Series Introduction:
Middle Eastern people in the Bible, from Abraham to Paul, were as acquainted with covenants as we are with weddings. The Greeks and Romans did not have covenants. In fact, when the Jews translated the OT into Greek, they had to use the Greek word for “will” or “testament” to translate the Hebrew word for covenant. Since our society was shaped by Greek and Roman cultures, we don’t know much about covenants either.
However, as we learn about God and the covenants he made with people like Abraham, I expect us to experience a surge of faith. We will see who God is and what he can do in our lives when we understand covenants more clearly. So, think of areas where you perceive the need for a breakthrough. It could be an attitude or habit in your life, a broken relationship in your circle of loved ones or a problem in the church. Whatever breakthrough you may notice, expect God to reveal his love and power in a fresh way because of the covenant.
A covenant is a comprehensive agreement between two participants with clearly outlined boundaries and bonds; a mutual understanding between two people that voluntarily bind themselves to each other forever. Covenants could be between equal partners or between a powerful king and a weaker person. God’s covenants are always in the form of an agreement between a king and a servant.
Thesis:
God chose to bind himself to humanity in a covenant to express his love for us. He made that covenant with Abraham and it still blesses us today.
Key Question:
Why did God make a covenant with Abraham? How does a covenant made thousands of years ago still affect us today?
I. GOD’S PROBLEM BEGAN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN Genesis 3 NIV
A. The serpent acted
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
B. He deceived Adam and Eve with three lies
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
1. God lied to you. (He does not lie.)
2. Sin is good for you. (Sin is ultimately destructive.)
3. You can be God’s equal by determining what is good and evil on your own. (Humans cannot determine what is right and wrong in the universe God created. It is beyond our limitations.)
C. Adam and Eve distrusted God (trusted the serpent)
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
D. Adam and Eve disobeyed God
E. Curses came on everything
1. They realized they were naked.
2. They hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
3. They refused to confess and played the blame game.
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
The man said, "The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
4. Punishments for all
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you …. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”
So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
II. GOD’S SOLUTION BEGAN WITH ABRAM IN UR Genesis 12:1-7 NIV
A. God acted
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
B. God reveals the truth about himself
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
C. Abram trusts God
D. Abram obeys God
So Abram left, as the LORD had told him….
E. Blessings came for all of us
“And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
III. GOD’S SOLUTION GREW WITH ABRAM IN THE PROMISED LAND Genesis 15 NIV
A. Again God acts, revealing truth about himself
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward."
B. Abram responds with a question about his heir
But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
C. God makes promises – an lineal heir and innumerable descendants
Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
D. Abram believes / trusts / has faith in God
Abram believed the LORD,
E. God justifies Abram (puts him a right relationship with God and helps him live right)
And he credited it to him as righteousness.
F. Abraham requests assurance / asks for a covenant
But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
G. God gives instructions for a covenant sacrifice
So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
H. Abram obeys / is loyal to God
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
Jesus explained his Parable of Four Soils with this warning. “The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.” (Mark 4:14-15 NIV)
Whenever you have a life-changing encounter with God, Satan’s evil army will come to rob you of its authenticity.
I. The Covenant Ritual
1. Abram in a deep sleep = passive
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
2. God makes promises about Abram’s descendants
Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
3. God makes promises about Abram’s personal future
You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
4. God does the Death Walk alone – two theophanies (fire pot = God the Father; flaming torch = God the Son)
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
On that day the LORD made a covenant with….
IV. GOD’S SOLUTION KEEPS ON BLESSING US THROUGH JESUS Galatians 3:6-29 NIV
A. God blesses every person trusting / believing / having faith in his promises.
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
B. God makes our relationship with him right when we believe.
Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."
1. Only the righteous will live in relationship with God
2. Only God can make a person righteous
3. Only those who through faith are just and upright shall live and they shall live by faith (Romans 1:17 AMP)
C. Jesus carried the curses / punishments for sin to the cross for us.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
D. We are all equals in God’s family. Everyone is blessed.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
REPENTANCE POINT: How should we change?
In the end, sin is deadly even though it seems pleasurable and reasonable, in the beginning. Humans cannot determine what is right and wrong in the universe God created. It is beyond our limitations. We don’t know enough. We aren’t wise enough. We cannot see all the consequences for the choices we make. Left to ourselves whatever we choose leads to disaster and destruction.
Therefore, we can and must trust God. He knows everything. He loves us more than anything. He sees all the consequences for the choices we can possibly make. He created the universe so we’d have a place to live. He knows how it works and what will lead to victory and growth.
NEXT STEPS: What are the first steps in this REPENTANCE POINT {paradigm shift or change in our thinking}?
The question is will you trust him. Will you believe God loves you enough to bind himself to you in an eternal covenant? Do you trust him enough to let him shape your life?
RESPONSE GOAL INVITATION:
Will you ask him to help you believe his promises now?
Time of silent prayer and pondering
