him for their salvation.  
Indeed, the prefigurement of Christ is found in every book of the OT. [1] 

And yet, while it is a happy story, we shall also find that there are dark shadows lurking  in the background. This portion of Scripture that begins with laughter (21:1-7) ends  with a painful separation (21:8-21). We will learn lessons from both.

1.     21:1-7 :  God is faithful

"The Lord did to Sarah as He had promised."   Allow me to begin with a brief comment on the length of time it took for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham and Sarah.  The promise of an offspring  was first  made  in Chapter 12  when God called  Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. At that time he was 75 (12:4) ,  and Sarah  was 65  years old.  It took 25 years to fulfill that promise (see 21:5)!  
How are we to understand this?  We remember that Abraham  (like Adam) was foolish to listen to his wife  when she suggested that he take  her servant Hagar and have  a son by proxy.  Ishmael (who shall occupy our thoughts  in the second half)  was born as a result.  He could of course not be the son of the promise. He was born as a result of  the scheming  of  Abraham and Sarah.   So, apart from this setback,  what reason could  we provide for this long waiting? 
The answer is simply, “we don’t know!” 
All we do  know is that God chose to work in a mysterious way His wonders to perform[2], as He so often does!  The mystery of Divine Sovereignty in the outworking of things is so well expressed in Isaiah  55:9 :  
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” 
Whatever we may think, the birth of Isaac was in the end a sovereign act of God, and, from God’s perspective it happened just at the right time. In that sense his birth was like that   of Jesus, who is the ultimate seed or offspring of Abraham, and who in God’s providence was born at just the right time (Gal. 4:4 ESV In the fullness of time). In both cases the sons of promise were conceived despite human reason and ability, and through the supernatural activity of God.

There may be a number of people here today who have been waiting on God to fulfill what they believe is a divine promise from the Word of God to them. What shall we say to this? 
  • Be absolutely clear that you do have a clear promise from the Bible, and not from your own fancies. 
  • Remember also that a Bibles text taken out of context is a pretext. 

God nowhere promises you in the Bible that you will have children if you had none so far.   
God nowhere promises you in the Bible that you will recover from every illness  and that you will be happy, wealthy and healthy  all the days of your life.  
God does not even promise that all the children of every believer will be converted.  

But  God  does  promise  that  He will “supply every need [3]of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.“ (Phil. 4:19
He promises that, for any true believer, all things will work together for the good. (Rom. 8:28).  
He has promised that nothing will separate us from His love in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:31-39). 
He has promised us that He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Lk. 11:13). 
He has promised us that if He has begun a good work in us he will complete it (Phil. 1:6).  
He has promised to come again, and to take us to be where He is (Jn. 14:1-3). 

So we can wait, standing on these promises of God, but the precise times of the fulfillment of His promises are not made known to us. By faith we believe and by faith we cling to the promises of God. God, our Father knows the best timing!

In this case God had given a specific promise to Abraham and Sarah  and He was  going to fulfil it. God is faithful. And now Sarah is happy… very happy (21: 6,7). The Lord has turned her reproach into a blessing, and  Abraham  makes it known in a very vivid way. He  names  their  son , ‘Isaac’ … He laughs! (21:3)  

The application of this truth is exciting. Whatever  God promises, He will do. He will keep His word. And so we must learn to  trust Him. All of us have our own challenges in trusting the Lord, but Genesis 21  has been recorded  that you may know  that  God can be trusted. If we do not believe that God is faithful, then it will be very difficult for us to pray meaningfully.   
C.H. Spurgeon often encouraged his congregation to study the promises of God and to pray  according to the  promises  of God.   Rehearse the promises of God. Meditate on them. Remember them, and trust God for the outcome.  And do not shrink back (Hebr.  10:35-39). At long last we will see what we have hoped for, just as is the case here in 21: 1-7. 

2.  God's  common Grace is kind  to all mankind - but  His love  for His chosen people   is without equal. (21:8-21) 

In this portion of Scripture we find the doctrine of election applied.   It begins with an old   conflict in Abraham’s family life.  As Isaac, the son of promise   is weaned, Abraham  makes a great feast  for him,  and  we find that  Hagar  the mother of Ismael  laughs – but  not in a happy way , but in derision (21:9). At this point Sarah insists that Hagar leaves. Conflict is looming between the son of promise and the son born according to a sinful decision. 
Paul makes a great deal of this  story in his letter to the Galatians 4:21-31   where he  tells us that the two boys, Isaac and Ishmael and their two mothers, Sarah and Hagar are allegories of two covenants. Sarah bore the son of promise, corresponding to freedom, living by grace. Hagar  bore the son  born according to the flesh, bearing children for slavery, living by law. The plain fact concerning them is that they cannot co-exist!

To put that into gospel language: The son of promise, Isaac corresponds to those living under the gospel. A gospel man or woman relies on   that which Jesus Christ has done for them. If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been born again by a second miraculous birth, then you belong to the line of Isaac, the son of promise.  By contrast, Ismael, the son of the flesh, relies  on himself. He judges himself by  his own legal  standards of self-  righteousness. These two systems cannot co-exist, and so we  find  that  Hagar and Ishmael  must leave.  This is not ultimately just a family squabble.   It is about a profound  biblical truth, and in   Psalm 83: 4-6 we find  an outworking  of all this. Here the Psalmist  shows us that  the nations  which are related to Israel  are insanely  jealous of them and therefore they  conspire against Israel.  
The distinction between Isaac and Ishmael is much more profound than we are able to understand  at face value.  It is a theological issue, and it is revealed, as we have already  seen in Galatians  4:21 ff. 

There are  ultimately only two kingdoms in this world – and to these two kingdoms belong  either the  children born of the flesh  or  the  children born of the promise.    And in his letter to the Galatians  Paul was saying, don't be surprised if the synagogue (the sons of the flesh, the sons of the Sinaitic law and hence ultimately the sons of Ishmael)  is persecuting you. 
And ultimately we shall see that Ishmael persecuted Isaac.  
So  do not be surprised  if the unbelieving seed of Abraham is persecuting  true  Christians. That is Paul's argument and therefore  he  continues:  
"But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit  with the son of the free woman. So  brothers, we are not children of  the slave , but of the free woman." (Gal. 4:30,31)

SENT OUT…. BUT NOT WITHOUT MERCY !

Sarah has asked Abraham to  send  Hagar and Ishmael away, and clearly   this causes Abraham  to be distressed.  Abraham loved this boy deeply. In fact, when God came to Abraham to promise him the birth of Isaac, do you remember Abraham's response? Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. (17:18). 
God, in response is not unkind. He promises  Abraham  that He will care  for the boy and his mother, and to him are given promises (21:13,18). Here  God says to Abraham, “Because I love you, Abraham, I will make him a great nation. I will protect him.”

All this is of great significance and later in Romans  9,  Paul will use  this  story  again to  help us to understand   that not all descendants of Abraham  are  sons  of the promise :
and not all are the children of Abraham because they are his (physical ) offspring, but  through Isaac shall your offspring be named!” (cf. Rom. 9:6ff)

God is  much more merciful  to Ishmael than Sarah. And so often we think we are more merciful  than God. But  the truth is that God is much kinder.  Hagar and  Ishmael are not left destitute  by any means . And this is true of all the  unregenerate people of the world today. God is  kind and gracious  to those that deny him and curse him and  ignore him.  This will  obviously have an end, when Jesus returns as the Judge making a final separation between the two kinds of people. 

But this text makes it clear that  there are only  two kinds of people in this world  - and so it is  There are those that   love and follow the true  God who has made the heavens and the earth, and there are those that follow their own thoughts and their man made gods.  The two are not compatible.    So, God had to separate them, just  as he had separated  Abraham and Lot,  so  that his heart would be uncompromised and wholly God's. If God was going to establish His seed, it was going to be through Isaac alone.

Yes, it breaks  Abraham’s heart, but God must break His heart  to build his faith. There are so many lessons in this, but  for the sake of the table set before us, I say  only this: 
When you come to the Lord  Jesus (the ultimate Son of Promise) and you receive His righteousness , in the place of your own old insufficient self - righteousness, you become a son of Isaac, the  son the promise. And you will leave your old  ways of sin behind you. You will make a decisive  break  with ungodliness and continue with Jesus.  Amen !




[1] In Genesis, Jesus is the seed of the Woman.  In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus, He is the Priest, the Altar and the Lamb of Sacrifice. In Numbers, He is the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. In Deuteronomy, Jesus is the Prophet like Moses.  In Joshua, Jesus is the captain of our salvation. In Judges, He is our Judge and Law-Giver.  In Ruth, He is our Kinsman and Redeemer. In 1 & 2 Samuel, He is our trusted  prophet. In Kings & Chronicles, He is our reigning King. In Ezra, He is the rebuilder of the broken-down walls of  our human lives.  In Nehemiah, Jesus is our Restorer. In Esther, He is our Advocate. In Job, Jesus is our Ever-Living Redeemer. In  the Psalms, He is our Shepherd. In Proverbs, He is our Wisdom. In Ecclesiastes, He is our hope of  the resurrection. In the Song of Songs, He is our loving Bridegroom. In Isaiah, Jesus is the suffering Servant. In Jeremiah , He is the righteous  who is wronged. In Lamentations, He is our weeping prophet. In Ezekiel, He is the one with the right to rule. In Daniel, Jesus is the fourth man in the fiery furnace. In Hosea, Jesus is the faithful husband.In Joel, He is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit and with  fire. In Amos, He is the restorer of Justice. In Obadiah, He is mighty to save. In Jonah, He is  the Word of God to the nations. In Micah,  He  is the feet of one who brings good news. In Nahum, Jesus is our stronghold in the day of trouble.
In Habakkuk, He is God  our Saviour. In Zephaniah, He is the King of Israel. In Haggai, He is the signet ring.
In Zechariah, He is our humble King riding on a colt. In Malachi, Jesus is the son of righteousness.
[2]  God works in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform-a hymn by William Cowper (1731-1800)
[3] Note : needs … not wants .  David was  able to testify in Psalm 37:25 : “ I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging for bread.”

Monday, November 13, 2017

Genesis 20 - “Abraham Grew through Failure”

Abraham grew through failure ... but not in the way we commonly think.  Germany  after  her disastrous engagement in two world wars grew through  through her failure, producing  an economic miracle, and yet  the German people   by and large did not grow  in the knowledge of God  If anything,   Germany  continues to move away from her Reformation heritage.  
We can  grow through our failures, but not necessarily  in a God-ward direction. Many people  learn from their mistakes,  because pain can be  a great teacher.  But Abraham grew  through his failures, and by the pure grace of God  he  grew, step by step  in godliness. 
We shall see in a future  sermon  from   Genesis  22 , that Abraham's faith and  confidence in God  will have  grown significantly by the time that  Isaac has been born. 

We have previously seen that Abraham’s  spiritual walk  with God (Chapters  12 -25)  is a series of ups and downs.   Our walk with God – our experience of sanctification is like climbing one of our famous Namibian sand dunes … three steps forward, one step back. But at least there is progress, and that is what we see essentially in Abraham’s life.    Nothing in the Genesis narrative gives us the indication that Abraham was a perfect man in himself. What we do see however is a wonderful example of a man chosen and loved by God and therefore   kept by the grace of God, and by this grace he was always advancing with God. Essentially, Abraham grew through his failures, and not because he was a good learner, but because God was so very gracious to him. 
  
It is significant to note that God seldom intervened   when His chosen people, and particularly his leaders   were about to make mistakes. He allowed them to fail, but  because of His love for them He was always ready to redeem them, and so  they did grow and grace and faith.  As already mentioned, the radical faith of Abraham  in the  22nd  Chapter of Genesis  shall humble us greatly. And so Abraham’s understanding of God was not merely a theoretical thing. He did not learn God from books. He learned God from experience.  Abraham learned the painful way    that shortcut’s did not ultimately make things easier for him.  In the struggles with childlessness, the birth of Ishmael did not bring about a solution. In fact the shortcut had made things more difficult.  Obedience does not come naturally to fallen people. We will try anything before we trust God and His Word. And it does us no good. If it were not for the great grace of God, none of us would stand! 

So, then let us trace the developments as they unfold in this chapter:

(i)               Vv.1-2 : Abraham's deception of Abimelech

We are not told why Abraham moved away from Mamre, but in all likelihood the memories associated with God's judgment against Sodom had something to do with it. Should he have moved away, from Mamre near Hebron, in the Promised Land where he had built an altar to the LORD (13:18) in the first place?

All we know is that by moving away he moves to renewed trouble, renewed temptations,   when he moves away from his spiritual haven into the territory of Abimelech[1], whose kingdom is located on the southern boundaries of Israel, towards the desert, the Negev. There is a spiritual lesson here for all of us. One of our great temptations in this life is to give way to our fear and insecurity,  and with it the associated thought that the grass is greener on the other side.  We tend to move from our fruitful and familiar place far too soon  when we sense discouragement, and  we get ourselves into  sticky situations. The safest and best place is close to  the altar of God - close to the people  of God, close to the church.  Moving into pagan  territory is associated with  many temptations , as we see here 

In Chapter 20 we find a repetition of a spiritual problem   found in Chapter 12:10-20. Abraham and Sarah were on the move, and as they  moved through different kingdoms  Abraham feared for his own life, (“They will kill me”  - 12:12; 20:11), and that for a very strange and unusual reason. He feared for his life on account of his wife Sarah, who must have been a particularly attractive woman, even in her older years.   In those years of the patriarchs, people lived much longer than they do today. The genetic material was purer, because the effects of the fall had not yet taken its full toll.  Abraham feared for his own life on account of beautiful Sarah.  He failed to trust God for His protection against the covetous heart of Pharaoh with respect to Sarah in Chapter 12.   And so it is again here with Abimelech of  Gerar  in Chapter 20  who took Sarah  into his Harem. The problem was that Abraham told both men a lie.  He told them that she was his sister , which was  true, but it was half true, and a half truth is also a lie.  He really struggled to trust God in these situations.    
And it was a terrible thing to do to  Sarah at this time  – the year before the promised child was to be born to  them.  But you see, there is much more going on here than meets the eye.   The world , the flesh and the devil conspire  to  keep the Messianic line  going , and  in this Abraham  own  urge towards  self –preservation,  is rooted  in  a much more   idolatrous problem  than that : GOD CAN’T BE TRUSTED  IN MY SITUATION. I HAVE TO  SEE MYSELF THROUGH THIS.  I AM IN CHARGE!   This is the lie  by which Satan originally tempted Eve.
This really begs for further thought.  Abraham, highly esteemed in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the so called Faith Chapter, fails to trust in God.  How then can God continue to love this man? The answer is important!  God had declared Abraham righteous.  He had sovereignly chosen Abraham. God had justified Abraham, but he had not yet been delivered from his body of sin, and from his sinful environment, and from the influences of Satan.   And so Abraham provides Paul the perfect example of a sinner saved by grace and not by Abraham's perfect righteousness. We know he wasn’t!  Right now he is not trusting God. Right now he is lying. Right now he is putting his wife into a very difficult spot. And therefore there was another basis that commended Abraham to God.  Thank God for His free Grace! 

(ii)             Vv.3-7:  God  comes to Abimelech in a dream and reveals to him what has happened and what he must do.

God’s grace becomes immediately visible as God speaks to Abimelech in a dream.  God will not allow His promises to and through  Abraham and Sarah  to be thwarted. They are crucial instruments in the fulfillment of the Messianic line. And so the grace of God intervenes, when all seems lost.

Abimelech of course has no clue that Sarah was not Abraham’s sister but his wife and he claims innocence in the matter.  But ignorance has never been an excuse in the eyes of God and the law. Abimelech is being called to account for coveting the wife of another man, and God is threatening to kill him.  We find here an ironic contrast between the relatively righteous behaviour of a pagan, Abimelech, and of Abraham, a  so called friend of  God.  And ultimately,  the difference between the two men is not their relative righteousness, but the grace of God, and the position and promises  that  God has assigned to Abraham. The glory of God is at stake here.  And so Abraham is what he is , by the grace of God and for the glory of God . There is nothing meritorious in Abraham  himself. 

And s o God says to Abimelech here, that Abraham is a prophet, a spokesman , a mouthpiece of  God.  This is  first time  that the  word prophet is used in the scriptures. Abraham is called the prophet of the Lord, not  so much because he has the powers to foretell the future, but because Abraham has a special relationship with God, and this is highlighted in his intercession at the end of the chapter.

(iii)           Vv. 4-13:  Abimelech confronts Abraham.

Abraham's sinful heart is exposed by Abimelech. Abraham makes three  pathetic excuses to Abimelech.  
·     v.11    There is no fear of God in this place – which is not true. God has just caused Abimelech to be very afraid .
·       v.12  Sarah is technically my  sister. Yes, that is true – but she is also his covenant wife.   
·       v. 13.  “When God caused me to wander from my father’s house I said to her , “This kindness you must do to me: at every place to which we come , say of me , he is my brother.”    He says God has caused me to wander like this, and “Sarah and I had this prior arrangement” !  He’s blame-shifting and he is not taking responsibility  for his cowardice !


(iv)            Vv. 14-18 : Abraham intercedes for Abimelech.

God in His grace uses  Abraham for His glory  and  in spite of  himself.  Abimelech’s (unknowing) sin is exposed in turn, and God is gracious to forgive this pagan king who has  sinned in ignorance. Abraham is appointed by God to pray for Abimelech and  for his people who have been afflicted by God for this sin, and  as a result of his command  and Abraham's prayer to  the God  who has called him and commanded him , God heals  Abimelech  and his people.

Isn't that an example of God in His grace using us for His glory in spite of ourselves, in spite of our sin?  And what is amazing is that God never mentions Abraham’s unfaithfulness again – not in those texts and expositions    concerning Abraham in  Romans 4, not in Galatians 3 &4, and not in Hebrews 11. In fact in Hebrews 11 Abraham is highly commended for having an extraordinary faith. Never does God refer to his past sin again.  Again we become aware of God’s amazing grace in Christ, and in the end we do see that Abraham grew through failure, not because of his own efforts, but because of the  amazing grace of God. 
Never stop magnifying the grace of God, and never cease to wonder that God loves you despite your many sins and trespasses. God loves you in the Christ in whom you have placed your faith and hope. God  loves you because of Jesus  who has kept the law for you, and  who has forgiven you  all yours sins and iniquities.  And the reason why you can grow in grace at all is because God is at work  in you even in your failures. 

And Jesus, because of His work on the cross is so very worthy of our praise!  And with  that  thought we now  come to the  Communion Table  spread for us.  Amen!






[1] lit. "father" and "king," and may be interpreted in a variety of ways, including "Father-King", "My father is king," or "Father of a king.  In the Pentateuch, it is used as a title for kings in the land of Canaan.  Abimelech was  probably  a dynastic title. We see  that name being applied to another king of Gerar in Genesis 26 : 8 in the time of Isaac.  It is also applied to Achish, the king of Gath, in I Samuel  21: 10  cf. Psalm 34.

Monday, October 23, 2017

Genesis 19: 30-38 “The Sad Results Of Poor Decision Making”

Here we are again. Another a very sad story, and another  very difficult  text to preach on  – not one that I would have chosen  to preach on, if I had my way. But  the Bible  holds us accountable, and we  must  deal with every issue as it presents itself , and with the help of the Holy Spirit who caused this to be written down for our sake, we must seek to understand what this  means  for our own day and  times.  
In a nutshell then,  our portion of Scripture  presents us with  a  thoughtful study  on the nature  and results of pathetic and  shallow and self- willed  thinking, drivenby a  form of living that feeds on short term gratification and based  on a lack of godly reflection, resulting in devastating long term consequences.

We have   previously seen that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, had chosen to live in Sodom, one of a number of cities at that time known by God for sustained patterns of sexual immorality, and a wide acceptance of the practise of homosexuality in particular. Although he was not guilty of the sins of the men of Sodom, Lot had chosen to live there. 2 Peter 2:7,8 tells us that  Lot was actually a righteous man, and we cannot argue with the assessment of Scripture.  We know that he actually defended the angelic visitors against homosexual rape. He told the people of Sodom not to act so wickedly (19:7)….”He was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds…” (2 Pet. 2:8)

But the fact remains that he and his family had settled into a comfortable mode here, and therefore were liable to the temptation of compromise. Many Christians struggle with this   tendency. The Bible warns us repeatedly to flee temptation. But the heart wants what the heart wants.  And so we find that his daughters, who clearly did not share their father’s sensitivity to sin, were to be married to men of that city. When the angels of judgement urged them and their prospective husbands to get out of the city   because the LORD God was going to send a devastating destruction upon it, they chose to stay. Likewise, Mrs Lot, whilst dutifully fleeing with her husband and daughters, kept looking back, for her heart was still in Sodom, and the Bible tells us that she too perished.

In the end, only Lot and his two daughters escaped. Whilst Lot had it in his mind to escape to a little town called Zoar (19:20), we are told that he and his daughters never actually settled in Zoar, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. 
Why was he afraid to live there? Well, Zoar was essentially like the cities that perished in this great judgement, and this city escaped by God’s mercy alone. It seems most likely then that he thought that Zoar was going to meet the same fate in time, and so Lot and his two daughters, out of fear chose not to live there, but instead  they went to live in a cave, away from the city.  Fear, incidentally is never a good motivation for living wisely.  Fear makes us insecure, and we easily become candidates for making bad choices. This is what happened in Lot’s case.   It happened in the case of Abraham. We saw it in   12: 10-20 when Abraham, as a result of the drought went down to in Egypt, and when he feared that Pharaoh would kill him on account of his beautiful wife, Sarah. We shall see the same thing happening again in Chapter 20, when Abimelech takes Sarah for himself, because Abraham said that she was his sister. There was clearly something in Sarah’s appearance that made her very attractive, even in her older years.

Back in the cave, and in the meantime Lot’s daughters began to think about their future – about having a family, and then they thought that there was no future. All they had was their old father, and so they schemed. And then the unthinkable happened.  They schemed to get him drunk and then to lie with him, to get an offspring for themselves by this ungodly means.   John Calvin comments, “It is true that they were not so much motivated by sensual lust as a foolish desire to procreate their family.”[1]

Under the influence of alcohol, convictions and morals and inhibitions crumble. Immoral conduct becomes more likely when alcohol is involved. We see this in our city. Most car accidents are caused by drunken driving.  People are routinely stabbed and killed in nightclubs where alcohol liberally flows. Wife abuse, husband abuse, child abuse is accentuated when alcohol is involved.  There is a connection between drunkenness and sexual immorality. Alcohol lowers inhibitions, and people lose control, and it leads to all sort of long term problems.

You will remember that a similar thing happened to Noah (Gen. 9: 18—29). He planted a vineyard, made wine, and became so drunk, that he lost his sense of modesty and he was found lying exposed and naked in his tent. When his son Ham   found Him in this condition it seems that Ham made fun of his father before his brothers.  His brothers Shem and Japheth by contrast dared not look at their father’s exposed body and instead they covered him respectfully.   There are some parallels here. Both men were delivered by God from their ungodly societies. Both had escaped the judgement of God upon their societies, and both fell into the sin of drunkenness following their deliverance.     
  
So here they are - Lot’s daughters, thinking about their future, thinking no further than their own noses. But then again,  we  are forced to think about their father. Righteous man that he was, for he was justified by God, yet he was an unprincipled father figure. He chose to live in Sodom, and he was not opposed for his girls to marry men from Sodom. What was worse however is that when the safety of his angelic guests was at stake he had even offered his daughters   to this mob of  sexual perverts  (19:8). 
What does this do to the thought life of a young woman? My father was willing to give me up!  He was prepared to sacrifice me to those beasts!   
And thus begins the vicious chain of abuse. The abused becomes an abuser in turn. One sin leads to another. And now the daughters are not thinking about their father’s honour.  Because he didn’t think about their honour!  He was sacrificing them  on the altar  of a misplaced perspective  on honour  and hospitality,  and now they,  in turn, were  willing to sacrifice a good conscience before God and man for the sake of their idolatrous desire of having a family at any means. In that sense they were actually no different to Abraham and Sarah,  when they used devious means to get children for themselves. They were unwilling to trust God for an outcome. That is always the danger when we want something and when we  want it NOW…. In that process we easily sacrifice God given principles, and this  leads to the danger of making poor choices that have negative and long term effects.

This is a plain warning to all of us who are fathers of daughters. We dare not make little of our daughters’ honour and purity.  Fathers, cherish your daughters and protect them from this oversexualised society. Teach them to love purity. We must not become a stumbling block to them in this regard; otherwise they will count their lives as cheap and disposable.  And be jealous about whom they will marry, without being overbearing.

In this passage we have a sobering reminder of what happens when we are not careful about the company that we keep. It has an impact upon our children. Where we live, and how we respond to evil, and our own spiritual commitments - all of these things are vital in the spiritual formation of our children. Our moral environment significantly influences our lives.  “Bad company ruins good morals” [1 Cor. 15:33].  For this reason the Bible exhorts us to have fellowship with believers of like faith. So this passage reminds us again of the result of the worldly environment in which Lot's daughters had been raised. And they embraced that form of thinking (and not godly reflection) when they became desperate.

Was there another way out? Yes of course.  But they did not think of asking the same LORD that just had delivered them from such a great destruction, to provide husbands for them.  And they could have left that cave and gone to their uncle Abraham.  They must have known that he was living not far from them.  But pride always gets in the way. And   this is the way with worldly young people. They do not want to be found in the company of their religious family.  Perhaps it was too convicting. Maybe they even resented him. Maybe their uncle Abraham even had previously spoken to them about not marrying those boys from Sodom. Who knows?  I know that this is a conjecture, but there is a reason why they did not settle with Abraham.  They did not share the faith of Abraham.  And so we see that there was clearly no godly desire in them, as seen in the next few verses…

VV 36-38 : “Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called him Moab (which means, ‘from the father’) . He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son  and called his name  Ben-ammi ,which means  ‘son of my close relative’ . He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.” 

Now, what were the consequences of this?  ‘In that cave the impregnation was all over in a few minutes but the legacy of what happened there lasted a thousand years’, says Geoff Thomas.  From our reading if the OT Scriptures  we  understand that  the  Moabites and the Ammonites,  the extended family of the children  of Abraham, Israel  became some of their  cruellest and  bitterest enemies, just like the sons of Ishmael, born to the illegitimate union between Hagar and Abraham who became sworn enemies of Israel.  
And so we read for instance that when Israel left Egypt and asked Moab permission to pass through their land on their journey to the promised land, they were refused and resisted (See Numbers 22-24). As a result the Lord pronounced judgement upon Moab. When Israel camped in the plains of Moab and ready to cross the Jordan their men were seduced by Moabite women and they began to sacrifice to Baal the god of the Moabites ( Numbers 25:1).  They were a great stumbling block to Israel.
The Ammonites worshipped the idol god Molech. Molech worship included child sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21 warns Israel:  "Neither shall you give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord."

The Moabites and Ammonites also raided Israel in the time of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah and again in the days of the prophet Elisha.  So, the grandsons of Lot did not become friendly cousins, a blessing, but a curse to Israel. 

A last word about Lot.  He disappears from the scene, never to be heard of again. Matthew Henry says this about Lot: "From the silence of scripture concerning Lot henceforward, we may learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes men forgotten; and many a name, which otherwise might have been remembered with respect, is buried by it in contempt and oblivion." That's a sad thought. Even though he was a righteous man in his generation, his convictions did not translate into wise family leadership, and so the consequences are that his family line descends into evil, and we take note of the judgment of God against sin.

And yet we find grace in the midst of this mess, and we must not fail to see this.   In the providence of God we find that centuries later a woman comes out of Moab.  Her name was Ruth, and the story of Ruth lives on in a book of the Bible. She eventually married a Jew called Boaz, and to them was born Obed, and of Obed was born Jesse the father of king David.  And of this line Jesus was born, our eternal King, made incarnate by the will of God. He was born to Joseph and Mary, both descendants of David.Geoff Thomas says: “Through the umbilical cord that attached Jesus to Mary, the line of our Lord goes back …to this cave and to a drunken righteous man and his scheming immoral daughters.” 
And, remember, each one of us, this is where Jesus found us,  when He found us … ‘fast bound in sin and nature’s night’ (Charles Wesley: ‘And can it be)’. 
Jesus came to redeem sinners, and we shall discover that nobody will be found in heaven that deserves to be there, but because of the tender mercy of our God.  

We thank God that we may see His grace even in the midst of such  utter  sin and unbelief, and we thank Him once again for  for such  a severe mercy. Amen






[1]  John Calvin : Genesis, Crossway Publications, p.186

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Genesis 19: 23-29 “The Judgement upon Sodom and Gomorrah”

We have previously  considered, 
(i)  the announcement of the Judgement  of Sodom  and the intercession of Abraham  
(ii) the  personal revelation of the wickedness of Sodom to the 2 messengers of God,  and the rescue mission of Abraham’s nephew  Lot and  his family, and now...  
(iii) we shall consider the actual  destruction of  Sodom and  Gomorrah, along with the tragic incident  involving Lot’s wife.

There are few  more terrible and tragic accounts in the Bible  than this one. Martin Luther   confessed that he could not read the chapter without  being deeply affected (‘Es geht mir durch mein ganzes Herz’- this   story  pierces  my  whole heart). [1]  

23-25. As the sun had  risen, Lot came to Zoar, and  the LORD Yahweh rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah sulphur and fire from  the heavens…  Although only Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned, we learn from Deut. 29:23[2]  that Admah and Zeboiim were involved as well.  We read of  this group of five towns  in Genesis 14:2,9  and it appears that of  these, Zoar the town to which Lot fled, alone was spared. These towns were communities under the judgment of God.  For many years the LORD God had been patient with them, restraining His anger, giving the people much time to repent and change their ways, but now the time had come when their sin had reached its full measure. This was all confirmed by the two angels of God who had come for that final investigation. It was also these angels  that  were instrumental  in getting  Lot and his family out of these cities of destruction. It was these that told Lot and his family in v.17,  “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in this valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

The  text tells us  that  the LORD – Yahweh rained  upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire". Nothing points to a volcanic eruption. No volcanic lava remains are found  in the immediate vicinity.  Some have thought   that it was  a violent earthquake, referring to the word "overthrew"(vv. 25,29). There certainly is  seismic  activity in this  area of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.  I understand that this is all part of the Rift Valley that runs from the  Middle  Near East down through east Africa into Kenya.    An earthquake occurred when Christ died (Matt. 27:51) and when Paul was in prison in Philippi (Acts 16:25).

However the best explanation given is that  the "fire" which rained down from heaven may have been lightning. The "sulphur" ( Brimstone) , common  in the Middle East  may have been connected to a huge explosion of highly inflammable materials, connected with the "bitumen pits"  mentioned  in   Gen. 14:10   causing a vast conflagration.  The towns were overthrown, and all their   inhabitants, and  even what grew on the ground vanished (v.25)
It happened! It is a fact. It was an act of God.  It happened in history,  like the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in  AD 79,  one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Mount Vesuvius spewed forth a deadly cloud of  gasses to a height of 33 kilometres, ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings.  Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the best known cities being Pompeii and Herculaneum.[3]

It happened  like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake  which caused a  series of devastating tsunamis, killing 230,000–280,000 people in 14 countries, and swamping coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres  high. It was one of the deadliest disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. It is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded.  
And it happened like the 2011 Japan earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world, since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres.   Almost 16 000 people died, apart from huge damage to homes and infrastructure.  The tsunami also caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant.  The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history.[4]

And all these tell the same story.  They are acts of God. God is sending temporary judgments  into this fallen world, reminding  the world frequently that  the world as we know it  will  have a  catastrophic ending , followed  by a general resurrection and  a Great White Throne  judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).  Sodom is a foretaste of that day, and these  so called natural disasters, and catastrophes , according to Jesus  are but the beginnings of the birthpains. (Matt. 24:8)  

V. 26.  But Lot’s wife, behind him  looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. What did the angel of God say in v. 17?  “Don’t look back!”, and yet  she did  (v.26).  Here she  is.  She is fleeing with her husband and her daughters but her  heart was in Sodom. She had left Sodom, but Sodom was still in her heart. If she had her way she would have stayed behind like her prospective sons in law. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died. She followed, not because of personal conviction. She followed because it was her duty to follow her husband.  Oh how many there are in our churches like that.   There are so many people in the world that follow Christ out of duty and not out of delight.  You may have spiritual advantages of every description. You may belong to a good family of Christians. You may be in a church where  the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed and where many are devoted to following the Lord Jesus.   All this may be, and yet you yourself may remain without a true desire to love and follow Christ.  And so when  ‘push comes to shove’, and  when you are called by Jesus  to  make choices that  take you away from the world, taking steps like Christian in Pilgrims Progress towards heaven, you look back  and wish that you  could  enjoy  more of this Sodom.   

Now remember the words of the Lord Jesus in  Luke  17:28-33 . In that context, with reference to the days of Lot, He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” ….whoever seeks to preserve his life (in Sodom) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (to Christ)  will  keep  it” (v.33). 
 
"She looked back.”  This might seem like a small insignificant thing, but it spoke volumes of what really mattered to her. Little things will often show the state of a man’s heart and mind more accurately than great ones. Little symptoms are often the signs of a deadly disease. Cancer starts with a little cell.  A virus and bacteria are invisible to the naked eye. But they have powerful effects. This backward look showed what was first in her life. 

So many have shown promise in spiritual matters. They started well. They followed the Lord Jesus zealously for a while, but when it really mattered, they loved the world more than Jesus. They followed Him no longer (John 6:66). Their love grew cold (Rev.  2:1-7). They became lukewarm  (Rev. 3 :14-22). They have tasted of the goodness of the  word of God and  the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away….” (Hebr. 6:5,6).   Remember Lot’s wife, says Jesus! She is  a warning  to all who do not make a clear-cut break with the world.  

Vv.27, 28. Abraham goes back to the place where he had "stood before the LORD Yahweh"- where he had interceded for Sodom  and Gomorrah. What he saw down below in the valley must have been gut wrenching.   He saw vast volumes of smoke rising from in all the land of the valley . If you remember Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991)  the response   to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait  on 2nd   August 1990 and the burning oilfields of Kuwait , then you will get an idea  of what Abraham  would have seen here.

The expression used here, literally translated here as  "smoke of the earth"[5], seems to suggest that the very ground burned.  Again,  this points to  the possibility that  oil deposits near the surface may have been ignited to cause  this  enormous conflagration.

V.29. “So it was that when God  destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot  out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew  the cities in which Lot had lived”. The primary thought of the verse is: God remembered Lot for Abraham’s sake. Abraham’s prayer, although it was not answered in the way he had wished, resulted nevertheless   in Lot’s preservation.  But Lot was not delivered for his own sake but for Abraham’s. "The  prayer of a  righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)  

REVIEW  AND APPLICATION
This text which we have considered is no fairy tale, and Luther’s reaction to it, should be ours. It is a terrible thing to see sinners falling into the hands of an angry God.  This is a reminder of the final judgment.  It appears that people in our day are just as cynical and unbelieving about the fact of that coming judgment, just as they were in the days of Noah. Jesus said so! (Lk 17:26). And in all this we must remember that God is not slow to judge.   “He is patient… not wishing anyone to perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The  lesson of Lot’s wife  is  a particular warning for those that associate  with Jesus and His church , but  who remain fundamentally attached to this world . In the  NT she is a standing warning against worldliness. Jesus will tell you,   “remember Lot's wife”!  

Abraham, the intercessor, reminds  us  that Christians have a duty to pray  for  their   world and to be exercised over its ungodliness, whilst at the same time  pleading with God for His mercy. There is a great promise here for those of us  with unconverted families. God hears our prayer  for their sake. We are told that God spared Lot because of Abraham's intercession.

One last thing : Jesus said  to His disciples in Matt 10: 14-15 , "And if  anyone will  not receive you, or listen to  your words,  shake the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." Jesus is saying that those who reject the gospel message are liable to a more intense judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement.

And where will you be in that  day? Where is your heart rooted? Remember  Lot’s wife. She had experienced many spiritual privileges, but  ultimately  she would  experience the same judgment as  did the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. She was so  close  to the gates of Zoar and yet so far away.

THE LORD’ SUPPER
An invitation  to come to  Jesus  your Zoar, your Redeemer,  your   Deliverer, the One who has  facilitated  your great escape.  

EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE #4 : REPENTANCE IS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE MADE UP OF SIX INGREDIENTS

  OUTLINE 1.  The Heart of Biblical Repentance 2. True and False Repentance 3. Repentance -  A New Testament Overview 4. Biblical  Repentanc...