Pastor Ralph Douglas West - Five Generations And One Promise | Hebrews 1:18-12

0:00 This is the day the Lord has made. We rejoice and we are glad. Thank you, choir, for blessing us today. That's some kind of outfit you got on. I start asking, I said, now what's going on with this? This outfit.

0:29 And thank you for honoring our fathers today, and thank you for honoring our widows and widowers. As well as we celebrate and reflect on Juneteenth and the significance of that in American history. While you're standing, open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. verses 8 through 12 it's verse 9 that I want to give attention to but this is for those of you who are unfamiliar with Abraham and the story of Abraham this is the biblical cliff note version of that long narrative that includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, even Terah.

1:35 Beginning at verse 8 in Hebrews chapter 11. God's word reads by faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went even though he didn't know where he was going by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country he lived in tents and as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah who was past childbearing age was and able to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.

2:44 And so from this one man and as good as dead came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless at the sand of the seashore. Before you sit down let me read verse 9 again. I want you to hear this, see if you can pick up on this subtle line. By faith, Abraham made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.

3:18 He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise. this is the word of God you may be seated I want to tag this text this morning. Five generations and one promise. I have maybe it's an obsession, I don't know, of watching these CSI shows. I looked up the other day, well it's been longer than the other day, but it was one of those days where you're locked in, shut out, you really can't go anywhere. and the television was just on CSI.

4:21 I don't know if it was CSI New York, Miami, New Orleans. I don't know. It was just CSI, this crime unit. And each episode was trying to find some impossible case, impossible case to solve, unlock by using DNA. Sometimes it was the swab in the mouth, maybe hair, maybe blood, a drop of blood that under normal circumstances, I don't know the language, I didn't sit down to try to memorize it to be impressive or anything. I'm just looking at the show but I'm fascinated I think that's the word or at least intrigued over how this DNA can lead back lead back to certain people here's what happened there's a murder there's DNA the DNA is no good but there is a sun they take DNA from the sun they link it to the father, but then the father DNA is linked to his father, the grandfather.

5:47 And through the linking of a series of DNA samples, they're able to identify who committed the crime by using the DNA of a grandson or great-grandson. grandson or great-grandson. I thought it was fascinating. Then I said, I don't know what's so fascinating about that. When today I read Hebrews 11, 8 through 12, verse 9 says that Abraham was in a tent, in the same tent that Isaac and Jacob lived and they all believed in the same promise. I could call this the DNA of faith that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelled for a period in the same tent and the one commonality is that they all believed in a promise that had been made. This morning I want to talk about fathers in that DNA, how it's passed down to one generation to the next.

7:04 And I want to look this morning at five generations of people that we read about regularly and sometimes forget how their DNA is collected, connected, and how it points us in the same direction. I want to begin and this cover is also beginning at Genesis 11 but I want to begin with some fathers from the same family and the first father I want to begin with is Tara T-E-R-A-H Tara this this is Abraham's daddy we don't talk much about him because he was a moon worshiper turned a God follower. We pick up the story of Abraham and often we start talking about Abraham heard God and he did in the Ur Chaldees and then he moves west or north from Ur to Haran to Haran to Canaan. That is true but that's blocking one person out of the story. That's Abraham's daddy.

8:18 a terror is who really gets the story started he's not as known and so I want to put frames around these fathers as you go out in the lobby you'll notice that there's some sons here who have gone back three four five generations and they have frames of their fathers out here today I want to hang frames around these fathers and I want to begin with Tara because he begins for us as the forgotten faithful father. He's the forgotten faithful father and here's what's interesting. He doesn't know Yahweh. He doesn't know Jehovah. He doesn't know God. In fact we don't know how he starts moving in the right direction. Some kind of way he moves. He doesn't have a Bible. He didn't have a biblical atlas. There's no telling that God spoke to him through some vision. Some way, we don't know how, Terah gets in on the story and he packs up his clan. He gets his son Abram, Nahor, Haran. They get them together and they start moving in the right direction and the story reads that Terah leads them from the Ur-Chaldees to Haran. That's as far as he can take them. I thought about that and the way that I hear people talk about fathers.

9:53 Man, it's amazing. It was good to hear Ms. Favrite that they talk about in a poem, the love of a father. I'm telling you, dads, we get it tough. I mean, it is rough. I mean, I keep telling you, I don't know why we come to church on Father's Day. We should have a retreat on this weekend, pack up, have some fun. You know, don't worry about where you want to eat. There are no lines today. You would just assume that dads are the worst people on the planet. But some of you need to cut your dad some slack. He can only take you as far as he knows to go. He can't take you where he's never been. And that is, for me, one of the great takeaways in the story of Tara's relationship with Abraham. He takes him as far as he can go.

11:00 In comes then at the same time in chapter 11 and 12 and for those of you who are critical Bible readers you don't have to remind me that Abraham is the covenant name that is given to him. I do know his name was Abram. I'm very clear of that but when I want to get caught up in the nuance or when his name changed. Just suffice it to be said today that Abraham picks up the mantle from his faithful father and in doing so beginning in chapter 12 of Genesis, Abraham comes on the scene as the following famous father. His light is brighter than Terras and yet the source of his light comes from his father. He becomes this famous following father, one who picks up in Haran and moves to the now from the Ur of Chaldeans into the land of promise. And where is he going?

12:07 He doesn't even know. All he knows is, is that the builder and the architect is God. That's a fascinating line for me. How do you know where you're going? I don't know where I'm going. All I know is, is when I get there, I'll know it because the foundation builder and maker is God. Are there any signs that says that God has built this? No, I'll just know when I get there. And you don't have to strain your imagination. It's the same way that you respond when you have what is called an epistemological experience. That big word actually means is when you know that you know that you know. Nobody can make you doubt it because you know too much about it. He knows who's the builder and maker. This famous father Abraham. Again, those of you who know the story better than me you don't need to write me an email this week to tell me but at this period he is not a father I know that I know that but he's living with a promise the promise is is that I will make your name great and I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you and those who are blessed they will be blessed and all the nations shall be blessed because of you and yet this famous father is not without his own flaws as much as we love to talk about Abraham the progenitor of the faith you cannot overlook the reality that Abraham has some flaws and they show up early on. He's married to Sarah and on their first excursion of escape in the shadows of Egypt, he lies. Abraham has a way of not being very honest. He's famous, but he got some flaws.

14:19 And then there's the contention between he and his nephew, Lot, his brother's son. And Lot chooses the better part of the land in fact it is described as being like the well-watered plains of the Jordan and he leaves for Abraham his uncle the dead man's gulsh he he finds himself caught between an indiscretion and makes what he would later say that his wife put him up to it no resistance but he did it and this causes a complication of indiscretion in his very life he's a famous father but he's a flawed father all the way to the point that though he trusts God that leaves from the Ur of Chaldees with his father he leaves there to Haran from Haran to Canaan. He makes the journey, but along the way, flaw after flaw after flaw. In fact, the epitome of his life is he's 90, or rather Sarah is 90, and he's a centenarian. And God surprises him on his birthday and says, Sarah is pregnant. God has worked an impossibility between both of them to remind them that what God promises just because you have to wait 25 years does not mean that God has forgotten his promise. If God makes a promise, God knows how to keep the promise that God makes. So God makes this promise and in making that promise, God honors that promise by allowing Sarah to be pregnant. Then no sooner than there is the gift of birth, God challenges this father to give back to him what he has given to Abraham.

16:31 Let me say it again. You're looking for something. I was sitting down the other night and young preacher was asking me, grilling me, trying to get me to own up to, where do you find these insights, these clever insights? I said, I never look for nothing clever or new. I'm like a person who has a favorite book. I just read it and read it, and then these little nuances pop out and say, all these years of reading this, I've never really paid attention to that. Stop looking for something new. Just listen for the truth. And so this morning, this morning, God gives to Abraham and Sarah what they've been waiting for, a gift named Isaac. And in doing so, God then says, now give him back. You know, that's what you do when you ask, I want to bless my children. I watch how casual we are with that it's like a checklist well I had a baby I'm supposed to give this baby to God and I watch how people disposition is how humorous and light-hearted they are and then no sooner than 20 years pass by and you have mapped out for your child to be an engineer or to be a scientist or something like and then they say God is calling me in the missions. And then you're trying to say to them, look, look, mission work don't pay.

18:06 Somebody got to pay the bill. You say, but God has called me. And then you get mad at me, get mad at the church. I didn't bring my children in that church for them not to be a school teacher or a nurse or a doctor to go out and be mission. But you all forget the day you said, bring my child to the altar and offer my child back to God and when I pray I notice now they don't ask me to pray for the children as much because when I pray I say God this is your baby that you have given as a gift do with this child whatever you desire to do with it I can remember I can remember in my own life. When I decided to enter into the ministry, some of the people who were concerned for me asked me what was my fallback plan. This is the God's honest truth. It's not a preaching point. I remember this. Well, I didn't know because I grew up, they said to me that if you put your hand to the plow and look back, you're not fit for the kingdom. I always took that in frightening terms. I always looked at it and said, man, if you walk with God, you better take God serious.

19:23 And so I did. So when I entered my career, my vocation, I guess is the right word, of following God in academic study to prepare myself to stand up for 30 minutes and try to make sense. When I would do that, it was a result of what happened to me at the altar when my mama said, take my child and do with him whatever you desire to do. I don't blame you. I wouldn't clap either because you probably don't want God to do that to your child. But I would recommend that today that if you're serious about their future, you ought to put their future in the hand of God. Now, put it in God's hand. You can tell God, now God, don't call her to preach. Don't call him to preach. Don't call him to mission. but I'm going to put them in your hand.

20:16 I don't know how that's going to work out but do it. If you're scared that God might get a hold of them and leave them in areas that you don't want them to go or you could just say we're not going to offer our child up to God but when you offer your child up to God just know this God has a way of doing with your child what your child wouldn't expect him to do with them. Preach, Pastor Wes. That's what you get. And I wish I could tell you it was a happy ending. But at that moment, Isaac, when offered back to God, there's a distance between Abraham and Isaac for the rest of their lives. Isaac comes on the scene now.

21:09 And you would call him the further fragile father. There's not a lot to be said about Isaac. I don't know if that experience so warped him in a way that we never get him back on track anymore. But imagine being Isaac, the son, the son of Abraham. Some pretty big shoes to have to fill. and then God naming you Isaac in the Hebrew meaning laughter that he brings joy to his mother and father only to discover that God's going to offer you up on a sacrifice oh by the way by the way I know when we tell this story we make Isaac what seven years old nine now he's about 19 he he's he's a grown man when he and his father strike out this is not the first time they've been on a hunting trip this is one of the joys that they have as father and son is going to the mountain to worship God and to go on a trip of hunting.

22:27 But on this day, Isaac remembers as he tells this story. I remember that day. We had everything but what we needed. We were going to make a sacrifice and we didn't have an offering. And I asked my daddy, I see the knife, I see the wood, I see the flint for the fire. What I want to know, where, could you please tell me, where is the sacrifice? And I'll never forget my daddy scarred me with these words. The Lord will provide. Preach, Pastor West. The Lord will provide. May I say this morning, that's a great story when you're telling it to somebody for somebody else. The story reads different when you say this is my story where God has called me to offer up what I thought the most sacred thing there is for me to give up.

23:38 And then to hear God say to me, and the Lord will provide. how he does it I don't know but God will will provide and here in the life of Isaac at that very moment in a distance from his father forever forever I like to call him a valley between mountain peaks. You know the life of Abraham and then you'll know the life even of Jacob, his son. And in the middle is Isaac. He never does anything fascinating. In fact, he's fragile in so many ways, easily duped. You meet him when his sight is going. and there's something about this father.

24:34 You can't tell me that he doesn't know. He has an inkling. His intuition is high. When it's time to give out birthrights and blessings and his son comes along and I'll pick up now with him, Jacob. Because Jacob then becomes the fleeing fugitive father. The fleeing fugitive father. Jacob a twin Esau son of Isaac one man who's always on the run always just one step in head of the posse if you didn't get that I grew up they had a show called the fugitive And every week the fugitive was just one step ahead of the posse. That's Jacob.

25:31 One step ahead, always almost caught, but not quite. He dupes his brother out of birthright and blessing. He fools his father. And now you find him on the run. And yet God loves you enough to let you run You just can't hide Some of you in church running.

26:03 Hiding behind hymn book and Bible. And you've been negotiating with God forever. But Lord, I'm in church and the Lord says, I know where you are. I'm just waiting on you to know why you are. That's all. I know where you are. I want you to know why you are.

26:24 And one night on the run, Jacob goes to sleep for those who don't know about Jacob he's a character you would want to read about Jacob is willy-nilly he is uh yeah he is Yeah, that's who he is.

27:01 Now, very seriously, he has some names. He's a trickster. A heel grabber. These are actual words that are attached to him. He's a heel grabber. he's a sub planner and god caught up with him when he thought he had out running but he was amazed what happened to him he goes to sleep he forgets to pack his overnight bag he's on the run he really is and he sleeps out under the stars and god catches up with him in a dream and a vision and he sees angels going up and down a ladder and it just simply reminds him of this why are you trying to manipulate manipulate your way through life why are you trying to hook and crook your way through life don't you know what your lineage is do you know who your father and your grandfather is do you know what promise I have made to them in fact you don't have to try to steal heaven I'm going to bring heaven down your soul to me.

28:18 And for the rest of his life, God does that. What a good news that God provides for us. God provides for us. I'm done now. But there's another father in this lineage. And sometimes we forget to put him in the family tree and his name is Joseph. He's the future formidable father Joseph is the Brother Whose brothers Murdered him And threw him in a pit And then he was enslaved in Egypt If the murder trial had come to court he would not have needed the dream team.

29:12 Because you see it was falsified. And it was part of a larger scheme. I will bless those who bless you. And those who curse you, I will curse. In the larger scheme of the family, Joseph now is the caretaker of Potiphar's house. and yet gets caught up in a scandalous situation and ends up on trumped up charges. He goes to prison for something he didn't do. But while he was in prison, the words, I will bless you, that was made to his grandfather and great-grandfather these words that I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you, I will curse them and I will bless those who bless your name.

30:20 He says, your name shall be great. None of that makes sense when you're locked up for something that you didn't do. And yet the situation is, is that when God needed somebody to make an interpretation, he did what came natural to him. He just told them what the dream was about. And from the pit, he shows up at the palace.

30:47 Now, if you don't know this story, this will be your assignment this week to say this. Because I've left all the juicy parts out. I'm just giving you now the edge of the story to stay focused on the father. And while he's there, he is elevated to the most prominent position. You remember I told you his brothers murdered him. They plotted his death. He was enslaved. And now famine hits the land. And because of his ability to interpret honestly, he is in a position and has been put as the director of the Department of Agriculture. He is overpassing out the food throughout the nation. And when he sees his brothers who don't recognize him, because the last they saw him, he was young, in a pit, in the dirt, but now he got on raw regal robes.

31:49 And he's sitting in a place of position and power. And while he's in that position, he's sitting there talking to them. And he can barely hold himself together for the tears that get in his eyes. And he had to walk out the room and he began to ask him.