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Now we come to chapter 17, and we've

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now come to the chapter that in many

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ways, and a great many consider it one

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of the outstanding chapters of the Bible.

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Now before we get into it, I'd like

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to just make, as it were, a recapitulation

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of what we've said along, that God tested

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Abraham.

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God appeared to him seven times, and we've

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noted that there were certain failures in the

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life of Abraham, but also there were successes.

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And actually, there were seven tests that God

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gave to Abraham.

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We saw, first of all, that God called

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him out of Ur of the Chaldees, his

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home.

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And Abraham responded partially.

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His faith was weak and imperfect, but at

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least he moved out.

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And we find that Abraham finally arrived safely

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in the land of Canaan, and God blessed

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him.

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Then the famine in the land of Canaan,

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that was the second.

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And Abraham fled from the land of Canaan

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to Egypt, and he acquired riches and haggard,

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that we've just been talking about.

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And both were a stumbling block.

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Then the third test, Abraham was given riches,

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and they are a real test.

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They've been a stumbling block for many a

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man, by the way.

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The riches, I've always, frankly, wished the Lord

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had let me have that kind of a

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test than some of the others that I've

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had.

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But nevertheless, I'm of opinion he couldn't have

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trusted me with it.

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Abraham actually didn't forget God, and he was

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certainly generous and magnanimous toward his nephew Lot,

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but it separated him from Lot, and God

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appeared to him.

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Then we saw Abraham was given power by

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the defeat of the kings of the east.

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That is a real test.

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He happens to be the conqueror.

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And this man Melchizedek met him, and I

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think that strengthened Abraham for the test.

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And so he refused the spoils of war.

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And God appeared to Abraham and encouraged him.

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Then we have the fifth test.

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God delayed giving Abraham a son by his

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wife Sarah.

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And Abraham became impatient, and through the prompting

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of Sarah, he took matters in his own

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hand and moved outside the will of God.

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Then you have the birth of Ishmael, and

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the Arabs of the desert today will still

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plague the nation Israel.

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And they'll keep right on doing that, I

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think, until the millennium.

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Then the sixth test we'll see later was

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at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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And then the seventh one will be the

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offering of Isaac.

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Now, this more or less gives us the

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picture that is before us.