Gênesis 18
John Phillips · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gênesis 18
Phillips wrote a book titled Your God Is Too Small (borrow), in which he exposed people's caricatures of God. Many people have a God of their own making-but it is not the biblical God. God can do anything He pleases that is in harmony with His nature. God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11); "He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3). Nothing can hinder God's plan and purpose. Whatever He decides to do will come to pass. Almighty is a word that describes God's power. As God Almighty (El Shaddai) He could make ninety-nine-year-old Abram a father (Genesis 17:1); He caused cunning Jacob to be the father of nations and kings (Ge 35:11), and one day He will judge the world in the Great Tribulation (Revelation 4:8). God's power also goes beyond what He actually does. "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" asked the angel (Genesis 18:14). No. He can enable a ninety-year-old mother to conceive and bear a child, and He can do even more. John the Baptist said that God could turn stones into faithful Israelites-but He didn't (Matthew 3:9). Jesus said He could appeal to the Father to send seventy-two thousand angels to rescue Him-but He didn't (Mt 26:53). There are things God cannot do. He can't associate with sin (Habakkuk 1:13), He can't go back on His word (2 Timothy 2:13), He can't lie (Hebrews 6:18). The greatest expression of God's power was the bodily resurrection of Jesus (2 Corinthians 13:4). And the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is operative in believers (Ephesians 1:19)! Think of it! Are you living by faith in the all-powerful God? Or do you carry the weight of the world as if God were not powerful? Remember, "Nothing is too difficult for God!" LESSON: God is all-powerful and able to do whatever He wills and whatever is consistent with His nature. J C Philpot - "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Genesis 18:14 The Lord will make us feel that though his arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear, yet he is to be enquired of. He is indeed a God that works wonders; apparent impossibilities are nothing with him; he has but to speak and it is done. But he will make us know his power by making us feel our weakness. He will often keep at a great distance, and for a long time, in order to make us value his presence. He will make us sink very low that he may lift us very high. He will make us taste the bitterness of the gall and wormwood of sin that we may know the sweetness of manifested pardon. He will teach us to abhor ourselves in our own sight, and loathe ourselves for our abominations, before we shall see and know ourselves washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, and to stand before him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The Lord in one sense is easy of access upon his throne of grace, but in another very hard to be got at. He invites his dear people to come and spread their needs before him; he encourages them with a thousand promises; he says in our text, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" But he will make us set a due value upon his visitations; they shall not be given to us very easily or very frequently that we may not hold them cheap. It is not "ask and have" immediately. We have to learn what sin cost our dear Redeemer; we have to see the holiness and majesty of God; we have to learn that though mercy is free, and grace superabounds over the aboundings of sin, yet it must be got at after many a struggle, many a cry, many a sigh and groan, and many a fervent petition; that though all fullness dwells in the Lord the Lamb, and he invites us to come and take of the water of life freely, yet it is guarded on every side by many things that would drive us back. And thus he teaches us to put due value upon his grace, upon the visitations of his countenance and the words of his lips. They cost the dear Redeemer the deepest agonies of body and soul, and sufferings of which no finite mind can form a conception; and, therefore, are not to be given out without teaching us to know through what channel they came, nor what it cost the blessed Son of God to give out of his fullness those supplies of grace by which he enriches our need. Spiritual Fitness Is anything too hard for the LORD? Genesis 18:14 Why is it that getting into shape takes months of disciplined exercise, but getting out of shape is so incredibly easy? We wake every morning full of resolve that this will be the day, the month, the year that we finally drop those extra pounds or run that 5K race. But life pulls us in dozens of different directions, and often it seems just too plain difficult to keep those well-intended resolutions. Lots of things in life can be tough, like maintaining muscle mass. Scripture tells us, however, that nothing is too hard for God. In Genesis we read the amazing account of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child in their old age. Now what kind of shape does an elderly woman need to be in for that to happen? If God could quicken the womb of a woman in her nineties, He can work in your situation today as well. His ability to intervene has nothing to do with how “fit” you appear to be. First Corinthians 1:27 describes how much God delights in using the weak to accomplish His purposes: “God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame.” Lace up those exercise shoes and head out this morning with a smile on your face. Nothing is too difficult for God. Andrew
Gênesis 18
Phillips - The revelation of that truth was an interesting test of Abraham’s growth in grace and of his increase in the knowledge of God. How does a faithful, maturing, obedient child of God react to the truth that a holocaust of judgment is about to engulf a world of vile and godless men? Jonah, faced with apocalyptic truth, was glad. He pondered the impending doom of Nineveh with glee, determined to do nothing to stay its fall, careless of the thousands of little children who lived within its walls. Jesus, faced with apocalyptic truth, was moved to tears. His prophetic eye envisioned Jerusalem as it would be within a generation, the surrounding hills black with crosses and on every cross a Jew. And He wept, wept for the city whose sins called for vengeance so thorough and so complete. Faced with apocalyptic truth, Abraham prayed. (Exploring Genesis - page 150) Oswald Chambers - Friendship with God page 88 Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Genesis 18:17. Its Delights. This chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and all your commonsense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once. Its Difficulties. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly on until God granted his desire, there was something yet to be desired in his relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say—‘Well, I don’t know; perhaps it is not God’s will,’—there is still another stage to go. We are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to be—“That they may be one even as We are one.” Think of the last thing you prayed about—were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? “Your Heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” The point of asking is that you may get to know God better. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God Himself. Genesis 18:18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? become: Ge 12:2-3 22:17,18 26:4 Ps 72:17 Ac 3:25,26 Ga 3:8,14 Eph 1:3 Genesis 18 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Related Passages: Galatians 3:8+ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” PROPHECY REGARDING ABRAHAM AND NATIONS Since (seeing that) Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation - Surely become is the verb hayah which is repeated to emphasize the certainty of the fulfillment of this prophecy regarding Abraham. Nation refers to the nation of Israel that would originate from Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob. Great refers both to numbers and to significance or impact the nation of Israel would have on both human and angelic history. THOUGHT - Israel in fact is God's timepiece regarding what He will do in the world. So keep your eye on Israel. And in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? This is quoted in part Ga 3:8+ as part of the proclamation of the gospel to Abraham. How could they be blessed in him? Because in Abraham was the seed of the line of Messiah Who would bless all the nations. The Lord's statement that “in him (Abraham) all the nations of the earth will be blessed” is an enlargement upon the Lord’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 that in Abraham “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” F B