This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church, relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. One of the great names of God in the Old Testament is El Shaddai, God Almighty. In our last broadcast, we saw the work of God Almighty in the life of Abraham. Today we conclude this two-part message and we shall see that God Almighty not only has a grand plan that extends from before the creation of the world all the way into eternity, but that within this He has a personal plan for each believer in Christ. And so we begin today once again with Abraham in the book of Genesis. If you're able, I hope you will turn in your Bible to the book of Genesis as we begin again. Almighty God, I pray that your blessing will be upon your word as we open it once again. We trust in your promise that it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which you have set it. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Twenty-four years have now passed since God first made His promises to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Fourteen years have now passed since God appeared to Abraham a second time to confirm His promises in Genesis chapter 15. And 24 years after God's original promise 14 years after God's confirmation of that promise, as we come to Genesis 17, verse 1, here sits Abraham. He still possesses no land, and he still has no son. Abraham is a man of great wealth, but he doesn't own a single square foot of the land God has promised to him. And what about the promised son? Abraham has tried to make his own way. In the time since God last appeared, Abraham has fathered Ishmael with Sarah's handmaid. But God is about to make it clear that Ishmael is not the son that God has promised. Please read with me if you are able, Genesis chapter 17 beginning at verse 1. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God. In the Hebrew, El Shaddai. walk before me and be blameless, and I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." And then notice verse 15. Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples shall be from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you. Then God said, No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year." Here are Abraham and Sarah in their old age. As the writer to the Hebrews tells us in chapter 11, Abraham is as good as dead as far as having children is concerned. But that is no obstacle to God. I am God Almighty. I am El Shaddai. I am the one who is able to do anything, anytime, in any way. I am not bound by time. I am not bound by my creation. I am not bound by the normal workings of the natural order that I have established. I am God Almighty. I am El Shaddai. I can do anything, but I cannot fail. I will not fail. God, in effect, is saying to Abraham, you may think I have failed. You may think you have come to the end of the line. You may think that the promise has not been fulfilled and cannot now be fulfilled. You may think that the last chapter has been written. But think again, Abraham. I, El Shaddai, I, God Almighty, have only begun to work I have only begun to do. You are about to see, Abraham, not the end, but the beginning. You may be in the last phase of your life on earth, Abraham, but thousands of years of my plan lie ahead. Hundreds of generations of my people are still in the future. Through you, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed, because through you, Abraham, will come the one who will redeem a people for himself, a people who will call you, Abraham, their father in the faith. I am God Almighty. I am El Shaddai. And here we are, dear friends, 4,000 years later, all of us who are in Christ, we are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. We are living proof that El Shaddai is faithful to every one of his promises. And across the seas tonight, there is a people, ethnic Israel, once again in the land, physical descendants of Abraham. And according to the sure promises of El Shaddai, Romans chapter 11, after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, there will be a great in-gathering of ethnic Jews into the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Their time is coming. God Almighty is the God of I will. Twelve times in Genesis chapter 17 God says to Abraham, I will. And God could say all those I wills because God is first of all who he said he was, God Almighty, El Shaddai. And the same El Shaddai who said to Abraham, I will, I will, I will, I will, over and over in the Old Testament, he is the same God Almighty, the same El Shaddai who says, I will, in the New Testament. John 6.37, All that the Father gives me will come to me, Jesus said, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. John 6.44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 14.3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, Jesus said, I will come again and receive you to myself, that there I am, there you may be also." And Revelation chapter 21, verse 6, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." God Almighty is the God of I will. Not one detail of His plan will go unfulfilled because El Shaddai keeps all His promises. Now you may be saying, yes, I know these things are true. I know the big picture. But I am struggling with the day-to-day. I am struggling with life in this present world. Well, let me take this opportunity to remind you that all of the things that you are experiencing in life in this world are part of the big picture. They are all the details and the outworking of the plan of God Almighty of El Shaddai. And just as God did in the Old Testament, God today reveals himself in his various aspects, in his various names, if you will. He reveals himself to each of us in those ways individually, according to his plan and according to our need at the time. We see this in the life of Abraham. When Abraham came back from the war with the four kings, God reminded him, Genesis chapter 15, that he, God, was his shield. Abraham had led his forces in a great military victory, but God was the author of that victory. In that war, Abraham recovered all of his goods and all of his family, and he took no reward from the hand of man. But God reminded Abraham that he, God, was his exceedingly great reward, beyond any earthly treasure or blessing. And years later, when Abraham thought that God's promises were beyond fulfillment, The Lord came to him and said, I am El Shaddai. I am God Almighty. I will do it. And now, Abraham, I am ready to do it. It is going to be miraculous. I will keep every one of my great and precious promises to you. At one point in Abraham's life, at a time of fear, it was vital for God to reveal himself to him as his shield and as his great reward. But at a later point, when years had passed and doubts had grown and despair had set in, it was vital for the Lord in his plan and purpose to remind Abraham that his God was El Shaddai, God Almighty. Perhaps you are wondering about the plan and promises of God. Perhaps you are in doubt. Perhaps you say, I wish I could trust God the way Abraham did. Or, I wish I could trust God the way this person or that person seems to trust God. Dear friends, there were many times in Abraham's life when he failed to trust God. He failed to trust God when he was in Egypt. He failed to trust God when he went into the land of Gerar. On both of those occasions he lied about his relationship to Sarah, because he didn't trust in the protection of God. In fact, Abraham's lies put Sarah in greater danger than she would have been if Abraham had told the truth. But God did the protecting, not Abraham. And Abraham failed to trust God when he took matters into his own hands and fathered Ishmael. But none of Abraham's failures stopped God from being faithful to his promises. Abraham's failures did not change God. Abraham's failures did not stop God from being El Shaddai. And what was the end of the history of Abraham? We find it in Hebrews chapter 11 beginning at verse 8. We read this, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. And then verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 11, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God, God Almighty El Shaddai, was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Dear friends, we need to listen to the Word of God Almighty, the Word of El Shaddai. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, God said this to the children of Israel, beginning at verse 18, You shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. Many of the children of Israel actually did this. They attached what they called a mezuzah to the doorposts of their houses. The mezuzah was a small container that held a scroll of parchment on which particular passages of Scripture were written. This container that they placed on their doorposts had a small hole or window near the top, and the scroll of parchment that was inside the container was placed in this case in the mezuzah so that whenever anyone entered that house they would see a single word on the scroll inside that window. And that word was the name Shaddai. Almighty. A constant reminder that God is God Almighty. Dear friend, put that name on the doorpost of your heart. When you doubt the promises of God, and we all have times of doubt, remember that one word, Almighty, Shaddai. God Almighty is the God of I Will. He keeps His Word. Worship the God who keeps His Word, dear friend. Bow your heart before Him. Remember the words of David in Psalm 138, verse 2. I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. Now notice what comes next. For you have magnified your word above all your name. In the day when I cried out, you answered me and made me bold with strength in my soul. God has exalted his word, his promises, even above his own name, dear friend. El Shaddai will not fail you. Perhaps you have doubts about your salvation. Dear friend, if you have times when you doubt your salvation, remember that one word, Almighty, Shaddai. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 tells you that God Almighty is the God who is able to save and to keep to the uttermost, to the very end, every individual who comes to God through Christ. And Hebrews 7.25 tells you why. God is able to save you and to keep you to the very end. It is because God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is himself God Almighty, ever lives to make intercession for you. If you are a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are trusting in his shed blood alone as the payment for your salvation, then the God who died for you now ever lives to make intercession for you. God the Son prays to his Father for you, dear Christian, And God the Father, Almighty, El Shaddai, will never deny the prayer of His only begotten Son. Dear Christian friend, perhaps you have times when you regret the past. Perhaps you regret past sins that you've committed, times when you've acted in disobedience to God. Perhaps you regret things that you have not done in the past. Things you've failed to do as a Christian that you know are God's will for you to do according to His Word. Well, dear friend, in times of regret, once again I encourage you to remember that great name of God, God Almighty. El Shaddai. God Almighty is the God who says this, Hebrews chapter 8 verse 12, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. Remember also the words of David in Psalm 130, David who committed such a great sin against the Lord, but who bowed his face before God in repentance. David said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquities. And then a few verses later, For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Dear friend, perhaps you are struggling with the present. Perhaps you as a Christian are dealing with trials that seem unbearable to you at this time. Perhaps you're experiencing a trying illness. Perhaps you're experiencing great heaviness or depression in your spirit. Perhaps you're troubled and discouraged by the attacks of Satan. Perhaps you're feeling the weight of unrepented sin. Dear Christian friend, once again I encourage you to remember that great name, God Almighty, El Shaddai. God Almighty is the one who is with you in everything you are going through. God Almighty who is ready to hear every petition you bring before his throne of grace in prayer. God Almighty who, when you confess your sins, is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1.9. God Almighty who has promised I will never leave you or forsake you," Hebrews 13.5. Or perhaps, dear Christian friend, you fear the future. Once again, remember that great name, God Almighty, El Shaddai. God Almighty is the one who knows the end from the beginning. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ, ever. Romans 8 tells us that God Almighty works all things together for good to those who love Him, who are the called according to His purpose. Let me call your attention to one final passage of Scripture in Psalm 91. Please turn there with me if you are able. Psalm 91, beginning at verse 1. I'm not going to comment, but I simply ask you to listen to the Word of God. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. There it is again, El Shaddai. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust. This, dear believer in Christ, is the place of refuge, comfort, encouragement, and strength for every believer in Christ. The promises of the saving, sustaining, and protecting God, who is El Shaddai. May the Lord teach us, each of us more and more, to rest in God Almighty. But perhaps you are listening today and God has shown you that as yet you have no part in these great promises. You have as yet no part in these great assurances. Perhaps God has shown you that you have never bowed your heart in repentance from sin and in faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Redeemer from sin. If you are in that situation today, I implore you, in the name of Christ, to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved from your sin. And then, dear friend, you will have a right to a share in the great and eternal promises that are sure forever for every believer in Christ, because they are guaranteed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God Almighty, El Shaddai. Dear Friend, If you have never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin, we would be glad to help you and explain the way of salvation to you. And also, if you are a believer in Christ, we would be glad to hear from you as well. Here's our contact information. Listeners in the United States can call us toll-free anytime 24 hours a day at 888-804-9655. Once again, our toll-free number for listeners in the United States is 888-804-9655. You'll also find us on the web at teachingtheword.org. and on our homepage you'll find a contact link where you can submit questions. You'll also find the Bible Knowledge Base which contains thousands of pages of Bible teaching material explaining the way of salvation and addressing many other topics and issues of the Bible and the Christian life. You can also write to us at Teaching the Word Ministries Box 2533 Westminster Maryland 21158 USA. Once again, our mailing address is Teaching the Word Ministries, Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158 USA. Until next time, may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. This weekly program, the Scripture-Driven Church, is brought to you by the faithful friends and supporters of Teaching the Word Ministries.