48 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 3 - Part 4 - Book 4 - Sodom and Gomorrah

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com LESSON 3 * PART 4 * BOOK 4 SODOM AND GOMORRAH Genesis 16-20 Remember, this is Abraham's 99th year. As I reckon time, Chapter 20 has to be the time when Sarah is about to have Isaac. In Genesis Chapter 20, although Abraham was a man of faith, I think the power of Satan so beset him that we almost see Sarah lose out. Genesis 20:1 I call this "fence dwelling." Genesis 20:2a "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, `She is my sister:...'" Genesis 20:2b "...and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah." Well, Abraham wasn't worried for nothing. But God will intervene now, as He is intensely interested in this promised child, Isaac. Genesis 20:3,4 Genesis 20:5,6 Beersheba, in the southernmost part of Canaan, is where Abraham takes up his major dwelling place. Now to Chapter 21. Previously, we read that Hagar fled from Sarah, and God told her to go back and dwell with Abraham and Sarah. Genesis 21:1,2 "AND the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him." With God there are no if's, and's, or but's. So Sarah's about to have her promised child, precisely when God said. Genesis 21:3 "And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac." Now in verse 4, according to the Covenant that God had instructed in previous chapters: Genesis 21:4-7 "And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old (divisible by 5, remember) , when his son Isaac was born unto him. for I have born him a son in his old age.'" Genesis 21:8 "And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned." Genesis 21:9 "And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian (Ishmael, who was fourteen years old), which she had born unto Abraham, mocking." So Sarah gets all upset. Genesis 21:10 "Wherefore she said unto Abraham (underline the next two words), `Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.'" She is speaking from a mother's heart, but also speaking the truth of God. For didn't God say, "Oh, this son that will be born, the promised son, is the one in whom the Covenant will continue." From Abraham's point of view it was grievous as he had come to love Ishmael. Genesis 21:11,12 "And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham (I want you to realize that God is instructing now), `Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee (what did she say? Genesis 21:13 Even today the Arab people still adamantly claim that Abraham is their father. Please go to Galatians, Chapter 4. Paul wrote it under extreme circumstances. Galatians 4:19-22,23 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid (Ishmael by Hagar), the other by a freewoman (Isaac by Sarah)." Remember I pointed out to you in Genesis 17 that God had nothing to do with the birth of Ishmael; that it was all man's idea. Ishmael was born of the flesh but he, Isaac, of the freewoman was by promise. For twenty-five years God had promised Abraham, "You're going to have a nation come from you; you're going to have a son." Galatians 4:24 Ex. 19 & 20 -God -Law -Moses -Law to Israel Gal. 1:17 & 4:25 -God -Grace -Paul -Grace to Gentiles & Jews God called to Moses and told him to come up into the mountain. There, God gave Moses the Law - the Ten Commandments. Israel. See? Who did God use to give the Law to the Nation of Israel? A man! Moses came down off the mountain and gave God's Law to the Nation of Israel. This is a comparison, then, with Ishmael because Israel, as I have been pointing out since we came up through Genesis, is God's earthly people with earthly promises. The Law was spiritual. It was God's perfect Law, but in its setting, its usage and its practice, it was fleshly. Galatians 4:25,26 Israel is still under the Law. Galatians 4:29 Galatians 4:30,31 Paul states: Romans 6:14 grace." Romans 6:15 God forbid." Legalism - God hates it! That's why He told Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael. Law and Grace cannot mix. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible