January 2011 USPS 184720 Volume 50 Number 1 Two Immutable Things By Sharon Hardy Knotts Celebrating 50 years of FIA!
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him (Gen. 12:1-4). This was the beginning of Abraham s journey of faith, and before we proceed, I need to recap my message from May 2010: Look At the Promisor, because the Lord has given me the next level in this sequel. God appeared unto Abraham when he was age 75 and promised to bless him and make him the father of a great nation, but it took 25 years for him to hold in his arms the son of promise, Isaac, whom God gave to him and to his wife Sarah in their old age. When God first gave the promise she was 65, barren and menopausal. The promise seemed to be totally impossible, and the years began to tick off, decades passed, and still there was no son of promise. Abraham became discouraged and he cried out to God, Eliezer, my faithful servant, was born in my house, and he has served me all these years, and one born in my house is my heir. But God said, No, Abraham, but one that is come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir (Gen. 15:4). With that Abraham was back on board with the promise. He told Sarah, God said, It s going to be a son out of my own loins. That made sense to Sarah, and she began to think, Okay, he s got to be Abraham s seed, but at that point God hadn t said anything about her, so she decided to give her handmaiden to Abraham to have a son, who would then be her legal heir and Abraham s seed. When Ishmael was born to Abraham at age 86, it was a joyful day. As the years went by they loved that child, and they both were convinced that he was the child 2
of promise. They lovingly prepared him to be the heir of all the promises God had made to them. Life was beautiful and everything was good, until the day God came walking out of the desert and showed up at their camp, and said, No, it s not going to be Ishmael, because he was born of a slave woman. Your heir will be born of a princess, from the body of Sarah. And this time next year, Sarah shall bear unto thee a son. And what happened? He laughed and she laughed and said, We have gone all these many years with no child, and now You re telling us, when we are old and don t even have pleasure any more, that we re going to have a son! According to her words, there wasn t anything going on in their bedroom at night. How were they going to have a baby? The whole crux of my message was: If she had not been able to have faith to believe God for 24 years that she could get pregnant and have a son, how was she going to get that faith in just 3 months? If she was going to have a son that time next year, she had to get pregnant in 3 months, and her faith had to reach a level in 3 months that it never reached in 24 years. And it did! Sarah s Secret In fact, she not only received faith to get pregnant, she earned her own entry, Hebrews 11:11, in Faith s Hall of Fame of those who had hallmark quality faith. It doesn t say Abraham and Sarah, but: Sarah, also herself received strength to conceive a child when she was old and past age. How did she do it? Because she judged Him faithful who promised. I believe Abraham told her: Sarah, this is what God did to me when I wrestled with my faith. He made me go outside, and said, Look up and see the stars. If you can count the stars in Heaven, then that s the number of your seed. He said, I had to get my eyes off the promise, off of myself and the impossibility of the circumstances. The promise was so impossible that it was making him stagger in unbelief, but God said, Look to the God, Who created the heavens and the earth. If I could create them Is there anything too hard for me? Abraham said, That s what you must do, Sarah: Get your eyes off the promise. You have stumbled for 24 years over the promise that you could get pregnant, so instead, get your eyes on the Promisor. That was Sarah s secret to strengthening her faith, because she judged the Promisor faithful, when the promise overwhelmed her. This message dove-tails with that, as God later took them to a new level of faith beyond the original promise. They had their promised Isaac, whose name means laughter, and their lives were filled with joy. There was so much joy in the tents of Abraham, because he actually had his own little camp of 318 trained men, as well as their women and children. Abraham was a prince, and Sarah was his princess, 3
and they were very rich and had much cattle. When your riches are in cattle, you need people to take care of it, and they had many servants, and that whole encampment was filled with joy when Isaac was born. Can you imagine how they must have been in awe of Sarah having a baby at 90 years old! That little boy was full of laughter and life and joy, and their lives were perfectly wonderful! The truth was, however, Isaac was just the beginning of the promises. God had said, All the families of the earth will be blessed through your seed. In the 10 chapters of Genesis 12 to 22, God reiterated the promise several times, and what I like about God is, every time He reiterates a promise, He gives you something new. He always adds on another blessing. He promised to give the land of Canaan to their seed, and gave him the dimensions from the river Euphrates to the great sea (Mediterranean). God was specific in the promises He gave Abraham, and He declared that his seed would be as the stars in heaven and the dust of the earth. So far, all that had come out of them was Isaac. But if I put myself in Sarah s shoes, I believe she didn t care about all that other stuff. She probably thought: I am happy. I ve got my little boy, and we ve got plenty of money and cattle. We ve got all we need. Life is good just like it is. But God sees from everlasting to everlasting. From the very beginning of time, God knew the end of all things, and He was going to interrupt their very wonderful, beautiful, nice, tidy, neat, little perfect life. I Want Your Son Back! Now we are in Genesis 22: And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham... I prefer the word test, because that s what it means. James 1:13 says that God does not tempt anybody to sin, but He will test you. God did test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. In Hebrew here am I is HI NEINI and it doesn t just mean I am here or present, but it means all that I have, and all that I am, I give to You. It denotes total surrender. Maybe he spoke a little bit too soon, because God said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest God made special note that Abraham loved his son dearly. And get thee in the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. (vv. 2-3). When you say, HI NEINI to God, you re going to find out whether you are just saying it in a cavalier, flippant way, or if you mean it from your heart. I am amazed there was not one word of protest to come out of Abraham s mouth. Please understand, that at that time Abraham would not have had the 4
understanding that God would never condone human sacrifice. God hates it, and He would have never let it happen. Abraham didn t realize this at the time, because all the pagan nations sacrificed their children to their gods, and this was before the law of Moses or Scripture. Even so, he obediently prepared everything, even the wood he would need for the altar. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together (vv. 4-8). After three days of travel, with God guiding him, Abraham saw the place, and he said to the young men that came with him, You wait here. I and the lad we will go and worship, and we will come again. Abraham was acting in total obedience, but he must have been thinking: I don t know how God is going to pull this off, but He said that Isaac is the son of promise, and somehow or another, I m coming back with Isaac. We will return. When you are on your way to a miracle and to receiving the impossible from God, you have to get your thoughts in alignment with the promise, and your mouth speaking right. You have to get a vision of the fulfillment: and see yourself healed! See yourself in victory! Abraham saw himself with his son returning, and He said, We will both come back! And they came to the place which God told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, HI NEINI All that I am, and all that I have, Here am I. And (God) said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me (vv.9-12). I want you to see that Abraham was fully prepared to go through with the whole thing and slay his son. How could he do such a thing without flinching? Put yourself in his shoes Would you have flinched the last moment? Would you have been able to raise that knife to slay your son before you set him on fire? Abraham never wavered in his faith. He didn t even ask God for a reason! I know I would have said, Why God? Why are You 5
requiring this of me now? It took 25 years and divine intervention for Sarah to have this child! How can I go back home and face her? How can I tell her that You told me to offer her son as a burnt offering? But not Abraham. I Want My Son Back! How could Abraham obey God so implicitly and explicitly without wavering? The answer is in Hebrews 11:17-19: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. Abraham was able to offer Isaac up without flinching, first because he knew that according to the promise, only Isaac could be the son of promise. Secondly, he accounted This is a mathematical term and used here means to figure out a hard problem, step by step, and when you follow every step correctly, to come to the correct conclusion. So Abraham concluded: When I was able to impregnate Sarah, technically and reproductively, she had a dead body, and I had dead loins. In a sense Isaac was born to those who were dead, and the way I see it, if God could bring him forth from the dead then, He can do it again. He accounted that God was able to raise him up from the dead, because in a figure, that is, metaphorically speaking, he was born from a dead womb and dead loins. This was a pivotal point for Abraham. Not only was he willing to give his son up, which showed total obedience and love for God, but it went beyond this. Abraham was not just surrendering his son, even though that was a noble thing. No, what he said was: I m giving You my son, but I expect to get him back! I don t know why You want me to offer him up, but I m going to do it, and I expect You to raise him up! Abraham was not just blindly giving his son over even though he did not understand the purpose, but he fully expected God to raise him up, because the rest of the promises all hinged on Isaac. God had clearly stated, In Isaac shall thy seed be called (Heb. 11:18). Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen (vv.13-14). The Hebrew says: God will see and provide. Therefore, we translate Jehovah-jireh The Lord is my provider. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed 6
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in they seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice (vv.16-19). We will see more clearly in a moment how Abraham caused God Himself to go up another level in His dealings with Abraham. I m not just talking about Abraham going up another level in his faith, but God actually went to another level above the promise He had already given him. Here s the kicker: God said, By Myself I have sworn. Up until this time, God had promised, and He reiterated those promises again and again. But when Abraham passed this test, God went to another level and said, By myself I swear to you, because you have done this thing and not withheld your only son! This was the greatest test he d ever faced, and I know through those 25 years, he faced many and much discouragement. I m sure that the hardest test he had up until this point, was when he had to relinquish Ishmael. He didn t want to let him go, but Sarah wouldn t have it. She saw the animosity building between the two sons, and when she saw they were mocking her son, she said, I will not have that slave woman and her son mocking my son. Send them away! The Bible says that it was grievous to Abraham, because he loved him. But God said, Listen to your wife. Women are often more sensitive to pick up on things that guys don t, and it s harder to pull the wool over a woman s eyes when another woman is involved. A woman knows a woman, and Sarah knew what was going on, and Hagar was inciting Ishmael to behave like that. God said, Abraham, don t let it be grievous to you, but listen to your wife. I know you love him, and I m going to bless him because he is your seed. (Gen. 21:9-13). This was probably the hardest test Abraham had ever faced, but it was nothing like this one, because now he had to sacrifice his only son, the son of promise. When he obeyed, God said, Because you did this, I swear to you... What is the significance? God Swore to Abraham Again the book of Hebrews reveals the answer: For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself. Saying, surely in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (Now pay attention) For men verily (or truly) swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife (Heb. 6:13-16). Paul, looking back to Genesis 22, stated that when God made promise to Abraham at this particular time, and said, In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee, He not only promised, but He swore! Because there was none greater, He swore by Himself. Paul stated that 7
amongst men, when two come together to make an agreement, to bind their contract, they swear to it, and they always swear by the greater. We know how people say silly stuff: I swear on my grandfather s grave, and that sort of thing. But seriously, in their time, this was very real. They didn t have lawyers that wrote up contracts with fine print that had to be read and signed and co-signed and initialed. Their word was their bond. They swore, shook hands, and men always swear by the greater. Not only that, once they have sworn, that s it It s a done deal! Once they have sworn, it is confirmed, and they are absolutely committed to keep their word. It was a verbal, oral agreement, but once they hammered out the details and swore to it, it was the end of all strife. There was no more debating, arguing, or going back on their word. Christians Should Keep Covenant Paul reasoned that if men do this, and once they have sworn, they won t go back on their word, or look for a loophole, will not God keep His Word once He has sworn by Himself? Paul did say that one of the signs of the last days is people would be trucebreakers (2 Tim. 3:3), that is, not keep their word. It s a shame that even in the church Christians make covenants and then go back on their word. God s people should be covenant keepers. We should be people of our word. If we tell somebody that we are going to do something, unless something happens beyond our control over which we have no power, we need to keep our word, because when we don t, it is a disgrace and a reproach on the Name of Jesus. As Christians we often look for Christian companies to do business with, because we feel we can trust them, and we want to bless other Christians, but sadly, we often are taken advantage of, and somehow they think it is okay because we re all Christians. How much greater is the reproach when sinners contract with Christians, thinking they are trustworthy, then find out they don t keep their part of the contract! They overcharge, or don t finish the job, or use inferior materials. If you are a Christian, you need to keep your word. Psalm 15:4 says, The righteous swears to his own hurt and changes not. In Abraham s day you would defraud yourself before you would break your covenant. Paul even dealt with this in 1 Cor. 6:1-8 and said, Why are Christians going to court before unsaved lawyers and judges and juries, discussing things that happened between Christians, and allowing the Name of Jesus to be reproached? You say, But he cheated me a thousand dollars. Well, that may be true, but Paul said that you should suffer the loss, take the wrong and allow yourself to be defrauded, but don t drag it before the unsaved. Try to deal with it in the church. Go to the pastors and the leaders, and if you still can t get satisfaction, even though it hurts and it s wrong, just suffer the loss. God will deal with the perpetrator But today s 8
Christians high-tail it to the courthouse quicker than anybody over anything. When God Swears Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil (vv. 17-19). If men making a promise will swear an oath by the greater, and once they make that oath, will not go back on it, how much more will God, who is more willing to show to us, the heirs of the promise, the absolute surety of His Word, confirm it with an oath? This is not just about Abraham s natural seed, the Jewish people. Galatians 3:29 says: If ye be Christ s then are ye Abraham s seed and heirs according to the promise. He s talking to us, that God is more abundantly willing to confirm His Word to us! One thing I love about God is, whatever He does, He always does it more abundantly. He s the exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think God! (Eph. 3:20). He is more willing to bless you, to receive your petition, to answer your prayer, and to keep His Word. The devil is a liar! God said, Once I have sworn by Myself, because I don t know anybody greater, I will perform my oath! It s as though God said, Who can I swear by? In Isaiah 40-45, He said, Who will you liken me to? Who can you compare me to? Who is my equal? I m God all by myself. There is no one beside me, and no one like me. Therefore, God said, When I wanted to swear by the greater, I could find no one else to swear by, so I swore by Myself. I put My hand on My Word and took an oath. When you go to court to testify or witness, they tell you to put one hand on the Bible and swear. God said, I put My hand on My Word and I swore by the words of My mouth that what I have promised I will do. Because I m not a man that I should lie, and I m not the son of a man that I should repent. Have I not said it, and shall I not do it? Have not I spoken, and shall not I make it good? (Num. 23:19). Please get this: God was saying: I not only promised, but I swear. God says to you and me, the heirs of the promise, I am more willing to show to you My promise than I was to Abraham. I m more willing to show to you the immutability of My Word. Immutable means something that cannot be changed. It s unchangeable, unalterable, immoveable, irreversible, irrevocable, unimpeachable. God said, If I did this for Abraham, I am more willing to do it for you, and I confirm it by an oath. Often when people take an oath, they ll say, I swear on my life, and God said, I swear on who I am, I 9
swear on My life, and I swear on My Word, and I put My hand on My heart. You know how best girlfriends are, especially teenagers and adolescents like to make girlfriend promises: They say, Put your hand on your heart and swear that you promise not to tell anyone! Well, God has put His hand on His heart and said, I want to show you, the heirs of the promise, that if I swear to it, if I not only promise you, but I make it an oath, and I put My hand on My heart, and tell you that I will keep My Word if you will trust Me, if you will not cast away your confidence, if you will hold on to My promises, I swear on My own life that I will keep it. Two Immutable Things These are the two immutable things: God not only made a promise to Abraham and to us, but He swore an oath, and an oath is stronger than a promise! An oath is the end of all strife, the end of all argument. An oath means it s confirmed. It s a done deal. Paul said in 2 Cor. 1:20: For all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yes, and in him Amen... Not only are God s promises immutable, but God went one greater and said, I not only promise, and if I promise I will do it, but I swear I take an oath that I will fulfill this promise and keep My Word. The conclusion then is, if God not only promised, but swore an oath, then it s impossible for it to fail. As a result, We have a strong consolation,...to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast We have a strong hope, and the Greek word hope (ELPIS) is not the wishy-washy, watered-down English meaning: Maybe so, I wish It means the confident expectation of the fulfillment of what God has said. In fact, this hope is so strong, it s unsinkable! It s like the anchor of a ship that will not let it sink. I tell you, if you re standing on the promises of God, and you understand that He has not only promised, but has sworn an oath in confirmation, then you are unsinkable! You re undrownable, unmoveable, because your anchor of hope is both sure and steadfast. When you reach this point, there is absolutely nothing that can cause your promise to fail. The only way that it could fail at this point is, if you do what Paul said not to do in Hebrews 10:35: Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. God knew He could trust Abraham. I do not believe He would have put him to the test if He had thought Abraham was going to fail and say, There s no way I m taking my son up there and sacrifice him. I am not taking that boy away from his mother after all these years. I m sorry God, but this is going too far. God knew Abraham would say, Hi Neini: All that I am, and all that I have is Yours. I surrender. I lay it down at Your feet. I don t know what You re doing. I don t understand it. I don t even like it, but I say Yes, Lord. Many times you don t understand why you go through some things. But if 10
God didn t trust you to make it through the test, He wouldn t allow you to go through it. He promised, When you walk through the fire, the flame will not burn you. When you pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. (Isa. 43:2). God Swore to David I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens (Psalm 89:1-2). David starts this psalm with praise extolling God s goodness for His covenant. Whenever you do this, you get God s attention, and He ll start talking back to you. In verse 3 God responded: I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. This was God s covenant with David. He wanted to build God a house, and he envisioned the great temple he would build, and he shared his plans with the prophet Nathan, who shared his enthusiasm. That night David went to bed with dreams of the beautiful, ornate building he would build for God, but the next morning the prophet came to him and said, David, God has spoken to me in the night and said, Thou shall not build Me a house. He explained why: God loves the fact that you want to do this for Him, but you have been a man of war and a man of blood, so He will raise up your son, who will be a man of peace, and he (Solomon) will build God s house. God was moved by David s desire to build Him a house, and He said, Furthermore, I tell you that I will build you a house, and I will raise up your seed and establish his throne forever (1 Chron. 17). After Solomon s reign of peace, the kingdom was later divided, because Solomon s son Rehoboam was evil, and God split the kingdom between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. He gave Jeroboam 10 tribes, but Rehoboam kept Judah (David s tribe) and Benjamin (because Benjamin was situated inside Judah s land mass). God let him keep those two tribes, because He had told David, I have made a covenant, and I have sworn, thy seed will I establish for ever. In verses 5-18 David takes off praising God again, And the heavens shall praise thy wonders O Lord. Thy faithfulness is also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Again God answers him: I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my 11
hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.my mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven (vv. 20-21, 28-29). God then predicted that down the line some of his seed would forsake His laws, and He would visit them with the rod of correction for their transgressions. (vv. 30-32). Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me (vv. 33-36). God said, Once I have sworn in my holiness, I will not lie! We know God cannot lie, but He was making a point: I not only have promised, but I swear. Psalm 132:11 affirms: The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body have I set upon the throne. It is also re-stated in Acts 2:30 that God had sworn this oath to him. When God means business with a person, when he or she will put their hope on the nitty-gritty of His Word and say: I trust in You, although I see all kinds of negative circumstances: I ve been assailed, I ve been attacked by the enemy with many fierce arrows. My soul has been pierced; my heart has been broken, and I have been wounded in my spirit. I have been lied on, reviled, cheated, betrayed, and abandoned. But God, I trust You, and I believe Your Word is true. I believe Your promises are yea and amen, and I m going to exalt You with my life. My lips shall praise You. My tongue shall glorify You. I will not speak negative things: I will not say that You don t hear my prayers; that You re not moving on my behalf; that I m not receiving my healing and my victory. No! I will not give into the lying devil and charge You foolishly with my mouth, no matter how negative it is around me. That s when God will say: That s it! I swear, I will keep My promise. I swear, I will keep My covenant. Bring that promise from My Word to Me, and I ll put My hand on My heart and say, I swear, and I will not lie. If God did it for Abraham, for Sarah, for David, and many others, He ll do it for you. Because He said that He is more willing, to abundantly show you and me the immutability of His Word: I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. (Isaiah 45:23). Editor s Note: This message has been edited for space. The complete message is available on CD. See page 15. 12