Abraham, Father of Faith Part 6 “The Seed of Promise, Slightly Doubted”
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28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Introduction
Introduction
Deacons after service
Youth tonight
Meetings
7:00 Thursday and Friday
10:30 and 6:00 Saturday
10:30? Sunday
One of the reasons we see Abraham making the mistakes he made was his revelation was progressive.
First, He is told that He will be a great nation, and will journey to a land which will be shown him in the future:
1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Next he is shown the land:
14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Next he is shown that his heir would come from him:
4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
There is something still missing from Abraham’s revelation: Sarah’s part in it all.
Not only did Abraham have to believe God Sarah had to believe God.
Sarah had to have a body change, but she had never heard directly from God, until the secret of her heart was revealed on the Plain of Mamre.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Whatever false doctrine is taught, it is taught in the absence of the Opening of the Word.
It is the Open Book that reveals the Bride’s part in redemption. Without it, the seed of promise can be slightly doubted, and denominations will form.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
Now, remember, that was not Jesus talking to Abraham there, that could discern the thoughts in Sarah’s mind behind Him. That was not Jesus, He had not yet been born. But it was a Man in human flesh, that Abraham called “Elohim, the great Almighty.”
Showing…And Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Sodom,” now watch close, “in the days of Sodom, so will it be at the coming of the Son of man, when the Son of man is being revealed.” Not no more as a church, see, not no more; the Bride is called, see.
“In that day the Son of man will be revealed.” What? To join the Church to the Head, unite, the marriage of the Bride. The Bridegroom call will come right through this, when the Son of man will come down and come in human flesh to unite the two together.
The Church has to be the Word, He is the Word, and the two unites together, and, to do that, it’ll take the manifestation of the revealing of the Son of man.
Not a clergyman. I don’t know, I…Do you see what I mean? See, it’s Son of man, Jesus Christ, will come down in human flesh among us, and will make His Word so real that it’ll unite the Church and Him as one, the Bride, and then She’ll go Home to the Wedding Supper. Amen.
She’s already united, see, we go to the Wedding Supper, not to the marriage. “…fill your flesh…self, of all the flesh of mighty men, ’cause the marriage of the Lamb has come.” But, the Rapture, is going to the Wedding Supper. When, the Word here unites with the person, and they two become one.
And then what does it do then? It manifests the Son of man again, not the church theologians. The Son of man! The Word and the Church becomes one. Whatever the Son of man done, He was the Word, the Church does the same thing. 64-0816 - "Proving His Word"
It is the opening of the Word that separates the Bride from the church.
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And, notice, the First Seal opened. The First Seal, when It was opened in the symbol form, it thundered. Now what about when It’s opened in Its reality form?
My…It thundered as soon as the Lamb struck back the Seal. And what did It reveal? Not all of Itself. First, It’s with God; next, It’s in a symbol; then, It’s revealed. Three things. See? It’s coming forth from the Throne.
First, It can’t be seen, heard, or nothing. It’s sealed up. The Lamb’s Blood paid the price.
It thundered when He spoke It out. And when He did, a white-horse rider started out, and It still was a symbol. Now watch, He said It would be known in the last day. But It comes forth in a church symbol.
Do you understand it, church? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] It comes forth in a symbol of a church, that they know there is a Seal. But just what It is, yet, they don’t know, because It’s a white-horse rider.
And only is to be revealed at the last day, when this actual Seal is broken. Broken to who? Not to Christ, but to the Church.
Notice, now. Oh, my, that just makes me tremble! I hope that the Church truly understands It, what I mean, you people. I’m going to call you Bride, see, that You’ll understand It. 63-0318 - "The First Seal"
Before the seals were opened to Abraham, Sarah, a type of the church before the Bride part was revealed, came up with an idea.
1 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
3 And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
Out of this union comes Ishmael.
This was the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise.
Here we are presented with a picture. Oh! The seed started, the seed of promise, started in a slightly doubted, doubt of the original promise. See how it starts low, in doubt in the original promise.
God promised Abraham, through Sarah, to have this child. But now watch, the first seed of Abraham by the bondswoman come by Sarah doubting that this could happen, because she was old and passed the age of bearing.
Now that’s how the church starts. That’s how it always starts. You start from the bottom. You don’t start from the top. A man trying to climb a ladder, tries to get on top first, he’ll break his neck. You’ve got to start and build up to that.
And here we find the beginning of the promise of God being made manifest, through a slightly doubted, interrupted program of God. 65-0218 - "The Seed Is Not Heir With The Shuck"
Ishmael was a seed of Abraham, the seed of promise, slightly doubted, but Isaac was the seed of promise.
Paul says that the law was the promise slightly doubted.
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Isaac is birthed by the will of God, but Ishmael is birthed by Abraham’s efforts.
When we try to make things happen we get in trouble.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.
Sarah got in a hurry, and it produced a wild man.
Eve did the same thing.
David did the same thing bringing back the ark.
They that have the Spirit of God, wait for these things. And when they see those things, they believe those things. 65-0718M - "Trying To Do God A Service Without Being The Will Of God"
They wait on the Lord, waiting; and when they do, and they see that promise of today, being vindicated, it renews their faith in His Word. Cause, He promised to do it, and here He is doing it.
Then there’s no doubt. God speaks. His Word, first, speaks. And then the Spirit that’s bringing It does the thing that the Word said It would do. 65-0718M - "Trying To Do God A Service Without Being The Will Of God"
Move just as far as God lets you move, and then wait on the Lord. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” 59-1127 - "Blind Bartimaeus"
Abraham and Sarah didn’t wait.
Most Ishmael’s are born out of good intentions.
Bro. Branham taught that the church, like Israel, “chose law for grace”
In other words, in trying to protect what they had they organized it and died.
Sometimes a person will get a legalistic attitude towards others. Maybe they were saved from a life of sin and they know how bad the world is.
Perhaps they were raised in church and they just want to keep their standards high. That’s a good thing, but we must stay with the Word. Be careful not to wrap the Word in your opinions.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Legalism does not produce holiness, it produces hypocrites.
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” “Well, He didn’t mean it.”
He was talking to people who were theologians, to the highest. Those priests, their great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers had to be priests. To misconstrue one Word of It, why, it was absolutely a death penalty. They had to be stoned, for one Word to be missed.
But they had the wrong interpretation of It. Therefore when the Word Itself; when God promised to send the Messiah, and sent It in the very swaddling cloth that He promised It would come in, they had a different swaddling for It to be wrapped in.
Let me say this: So is it today, that they don’t get It! It’s not in the swaddling of denominationalism or intellectual. It’s in the swaddling of the power and the resurrection, and the manifestation of the risen Christ, the way God promised It, and not in the swaddling of people’s thoughts of It.
Now, Hagar, by one little slight difference, through woman, not through Abraham now. Abraham didn’t want to do it, but God let him do it because he…Same thing, He let Balaam go on.
Now notice, by slightly differing with It, she brought forth Ishmael, which was a wild man, never conquered. He lived by his bow. He was a wild man. He is yet, today. 65-0429B - "The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck"
Let God be God.
Sometimes people get in a hurry in their personal lives.
Now, it’s a serious thing when we go to choose a wife, a man, for the vows here is “until death do we part.” That’s how we should keep it. And you take that vow before God, that only death will separate you.
And I think we should…A man in his right mind, that’s planning a future, that he should choose that wife very careful. Be careful what you’re doing.
And a woman choosing a husband, or accepting the choice of a husband, should be real careful what she’s doing, and especially in these days. A man should think and pray before he chooses a wife. 65-0429E - "The Choosing Of A Bride"
You don’t have to settle for God’s permissive will! Find someone who is qualified, and full of the Holy Ghost.
(Example: Gabe and Millie)
Don’t get invested in an idea or a doctrine or a church until you see what kind of child will be born from it.
Ishmael was Abraham’s seed, but he was born of a slightly doubted promise.
We are not just any seed of Abraham, we are seed of the promise.
The book is open, we don’t have to make the mistakes that others made.
Hagar was an Egyptian that probably came from Pharoah’s house when Abraham and Sarah were backslid.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
She would have had Egyptian ways, just like the church organization has Babylonian ways.
Look at how God deals with Hagar, and with Ishmael, because Ishmael is Abraham’s natural seed.
When Ishmael is conceived, Sarah was despised by Hagar, so there is trouble in the home.
Hagar runs away, and the Angel of the Lord appears to her.
God doesn’t only speak to Message people.
9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
She goes back and submits herself to Sarah.
15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
Abraham is 86.
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
For 13 years there is no record that God spoke to Abraham at all. He had to walk by faith.
Abraham believed God, even when God was silent.
Abraham was a prophet.
When you hear a prophet rising, that’s got all the answers to every gimmick that you can bring up, remember, he’s not a prophet.
Today they’ve got to know everything, when you’re going to have a toothache and when you’re going to have a tummyache, and everything else, and tell you all about it. That isn’t the nature of our God. 62-1111E - "Why I'm Against Organized Religion"
Abraham still loved Ishmael. A Prophet’s desire is not Thus Saith the Lord.
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
God has not forsaken the church. He is on the outside knocking, trying to get in, but He will have a Bride.
Fast forward to Chapter 21, Isaac has been born, he is being weaned, and Sarah catches Hagar persecuting, mocking, Isaac.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
This is so important.
Hagar is cast out into the desert with a bottle of water and a loaf of bread.
16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
Why? Because Ishmael was Abraham’s seed.
I know where there is another Well that was put down on the Day of Pentecost. It’s just as open tonight as it was the time when it was opened back there, and the waters is just as fresh to every man or woman that wants to take the right road with God’s Word, and walk with Him. 63-0122 - "Remembering The Lord"
Conclusion
Conclusion
If he would do that for the seed of slightly doubted promise, how much more would he give waters of life to the fully believed seed of promise.
Now the book has been opened, we know Sarah’s part. The Son of Man has been revealed.
(Example: widow and the unjust judge)
Cry out to Him, he will hear your voice, and give you water from the rock.