An Honest Eulogy Of A Great Man, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. And so whenever God leads you need to follow and I think we don't like following because it's going to cost us something. I mean think of Abraham what it cost him. It cost him his family, it cost him his friends, it cost him his way of life. He was urban in Ur of the Chaldees. He's living out in the wilderness in a tent.

It cost him a lot and we know it's going to cost us a lot so we don't really want to follow because it may cost us too much. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. This is 26 and verse 1. Now listen how this reads.

I think you're going to realize wow this is familiar. Now there was famine in the land. There we go again. Except this isn't about Abraham. This is about Isaac. Now there was famine in the land besides the previous famine. He said that it had occurred in the days of Abraham.

This is an all new famine. So it says, so Isaac went to Gerar and Gerar to Abimelech the king of the Philistines. Philistines by the way the seafaring guys. They live on, a lot of people historians will say the Philistines were the first Vikings. They raided people, plundered people.

They were very good seamen. And so he goes and runs into the land of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said do not go down to Egypt.

Been there done that. You see don't you dare go down to Egypt there's a famine in the land. He said stay in the land which I shall tell you.

Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you. And he says unto you and your descendants I will give all these lands. And I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham and I will multiply your descendants of the stars of heaven and give your descendants all these lands and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. There is the Abrahamic covenant repeated to Isaac.

The whole covenant the same thing you're going to get it all. He said because Abraham obeyed me kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws and so Isaac he says lived in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife he said this is Isaac she is what my sister what she is my sister.

For he was afraid to say my wife thinking the men of this place might kill me on account of Rebecca because she's beautiful. What? Now understand something here. Two things. One when Abraham had done this Isaac wasn't on the scene. So this wasn't something that Isaac never saw this before. And I'm pretty sure now listen to this carefully there is no such thing as she's my sister Jean.

OK. There's not a Jean that says you have to say when you meet somebody that threatens you your wife your sister. I don't think he inherited it's not a genetic thing. Where do you learn to do that? You see I think what happened was that was his father's propensity. By the way if you're a parent you have a propensity. The reality of it is it will show up.

In your kitchen by the way isn't that hard. I mean it's amazing when you see something in your child you realize wow they got that from me. You know that's just the way I am. They picked that up but notice what he does. Now it says it came about that he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines. Now the word Abimelech means the father of the king.

This is 97 years later. Most of the historians believe this is Abimelech's son Abimelech. Be like Pharaoh. Pharaoh's son is called Pharaoh. But this is a son. Now I'm sure that some was told by his father something about Abraham and what happened with that. So he's thinking wait a minute I've been here but my dad told me stories about people like this.

Watch what happens. It came about when he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through the window and he saw behold Isaac was caressing his wife Rebecca. Now this isn't the generic hug. That's a nice word in English. The Hebrew word is way more playful. It at the heart of the word is sort of like laughter.

OK. In other words they were playing with each other in a very romantic way. Now Abimelech says I may be a pagan but that's not the way you act with your sister.

You know that that's certainly not right. And so what happens is it says Abimelech called Isaac and said behold certainly she's your wife. How then did you say she is my sister and Isaac said because I said I might die on account of her. Isn't it interesting in the New Testament the condition for a husband is to love your wife as Christ loved the church.

Inherit in that is what? I would die for her. What does Isaac say? I'm going to die for her. What did Abraham say?

I'm not going to die for her. Now what's the aftermath? Abimelech said what is this that you have done to us?

One of the people might easily have lain with your wife and you would have brought guilt upon us. So Abimelech charged all his people saying he who touches this man or his wife surely will be put to death. Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred fold. And the Lord blessed him and the man became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy.

For he had possessions of flocks and herds and great households so the Philistines envied him. So wait a minute you lie about your wife says she's your sister in order to protect yourself and you get blessed a hundred fold. What do you call that? Grace.

That's what you call that. It's grace. It's unmerited favor. It's exactly what you and I receive. Don't think for a moment the blessings in your life are earned.

They're not. It's the grace of God. And so that's exactly what happens here. Now whenever he felt threatened he lied.

Whenever he was afraid he retreated. And when he became impatient when Abraham became impatient he heeded the wrong counsel. Think of that. I mean he's 75 and he wants a son. He doesn't get one. He's 76 and he wants a son and he doesn't get one.

77 78 79 80 81 82. Now you can see this building and then that's when Sarah comes up with the idea. How about Hagar? You see my maidservant. How about her?

And she can bury you a son. Look at the catastrophe that brought. Especially on Hagar and Ishmael. And then everybody else. Just think of what happened. He heeded really really poor advice. Why?

Because he became impatient. There's a principle here. People who love you can give you really terrible advice. Please understand that.

Unless they do I'm saying they can. People who love you can give you really terrible advice. And that was exactly what happened with Sarah and Abraham. I can still remember my father never gave me advice over a lot of things. When he finally gave me advice he told me how bad an idea it was for me to quit a good job and go to Texas and start school again. This is just wrong. This is not a good thing to do.

Now he might be saying that out of love. But he is wrong. That's bad advice. You see the people that love you can give you bad advice. When you become impatient what you need to do is to bathe your decisions in prayer. And then seek wise counsel from impartial wise people. And then you make a decision. If you don't do it that way you get ended up like Abraham must have some day on a hillside when he was going through all the stress with Hagar and Sarah and thinking.

Hit himself in the head and goes what was I thinking when I did that? Often we heed bad advice that's exactly what happens to us. And so he wasn't a perfect man and I'm so grateful for that. You see I'm so grateful for the fact that here is a great man but he's not perfect. There was only one great man who was perfect. There's only one great man who will ever be perfect.

He's the only celebrity in the universe and he's Jesus Christ. That's why God goes so much out of his way to let you know these biblical heroes were not men of perfection. So what are the lessons that we can learn from Abraham?

Well again they follow his strengths. I think there are four lessons that we can learn. One, wherever God leads follow. Wherever God leads follow. Now notice God's not going to come to you audibly and ask you to walk a thousand miles. He's not going to do that.

But it's different now. The Spirit of God indwells you. And the Spirit of God convicts you. And boy you get leadings and convictions from the Spirit of God. Whenever you get a leading and conviction from the Spirit of God follow it. Some of you have trouble with that. I've had people come up over the years and they'll say, you know I'm having a really strong conviction that we need to do something about a particular area of need in ministry.

In the church or out of the church it doesn't matter. But I really have a strong conviction. Now would you get someone else to follow through on this? I have the conviction.

No. You have a conviction you follow through that's why God gave you the conviction. You see if you think there should be a ministry, a different kind of ministry in a convalescent home then go to the convalescent home.

Follow it. Don't say I have this great conviction of a burden for a ministry and someone else ought to do it. God doesn't work that way. You see I figure if God wanted me to do it he'd have given me the conviction. And so whenever God leads you need to follow.

And I think we don't like following because it's going to cost us something. I mean think of Abraham what it cost him. It cost him his family. It cost him his friends. It cost him his way of life. He was urban in Ur of the Chaldees.

He's living out in the wilderness in a tent. It cost him a lot. And we know it's going to cost us a lot so we don't really want to follow because it may cost us too much. We may end up going to a place we're not so sure we like. Problem with that is is that that's bad theology. That's exactly what the Exodus generation did. They got out of 400 years of slavery and then go and the way the promised land go we don't really like it here.

God wasn't too happy with that. Wherever God leads follow. The rewards will always always outdo the hardships. Secondly whatever God promises believe them. Just believe them. Rest on them.

Rely on them. God didn't give us the promises of the scriptures for you to memorize. He gave them to you to believe them. You see you need to trust the promise. It's amazing how many promises we know and how little peace we have. Apparently knowing the promise doesn't give you peace. You have to trust the promise. You have to believe the promise.

Good example. Jesus Christ has promised a couple things to us. Trials. Tribulations.

And comfort. Now let me say something to you. Whether you believe that there's going to be trials and tribulations it doesn't matter they're coming Jesus promised.

Okay it won't matter whether you believe that or not. In James chapter 1 remember consider it all joy my brethren when various trials come upon you. Not if.

When. So trials and tribulations are coming but get this if you don't believe the promises of God you'll never get the comfort. You won't get the comfort. You get the trial you get the tribulation but you get no comfort. Jesus said I promise you comfort. You say I promise you.

The promises of Christ. I care about you. Cast your cares upon me because I care for you. I care about you. I'll never leave you.

I'll stay right here. I'll work all things out together for your good. These are all promises. But you have to believe them or they won't help you at all. And so many times we don't believe them. And when we don't believe them we don't have peace we don't have joy and we don't have hope.

So. Wherever God leads follow whatever God promises believe. Whenever God tests. Trust. You see I don't think we like tests much. I don't mean just academic tests we don't like those either. But I think all tests make us feel uneasy. All tests have risk in it. You see all tests have risk in it. That's why the let go test is so difficult.

There's a lot of risk in that test. But they have risk in it. And what do we want? We want to be safe no matter what.

We just want to be safe. But you could be safe. But you'll never move anywhere. You'll never grow.

You'll never change. That's the whole point that he makes. There's a saying that we use and we use it in the wrong context a lot. People say God will never give you more than you can handle.

I don't believe that at all. When it comes to temptation yes. God will always allow us an escape to temptation.

But when it comes to life are you kidding? I think most of my life is marked by God giving me more than I can handle. Why? It will drive me to God. You see when you're facing circumstances in your life you go I can't handle this.

I just can't handle this. God's like come on. Come here. Come up.

See this. Come up on Abba's knee. Come up on daddy's knee. Come to the throne of grace. I'll give you grace and mercy here.

Come. That's what God wants. That's why he gives you a test. You see so often you're like well I just got to work hard and get my test.

No I don't. I just need to go to my father. You see that's what I need to do. He tests us. And if we test us we should trust him. So wherever God leads follow whatever God promises. Believe whenever God tests trust and however God blesses. Share.

Share. One last passage. I've looked at it before but once again look at 1 Timothy 6. It couldn't be more clear.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 6 verse 17 instruct those who are rich in this present world. And I've said this over all the years and I have the facts to back it up. That's you.

Okay that's you. Now don't tell me you don't live by the golf course or you don't live on the lakefront. So that means you're not rich. I'm talking about the world. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. But on God who richly supplies us with all these things all your wealth to do what to enjoy it. Isn't that great. He gives it to you to enjoy it. But there's a caveat right there. He said instruct them to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share.

Why? They will store up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future. And they'll finally realize what life is all about. I'll paraphrase that.

That's what he's doing. In other words resolve to be a generous person. Resolve to be a generous person. When is the last time that you gave something away. Something that really meant a lot to you. Something that cost you a great deal.

When is the last time you did that. You see that's what giving is. It's from your heart. We don't give grudgingly nor in a necessity. We give from our heart.

That's the whole point. Why is that so important. Because we reflect our father's nature when we do that. You see if you want to know what is Christian love all about. Well it's about things like forgiving as you were forgiven. Giving sacrificially.

In other words you see how this works considering everyone else is more important than you are. That's what Christian love is all about. It's easier to say oh I love Jesus and I love everybody else too. But it's different when it comes to forgiveness and giving.

You see well wait a minute I want to withhold some of that. For God so loved you he gave his son. Now how precious is that.

Well we saw it in the Isaac and Abraham story. For Christ so loved you that he became your substitute to experience the wrath of God on the cross for you. That's what they gave those are two pretty precious things. You see what do we give that's precious to us. So often what we give is simply our surplus.

And I don't mean just money I mean our time talents all kinds of stuff like that. And so whenever wherever God leads follow whatever God promises believe whenever God tests trust and however God blesses share. That's Abraham.

He's worthy of the study the friend of God. You see Abraham story is our story. We're pilgrims.

Now we don't know where you are but we are. Remember God has promised us a place. Now I haven't seen it and neither of you but he's promised it.

I'm a citizen of that place not this world. You see he's promised it. So he says to me believe me trust me just like Abraham did. Abraham's epitaph can be our epitaph. If we choose to be fully convinced that God is able to deliver on his promises.

You see if we make that choice. When God calls us we obey we go when he leads we follow. When God promises something we believe it and we get comfort and peace and joy from that belief. When we're tested we trust God to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And when we're blessed as he blesses us we openly and sacrificially share what God has done in our lives.

That's what happens. When we follow the example the father of us all the friend of God Abraham. Let's pray. Father thank you for this story of the life of Abraham. Thank you for this man who got all of it started at 75.

How encouraging that must be for those of us who are older. How can God use us in mighty ways regardless of the age barrier. Father thank you that he has weaknesses and strengths. That he's a man of fears but a man of faith. Thank you father that you call him friend.

Because it gives us an idea that we don't need to be perfect in order to be your friend. Thank you father that Paul uses him as the example of faith. That he believed you and you reckoned it to him as righteousness. Thank you father for Abraham being the example of how we relate to you.

We relate to you because we believe you and we trust you. And so when you tell us you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins we believe that and we trust that. And because Jesus Christ has died for our sins we have been born again into the family of God. We are new creatures in Christ. All the old has passed away.

New things have come. Thank you father for the certainty of heaven. Thank you father for the power of the spirit of God in our lives. Thank you father for Jesus Christ who has given us hope. For Jesus Christ who has given us peace. And for Jesus Christ who can give us joy day in and day out. Thank you for the sacrifice of your son our savior. In his name we pray.

Amen. We ask that you join us on the Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station.

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