Now we come to chapter 17, and we've
now come to the chapter that in many
ways, and a great many consider it one
of the outstanding chapters of the Bible.
Now before we get into it, I'd like
to just make, as it were, a recapitulation
of what we've said along, that God tested
Abraham.
God appeared to him seven times, and we've
noted that there were certain failures in the
life of Abraham, but also there were successes.
And actually, there were seven tests that God
gave to Abraham.
We saw, first of all, that God called
him out of Ur of the Chaldees, his
home.
And Abraham responded partially.
His faith was weak and imperfect, but at
least he moved out.
And we find that Abraham finally arrived safely
in the land of Canaan, and God blessed
him.
Then the famine in the land of Canaan,
that was the second.
And Abraham fled from the land of Canaan
to Egypt, and he acquired riches and haggard,
that we've just been talking about.
And both were a stumbling block.
Then the third test, Abraham was given riches,
and they are a real test.
They've been a stumbling block for many a
man, by the way.
The riches, I've always, frankly, wished the Lord
had let me have that kind of a
test than some of the others that I've
had.
But nevertheless, I'm of opinion he couldn't have
trusted me with it.
Abraham actually didn't forget God, and he was
certainly generous and magnanimous toward his nephew Lot,
but it separated him from Lot, and God
appeared to him.
Then we saw Abraham was given power by
the defeat of the kings of the east.
That is a real test.
He happens to be the conqueror.
And this man Melchizedek met him, and I
think that strengthened Abraham for the test.
And so he refused the spoils of war.
And God appeared to Abraham and encouraged him.
Then we have the fifth test.
God delayed giving Abraham a son by his
wife Sarah.
And Abraham became impatient, and through the prompting
of Sarah, he took matters in his own
hand and moved outside the will of God.
Then you have the birth of Ishmael, and
the Arabs of the desert today will still
plague the nation Israel.
And they'll keep right on doing that, I
think, until the millennium.
Then the sixth test we'll see later was
at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And then the seventh one will be the
offering of Isaac.
Now, this more or less gives us the
picture that is before us.