Abraham

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Genesis chapter 12

We are continuing a new sermon series called “Genesis” and we will be going through six key accounts in the book of Genesis

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and is the first book of the Pentateuch

(Greek word is - pentateuchos, “five volume [book]”),

These 5 books are often referred to as “the law”

Includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy

The majority of scholars agree that they were written by Moses

Genesis is a narritive, and more than that it is the foundation to which the rest of scripture rests

And up till now we have talked about God creating the world and man

We talked about Adam and Eve disobeying God and they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

And last week we talked about Noah and how God saved him and his family when he flooded the world

One of the things we have found in each of these true stories is that God has established covenants

In Creation we talked about the covenant of redemption - God knew he would have to send Jesus, Jesus knew he would have to willingly die, the holy Spirit knew he would have to come and dwell within us

With the fall we talked about the covenant of works - God told Adam not eat of the tree and as long as Adam and Eve obeyed, they would live unashamed and in unity with God

We also talked about the covenant of Grace - God promised an offspring that would crush Satan - We know that this offspring would be Jesus and all who believe in Jesus will be saved from spiritual death

Last week we talked about the Noahic covenant - Which is that God would never again destroy the world with a flood

And what we have seen over and over again is that in the midst of God’s judgement, there is always grace

As man continues to fall, God is faithful and continues to make a way for his people

And weve gotten this far without actually defining or talking about what exactly is a covenant?

A broad definition of the word covenant (Hebrew - berith) - is a formal arrangement between two or more parties.

The word formal here is to say that this arrangement holds more weight than a simple promise

I think everyone here would agree that a promise to call someone at 5pm today is less weightier than saying yes to get married to someone

And thus we often refer to marriages as a covenant before God

And you dont just say yes to marrying someone flippantly

You get to know the person, you trust the person, and then someone initiates the covenant

And you say yes because you have faith that the opther person will keep their covenant to you

And the man and woman comet together and each make a promise to be faithful and to love one another

Historically speaking, covenants were made where one of the persons was a more dominant or in authority

Most covenants are made between a king and a conquered city

or between a master and a servant

And there was no negotiation - Whoever had the position of authority is the one who set the terms

When you want to borrow money from the bank, they have the money - you dont

They set the terms, the interest, - there is no negotiation (they may give you options) - take it or leave it

And if you take it, you sign documents that seal the covenant

And so when a man and woman come together to get married before God, in their covenant,

they both submit as equals that God is greater than both of them

They submit that they will both look to God as their Lord and Savior

And their comitment to eachother is under the Lords provision and authority

Often, as we mentioned last week, covenants are usually made with a sign/symbol/gesture

In marriage, rings are used as a symbol of your covenant

The man and woman exchange rings and wear them on a specific finger

I used to wear a college ring on my right hand and so sometimes out of old habbit, I accidently put my ring on the right hand rather than the left

My wife is always quick to call it out and rightfully so

I made a covenant with someone I love and so I must sybolize it properly out of love

But I also submit to you that because marriage is weightier than a promise,

It also hurts more when a covenant is broken

A person is deeply wounded or hurt due to the broken covenant

There are consequences - Sometimes they are intended but also there are usually unintended consequences as well

When Adam broke the covenant, there were consequences that he didnt fully know or realize until it happened

And so because a covenant was broken, God having the higher authority establishes another one

But only he could establish it as the higher authority

Have you ever witnessed covenants made and as both parties are abiding in their covenant - you’re like man that is beautiful

Man, they are a model for us to follow.

I ask this today - Have you ever experienced a broken covenant?

Have you ever witnessed a broken covenant?

Have you ever seen the inented or unintended consequences of a broken covenant

If you have, you will know of the pain and hurt that it brings

You will know that it can bring fear and hesitation in trusting others

And what we will learn today is that we never have to have this fear with God’s covenants

If you are able, I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s Word - Genesis 12:1-9

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 12:1–9.

Abraham is considered one of the patriarchs of the faith

In Matthew chapter we find the geneology of Jesus and it starts with Abraham and it leads all the way to Jesus

But todays text is the beginnig of Abrams calling

If we were to read further we would find that God would promise Abraham with an heir

And that through Abrahams heir he would have offspring as many as the stars

Then we find that Sarai and Abram got impatient with God

How is this promise of being a great nation going to happen with Sarai being barren and increasing in age

And so Sarai gives her egyptian servant Hagar to Abram to marry and concieve

And so Hagar does concieve and has a son named Ishmael but thats not how God was to fulfill his covenant with Abram

And so then we find God making another covenant with Abram

He changed his name to Abraham and says that Abraham will father a multitude of nations, will be exceedingly fruitful, and that kings would come from him

And that this covenant will be not just for him but for his offspring

And the sign of the covenant would be circumcision of all the males at 8 days old

But that Abraham and all the males of his house had to be circumcised to be bearers of this covenant

God then changes Sarai to Sarah and promises that she will bear a son and he would be called Isaac

And all God has promised would come through Isaac

I encourage you, if oyu havent read this narrative about Abraham to do so

It can be found between Genesis 12 and 25

Iv’e only highlighted what pertains to our message today, but there is so much more there

As you read, 1 thing sticks out and cannot be denied about Abraham

1. Abraham lived a life of faith - He wasnt perfect, but he had faith in God

As we just read, God, the higher authority calls out to Abram

And God makes a covenant with Abram for him to leave his home and be a blessing to others

God in return will make from him a great nation, bless him, and make him famous (make his name great).

But lets talk about what Abraham is suppossed to do

And the first thing he does is begin with giving Abram 2 commands

The first command is to “go”

Abram is to leave his home, his place of comfort, and is to go to a place that God will have for him

And I dont know about you but it would be really hard for me to leave Pasadena or the greater Houston area

This is my home, all of my family is here, it is what I am familiar with

And maybe some of you just couldn’t wait to leave home when you were younger

But even then there is often some anxiousness or fear when moving into a new setting

And most of the time, when there is a move, we know where we are going

We know we have a job, shelter, maybe moving closer to other relatives which brings comfort

But this is not the case - God is telling Abram I have a place for you but you need to pack up and leave your current home

And God isnt specific about where this place is at

God isnt specific about how long it would take to get there

God isnt specific about how safe this place is

But what God is specific about is what He will do for Abram

He will make Abraham a great nation and God will bless Abraham and make his name great

God isn’t specific yet about how thats going to happen

But God is promising that he will be with Abraham

To bless those who bless him and curse those who dishonor him

But in order for this to happen, Abraham has to go

Abraham has to have faith and trust God that he will do what he says

Second, Abram is to be a blessing to others

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

This is to say that all God blesses Abram with, he is to share and bless others

Everyone around Abram will be blessed

And somehow, through Abram all the families on the earth shall be blessed

And so we find that Abram - in faith and to be a blessing, obeys God

Abram gets his wife Sarai, and Lot his nephew, and all their servants, and posessions and they pack up

They head out and they reach a place called Shchem,

And in the land are the Canaanites,

And the Canaanites have set up this shrine called the Oak of Moreh

Moreh means teacher and so this is a sacred place for the pagan priests to teach and give instruction

And right next to this shrine, God appears to Abram

And God tells Abram “to your offspring I will give this land”

So this isn’t for Abram but for his offspring

And Abram, in faith, builds an alter for the Lord right next to the Canaanite shrine

And remember this isnt his land so Abram travels on to the east of Bethel

And there he pitched his tent and made another alter

Only this time, when Abram built the alter he called upon the name of the Lord

He is still amongst the Canaanites but he is calling out to Yahweh

To the one true Lord

He is not to be confused with any other God

To call upon the name of the Lord is to express a long list of divine attributes

The attributes that pertain to God and to him alone

Abram was glorifying God and is making it clear that only he should be glorified

Application

As we look at and read about Abram in scripture it is clear that he lived a life of faith

And he models what faith should look like for us

In the New Testament we find the By Faith chapter which is Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11:8-12 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

God has upheld his covenant with Abraham

Abraham had descendants that are too many to count

Kings came from Abrahams lineage

Abraham was greatly blessed and so were those who blessed him

God protected Abraham and cursed those who sought to do harm or wrong to Abraham

And through Abraham, from our text today all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

How? Through Jesus

Every covenant established has magnified or pointed to Jesus

And because of this, one thing is sure

Just as God didnt fail in his covenant with Abraham - God never fails his end of the covenant with us

Last week we mentioned that Jesus is the New Covenant

In Jeremiah we find that God promises a New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34 ““Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.””

And then we have Jesus at the Last Supper explicitely stating that his blood is the New Covenant

And his blood was poured out on the cross and in his death,

But then Jesus conquers sin and death by arising from the dead on the third day

And now his New Covenant is the better covenant

Hebrews 8:6 “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.”

And his New Covenant for us is this, That since Jesus has conquered sin and death - he is the mediator between us and God

And if we are to put our faith and trust in him alone to save us - We will be saved

That on the day of our judgement - though we should pay a penalty of death for our sin,

Our penalty is paid for by Jesus’ blood

And because of our faith in Jesus we are reconciled with God the Father and will be with him forevermore!

And while here on earth - after we put our faith and trust in Jesus, there is no way we can violate the New Covenant

That is because the New Covenant isnt dependant on us but was totally dependant on Jesus!

God has upheld his covenant through Jesus and we can rest in knowing that it will never fail

And so as we put our faith and trust in Jesus - we can learn about faith from Abraham as we walk in the New Covenant

1. Just as God was with Abraham, God is also with us

When we put our faith and trust in Jesus - The Holy Spirit is with us and dwells within us

John16:7-14 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is God

The Holy Spirit leads and guides us and as we seek and follow, we will not be lead astray

It is the Spirit who leads us as we read God’s word, It is the Spirit convicts us when we are doing wrong

I dont know about you but there are times when I have a prompting to do or say something

And often when I listen and do it I am at peace and when I don’t I have this stirring uneasy feeling

And it’s in those times when I know I need to ask for forgiveness

But we, as followers of Jesus Christ, need to be constantly seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit

2. Just as Abram obeyed and followed God, so are we to obey Jesus’ teachings and commands

God did not tell Abraham the details of the journey to the promise land

Neither do we get the details of what exactly is going to happen as we live

And I know many times we struggle with this - we want and like answers

But if we had all the answers there would be no room for faith

When we put our faith in Jesus, We submit that no matter the circumstance, no matter how bad things seem

That Jesus is working all things for good because he is good

That he is working all things for his glory

And if we believe this and have faith that he is good and loving

Then In our lowest of lows, in the midst of our deepest regrets, we would still be satisfied in him

John Piper says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him”

And so in our faith, although we do not always see the blessings of God- we continue to trust and obey

It must have been hard for Abram to leave his country - but he obeyed

It is often hard for us to deny what we want and to obey Jesus - but we must do it

This is what being a Christ follower is, this is what it means to be a Christian

Every day we are to put aside our natural desires and align our desires with God’s desire

Faith and obedience go hand in hand - Faith without works is dead

But our faith stems from the Love of our Father and his faithfulness to us first

So our actions of obedience is the evidence of our love for him

Charles Spurgeon writes, “Love for God is obedience; love for God is holiness. To love God and to love man is to be conformed to the image of Christ, and this is salvation.”

3. Just as God blessed Abram and called him to be a blessing, so are we are to be a blessing to everyone around us just as God blesses us

Materially - work, money, clothes, shelter, we are called to help those in need

You - Us - The church

Dont wait for the government to step in, dont think that it isn’t your problem, when someone asks for help, dont just shrug them off

Remember - That God is the one who blessed Abram and gave him his increase

If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, you must submit that everything you have is out of God’s grace and abundance

Everything we have isn’t ours, it is the Lords.

And we are to steward all that he gives us

And as we use the things that he gives us to bless others and to serve others, we are pointing people to Christ!

It’s because of Jesus that we are changed, it’s because of Jesus that we are secure in the New Covenant

And we want others to see this covenant within us

We are to share the good news about this covenant with others

We submit that our very life is not ours, but it is the Lords

And it is by this submition that we are compelled to live a life of faith and a life that blesses others

So how will you have faith and bless others this week?

Will you live in obedience to Christ?

Our you have Faith that God is working

Announcements

Not too late to sign up for Community Group and Connect Class - Please fill out Sign Up Sheet out in the foyer and Pastor John will follow up with you

Resolved Student Choir will come join us and sing on March 12th

We will also have a block party on March 12th @ 4pm - There will be games, snacks, prizes, and more

New Day Womens Retreat - Women from all three locations will join together March 31st - April 2nd @ Camp Tejas

Sign up online, it is $150 please please please do not let that deter you, let us know if the money aspect is an issue and we will take care of that for you

New Day Reading Plan - Mon-Fri - Mark 3- Mark 7.

Please stand and recieve the benediction before we leave -

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Thank you, you are now dismissed