"…there Is Nothing Too Hard For Thee!”

The Bible tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared unto him with two other angels. One of these three was the Lord Jesus Himself.

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT ONE OF THEM WAS THE LORD HIMSELF?

He is given the name of God, He is called “Yahweh”:

• In verse 3 - “And said, My Lord…”

• In verse 13 - “And the Lord said unto Abraham”

• In verse 14 - “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Another reason we know this to be the Lord, is because in matters that deal with God He referred to Himself as “I” ( We see that in Verse 17 and verse 26).

These three heavenly visitors came to Abraham’s house. You can not have any greater visitors than Abraham had.

Illus: If you were going to have a big party at your house, and you socialize with the rich, famous, the most influential people on this earth, you could not invite anyone greater than the Lord Jesus.

WHY DID THE LORD VISIT ABRAHAM?

For a very special reason; The Lord was going to create a new race of people through Abraham, called the Jewish race.

This matter was so important to God, that He did not leave it in the hands of others to create this race, He came down Himself to take care of this business.

The visit was a confirmation that:

• Abraham was going to be father of the Jewish nation. (Gen. 17:15-19; 18:10-14).

• Isaac was to be the promised seed

But the circumstances didn’t look good! However, when the circumstances don’t look good, God shows up to do the impossible.

We have all the ingredients here for God to do something GREAT! Let’s look at-

I. THE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD

God was going to create a new race of people through Abraham, but there were some major things in the life of Abraham that had to be worked out before God could do this.

As we read of the great blessings of God on the life of Abraham, we may not see the many difficulties he had to face to get to the place where God could bless him the way He did.

The Lord appeared to Abraham to remind him that God was greater than his problems - whatever they were.

God had to show Abraham that He was -

A. GREATER THAN HIS FAMILY

It is a wonderful thing to be born into a Christian family where Dad and Mom both know the Lord. But Abraham did not have that blessing, he was born into a home of heathens.

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT?

Look at Genesis 12:1-3, we read, “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 show 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.”

• Abraham's father was a polytheistic idol worshipper

• But not only was he an idol worshipper, he also was a merchant of idols

Abraham was born into such a family. But God could see something in his heart that pleased Him. He discarded his father's belief, and began to develop a monotheistic belief.

Illus: The story is told that one day Abraham, as a young man, was left to tend to the store of his father and the many idols that he had created. While left alone to take care of his father's store, Abraham took a hammer and smashed all but one idol. Abraham's father returned to the store, littered with shattered idols, and one intact idol holding a hammer. When asked what had happened, Abraham said that the idols had gotten into a fight, and that the idol in the corner with the hammer had smashed all the other ones. His father said, "Don't be ridiculous. These idols have no life or power. They can't do anything." Abraham then asked, "Then why do you worship them and sell them?"

Abraham concluded that if he was ever going to get any help, he had to have a living God that could help him.

• A God that made him

• Not a god that he could make

God called Abraham, telling him to leave his home and family. In return, Abraham would become the Father of a great nation. So he left his home and began to search for city whose builder and maker was God.

But before God could do this through Abraham, He had to show him HE WAS GREATER THAN HIS FAMILY.