Abraham the Outsider

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Abraham the Outsider: Part 9 — Deja Vu, Part 2

April 24, 2009 in Abraham the Outsider by Morty | No comments

Talk about “besetting” sins. You would think Abraham would be over the, “pretend you’re my sister” routine with Sarah, but he isn’t. Genesis 20 reads like a re-run of Genesis 12:10-20.

So, why is this repeat performance in the Bible? Well, since it happened that’s a good reason to leave it in. But lots of things happened to Abraham that aren’t in the Bible. This is here for a reason. There is something to this re-run that repeats something we’re supposed to know.

I hope you enjoy this message as much as I enjoyed preparing and preaching it.

Blessings!

Abraham the Outsider: Part 8 — Haggling for Righteousness

April 9, 2009 in Abraham the Outsider by Morty | No comments

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How much is a righteous man worth? What’s his market value?

That’s a crude way of putting it, but Genesis 18 does seem to treat the subject in that way.

In the haggle Abraham conducts with the Lord, the Lord states that ten righteous people are worth more to him than a city of sin. He promises that if only ten righteous people can be found in Sodom, a whole city will be spared.

Well, anyone who believes in imputation sees where this is pointing. The righteousness of Christ spares all who believe in him from the punishment for sin they rightly deserve.

That’s only one small treasure to be dug out of this field of scripture. I hope you find more. Enjoy.

Abraham the Outsider: Part 7 — Too Good to be True

April 3, 2009 in Abraham the Outsider by Morty | No comments

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God’s grace is bigger than we are. The confines of our lives — their span, their capacity — are too tight.

Grace has a way of spilling over the edges and going into the lives of other people.

This, of course, is a good thing. But we Americans have a hard time with it. We want everything reduced to the scale we can take into ourselves.

Genesis chapter 17 really shows how little of what God is doing has to do with us. But that’s not a bad thing — that is the best thing that could possibly be. As the old hymn says, God’s grace extends as far as the curse is found. And that can seem almost too good to be true.

Abraham the Outsider: Part 6 — Wheels within Wheels

March 26, 2009 in Abraham the Outsider by Morty | No comments

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Well now, here is an interesting episode in the life of Abram. Definitely not one of Abram’s better days.

If only he had said no to Sarai’s offer — what a different world this would be. But Abram is guilty of thinking God’s needs a little help getting the job done. And the result? The child of the flesh — the product of human will — not the child of promise.

But this product of human will cannot overcome the will of God and in the manifold wisdom of God even our sins are unfolded into a grand plan serving higher ends than we can imagine. Hence the name of this sermon from Genesis 16 — Wheels within Wheels.

Abraham the Outsider: Part 5 — Covenant Assurance

March 19, 2009 in Abraham the Outsider by Morty | No comments

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Is saving faith something you’re born with and then grow out of when you become worldly-wise, or is it something unnatural that needs to be worked in to us?

How you answer that determines your whole outlook on the Christian faith.

It is not a matter of mere opinion though — the biblical data definitely leans one way. There is no ambiguity in Genesis 15.

Which way does it lean? Well, listen to this podcast and find out.

Here’s a sermon I preached at PCM in May of 2008 entitled, Covenant Assurance. I hope you enjoy it.

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