September 12th, 1962
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Romans. 15:4 — "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."
Paul is telling the Gentiles in the church at Rome that the Old Testament was needful for them, and through learning it they will have hope. Last week we showed you how Jesus Christ used the Scripture that was not under Law. Not by direct interpretation, but by application.
1/ Then there is another thing to see. In the New Testament, there are dozens of Old Testament stories mentioned. But to really get the meat out of these Scriptures, one has to know the Old Testament.
For example, Hebrews 11:8 — "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."
If you read just this portion of Scripture, you are told that Abraham obeyed God when He was called to go out to a place which he should receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing whither he was going. If you did not have the Old Testament, or what is commonly called the Old Testament, you would have a wrong picture. And the hope of this Scripture would be lost to you. From this Scripture you would think that Abraham heard the command of God, and clicked his heals, saluted and cried out "forward march!" 1,2,3,4 122,3,4 and then he hardly stopped to catch his breathe until he pitched camp in Canaan. But when we go back to the story in Genesis, we see there was a long delay, and that he did not fully obey the command of God for several years.
2/ The history of this man begins way back in Genesis 11: 31, 32 — "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran."
After God gave up the Gentile nations, He called this man and from Hebrews 11: 8 you would never know that he lived in the Ur of Chaldees, which is far, far from the promised land. Ur means Flame, Chaldees means destruction. So God called a man from the place of the flame and from the land of destruction.
3/ And you would never know Abraham was an idolater from Hebrews 11: 8. He came from a pagan country and a pagan home. His family worshipped idols.
Joshua 24: 2 — "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.”
4/ And then you would find that in Genesis 11: 31 it was Abraham who led the way, but Terah -- his father, who took Abraham and the rest from the land of the Chaldees. Abraham disobeyed God right at the start.
5/ Then from the New Testament Scripture you would never have known that when they got half the way to the destination, when suddenly God stopped them short in the land of Haran. Which means, Dry or parched, fruitless. Canaan stands for Fruitfulness and victory, and they were there for approximately six years -- wasted years. We do not read that Abraham built any altars, or that he even prayed, or that God encouraged him in any way.
6/ If you compare this with Genesis 12: 1 — "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."
He was to get out of his father's house, but he took his father, and disobeyed God. Terah means delay. And he had to bury his father in a strange land, away from his loved ones because he had disobeyed God.
7/ Then you would not know from the New Testament that Abraham was a liar.
But now let us turn to Romans 4: 1-4 — "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt."
And here we find the Apostle Paul tells us that Abraham found something out as pertaining to the flesh. Without these older writings this Scripture would not really be the blessing that it should.
When we go back to Genesis 12: 10 — "And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land."
Here we see a very disturbing situation arose in the land of Canaan. A famine was in the land. How it must have troubled Abraham. Was he where God wanted him to be? If so, why the famine? He was tested and failed. For instead of trusting God, he tried to solve his own problem in the flesh. Instead of saying, God placed me here, I am going to stay here until He moves me -- he took matters into his own hands, and went down into Egypt, which is a picture of the world. He paid dearly and learned a great lesson. He lost his peace of mind, his security, he began to worry. He feared that he would be killed because his wife was beautiful, and the Egyptians would slay him to get her.
Genesis 12: 12,13 — "Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee."
And we see a beautiful picture of the Grace of God. Instead of cursing Abraham, God plagued Pharoah.
Genesis 12: 17 — "And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife."
Here we read that the Lord plagued Pharoah with great plagues. The one who deserved the plagues was Abraham, but God in His grace plagued the unsaved man.
AMEN
9/12/1962 / 4 - THE PLACE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER / 4/25/2026
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