Abraham - The Covenants
Notes
Transcript
Big idea: God is your shield and your great reward.
Big idea: God is your shield and your great reward.
Intro
Intro
In our last message we talked about Abram and God’s call for him to GO! into the land that he promised to show him. Abram took his family, including his Nephew Lot, and came into the land of Canaan as a traveling missionary—setting up altars and living a life of witness for God. The story continues in Genesis 12 with a short detour in Egypt due to a famine. Abram deceitfully said his wife was his sister so that he could save his own skin, but God gave him grace and protected them both. Egypt sent them away greatly enriched with flocks and herds, which posed a problem when they got back to Canaan — Lot and Abram had to split up to maintain peace among their herdsmen.
Then God made Abram a promise:
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After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
The first promise God made to Abram was that He would show him the land, and that he would be blessed and famous and that through him the whole world would be blessed.
Over the next few years God expanded and clarified that promise, providing more details, including this verse that shares that the world would be blessed through Abram’s descendants who would posses the land God was giving him. God would also make sure that Abram understood that it was not his own efforts that would make the promise happen.
There’s one particular promise that we need to spend some time on today—it’s found in Genesis 15. But to introduce this promise we need some geographical and historical background.
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Abram moved to the upland plains of Hebron while Lot settled on the verdant, Jordan valley, near the city of Sodom. A political conflict was brewing at the time. A group of 5 city-state kings from the Jordan valley were tired of paying tribute to king Chedorlaomer whose alliance of northern kings had subjected them for the last 12 years. Their rebellion brought on a war, which resulted in the defeat of their armies, the sacking of their cities, and the loss of their property, wives, and children. Lot and his family were among those captured by Chedorlaomer and his army. When Abram heard that Lot was taken captive he marshalled the men of his camp and chased after Chedorlaomer, catching them by night and running them off. They recaptured the people and the goods, and brought them back to the men of the cities of the plain.
Abram exercised an incredible amount of courage in going after that army which had recently defeated the armies of five cities. And then when he cam back with the spoils he exercised generosity and humility in giving all the goods and people back to those cities. He could have kept at least a portion of it for himself, but he instead only took the food his warriors had eaten and gave the rest back.
Imagine Abram, formerly a peaceful shepherd, coming back to his camp having witnessed the carnage of war. What must he have been thinking? I can imagine him worrying about what those kings might do to retaliate against him. Would they come back with more men and retake Canaan, and especially target him?
It is while he was in this state of concern that the Lord appeared to him again in Genesis 15:1:
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After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
I like this verse better in the New King James Version because it clarifies an important point about God’s promises:
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Genesis 15:1 (NKJV)
...“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, [I am] your exceedingly great reward.”
This is the fundamental concept behind all of God’s promises in the Bible.
First that He is our creator and redeemer and because of His great love for His creation, He is our protector and provider.
Secondly, connection with Him, living with Him, is our ultimate reward.
Abram was understandably concerned about the potential for Chedorlaomer to retaliate, but he was also concerned about God’s promise to give his descendants the land since he didn’t have any children and he had close to 90 years of experience showing that it wasn’t likely he and Sarai were going to have any children.
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Genesis 15:2 (NLT)
Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children...”
Abram had his priorities straight, though he hadn’t quite grasped what it was that God was promising. He heard something about a reward and he knew that God was promising him the land, but that previous promise that He would give the land to Abram’s children was stuck in his mind. “What good is a reward of land if I have no children to pass it down to?” Abram’s question implied belief. He believed God would give him children, and now that God was renewing his promise of blessings, Abram wanted to remind God of the promise of a child.
But Abram wasn’t quite getting God’s promise. The promise wasn’t about a child, or a land. The promise was about Jesus. God wanted Abram to grasp the idea that “I am your very great reward!” At the same time he wanted to instill confidence in Abram and so God gave him an illustration:
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And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
The next verse is one of the foundational verses that Paul uses to build the doctrine of righteousness by faith:
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And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
In Romans 4 Paul uses this statement to argue that God counts people as righteous because of their faith, not because they have done anything.
How had Abram exercised belief?
First, he moved away from Ur when God said to.
Second, he confidently pointed out the promises God had made to him with expectation of their fulfillment.
Third, when God showed him the stars and made the promise of his descendents Abram did not doubt, but believed that God would do it.
Abram’s faith did not dissuade him from probing deeper and asking questions. The next thing out of his mouth was, “how can I be sure that I will actually posses [the land you promised]? (Gen 15:8) And, implied in this question was the other question, “how can I be sure that I will have descendants and that they will possess the land?” Abram wouldn’t have asked God for evidence if he didn’t believe.
Has God made you any promises? These promises are the basis of your salvation. The question is:
Do you believe them?
If you do believe — if you base your life and practice and worship and devotion to God on the presumed fact of His promises — then you have faith. And if you have faith, then like Abram, God counts you as righteous too.
Let’s look at a few of God’s promises:
First, lets go to Romans 9 where Paul tells us that we don’t have to be a physical descendant of Abraham to be Abraham’s children:
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Romans 9:6–8 (ESV)
...For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Then there’s this one which points out that all God’s promises are for you and me:
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For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
Now let’s look at a few promises:
God promises you eternal life:
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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God promises that nothing can separate you from Him:
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For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God promises freedom from sin:
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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
God promises to protect you:
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God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
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fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
God promises to be with you:
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Joshua 1:5 (ESV)
I will not leave you or forsake you.
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Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God promises to work everything out for your good:
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And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God promises to provide for your needs:
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And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God promises to give you rest:
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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
God promises to give you strength:
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For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
When we take God at his word, and base our life on these and all the other wonderful promises in the Bible, that is faith, and God counts us as righteous just like he did Abram.
Back to our story.
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God’s first illustration was for Abram to look up to the sky and attempt to count the stars. But knowing that his offspring would be numerous (including both his own children and all the children who believe God’s promise including you and me) wasn’t God’s ultimate lesson for Abram. God wanted Abram to understand the significance and the cost of this promise — this covenant.
So God had Abram perform what we call a Suzerain covenant. That term might be familiar to you if you’ve studied this before, but let me describe it in case this is new to you or you need a reminder:
A Suzerain covenant was generally made between a ruler and a vassal. The ruler was the one with power, and the vassal was a lower official or the king of a conquered city. The ruler would have the vassal cut an animal in half and then read out the terms of their agreement. The terms were generally about trade agreements and war-time defense. The vassal would then walk through the cut-apart pieces of the animal and vow to fulfill his part of the covenant or else be cut in pieces like the animal he had just walked through.
God is the ultimate ruler. The king of kings and Lord of lords. So, when Abram hears God’s instructions, he’s pretty sure that God is about to require something really big of him:
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He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
Abram kept the birds off the carcases of these cut-apart animals for the rest of the day, and eventually it got dark and he fell asleep. In a dream God told Abram some more details about his descendants and the covenant promise that they will posses the land. And then verse 17 describes a twist that Abram wasn’t likely expecting:
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When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
At first glance this might sound strange, but take a look through the Bible and you’ll find God described as a consuming fire, and his presence seems to always include smoke. God made the covenant. God made the vow. God walked through the pieces, and God put HIS life on the line.
Back at the beginning of Genesis 15 God said, “I am your very great reward!” And in this covenant promise God is making a bold statement that He would pay any price to ensure His promise was fulfilled.
Skip forward to Genesis 22 and you’ll find another example of this promise. Abram’s name had been changed by now to Abraham, and Isaac had been born some years earlier. He was a young man, probably not more than 25 years old, when God came to Abraham again:
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After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Abraham took Isaac and some servants and they traveled to the mountain near Moriah. Leaving the servants and donkeys behind, Abraham and Isaac climbed the mountain with a bundle of sticks on Isaac’s back, a pot of coals to start a fire in Abraham’s hand, and a knife at Abraham’s waist. Isaac asked this question:
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And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham’s answer reveals the depth of Abraham’s trust in God:
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Genesis 22:8 (KJV)
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
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Hundreds of years later John the Baptist was standing by the river Jordan, the possession of the Israelites for over 1,000 years by that time, and he looked out over the crowd that he was preaching to and saw Jesus up. He pointed at Jesus and said,
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John 1:29 (ESV)“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
God himself is the lamb.
God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son on Mt Moriah and they found a wild ram caught in the brush nearby to sacrifice instead. That ram pointed forward to the Son of God who would stand in the place of Isaac and all other humans.
This is the covenant that God made with Abram—a promise that God himself would be the sacrifice for our sins. That the triune God would be ripped apart to provide the guarantee for all His promises.
After God made these promises in Genesis 15 and ratified them with such a solemn covenant ceremony, Abram’s life moved on. The story is interesting because it reveals the difficulty humans have to maintain our faith in God’s promises. We have to repeat them over and over again to ourselves and at every turn—every decision—remind ourselves that we must live our lives in faith that God’s promises are real.
One day, Sarai suggested an idea to Abram,
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So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.
Do you see the fundamental error in Sarai’s thinking? God had promised Abram descendants too numerous to count. Abram looked around at what he had available and said, “do you mean my servant? He’s set to take over my household when I die.” God’s responded, “no! You will have children of your own.” Sarai was now doing the same thing. She looked around at realized “I can’t have kids, God’s plan must be for someone else to have kids for me.” If only Abram had stopped to remind himself of God’s promises, but instead he agreed and Ishmael was born to Sarai’s servant.
When we stop believing and living our lives based on God’s promises, then we try to figure out solutions on our own. We tell ourselves, “yes, God wants me to be saved… let me see what I have to contribute...” Mustering up our own solutions will only lead to misery, though.
After the Hagar situation God came back to Abram and said,
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Genesis 17:1–2 (NLT)
“I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
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“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
God then said that he would “confirm” this covenant to each generation after Abram. The way he would do that is through a symbol, etched into every male member of Abraham’s family—circumcision.
Here’s what God was saying—I am your great reward, I will make you a great nation, through your DESCENDANT (that’s the messiah) all nations of the earth will be blessed, I will give you so many children they can’t be numbered (both blood relatives, and children of the promise). These are all things I WILL DO.
For Abram to remember that there is nothing extra that he can add to that covenant, God required him to cut the very thing that Abram was thinking would be the source of children. And all of his household, and every child born into his family after that had to have the same cut made so that every time they were tempted to think that they could contribute to fulfilling the promise they would be reminded of Hagar and Abram’s failed attempt to do God’s work.
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Ultimately, when the time came, a girl who had never been with a man gave birth to the messiah—the son of promise. No man-made intervention could have brought about God’s promise—only the power of God himself would accomplish that promise.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God promised Abram that he would be his shield and his very great reward. It took him a few false starts, but eventually, the Bible tells us, He fully trusted God.
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No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
Today, we can look back on Abram’s story and God’s promise and realize that God fulfilled every single one of his promises to Abram. We can see that every time Abram tried to step in to help he messed things up and caused problems.
What about you and me? Do we believe God’s promises with an unwavering faith—fully convinced that He is able to do what He has promised in our lives? Do we trust Him to be our shield and our reward? Or do we try to step in to accomplish God’s plans in our own so-called wisdom and our own puny strength?
In John 14 Jesus made a promise:
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“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
This is God’s promise. If you trust the God of Abraham who fulfilled all his promises, then trust Jesus too. And if Jesus said that He is going to prepare a place for you so that you can live with Him forever, then believe His promise! When He is done with those preparations, HE WILL COME AGAIN.
And then Jesus said this simple statement:
“If you love me, obey my commandments.
You see, Abram disobeyed God when he failed to trust. He lied about his wife being his sister, he slept with a concubine to try to speed up God’s plan—every time Abram disobeyed it was because he failed to trust in God's promises. If God promises to save you, stop trying to meddle with the gears and let him save you. If God promises to cleanse you of sin, stop trying to meddle with the process and surrender yourself into His masterful hands. If God has promised to protect you, stop trying to take his place by thinking that you’re the protector. If God has promised to provide for you, stop worry about what you’ll eat or wear or where you’ll live—He has all those things in mind already.
Solomon had it right when he said,
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.
The alternative is to trust people or trust yourself, and you’ll be let down every time.
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Jeremiah 17:5 (ESV)
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
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“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
Trust in the Lord.
That’s the solution to every problem in your life. Don’t rush ahead of God hoping you can do better. It will always be worse.
We need to circumcise our hearts so that we will always remember that when God makes a promise, He WILL be faithful to complete it.
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God is your shield, and your very great reward.
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Hymn of Response is Standing on the Promises (518)