In this lesson, we look at God’s reiterations of His covenant with Abram. Specifically, we examine the covenant ceremony of Genesis 15, the covenant sign in Genesis 17, and then the covenant commentary in the New Testament. Abram emerges as an example of and the father of those who believe God and are counted righteous.
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talk about God’s calling of Abram why did God call Abram we took some time to examine that question last week why did god called abram did abram deserve it Roy right so you’re right there are a lot of things involved God’s glorious purposes and bringing about Redemption and a messiah those are connected with God’s calling out Abraham but why Abram specifically well just please God to do so there was nothing in Abraham there’s he had no merit that cause gone to call him it was just God’s grace you said that Roy God showed his grace to Abram that’s why he calling him nepalese gone to do so you’re just going to be generous to Abram now God first called Abram in the chaldean city of Ur and then later in Iran where did God say Abram would go would you say Craig he would go away he didn’t actually say specifically where he was going at first the memory Hebrews tells us that Abram did not know where he was going when he first went out but eventually he would arrive in Canaan God would have to bring him there though show him that land a why did Abram obey God he believes God right he believed God’s promises he had faith in God and that faith was given to him by God in which city does Abram eventually settle trick question it wasn’t settle anywhere right he does survive in Canaan but he keeps moving around he never settles in any City remember he actually recognized himself to be according to Hebrews what kind of person on the earth a sojourner or an exile or a stranger so he dwelled in tents as if in a foreign land and though abran was going to struggle and grow in faith what did he fundamentally believe in and look forward to above all else he did believe the promises of God regarding and making him a great nation and make him give him a great name but what did he look forward to above everything else yes Danielle that’s right the city that has foundations his own country a heavenly country the city where God dwells that’s what Abram was looking towards and that’s what he waited for like Abram we too must recognize that we simply dwell in tents in a foreign land if we want to be happy if you want to be wise we must look to the city that has foundations we must set our minds on things above we must seek God as our reward and if we do just like Hebrew says God will not be ashamed to be called our God and indeed he will prepare a place for us just as he did for Abram questions or comments on what we talked about last week what we saw last week that Abram was given many promises related to the earth to those promises included I will make of you a great nation and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed but there’s a big problem with these promises and it had to do with Sarah what did we learn about Sarah I in Genesis 11 and 12 yeah Eric that’s right she was barren she had no children how could such promises about being a great nation in all families of the earth being blessed through Abram how could that be fulfilled when Abram and his wife had no child time keeps on passing and there’s still no child coming Abram and Sarai get older and older where is god and his promises is God really being faithful well God is going to speak to Abram once again and encourage Abram about God’s faithfulness in Genesis 15 and 17 God formalizes his promise to Abram as a covenant or treating but as we shall see this unique covenant not only shows the compassionate and faithful character of God it also points to the life-giving work of Christ on the cross for sinners so that’s what we’re going to investigate more specifically today here’s our outline well look at Genesis 15 and the covenant ceremony then we’ll look at Genesis 17 and the Covenant sign and then we’ll finish by investigating the new testament commentary on Abraham his covenant and saving faith let’s pray before we go on O God Creator God our Father I pray let you to give me the ability to explain your word now God helped me to communicate it accurately with their proper weight and in the proper way and help us to understand it and apply it open their ears and their eyes Lord speak to us through your word in jesus name amen let’s start by turning to Genesis 15 if you could open your Bibles there we’re going to read the whole chapter Genesis 15 to give you some context I want me to summarize what’s taking place between where we last were and where we’re going right now after Abraham through Canaan a famine forced Abram to seek sustenance in Egypt there because his wife was so beautiful he pretended that Sarah was his sister and not his wife so Pharaoh took the beautiful sir I as his wife God however graciously protected sarah and Abram from tragedy and when the matter became known the couple were sent away from Egypt in peace and with more wealth when Abram returned to Canaan he and his nephew lot parted ways since the land could not sustain both of their great possessions lot moved near Sodom and was later captured during a war between some of the local kings Abram gathered his warriors and his allies and fought to rescue lot Abram was victorious and lot lots family and all of lots possessions were restored this brings us to chapter 15 now let’s follow along starting at verse 1 after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in division saying do not fear Abram I am a shield to you your reward shall be very great Abram said o Lord God what will you give me since I am childless then the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus and Abram said since you have given no offspring to me one born in my house is my heir then behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this man will not be your heir but one who will come forth from your own body he shall be your heir and he took him outside and said now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you’re able to count them and he said him so shall your descendants be then he believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness and he said to him i am the lord who brought you out of ear of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it he said o Lord God how may I know that I will possess it so he said to him bring me a three year old heifer and a three year old female goat and a three year old ram and a Turtledove and a young pigeon then he brought all these to him and cut them into and laid each half opposite the other but he did not cut the birds the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abram drove them away now when the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold terror and great darkness fell upon him God said to Abram know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in the land that is not theirs or they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years but i will also judge the nation whom they will serve and afterward they will come out with many possessions as for you you shall go to your father’s in peace you will be buried at a good old age and in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet complete I came about when the Sun had set that it was very dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the river Euphrates the key night and the kenda site and the Kadim and I and the hittite and the parasite and the ref aim and the amorite and the Canaanite and the Gurgeh shite and the jebusite all right that ends the chapter and that’s what we’re stopped that’s what we’ll stop our reading it’s a long section and we have another long section to read a little bit later so we won’t have time to observe everything that there is to observe in this passage however we do want to observe some things before we interpret or ask interpreter questions we’re focusing specifically on details related to God’s covenant with Abram how does God speak to Abram here yes that’s right in a vision how does God identify himself he says I am what he calls himself the Lord he does do that in the passage but the first thing he says is I am your shield I am a shield to you now some translations also attribute the second phrase to God as well where it reads your reward is very great the NIV the king james version and the new king james version up version all say I am your very great reward how does Abram respond to the repetition of God’s promise of blessing as God says to Abram some of the things he’s already said how does Abram respond as you say thanks God I’m glad you told me again he’s going to ask specifically for assurance but he brings up an issue yes that’s right he says I I don’t understand if you don’t remember God I don’t have a kid I don’t have a child Abram My Mind’s God that Abram has no child and he says Eliezer of Damascus is my heir and Eleazar would be an adopted air not somebody that actually was from Abraham’s family or his own child in response God says Abraham’s air will not be this Eleazar but will come from Abraham’s own body furthermore God gives Abram a picture of Abraham’s descendants what is the picture yeah danielle that’s right let’s go outside and look the stars you want a picture of the descendants that i’m going to give you go up and look at the stars and see if you can number them speaking of numbering the stars at one time man thought he could number the stars early astronomers attempted to do just that but technology has opened our eyes to our absolute inability to do this according to astronomers say today they’re about 10,000 stars visible to the naked eye but according to but when will you space tells Cope’s and other resources we can observe about 100 billion stars in just our galaxy do you know how many galaxies we estimate there are according to Hubble and other estimates based on our observation about 100 billion galaxies but that number is expected to increase as our technology advances and we’re able to observe more galaxies in the universe so that’s a lot of stars and I don’t think we’ll ever finish counting them in response to this direction to number the stars to try and see if you can count the stars the text says Abram believed the Lord Abram believed in Yahweh and he that’s God reckoned it to him as righteousness now what does the term reckoned mean imputed would be another good word counted assigned to God counted it to Abram as righteousness he imputed it to Abram as righteousness gun also reminds Abram of God’s promise to give Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan but what does a broom asked for in response Craig you mentioned this before he wants assurance he wants proof he wants a sign how will I know that you will give me this in reply God commands Abram to bring five specific animals and cut three of them in half Abram does this and he lays the pieces apart from each other then Abram weights and darkness soon falls and what happens as night comes to things happen yeah Danielle if also sleep and what does he have he has a the Lord is going to speak more to him but it says terror and great darkness fell upon him so a nightmare or some sort of terror in his sleep and in that God reveals to him the timing of Abraham’s descendants inheriting the land or something regarding the timing God promises that Abrams descendants will be oppressed as slaves in a foreign land for about 400 years before that land is plundered and judged in the Hebrews returned to possess the land but why such a long wait according to the text that’s right it says for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet complete so there are some their God is being patient with the people group that lives in Canaan one of the people groups are perhaps that’s representative of all of them being patient with them but that patience is going to run out at a certain time this is all part of god’s glorious purposes to judge the people who are in the land and then give it to Abraham’s descendants but it’s not yet the time Abraham’s told that he will die in peace his descendants will come and take the land so there’s that there’s the revealing of that through the terror and darkness this dream is vision this nightmare to Abram but then something else happens in the darkness what else happens yes this may seem very strange to us at first a smoking oven and a flaming torch appear and pass through the cut pieces of animals okay in the final section of this chapter a God tells Abram about the borders of the land his descendants will be given it says from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates de león currently occupied by a number of people groups we know what the Euphrates River is that Tigris and Euphrates are the two rivers that go through the eastern section in the Middle East but what is meant by the river of Egypt we might think that that refers to the Nile since the Nile is the principal river of Egypt however the Hebrew word used for Niall is different than the word used here hear the word for river is nahar well every of every other time in the Pentateuch when the text is obviously referring to the Nile it’s a different word it’s the word yeah or the river of Egypt then referred to here probably refers to something different than the Nile or the main body of the Nile and may refer to a now non-existent branch of the Nile which actually float a little bit further east in Egypt to the city of Pelusium on the border of the Sinai Peninsula so if you can imagine where Africa meets the Middle East this branch of the Nile would go right to almost where they split before the Sinai Peninsula so could be furring to that as the river or the brook of Egypt another possibility is that the river of Egypt is the wadi I’ll lrish now Wadi case you are not familiar that term it refers to a ravine or a riverbed that’s normally dry but flows with water during an area’s rainy season so it’s like a river that’s not there all the time and the wadi al Irish would have flowed in the northeast section of the Sinai Peninsula emptying into the Mediterranean at the modern city of a reach so if you think about Middle East in Africa again the Sinai Peninsula the very northeast section of it would be the end of the wadi el arish so how does this compare to Israel’s modern borders it would be slightly beyond the southern border of where Israel is today that Wadi that that temporary river would have flown a little bit further from where moderns Yisrael southern border actually is now Israel never actually fully occupy the territory from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates but listen to this description from 2nd chronicles 926 we actually read this recently Solomon was the ruler of all the kinks from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt actually this designation of the border or the brook or the river of Egypt to the Euphrates appears a number of times in the Old Testament here’s another place in Isaiah 27 context here is the future promise to Israel as a 27 verses 12 to 15 it says in that day the Lord will start his threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt and you will be gathered up one by one o sons of Israel it would come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown and those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord and the holy mountain at Jerusalem so this term is actually going to be very important for the rest the Old Testament this description of the river of Egypt to the Euphrates all right let’s put these observations together and answer some interpretive questions related to the Covenant what was the point of God telling Abram to try to number the stars you didn’t actually mean for able to go count them right see if you can count them yeah eric right yeah even if even though there are only stars visible to the naked eye that the idea is it’s uncountable Abram you won’t be able to count them God’s when he says see if you can count them he knows that Abram can’t so he’s just saying that’s the number of the Senate’s you’re going to have its uncountable another question does Abram sin against God when he asks God for a sign when he asked God for assurance is the expressing doubt in God by doing so this is a difficult question to answer you know that in one place when someone has asked for a sign he has definitely rebuked Zacharias in the Gospel of Luke right Gabriel says you’re gonna have a kid he says how will I know this for certain and then he’s rebuked he says you’ll be mute because you did not believe what I was going what I was telling you so and also Jesus when he was ministering to the people of his day he rebuked the unbelieving Jews for continually asking him for signs on the other hand many people in the Bible including Abram here are not rebuked for asking for a sign in fact in one place Isaiah 7 God actually commands a wicked king of Judah King Ahaz to ask God for a sign says ask ask him for a sign even the most outrageous sign asked God for it and the guy says oh no I won’t test the Lord like that he was feigning piety certainly God is never obligated to give signs or proofs that what he says will come to pass but he does often grant a request for a sign out of compassion and out of a desire to show himself more glorious as an e2 but he often does grant that request I’m reminded of what the writer of Hebrews says about Psalm 110 4 in this Psalm we hear this the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek now did God need to swear when pronouncing Jesus to be a priest of a different lineage couldn’t God just declare it when that have been enough it would have but as the writer of Hebrews puts it and this is now Hebrew 6 17 18 in the same way God desiring even more to show to the heirs of promise the unchangeable pneus of his purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us so we see something similar happening happening for Abram here it’s difficult to say whether he is asking out of doubt or whether he’s just making a request but God is being compassionate in responding and in granting Abraham’s request our Abraham’s request now what is the point of cutting up these animals separating them and the torch and oven passing through what is that all about yes Craig right it says that this is a ceremony that confirms and shows the ratification of a covenant Abram was not confused as to what was going on he was preparing for this treaty ceremony that was customary in his time just as we have some of those today two people might shake hands to indicate their commitment to a promise or the bride and groom when they get married they exchanged vows and rings in front of witnesses to show their commitment to their marriage to their covenant there was a custom at abrahams time also when it came to agreements the two participants would cut animals apart and walk between them this was to say something about their agreement what did it say it showed their commitment but let’s be more specific what were you saying by walking through these cut animals that’s exactly right rich you’re saying if i dishonor this agreement I deserve to be treated like these animals I deserve to be cutting p if I break the promise if I break this treaty so here in verse 17 we have the god of the universe entering into such a treaty ceremony with Abram God then being represented by the oven and the torch passes through the animals saying if high dishonor this agreement i would deserve to be cut into i will take on that burden what’s different in this ceremony as opposed to the normal treaty ceremony custom besides the fact that God is involved that’s right only God passes through we’re only those things that represent God passes through Abram does not what then does this say about the Covenant because the ceremony proceeds this way hey Danielle exactly it’s a unilateral covenant God is taking the entire responsibility for the Covenant on himself this is abram you don’t need to do anything I will do all of it myself the great promises of God to Abram do not depend at all in Abraham’s performance Anna lateral covenant this then is an example of God’s abundant power because he says I will take all of this on you don’t need to do anything but also his great compassion pour out my love to you I’m going to swear to by being in this treaty I’m going to bow out my love to you and be faithful to the promises I’ve given to you no matter what you do but what about circumcision wasn’t circumcision something that Abraham had to do the Abram had to do wasn’t that required isn’t that his contractual obligation to God does Abram really have to do nothing what about circumcision well let’s actually look at that the circumcision is going to come in Genesis chapter 17 turn over there this is where God ignore inaugurates circumcision for a bruh a broom and his descendants we’re going to read part of this chapter but let me fill in some context again between chapters 15 and 17 here’s what happens Abram has been Abram is in the land of Canaan 10 years and even after Genesis 15 still has no child so the aging yet beautiful sir I suggested that Abram take Hagar as a concubine so that Sarah might have children through Hagar this was also consistent with customs at the time that was not approved by God and at age 86 Abram took Hagar as his concubine and Hagar conceived this result in a great amount of tension in Abraham’s household especially between Sarah and Hagar Hagar eventually gives birth to a son that Abram names Ishmael the name means God will hear 13 years later at age 99 God speaks again to Abram that’s the beginning of chapter 17 God reiterates his promise to Abram but he also changes Abraham’s name the word Abram or the named Abram means exalted father or honored father but Abraham means what father of a multitude her father of Nations exalted father to father of a multitude why would God change Abraham’s name like this certainly he the timing of the promise being fulfilled or at least part of the promise being fulfilled is drawing near this again is another sign right he says when he asked before or when Abram expressed that there was no child before God says good look at the Stars and here again God is emphasizing you’re going to have a huge amount of descendants look I’m even changing your name to show you that to be another sign of that God will keep his promises you can trust the Lord let’s pick up what God says to Abraham in verse 9 he change his Abraham’s name and then he says this verse 9 of chapter 17 God said further Abraham know as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male among you shall be circumcised and it shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be the sign of the Covenant between me and you and every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout generations a servant who’s born in the house of a servant was born in the house or was bought with money from any foreigner who was not of your descendants I servant who was born in your house where was bought with your money shall surely be circumcised thus shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant but an uncircumcised male who was not circumcised than flesh his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant okay let’s pause here for a minute before we read more the passage God calls on Abraham to adopt circumcision but God also identifies the purpose of circumcision what is the purpose is a sign that’s the key word right verse 11 it shall be the sign of the Covenant between me and you it was to be an encouraging and sobering reminder to Abraham and to all of his descendants God has poured out his unmerited favor on you and he’s always faithful to you the penalty of neglecting this sign is severe what is the penalty he’ll be cut off what is I mean you will be killed we see that term actually appear a lot of times than Pentateuch and from the various places it does appear the context makes it clear it means you will die you’ll be put to death we might think as some later Jews did that circumcision was the prerequisite for Abraham or his descendants to receive God’s covenant or even to be righteous but how does the chronology of Genesis refute this okay say that again Francisco very good right we just saw that the whole ceremony ratifying and giving proof to God’s covenant with Abraham it happened before this direction to give circumcision and when God first called Abram and pronounced blessings on image Genesis 11 12 that’s way before this direction towards circumcision Abraham receives God’s promises without being circumcised in Genesis 15 6 says God counted Abraham as righteous for his belief in God and that too was before circumcision well say more about this a little bit later but it’s important that we observed that now let’s pick up the text again in verse 15 we’ll be down in verse 22 then God said to Abraham asked for Sarah your wife you shall not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her and indeed I will give you a son by her then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of Nations kings of people’s will come from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart will a child be born to a man 100 years old and will Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you but God said no but Sarah your wife will bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descent has asked for after him as for Ishmael I’ve heard you behold I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him seemingly you shall become the father of twelve princes and I will make him a great nation but my covenant i will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year when he finish talking with him God went up from Abram Abraham all right let’s of you observe a few parts of this ladder text God changes Sarai’s name just like he changes Abraham’s name and her new name is Sarah the difference between these two names is actually very subtle and there’s some debate about what the difference actually is both are apparently variations of the term for princess the one source i read describes the difference between the two names is going from my princess sarah to princess or the princess that is to say this is not just Abraham’s princess or Tara’s princess but princess of the world because God’s explanation of her name emphasizes her regal position what promise is given to Sarah along with her change name she’ll been a mother of Nations right kings of people will come through her again I think that’s why we have the princess or princess that’s why we have that regality emphasized but also specifically before any of that comes what is she promised a son she’s promised a son how did Abraham respond to this promise is promise to Sarah and Abraham he I heard you say Danny he laughed he laughed and he asked himself whether this was really to be then Abraham makes the suggestion to God what is Abraham suggestion right now this it might not be abundantly clear what he says right away says oh that Ishmael might live before you but he’s really asking something by saying that because God actually responds no so what Abram was really asking is could heat why can’t he be the inheritor of the Covenant I’d like him to be the child of promise I certainly Abraham had reason to love Ishmael as his own son and he makes this request to God and God says no God dismisses that request dismisses that suggestion though he does promise the Blessed Ishmael and make a great nation of him Abram asked that Ishmael might be the air because says no will be a different child in one year you will have a child through Sarah and that child’s name is to be Isaac and what does Isaac mean laughter or he laughs you’d suck he laughs or laughter furthermore or not furthermore but to say again Isaac and not Ishmael would be the inheritor of God’s are of Abraham’s covenant with God let’s interpret this a little bit more now we already saw before about circumcision but why does Abram laughs why does Abraham laugh similar to our earlier question is this from trusting joy in god or is this from mocking disbelief again this is really hard to answer because on the one hand Abraham is not rebuked for laughing or for saying this saying what he does in his heart what you might have expected furthermore Abraham falls on his face as he laughs and falling on your face as an expression of humble worship why would he do this if you did not believe that be really hypocritical why would God not not say anything about that on the other hand Abraham’s thoughts some very similar to Sarah’s in the next chapter then angel of the Lord visits Abraham and repeats the one-year promise of a child and then Genesis 18 12 says this Sarah laughed to herself saying after I have become old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also it’s almost the exact same thing that Abraham said he says should a man of 100 give a child and a woman at almost 90 years have a child it’s almost the same thing but listen to how the angel of the Lord responds to Sarah in Genesis 8 13 or 14 our Genesis 18 13 to 14 and the Lord said to Abraham why did Sarah laughs saying shall I indeed bear a child when I am so old there’s anything too difficult for the Lord at the appointed time I will return to you at this time next year and Sarah will have a son so was Abraham really believing well if abraham believed God’s promise why does he immediately suggest Ishmael be the air instead of this promise child commentators go in both directions in traction it is a difficult one but certainly either way God is being very compassionate and patient with both Abraham and Sarah they are going to grow in faith so even if they disbelieve in the beginning they will come to believe firmly because Hebrew 11 11 says of Sarah this would be true of Abraham as well by faith even sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised she came to have a firm faith in God’s promises as it Abraham another question what do Genesis 12 15 and 17 we’ve examined those through passages what do they show us about a character of God what’s one thing he’s very patient right that is love that is a compassion demonstrated continually to Abraham Abraham and Sarah God delights to make a unilateral and generous covenant with Abraham God is happy to bless him and his wife wherever they go despite their failures despite their lack of trust and he is patient with them and he continues to sanctify them and build their faith in him as a patient and compassionate God what else does it show what else do these records show us about God’s character he’s faithful right and that’s our theme for the quarter Abram was 75 when he left her and when he was first given the promise of descendants great number of descendants but he did not receive the childhood promise until 25 years later god never forgot about Abraham and Sarah nor did he delight and simply withholding from them what they wanted it’s not cruel like that God was determined to bring glory to himself by teaching them and all of us that his timing is perfect God waited until a child was impossible from hume perspective before he showed that nothing is impossible with God God will remain faithful even if God’s being faithful seems impossible nothing is too difficult for the Lord God is faithful and this should encourage us we to wait on the promises of God promises a provision vindication justice future glorification can we believe in the promises of God so that we can live as exiles and strangers on the earth so we’re getting a number of testimonies in the affirmative as we go through Genesis Noah says yes God is faithful believe in his promises job says yes God is faithful believe and now Abraham and Sarah also say yes believe in God’s promises because he is faithful so are we doing that do you believe God to be faithful in your life does your lifestyle show it or do you believe secretly that some things really are just too difficult for God and for some reason he’s not going to be faithful to you or that he wants to be faithful but he’s just not able he’s not well acquainted with your needs enough he’s not loving enough he’s not strong enough but is anything too difficult for the Lord one last aspect to talk about in relation to this account are at gospel implications we mentioned last week that the gospel is evident the gospel salvation in Christ is evident in God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that all families of the earth shall be blessed through Abraham how is that actually talking about the gospel you yes that’s um that’s a good point Francisco just repeat what you said it says that he’s gonna be father of many nations not just of one nation and so the question would ask it does is he going to physically give birth to many nations or is there something else we’ll talk about it more in just a second but there is a physical dimension to all the nations of the earth being blessed and how does that come about what physical descendant would come yeah I Messiah right in you alda in your seed and in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed all the families of the earth will be blessed it’s because Christ is going to come from a ran the Messiah will come the savior of the world this was always God’s plan from eternity past and though the gospel is veiled in some ways to Abraham into the believers in the Old Testament it is progressively revealed until it is fully revealed in a new covenant in Jesus Christ when Jesus comes the gospel is fully revealed and taken to all the nations displayed to all the nations and in this way Abraham physically is a blessing to all nations of the earth because the Messiah would come to come through him but there’s something else I think this is what Francisco is getting at before a little bit we need to pay attention there something else we need to pay attention to in these passages because while it’s true that Abraham was a physical for father many people on the earth he is also the father and another sense what sense father faith right in other words even if you and I are not physical descendants of Abraham we become spiritual descendants of Abraham because of this concept of salvation by faith why is Abraham the father or considered the father of faith because he most evidently believed God and it was accounted to Abraham as righteousness as we saw in Genesis 15 6 salvation by faith was very evident in Abraham’s own life experiences and he an ancient patriarch this is a greater fulfillment of the promise to Abraham regarding his descendants while Abraham’s physical descendants would be so many as to being accountable so would his spiritual descendants those who embrace salvation by faith just as Abraham did because salvation as you know as we’ve said has always been by faith don’t be confused for a moment and thinking if there was a time when salvation was different well as by works or by some other means salvation has always been and will be by belief in God’s substitution airy provision of Jesus Christ for our sins this gospel is not fully revealed to Adam Abel Noah job or Abraham but it was revealed in part they knew that they could not be righteous in their own and their own Accords of their own Accords they needed God to make them righteous they didn’t know how the specifics of how they didn’t know the specifics of how God would do that but they knew that he would so much so that they could look forward to eternal fellowship with God in the city that has foundations while there were men and women before Abraham who acted by faith in God it is Abraham that the New Testament writers referred to again and again to show that salvation has always been by faith see a very good example of this let’s turn in Romans 4 Romans chapter 4 will be two sections of this chapter you know that the book of Romans is the great explanation of the glory of God displayed in the gospel of salvation after the writer and the first few chapters after Paul shows that there’s need for both Jews and Gentiles to receive salvation all people are understand all need salvation he asserts that salvation is only by faith now which person does Paul go to to demonstrate that this is the way the gospel has always been the salvation has always been he goes to Abraham look at Romans 4 125 EPS I need to turn there myself Romans 4 verse 1 what shall we what then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found her favorite ham was justified by works he is something to boast about but not before God for what does the scripture say abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wage is not credited as a favor but as what is due but to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly his faith is credited as righteousness skip down to verse 9 well read verses 9 to 12 is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also for we say faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness how then was accredited while he was circumcised or uncircumcised not well circumcised but while uncircumcised and he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised that righteousness might be credited to them and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision but who also follow in the steps of the faith of their father of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised so we see those conclusions that we were just talking about their explicitly described by the Spirit of God through Paul Abraham is the father of all who believe without being circumcised salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God alone let us beware of any way of thinking that begins to put us back into a works wages mindset as somehow we have to work enough suffer enough wait long enough before we can embrace God compassionate generosity on our behalf and this is an important warning for us and for people before salvation and after salvation we must be aware of this works wages mindset before salvation we need to understand there’s no waiting period before you embrace Christ you don’t have to reform before you can believe the banquet of repentance is always open to the broken and contrite now is the day of salvation according to the scriptures do holiness and good works result from faith yes but they always come after not before they cannot come before God has to regenerate but even after salvation when you and I sin we must not put ourselves in spiritual timeout continually berating ourselves saying we’re not worthy to go to God or think to ourselves that we need to read the Bible enough pray enough witness enough before we can come back into fellowship with God we have to make up for what we did before we can embrace God’s generosity this is wrong this is very wrong yes we will naturally grieve over sin but such grief should not prevent us like the prodigal son that Jesus describes in the parable it should not prevent us from immediately returning to our father’s house and enjoying him once again there’s no waiting period there’s no timeout period God says come back immediately glorify me by enjoying me as Roman says where sin increased grace increased all the more God delights as a loving compassionate guy to readily pour out his blessings on you is care on you in spite of your sin your occasions to sin are actually just occasions for God to show himself even greater to you should his teach us this in all the time then no Roman 6 is clear about that actually one understood rightly this should teach us to sin less and less because we understand what a great God we have we don’t want to deny ourselves the pleasures of being in such a God’s presence all the time he delights in steadfast love and he proves that to you and me again and again when he deals with our sin I want to and you should want to continually feast at the table of such a god he’s that great he’s so great it will teach you to deny sin and to prepare yourself to go to his City God’s grace for your sin when understood correctly causes you not to sin not send more when we understand God’s love like this God’s grace God’s glorious purposes for us we become like Abraham we do become his descendant not only because we are believers in God’s promises but we but because we become treasurer’s of God Himself treasurer’s of Christ Himself who was the full revelation of God this is what it means to be a Christian not to just believe in the promises of God but to treasure god there’s the main body of what I want to share with you today final comments or questions about that yeah Francisco you that’s a really good comment thanks for sharing that Francisco just repeat what you’re saying the penalty for not honoring the sign and burn up the penalty for disregarding the sign of circumcision and also the Covenant where God goes to the ceremony emphasizing that if that covenant is failed then the person ought to be cut off cut apart we do see that type of thing happening to God himself through God’s Son Jesus Christ he is cut off for us where we were failed we failed to be circumcised in heart he does take on that penalty on himself and of course he bears it completely and perfectly are we going to say bill right that’s also true Yeah right right right right yeah and only God could do both right to repeat your comment bill in a sense God has not cut in pieces because he’s he’s God he’s indestructible he can bear the curse and you can in bear the eternal wrath of God and finish it because he is God but we couldn’t we would be cut we would be cut off and we’d be eternally lost only God can pay the be cut off on our behalf and yet not be cut off yes that is um something that we also affirmed that the land covenant to Abraham also still stands and God is going to give that he’s going to fulfill that to Israel and the Millennial Kingdom other comments or questions yes Roy yeah we do see that principal thanks for sharing that Roy God is a covenant God and he often involved in these covenants is his blood is stealing the covenants of blood I’m reminder that scripture specifically when it comes to sin and righteousness it says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and we see that that principle throughout the scriptures other comments or questions alright I’ve touched on the workbooks application questions today in my lesson so I won’t be taking extra time to go over those next week we talked more about Abram Abraham but in relation to something that happens nearby to him that is Sodom and Gomorrah another example of God’s compassion to lot God’s faithfulness and also his justice holiness let’s close by reading our memory verse and what we’re focusing on this verse from acts acts 17 26 to 27 talking about how from Adam and then Noah all people on the earth are descendant let’s read this together and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us that’s praying Lord God there is none like you you’re so generous and we see being generous to Abraham and to Sarah but God we know that you’ve been so generous to us in our own lives not just because we are inheritors the blessings that you were giving to Abraham that we become heirs of the righteousness that is by faith we have in so many different ways these little graces that you showed to us each day and your constant patients with us when it comes to our sin when it comes to our distrusting you but God that is not so that we can continue to distrust you so we would not learn rather got it as is your scriptures say through your kindness the intention of your kindness is to bring us to repentance to change our minds God change our thinking so we believe that you’re so lovely and we don’t want to be away from you God keep us with you keep us in you cause us to abide in your love cause us to understand your loveliness so that we do that thank you for being cut off on our behalf thank you for sending your son Jesus to do that the Lord we thank you that he has paid the full penalty and there remains nothing else that we do not need to fear your judgment anymore we don’t not have to make up for our sins we don’t have to work to get back into your favor it’s already there and Lord you’re so ready to pour your abundant kindness on us thank you God for being such a god and jesus name amen