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Voddie Baucham - Laughing at God · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: I found something that I just wanted to read today,
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Speaker 1: something that we all need to be reminded of. We
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Speaker 1: often hear about the importance of preaching sermons, the importance
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Speaker 1: of delivering sermons, and the discipline of preparing sermons, and
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Speaker 1: how important all those things are. And indeed, they are.
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Speaker 1: It is important. And in many ways, there is a
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Speaker 1: famine in our land because of a lack of the
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Speaker 1: preaching of God's Word. But there is also a responsibility
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Speaker 1: when it comes to listening to sermons, even the preparation
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Speaker 1: of listening for sermons. And George Whitefield, that famous evangelist
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Speaker 1: in the first great awakening, preached a sermon entitled directions,
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Speaker 1: how to hear sermons. And he had six major points
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Speaker 1: when it came to the listening of sermons and the
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Speaker 1: hearing of sermons. that we all need to be diligent about.
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Speaker 1: And I just wanted to read those. I came across
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Speaker 1: those again in my reading this week and just wanted
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Speaker 1: to read this. Here are those six directions. First, I
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Speaker 1: direct or entreat you to come to hear them, not
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Speaker 1: out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know
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Speaker 1: and do your duty. He says, if you want to
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Speaker 1: be a good sermon hearer, a good sermon listener, number one,
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Speaker 1: don't come out of curiosity. Come to hear and do
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Speaker 1: your duty. Number two, second, not only prepare your heart
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Speaker 1: before you hear, but also give diligent heed to the
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Speaker 1: things that are spoken from the Word of God. Prepare
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Speaker 1: your heart before you hear and give diligent heed to
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Speaker 1: the things that are spoken from the Word of God. Third,
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Speaker 1: do not entertain any The least prejudice against the minister.
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Speaker 1: Do not entertain at all. The least prejudice against the minister.
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Speaker 1: And aren't we all guilty of that? You go somewhere
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Speaker 1: and I don't, for whatever reason you go, you're there
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Speaker 1: and maybe you didn't necessarily want to be there. Maybe
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Speaker 1: somebody brought you here today and you didn't want to
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Speaker 1: be here today. You didn't intend to be here today.
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Speaker 1: You don't want to hear this guy. Really? Really doesn't matter.
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Speaker 1: You have an opportunity to hear the word of God.
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Speaker 1: Don't allow your prejudice against the nature of the Word
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Speaker 1: to cause you not to hear the Word of God.
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Speaker 1: Even if it's awful. You know, you've heard the expression,
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Speaker 1: chew the meat and spit out the bones. Even if
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Speaker 1: we find ourselves in a situation where we're listening to
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Speaker 1: something that we don't necessarily want to be listening to,
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Speaker 1: or listening to someone that we don't necessarily want to
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Speaker 1: be listening to. Don't allow your prejudice toward God the
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Speaker 1: preacher to keep you from hearing God's word. Fourth, as
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Speaker 1: you ought not to be prejudiced against, so you should
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Speaker 1: be careful not to depend too much on a preacher
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Speaker 1: or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Don't be prejudiced against the preacher of the word and
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Speaker 1: don't think too highly or depend too much on the
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Speaker 1: preacher of the word. Have your Bible open. Check everything.
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Speaker 1: The Word of God is inerrant and infallible. The preacher
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Speaker 1: is not. Amen? Check it out, you know. Preachers misspeak
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Speaker 1: all the time. You know, we've had laughs around here
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Speaker 1: on a number of occasions because of something that was said,
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Speaker 1: you know, from the pulpit that was an obvious, you know,
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Speaker 1: sort of, you know, faux pas, if you will. But again,
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Speaker 1: there are things that are said that are sometimes not intended.
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Speaker 1: There are things that are said that are sometimes in
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Speaker 1: error because we're all in process. Don't think too highly
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Speaker 1: of any preacher or you get to the point that
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Speaker 1: you're not listening to the word, that you're not listening
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Speaker 1: to what's being said, and then you're not being a Berean.
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Speaker 1: Don't ever get to that point. That's how many people
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Speaker 1: end up in error. That's how many people end up
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Speaker 1: sitting and listening to heresy because they hold the preacher
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Speaker 1: in far too high esteem and do not discern when
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Speaker 1: they're listening to a sermon. Sixth and last, if you
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Speaker 1: would receive a blessing from the Lord when you hear
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Speaker 1: his word preached, pray to him both before, in, and
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Speaker 1: after every sermon to endue the minister with power to
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Speaker 1: speak faithfully and to grant you a will and ability
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Speaker 1: to put in practice what he shall show from the
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Speaker 1: book of God to be your duty. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise
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Speaker 1: the Lord. Pray for the preacher and pray for yourself.
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Speaker 1: Pray that the preacher would be faithful to the word
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Speaker 1: and pray that when he's faithful to the word, you'll
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Speaker 1: hear it and you'll do it. I think it's important
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Speaker 1: for us to remember that we're called not to be
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Speaker 1: passive listeners. passive observers. And we try to even create
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Speaker 1: this service in such a way that we're engaged, that
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Speaker 1: we're involved. We read these lengthy passages of Scripture for
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Speaker 1: a number of reasons. Number one, because we're commanded in
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Speaker 1: the Bible to pay attention to the public reading of
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Speaker 1: the Scriptures. How many times have we been in services
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Speaker 1: where the Scriptures were not read extensively at all? We're commanded.
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Speaker 1: It's not recommended. We're commanded in the New Testament. The
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Speaker 1: New Testament church is commanded to give attention to the
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Speaker 1: public reading of the word. And so we do it
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Speaker 1: because of that. We also do it to create a
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Speaker 1: hunger in us, an appetite in us, and a discipline
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Speaker 1: in us. We need to hear the word of God.
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Speaker 1: We need to hear the word of God. And there's
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Speaker 1: also a discipline involved in hearing the preaching of the word.
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Speaker 1: And unfortunately, here's what's happened in our culture, because this
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Speaker 1: is sermon number one, and we'll get to sermon number
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Speaker 1: two in a minute. But unfortunately, here's what's happened in
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Speaker 1: our culture. I was taught in seminary, I was trained
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Speaker 1: in seminary, that my sermons need to be, our sermons
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Speaker 1: need to be, our preaching professor said this. Are you
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Speaker 1: ready for this? Your sermons need to be 18 to
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Speaker 1: 22 minutes in length. That's what, that preaching professor taught
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Speaker 1: us that. Your sermons need to be 18 to 22
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Speaker 1: minutes in length. Why? Why? Get this, people have been
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Speaker 1: conditioned by our culture to only give attention to that
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Speaker 1: much material. Your average sitcom is 30 minutes long, but
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Speaker 1: that's only about 22 minutes of sitcom content. So here's
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Speaker 1: what preaching professors are saying to young seminarians all over
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Speaker 1: the place. Don't rebuke your people for being lazy. Don't
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Speaker 1: challenge them to something higher. Capitulate to the culture and
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Speaker 1: treat the Word of God with the same level of
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Speaker 1: reverence that you do the Simpsons. That's what they're saying.
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Speaker 1: If television shows are conditioning people to only give that
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Speaker 1: much attention, don't push for any more than that. And
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Speaker 1: if you've been around here for any length of time,
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Speaker 1: you know that we are absolutely committed to that principle
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Speaker 1: here at GFBC. So for the next 18 to 22 minutes,
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Speaker 1: times two, let's turn our attention to Genesis chapter 18.
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Speaker 1: We have arrived at Genesis chapter 18. We've made it here.
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Speaker 1: as we're going through the life of Abraham and as
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Speaker 1: we're being blessed by the life of Abraham, challenged by
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Speaker 1: the life of Abraham, and prayerfully seeing in a fresh
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Speaker 1: new way. And by fresh new way, here's what's interesting.
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Speaker 1: You know, people think we need something relevant. We need
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Speaker 1: something fresh. Well, what's been relevant and fresh as we've
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Speaker 1: gone through the life of Abraham is that we're actually
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Speaker 1: seeing the gospel in the life of Abraham. Amen? You
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Speaker 1: don't get more fresh and more relevant than that. And
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Speaker 1: as we've had conversations, you know, as we preach through
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Speaker 1: the life of Abraham, it's been such an incredible blessing.
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Speaker 1: And Paul and I both have had just an incredible
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Speaker 1: blessing that people have come to both of us and
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Speaker 1: said things like, you know, what an incredible privilege it's
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Speaker 1: been to hear the Word of God, to hear the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament, to hear the life of Abraham afresh and
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Speaker 1: anew as we look at the Gospels. in the life
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Speaker 1: of Abraham and not little moralisms that wind us up
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Speaker 1: and tell us to leave out of here and work
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Speaker 1: harder and do better. Amen? Anybody else had about enough
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Speaker 1: of that? I mean, I just, just, all right, all right.
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Speaker 1: So here we come to Genesis chapter 18. And on
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Speaker 1: last week, we looked at this picture of faith, the
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Speaker 1: faith that we see in Abraham. And we looked at
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Speaker 1: true faith, And one of the points that we made
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Speaker 1: was that true faith was linked inexorably to the Word
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Speaker 1: of God. Now, this week, we're going to kind of
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Speaker 1: circle up and deal with that issue of the Word
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Speaker 1: of God. Because if we just sort of leave that
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Speaker 1: out there, then what we look at, especially in light
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Speaker 1: of our culture, because if you remember on last week,
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Speaker 1: we looked at faith, the definition of faith in our
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Speaker 1: culture versus the definition of faith from a theological perspective.
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Speaker 1: And how if we don't deal with that improper definition,
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Speaker 1: then we're talking about something that the Bible is not communicating. Well,
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Speaker 1: the same is true when you use the term God's Word,
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Speaker 1: the Word of God. And if we're not careful, we
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Speaker 1: look here in the life of Abraham and we say, well, yeah, great.
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Speaker 1: When God visits me and speaks to me audibly, then
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Speaker 1: I'll have that kind of faith as well. So we
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Speaker 1: have to be careful even with the way that we
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Speaker 1: think about the doctrine of divine revelation. And so we
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Speaker 1: see that here more acutely and more clearly in chapter 18.
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Speaker 1: And it reads, and the Lord appeared to him by
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Speaker 1: the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door
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Speaker 1: of his tent in the heat of the day. It's
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Speaker 1: a beautiful picture here. And again, the ancient Near East,
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Speaker 1: no air conditioning. So you have these tents made from hides.
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Speaker 1: And in the evenings, you'd close them in order to
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Speaker 1: protect yourself from the elements. But during the heat of
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Speaker 1: the day, you would open a flap at the front
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Speaker 1: and at the back so that the wind could sort
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Speaker 1: of come through. And you could kind of get a
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Speaker 1: breeze in the midst of the heat of the day.
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Speaker 1: So here's Abraham, and he's sitting at the door of
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Speaker 1: his tent. He's on the inside so that he can
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Speaker 1: have some shade. But the flaps are open so that
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Speaker 1: there's a breeze coming through the tent. He's minding his
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Speaker 1: own business. He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold,
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Speaker 1: three men were standing in front of him. When he
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Speaker 1: saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet
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Speaker 1: them and bowed himself to the earth and said, Oh Lord,
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Speaker 1: if I have found favor in your sight, do not
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Speaker 1: pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought
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Speaker 1: and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
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Speaker 1: while I bring a morsel of bread that you may
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Speaker 1: refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on, since
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Speaker 1: you have come to your servant. So they said, Do
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Speaker 1: as you have said. And Abraham went quickly into the
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Speaker 1: tent to Sarah and said, Quick, three sails of fine flour,
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Speaker 1: knead it and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the
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Speaker 1: herd and took a calf. tender and young, and gave
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Speaker 1: it to a young man who prepared it quickly. Then
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Speaker 1: he took curds and milk and the calf that he
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Speaker 1: had prepared and set it before them. And he stood
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Speaker 1: by them under the tree while they ate. Now here's
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Speaker 1: what's interesting. When you look at the traditions in the
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Speaker 1: ancient Near East, what you discover is this, that what
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Speaker 1: Abraham is doing is he is showing, it seems to
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Speaker 1: us extraordinary. the kind of hospitality that he's showing. But
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Speaker 1: this is actually customary in the ancient Near East. If
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Speaker 1: a stranger comes through, there is no, there's no Marriott.
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Speaker 1: There's no Holiday Inn. There's nothing like that. Stranger comes
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Speaker 1: through your land, you show hospitality to that stranger. For
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Speaker 1: a couple of reasons, you do this. Number one, you
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Speaker 1: show hospitality because from a biblical perspective, you are to
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Speaker 1: be kind and generous to strangers. But secondly, this was
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Speaker 1: also a way to turn potential enemies into allies. So
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Speaker 1: you show this hospitality. Another part of the custom was this,
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Speaker 1: and I didn't know this before this week. A part
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Speaker 1: of the custom is what you bring is always more
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Speaker 1: than what you offer. Do you notice that here, that
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Speaker 1: Abraham does that? What he brings is more than he offers.
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Speaker 1: So just stay here for a while. Let me go
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Speaker 1: get you some water. They got cakes and milk and
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Speaker 1: yogurt and meat. By the way, in the diet of
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Speaker 1: the ancient Near East, meat was not something you ate regularly.
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Speaker 1: So this is a special occasion here. He's treating this
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Speaker 1: like a banquet. These strangers have come and there's a
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Speaker 1: banquet here prepared for these strangers. Now we could spend
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Speaker 1: our whole time just talking about the hospitality that Abraham
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Speaker 1: demonstrates here. But let's move on. Verse 9. They said
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Speaker 1: to him, where is Sarah your wife? And he said,
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Speaker 1: she's in the tent. The Lord said, I will surely
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Speaker 1: return to you about this time next year. And Sarah
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Speaker 1: your wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening
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Speaker 1: at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah
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Speaker 1: were old, advanced in years. The way of women had
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Speaker 1: ceased to be with Sarah. Isn't that a tactful phrase?
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Speaker 1: The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
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Speaker 1: So Sarah, filled with faith, shouted, Hallelujah! May it be so! No. No.
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Speaker 1: She laughed to herself, saying, after I am worn out
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Speaker 1: and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The
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Speaker 1: Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say,
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Speaker 1: shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
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Speaker 1: Is anything too hard for the Lord? What a question.
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Speaker 1: Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed
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Speaker 1: time I will return to you about this time next year,
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Speaker 1: and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying,
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Speaker 1: I did not laugh, for she was afraid. He said, No,
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Speaker 1: but you did laugh. How about that? I didn't laugh. Oh, no,
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Speaker 1: you did. See you next year, you and your son.
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Speaker 1: And so here we see a picture of divine revelation,
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Speaker 1: this picture of the word of God. Folks, understand this.
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Speaker 1: We cannot know God unless God reveals himself to us.
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Speaker 1: Let me say that again. We cannot, we are incapable
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Speaker 1: of knowing God unless God reveals himself to us. And
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Speaker 1: God reveals Himself to us in two particular ways. And
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Speaker 1: we see these two ways in the Scriptures. Number one,
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Speaker 1: through general revelation. And number two, through special revelation. And
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Speaker 1: let's look at those for a moment. Look with me,
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Speaker 1: if you will, in Romans chapter 1. And let's look
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Speaker 1: at general revelation in Romans chapter 1. Look beginning at
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Speaker 1: verse 18. So 18 through 23. For the wrath of
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Speaker 1: God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
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Speaker 1: of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For
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Speaker 1: what can be known about God is plain to them
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Speaker 1: because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes,
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Speaker 1: namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
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Speaker 1: perceived ever since the creation of the world in the
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Speaker 1: things that have been made, so that they are without excuse.
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Speaker 1: For although they knew God, they did not honor him
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Speaker 1: as God or give thanks to him, but they became
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Speaker 1: futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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Speaker 1: Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the
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Speaker 1: glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man
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Speaker 1: and birds and animals and reptiles. This is what the
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Speaker 1: psalmist points to. The heavens declare the glory of God.
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Speaker 1: That's general revelation. So you look out at creation and
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Speaker 1: you see creation screams,' There is a God.' By the way,
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Speaker 1: general revelation is why you see worship in every culture.
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Speaker 1: Wherever you go, whatever corner of this earth you find
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Speaker 1: yourself on, there are individuals who are responding to what
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Speaker 1: they've seen in general revelation. They're responding to what they've
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Speaker 1: seen as the heavens declare the glory of God, as
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Speaker 1: the heavens declare that there is a God. But unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: what we end up doing is worshiping birds and animals
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Speaker 1: and four-footed creatures. Unfortunately, what we end up doing is
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Speaker 1: taking virgins and dropping them down into volcanoes in order
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Speaker 1: to appease the gods so that the volcano doesn't erupt anymore.
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Speaker 1: We recognize that there is something beyond ourselves, but general
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Speaker 1: revelation can only get us so far. And in addition
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Speaker 1: to general revelation, which screams to us, there is a God,
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Speaker 1: there must also be special revelation, which says, oh, by
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Speaker 1: the way, here's who he is. By the way, that's
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Speaker 1: precisely what we see in Acts chapter 17, is it not?
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Speaker 1: And Paul comes in Acts chapter 17, and he says,
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Speaker 1: you know, I can see that you are a very
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Speaker 1: religious coalition. I've looked around at your statues and you've
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Speaker 1: got these statues to all kinds of gods. There's even
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Speaker 1: one that's written to an unknown god. He says, therefore
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Speaker 1: what you worship in ignorance, I'm now going to explain
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Speaker 1: to you. In other words, the general revelation thing has
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Speaker 1: brought you to a place of paganism. And I'm glad
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Speaker 1: you've seen general revelation. However, general revelation in and of
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Speaker 1: itself does not get you to a point where you
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Speaker 1: know the God of the universe, where you know who
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Speaker 1: he is, where you know what he's done, where you
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Speaker 1: know what he's required. There also has to be special revelation.
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Speaker 1: And that's what he adds there in Acts chapter 17.
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Speaker 1: And special revelation is the word of God. Special revelation
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Speaker 1: is what we see here, for example, in Abraham. Special
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Speaker 1: revelation is God communicating to his people through various means.
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Speaker 1: Special revelation is God breaking through general revelation and explaining
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Speaker 1: general revelation. So Abraham is not left here to believe
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Speaker 1: in the possibility of God or in the idea of God,
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Speaker 1: but Abraham is met here by the God of the
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Speaker 1: universe who specifically reveals himself. It's very important. He specifically
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Speaker 1: reveals himself. There has to be special revelation to get
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Speaker 1: us to the gospel. Listen to this. What Charles Hodge
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Speaker 1: says about special revelation. While therefore it is admitted not
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Speaker 1: only that the infinite God is incomprehensible and that our
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Speaker 1: knowledge of him is both partial and imperfect. that there
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Speaker 1: is much in God which we do not know at all,
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Speaker 1: and that what we do know, we know very imperfectly. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: our knowledge, as far as it goes, is true knowledge.
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Speaker 1: God really is what we believe him to be, so
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Speaker 1: far as our idea of him is determined by the
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Speaker 1: revelation which he has made of himself in his works,
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Speaker 1: in the constitution of our nature, in his word, and
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Speaker 1: in the person of his son, in general and in
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Speaker 1: special revelation. Do we know all that there is to
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Speaker 1: know about God? No, we do not. Can we know
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Speaker 1: all that there is to know about God? No, we cannot.
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Speaker 1: But we can know what God has revealed about himself.
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Speaker 1: And God is revealing himself specifically here to Abraham. Listen
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Speaker 1: to this from B.B. Warfield. According to the scriptures, therefore...
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Speaker 1: Special revelation is a historic process, an organic system, a
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Speaker 1: continuous divine act directed to destroying the power of sin,
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Speaker 1: to the building up of the kingdom of God, to
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Speaker 1: the restoration of the cosmos, to the summing up of
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Speaker 1: all things in Christ. In this historic process, God makes
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Speaker 1: himself known as the God of grace, and every element
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Speaker 1: that enters into it is a substantial constituent of this
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Speaker 1: special revelation. Properly taken, therefore. Special revelation is the redemptive
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Speaker 1: process itself conceived as a manifestation of God's nature and character.
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Speaker 1: God doesn't just want us to know that there's a God.
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Speaker 1: He wants us to know who God is. And general
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Speaker 1: revelation can get you to there's a God. But general
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Speaker 1: revelation doesn't get you to this is who God is.
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Speaker 1: So Abraham is not left out there to just have
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Speaker 1: this sort of nebulous faith. But God specifically reveals himself
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Speaker 1: to Abraham. God specifically communicates himself to Abraham. God specifically
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Speaker 1: gives his word to Abraham. And it's the word of
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Speaker 1: God through which we know the person and work of God.
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Speaker 1: In other words, Abraham was visited by God. We see
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Speaker 1: that in the text. Four things that demonstrate that Abraham
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Speaker 1: was visited by God. Number one, the text refers to
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Speaker 1: the men and or at least one of them as
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Speaker 1: the Lord. We see that in verses 1, 10, and 13.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse 1. And the Lord appeared to him
24:26
Speaker 1: by the oaks of Mamre. Go down to verse 10.
24:29
Speaker 1: The Lord said, Go down to verse 13. The Lord
24:33
Speaker 1: said to Abraham. So the text identifies this as the Lord.
24:38
Speaker 1: In the Hebrew, as Adonai. The text identifies the one
24:43
Speaker 1: communicating as Adonai, as the Lord, as God. So this
24:48
Speaker 1: is God revealing himself to Abraham. Secondly, Abraham refers to
24:53
Speaker 1: the men, or at least one of them, as the Lord.
24:55
Speaker 1: We see that, for example, in verse 3. Look in
24:58
Speaker 1: verse 3. And he said, O Lord, if I have
25:03
Speaker 1: found favor in your sight. Now, it's interesting. That O
25:08
Speaker 1: Lord in your Bibles ought to be capitalized. And the
25:13
Speaker 1: reason it ought to be capitalized is because it's different
25:17
Speaker 1: than what happens when Sarah makes a comment about her Lord, Abraham.
25:30
Speaker 1: This is a reference to the Lord. This is not
25:36
Speaker 1: an honorific title. This is a clue here that we're
25:41
Speaker 1: talking about God. Thirdly, these men demonstrated omniscience. Look in
25:49
Speaker 1: verse 10. Look at verse 10. The Lord said, I
25:56
Speaker 1: will surely return to you about this time next year
26:00
Speaker 1: and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son. What do
26:05
Speaker 1: you need to know in order to make that statement?
26:08
Speaker 1: By the way, then again in verse 14, he reiterates
26:10
Speaker 1: the statement. Look at verse 14. Is anything too hard
26:14
Speaker 1: for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return
26:18
Speaker 1: to you about this time next year and Sarah will
26:21
Speaker 1: have a son. Several things. Look at just these seven
26:26
Speaker 1: things here, just at least these seven things. Just sort
26:29
Speaker 1: of jotted these things down that had to be known
26:31
Speaker 1: in order for that one line to be communicated. Number one,
26:35
Speaker 1: they knew that Sarah would conceive. Number two, they knew
26:40
Speaker 1: when Sarah would conceive. I'm going to come back here
26:45
Speaker 1: a year from now, which means you got to conceive
26:48
Speaker 1: about three months from now for me to come back
26:51
Speaker 1: a year from now in order for you to have
26:53
Speaker 1: that child. They knew when she would conceive. They knew
26:55
Speaker 1: what Sarah would conceive. You're going to have a son.
27:02
Speaker 1: They knew that Sarah would deliver. Not just that she
27:06
Speaker 1: would conceive, but that she would deliver. And we know
27:13
Speaker 1: that tragically, not every time a woman gets pregnant does
27:16
Speaker 1: that come through to fruition. They knew that she would deliver.
27:22
Speaker 1: They knew when Sarah would deliver. They knew they would
27:29
Speaker 1: visit again when Sarah delivered. They knew for a fact,
27:36
Speaker 1: not that they hoped, not the Lord willing we'll be back,
27:38
Speaker 1: but they said we'll be back. And they knew that
27:40
Speaker 1: Sarah laughed to herself in the tent. How do you
27:45
Speaker 1: get all that? This is God. This is God. But
27:51
Speaker 1: there's the difficulty here of the pronouns that are used.
27:56
Speaker 1: Look with me, for example, back in the first part
27:58
Speaker 1: of this. The Lord appeared to him by the oaks
28:00
Speaker 1: of Mamre as he sat in the door of his tent.
28:02
Speaker 1: He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three
28:06
Speaker 1: men were standing in front of him. Is it the
28:10
Speaker 1: Lord or is it three men? Are these men or
28:16
Speaker 1: are they angels? Here are the possibilities. Number one. This
28:22
Speaker 1: is the pre-incarnate Christ with two angels. This is the
28:27
Speaker 1: pre-incarnate Christ with two angels. And we've seen examples of
28:32
Speaker 1: the pre-incarnate Christ showing up in the Old Testament. Here,
28:35
Speaker 1: this would be the pre-incarnate Christ with two angels. Second possibility.
28:41
Speaker 1: This is the pre-incarnate Christ as three angels. Thirdly, it's
28:48
Speaker 1: some other configuration. You want to know what you want.
28:59
Speaker 1: I do too. Wish I did, but I don't. Here's
29:04
Speaker 1: what I know. I know that Abraham sees three men.
29:12
Speaker 1: I know he refers to the three men as the Lord.
29:16
Speaker 1: Either one of the three or all three he refers
29:19
Speaker 1: to as the Lord. I know that that this passage
29:23
Speaker 1: presents itself, especially when you look at what happens at
29:27
Speaker 1: the end of chapter 18 and again in chapter 19.
29:29
Speaker 1: It's getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah as the
29:32
Speaker 1: Lord Almighty who is acting here. I don't know. But
29:39
Speaker 1: what I do know is that somehow God has revealed
29:43
Speaker 1: himself in three persons. And that ought to sound familiar
29:49
Speaker 1: to us. Should it not? God sort of makes a
29:55
Speaker 1: habit of revealing himself in three persons, does he not?
29:59
Speaker 1: He does. And here, God has revealed himself in three persons.
30:04
Speaker 1: Listen to this from the Bible commentary. I like the
30:07
Speaker 1: way they put it. The explanation seems to be that
30:09
Speaker 1: the three men as such are to be understood as
30:12
Speaker 1: the physical appearance of the Lord to Abraham. In other words...
30:17
Speaker 1: Though God himself did not appear to Abraham in physical form,
30:21
Speaker 1: the three men are to be seen as representative of
30:24
Speaker 1: his presence. In much the same way, the burning bush
30:27
Speaker 1: of Exodus 3, 2 through 3, was a physical representation
30:30
Speaker 1: of God's presence, but yet was not actually the physical
30:34
Speaker 1: presence of God. In such a way, the actual presence
30:37
Speaker 1: of God among his covenant people was assured, but without
30:41
Speaker 1: leaving the impression that God may have a physical form.
30:48
Speaker 1: Was God contained in this physical form? You can't contain
30:51
Speaker 1: God in this physical form. By the way, there are
30:54
Speaker 1: some other realities with which we have to deal here.
31:00
Speaker 1: But he said, listen to this, Exodus 33, 20. You
31:04
Speaker 1: cannot see my face, for man shall not see me
31:08
Speaker 1: and live. That's what God says to Moses. John 1, 18.
31:15
Speaker 1: No one has seen God at any time. The only
31:17
Speaker 1: begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father,
31:22
Speaker 1: he has explained him. Look at this, John 6, 46.
31:28
Speaker 1: Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who
31:31
Speaker 1: is from God. He has seen the Father. 1 John 4, 12.
31:36
Speaker 1: No one has seen God at any time. If we
31:38
Speaker 1: love one another, God abides in us and his love
31:41
Speaker 1: is perfected in us. The text is not communicating the
31:46
Speaker 1: idea that somehow Abraham saw the fullness of the triune God.
31:53
Speaker 1: The text, however, is communicating that the triune God revealed
31:57
Speaker 1: himself to Abraham. And therefore, what was communicated was the
32:05
Speaker 1: word of God. Man would never see a physical manifestation
32:09
Speaker 1: of God until the person of Jesus Christ. Until the
32:14
Speaker 1: virgin birth brings about this almost incomprehensible reality. That God
32:26
Speaker 1: would wrap himself in flesh. That he would take on
32:30
Speaker 1: the form of a man. That he would live as
32:33
Speaker 1: a man. That he would die as a man. And
32:36
Speaker 1: that he would be resurrected and descend into heaven in
32:39
Speaker 1: a body. But we're not at that part yet. We're
32:46
Speaker 1: still in Genesis chapter 18. So in Genesis chapter 18,
32:51
Speaker 1: God reveals himself to Abraham. God brings his word to Abraham.
32:56
Speaker 1: And he brings his word to Abraham somehow in the
33:00
Speaker 1: form of these three men. But Abraham recognizes that this
33:05
Speaker 1: is God. This is God. Thirdly, Abraham's experience is not normative.
33:16
Speaker 1: Abraham's experience is not normative. You've heard that from this
33:20
Speaker 1: pulpit on a number of occasions. That rule of hermeneutics,
33:26
Speaker 1: when we are reading the Bible, when we are interpreting
33:29
Speaker 1: the Bible, narrative is not normative. Amen? Just because something
33:35
Speaker 1: happens in the Bible doesn't mean that that's the normative
33:38
Speaker 1: way that things happened. Did God reveal himself to Abraham
33:44
Speaker 1: through these three individuals, whether they are angels or whether
33:47
Speaker 1: it's the pre-incarnate Christ with two angels? Did God do this?
33:51
Speaker 1: Is God speaking to him? Yes, God is speaking to him.
33:55
Speaker 1: Does that mean that you or I need to expect
33:59
Speaker 1: God to send three angels or the pre-incarnate Christ and
34:03
Speaker 1: two angels or three individuals who could be angels but
34:07
Speaker 1: somehow represent the pre-incarnate Christ to give you or I
34:10
Speaker 1: specific individual revelation from God? No. Absolutely not. Why? Because
34:20
Speaker 1: I say so? No. Turn to the left and look
34:23
Speaker 1: at the book of Hebrews. Look at Hebrews chapter 1.
34:35
Speaker 1: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God
34:39
Speaker 1: spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these
34:43
Speaker 1: last days, He has spoken to us by His Son,
34:48
Speaker 1: whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom
34:51
Speaker 1: He created the world. Please hear me on this. Jesus
35:00
Speaker 1: Christ is the... The final, ultimate revelation of God. We
35:08
Speaker 1: don't get new revelation in this sense from God. That's why,
35:18
Speaker 1: as I said last week, our Bibles are leather bound,
35:21
Speaker 1: not spiral bound. And so, that is why Paul can
35:30
Speaker 1: say in Galatians, If we or an angel from heaven
35:37
Speaker 1: comes to you preaching another gospel other than what has
35:40
Speaker 1: already been communicated and finalized, if you start getting something
35:45
Speaker 1: else from someone else, even if they are a heavenly
35:49
Speaker 1: being who comes and gives you something else, let them
35:52
Speaker 1: be accursed. Why? Because he has spoken to us in
36:01
Speaker 1: his son. That's why Peter can say in 2 Peter
36:04
Speaker 1: chapter 1 and verse 3, his divine power has given
36:07
Speaker 1: us everything we need for life and godliness through our
36:11
Speaker 1: knowledge of him who called us by his own glory
36:13
Speaker 1: and excellence. That's why Paul could say, for example, in
36:16
Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 3, 16 and following, all scripture is God-breathed
36:22
Speaker 1: and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness
36:26
Speaker 1: that the man of God may be adequate and Thoroughly
36:30
Speaker 1: furnished to every good work. God's given us what we need.
36:39
Speaker 1: God's given us his revelation. So did God communicate to
36:44
Speaker 1: Abraham in this way? Absolutely he communicated to Abraham in
36:48
Speaker 1: this way. Is that now normative for the Christian life?
36:54
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. That's not normative for the Christian life. Not
36:59
Speaker 1: at all. The book of Hebrews makes this clear. Second
37:04
Speaker 1: Timothy makes this clear. Second Peter makes this clear. Absolutely not.
37:11
Speaker 1: We have God's word to us. We're not looking for another.
37:16
Speaker 1: Listen to this. There are a couple of different things
37:18
Speaker 1: here that I want to read for you. First, from
37:21
Speaker 1: the Cambridge Declaration. They put quite a fine point on it.
37:27
Speaker 1: We reaffirm. This is thesis number one on sola scriptura.
37:31
Speaker 1: The inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written
37:34
Speaker 1: divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible
37:37
Speaker 1: alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from
37:41
Speaker 1: sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior
37:44
Speaker 1: must be measured. We deny that any creed, council, or
37:47
Speaker 1: individual may bind a Christian's conscience. that the Holy Spirit
37:50
Speaker 1: speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth
37:56
Speaker 1: in the Bible or that personal spiritual experience can ever
38:01
Speaker 1: be a vehicle of revelation. Why is this so important?
38:11
Speaker 1: Let me tell you why this is so important. Because
38:17
Speaker 1: We've come to question this and we've come to doubt this.
38:22
Speaker 1: And why have we come to question this and doubt this?
38:24
Speaker 1: Because several individuals who are careless, some who have bad theology,
38:30
Speaker 1: but others who are just careless, who do things like this,
38:34
Speaker 1: they stand up in the pulpit and they start telling,
38:38
Speaker 1: using an illustration, and they go back to a time
38:40
Speaker 1: in their life, God's calling on their life or God's
38:44
Speaker 1: provision in their life, and they'll do something like this
38:47
Speaker 1: and they'll say, and there I was in this horrible
38:49
Speaker 1: situation and God spoke to me and God said, you
38:53
Speaker 1: just hold on. I'm going to see you through this.
38:55
Speaker 1: You know what they just did? That's heresy. They just
39:00
Speaker 1: said that they got new revelation just like Abraham did.
39:04
Speaker 1: They just said that Hebrews chapter 1 is not true.
39:09
Speaker 1: They just said that 2 Peter chapter 1 is not
39:11
Speaker 1: true because they said, That the God of heaven spoke
39:17
Speaker 1: to them. That the God of heaven told them something.
39:21
Speaker 1: It was just for them. It wasn't for anybody else.
39:23
Speaker 1: God spoke to me. God said to me. God told me. Folks,
39:30
Speaker 1: can I just urge you to never, ever, ever use
39:35
Speaker 1: those phrases under any circumstances. Don't ever, ever, ever say
39:40
Speaker 1: God told you anything unless you're getting ready to quote
39:43
Speaker 1: a verse of Scripture right after it. Otherwise, you're in
39:48
Speaker 1: doctrinal error. You're in heresy. Narrative is not normative. We
39:56
Speaker 1: have the final ultimate revelation of God. Stop going around
39:59
Speaker 1: telling people that you have this special line of communication
40:04
Speaker 1: with God that has been closed off for everybody else
40:10
Speaker 1: since the end of the apostolic age so that now
40:13
Speaker 1: he tells you what to do. What is that? Oftentimes
40:21
Speaker 1: it's pride, it's arrogance, and it's heresy. You know what
40:25
Speaker 1: it also is oftentimes? Here's what I've discovered in my
40:28
Speaker 1: little informal pastoral survey. Usually when somebody says to me,
40:33
Speaker 1: God told me or God said, that means they're getting
40:36
Speaker 1: ready to say something to me that's probably not biblical
40:39
Speaker 1: and they don't want me to question it. Because if
40:42
Speaker 1: you start something with God said or God told me,
40:45
Speaker 1: then the person comes behind you and says that he didn't.
40:50
Speaker 1: That person's in shaky ground. They may as well be
40:53
Speaker 1: saying that the Bible is not true. Because the God
40:56
Speaker 1: of heaven told you something and they're denying what has
41:00
Speaker 1: been spoken from the mouth of the Lord. I know
41:04
Speaker 1: what you're saying. Amen. Here's what you're saying, because this
41:07
Speaker 1: is what people always say. Well, I don't mean it
41:09
Speaker 1: like that. Then don't say it like that. If we
41:17
Speaker 1: know that from a theological perspective that is imprecise, incorrect,
41:22
Speaker 1: and heretical, then don't do it anymore. Just stop. Just quit. Well,
41:31
Speaker 1: then what am I supposed to say? I mean, I'm
41:34
Speaker 1: sitting here and there's a person over there and I
41:37
Speaker 1: just feel like I'm supposed to go witness to that
41:39
Speaker 1: person and I go witness to that person and they
41:40
Speaker 1: get saved. How about saying I looked at that person
41:43
Speaker 1: and I felt like I was supposed to go witness
41:44
Speaker 1: to that person and I went and witnessed to that
41:46
Speaker 1: person and they got saved. Why do you all of
41:49
Speaker 1: a sudden have to turn it into I am the
41:51
Speaker 1: new Moses and God spoke audibly to me unlike he
41:55
Speaker 1: speaks to anybody else and he told me to go
41:58
Speaker 1: and do that? Because here's what I know. If you
42:02
Speaker 1: go and do that and you fall flat on your face,
42:04
Speaker 1: you're probably not going to come back and say, you know,
42:06
Speaker 1: God told me to do it and I fell flat
42:07
Speaker 1: on my face. Why? Well, because that doesn't make you
42:12
Speaker 1: sound like the new Moses with an open channel to heaven.
42:19
Speaker 1: God told me to invest this money. Yeah, a whole
42:22
Speaker 1: lot of people right now broke, busted, and disgusted. God
42:26
Speaker 1: told me to invest this money. Now the money's gone.
42:30
Speaker 1: Sure God told you to do that? We got to
42:35
Speaker 1: be careful in our language. We have to be precise
42:39
Speaker 1: in our language. Did this happen to Abraham? It absolutely
42:44
Speaker 1: happened to Abraham. Is this God's means or modes of
42:51
Speaker 1: divine revelation coming forth beyond the apostolic age? Absolutely not.
42:58
Speaker 1: That's why we have a Bible. Finally, God's revelation lays
43:09
Speaker 1: a foundation for blessing and for judgment. Lays a foundation
43:17
Speaker 1: for blessing and for judgment. Here's what's interesting. Here in
43:23
Speaker 1: verse 18, God shows up. And God shows up in
43:28
Speaker 1: chapter 18. God shows up in chapter 18 and there's
43:31
Speaker 1: a foundation for blessing. There's a child who's getting ready
43:34
Speaker 1: to come. This male child is getting ready to come.
43:37
Speaker 1: The promised seed is getting ready to come. We're about
43:40
Speaker 1: to get one step closer to the Messiah who was
43:43
Speaker 1: promised in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. We're about
43:46
Speaker 1: to get one step closer. We're about to get one
43:48
Speaker 1: child closer. Do you see that? There's this limited number
43:55
Speaker 1: of children. There's limited number of heirs through whom the
43:59
Speaker 1: Messiah is going to come. And we're about to take
44:02
Speaker 1: one giant leap closer. To the Messiah being born into
44:08
Speaker 1: this world. And it's going to happen through this couple
44:11
Speaker 1: who's long beyond childbearing years. We're one step closer. It's
44:15
Speaker 1: getting ready to happen. There's great blessing. God shows up
44:17
Speaker 1: and we know it's going to happen specifically. What happens next?
44:21
Speaker 1: God shows up and we know Sodom and Gomorrah is
44:24
Speaker 1: about to be toast. Why? Because the God of heaven
44:30
Speaker 1: speaks not only to bless but also to judge. that
44:38
Speaker 1: too is tied inexorably to divine revelation. There are no
44:45
Speaker 1: two ways about it. You know, when Jesus shows up
44:50
Speaker 1: in Revelation, he's this war, this unbelievable warrior. My favorite
44:55
Speaker 1: picture of Christ is there when he comes on the
44:59
Speaker 1: horse with the sword on his thigh. Name written, oh man,
45:06
Speaker 1: that picture right there. I can just read that over
45:08
Speaker 1: and over and over again. That's my Jesus right there.
45:11
Speaker 1: Everybody has this picture of Jesus, lowly Jesus, meek and mild,
45:14
Speaker 1: with the lamb on his shoulders. Warrior with the sword
45:18
Speaker 1: on his thigh. That's my Jesus right there. You know
45:22
Speaker 1: what's interesting? His tongue is also referred to as this
45:31
Speaker 1: double-edged sword. Isn't that interesting? His word as an instrument
45:40
Speaker 1: of judgment. God shows up in Genesis 18 and he speaks.
45:47
Speaker 1: And he speaks in one tent and it says, blessing.
45:53
Speaker 1: It speaks in another tent and it says, curse. Curse.
45:58
Speaker 1: It speaks in one tent and it says your wife
46:02
Speaker 1: is going to be the mother of many nations and
46:04
Speaker 1: a year from now it gets kicked off. It speaks
46:07
Speaker 1: in another tent and it says your wife's going to
46:09
Speaker 1: be a pillar of salt. It speaks in one tent
46:16
Speaker 1: and it says you and all those around you are
46:20
Speaker 1: going to be blessed. It speaks in another tent and
46:24
Speaker 1: it says everybody around you is going to be destroyed
46:29
Speaker 1: with fire from heaven, and you're barely going to get
46:31
Speaker 1: out of here with you and most of yours. See,
46:40
Speaker 1: when we hear the Word of God, we've got to
46:43
Speaker 1: be very careful that we don't become the kind of
46:47
Speaker 1: people who trust God to bless us, but never open
46:53
Speaker 1: our ears to the possibility that this same God, by
46:57
Speaker 1: His Word, Well, judge us. The person of Jesus Christ,
47:07
Speaker 1: the cross of Jesus Christ. On the one hand, you
47:11
Speaker 1: look at the cross and as a follower of Jesus Christ,
47:14
Speaker 1: I look at the cross and I say, amen, hallelujah,
47:18
Speaker 1: praise the Lord. It was there that my sin was
47:21
Speaker 1: nailed to the tree. And because of what God did
47:24
Speaker 1: there on the cross, I'm forgiven and I'm on my
47:27
Speaker 1: way to glory. You look at it from the other
47:30
Speaker 1: perspective and the lost person looks at the cross and
47:33
Speaker 1: it says, this is the extent to which God will
47:36
Speaker 1: go to judge sin. And if he will punish and
47:39
Speaker 1: crush and kill his own son for the sins of
47:44
Speaker 1: his elect, what do you think he will do with you,
47:46
Speaker 1: you unrepentant worm? Same cross. Same word. Same God. And
48:04
Speaker 1: so when you hear the word of God, do not
48:07
Speaker 1: harden your heart. Whenever you hear the word of God, repent, believe.
48:15
Speaker 1: Wherever you are in your walk, when you hear the
48:17
Speaker 1: word of God, repent, believe. I pray that I never
48:23
Speaker 1: come to a place where I hear the word of
48:24
Speaker 1: God and all I go away with is, wow. Wow.
48:28
Speaker 1: I'm glad I was so affirmed today. I'm just good,
48:32
Speaker 1: aren't I? No. Every time I come away from the
48:36
Speaker 1: word of God, my prayer is that my attitude is
48:39
Speaker 1: one of repentance and belief. Yeah, but isn't that just
48:43
Speaker 1: how you get saved? Yep. Yeah, it is. And it's
48:48
Speaker 1: also the way you live the rest of your days.
48:52
Speaker 1: Repentance and faith. Whenever you hear the word of God,
48:57
Speaker 1: don't harden your heart repentance and faith. Young people, there
49:02
Speaker 1: are some of you in this room and you're wrestling.
49:05
Speaker 1: Maybe you're just coming to that place where you're getting it.
49:08
Speaker 1: You're being catechized and the catechism is no longer just
49:11
Speaker 1: stuff that you memorize. It's no longer these words that
49:14
Speaker 1: you sort of throw together, but you're coming to a
49:17
Speaker 1: place in your life, young man, young woman, where you're
49:20
Speaker 1: beginning to get it. You're beginning to understand. And sometimes
49:23
Speaker 1: that makes you scared. And you begin to ask yourself
49:27
Speaker 1: questions like, am I a Christian? Like mommy? Like daddy?
49:32
Speaker 1: Or you begin to ask yourself questions like, did I
49:38
Speaker 1: really understand But when I trusted, when I believed, when
49:43
Speaker 1: I came to faith, did I really understand? Did I
49:45
Speaker 1: really get it? Did I really know it? Well, you
49:48
Speaker 1: got two options when you come to that point. Option
49:51
Speaker 1: number one, you just twiddle your thumbs and worry for
49:54
Speaker 1: the remainder of your days. Option number two, repentance and faith.
50:01
Speaker 1: What do you do? Repent. Believe. When you hear God's
50:08
Speaker 1: revelation spoken forth, you repent. And you believe, regardless of
50:13
Speaker 1: where you are, regardless of your circumstances, that's what you do.
50:19
Speaker 1: That's what you do. Knowing all the while that when
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Speaker 1: God's Word is spoken forth, there is blessing. And there
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Speaker 1: is judgment. And it is only by His grace that
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Speaker 1: we find ourselves on the appropriate side of the ledger. Repent. Believe.
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Speaker 1: Be saved. Let's pray.