The Faithful Covenant Maker & Promise Keeper

-Food Pantry & Mudd ES collection bins

-Avert Teens Talent sign up for Easter Sunday at the welcome desk. Avert Kids Esater dance info there as well.

-Wednesday Night Bible Study (at the building and on zoom @7pm)

-Thursday Night Prayer @6:45

-Offering/Giving, Online or in the black box.

-Family Talk, First Time guest connect with Pastor Manny and I.

Genesis Series:

-In a world that often seems chaotic, where uncertainty and confusion abound, it becomes imperative for us to seek a source of clarity and purpose. The book of Genesis serves as an unparalleled foundation for understanding not only the origins of our existence but also as a timeless guide for finding meaning and order amidst life's tumultuous circumstances.

-Genesis unfolds the narrative of creation, revealing a God who, in the midst of formless darkness, speaks order and beauty into existence. As we read, we discover profound insights into the nature of God, our identity as His creation, and our responsibility to bring order to the world around us.

Pastor Manny powerfully walked us through the Tower Of Babylon story last Sunday.

-Where we have been so far Genesis 1-11

-The history in the first eleven chapters of Genesis appears in skeletal form. One cannot know how much time transpired between chapters or, in some instances, between sets of verses. There are times when the events of one chapter may have actually begun in time before the events occurred at the end of the previous chapter

Todays sermon is titled the “The Faithful Covenant Maker & Promise Keeper”

PRAY!

The Calling and The Promise Section (Genesis 12)

-I want to start this morning off with a few questions.

Has anyone in here ever made a promise to someone?

Has anyone in here kept their promise?

Has anyone in here broke their promise?

Has anyone in here made a promise they knew they wouldn't be able to keep?

Has anyone in here been hurt by someone breaking their promise to you?

I ask these questions because we are going to talk about promises today in one sense, but in Biblical terms, A covenant and within covenants there are promises involved. We will talk about this more towards the end.

We are going to be looking at the Life of Abram this morning, we are going to be in Genesis 12-15.

Read Genesis 12:1-9

-Abraham (Abram now) is called the friend of God, the father of the Jews, and the father of the faithful. He is honored by Jews, Muslims, and Christians as a great man.

-Abram was born and raised in Ur of the Chaldees, which is in modern Iraq, in the southeastern part of the country. Joshua 24:2 says that Abram and his father worshiped idols. God called Abram out of a pagan culture. We can make some educated guesses about their religion by looking at the history and religious artifacts from that period. -Ur of the Chaldees was an ancient city that flourished until about 300 BC. The great ziggurat of Ur was built by Ur-Nammu around 2100 BC and was dedicated to Nanna, the moon god. The moon was worshiped as the power that controlled the heavens and the life cycle on earth. To the Chaldeans, the phases of the moon represented the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death and also set the measurement of their yearly calendar. Among the pantheon of Mesopotamian gods, Nanna was supreme, because he was the source of fertility for crops, herds, and families. Prayers and offerings were offered to the moon to invoke its blessing.

-So When God told Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. Everything familiar was to be left behind, and that included his religion. We do not know what Abraham knew about the true God at that point, but it is likely that he had received some instruction from his father, as each generation passed down their history to the next.

-As a worshiper of other gods, Abram must have been surprised to receive a direct revelation from Yahweh. The moon god and other deities were distant objects of worship, and they did not personally interact with men. Abram obeyed God’s call, and, when he arrived in the land of Canaan, he built an altar to Yahweh at Shechem (Genesis 12:7). The text indicates that God’s appearance to Abraham was a deciding factor in his choosing to worship Him. Hebrews 11:8 says that Abraham’s departure from Ur was an example of faith in action.

-God makes three promises to Abram here:

1) The promise of a land of his own

2) the promise to be made into a great nation;

3) the promise of blessing.

-These promises form the basis for what will later be called the Abrahamic Covenant (established in Genesis 15 and ratified in Genesis 17). What really makes Abraham special is that he obeyed God. Genesis 12:4 records that, after God called Abraham, he went “as the LORD had told him.” The author of Hebrews uses Abraham as an example of faith several times, and refers specifically to this impressive act: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). -This lead me to think How many of us would leave behind everything that is familiar to us and just go without knowing our destination? Take a moment to translate this into your current economic and social situation. Leave your house, your job, your friends, your church, your relatives, abandon your inheritance, a 401K that will not transfer and maybe even the equity in your home and go somewhere where you don't speak the language, you have no business contacts, friends or relatives . ..and trust God to make a new place for you. This was a very tall order.

The concept of family meant everything to a person living in the time of Abram. In that time, family units were strongly knit; it was unusual for family members to live hundreds of miles apart from each other.

-Something fascinating about these promises and blessing God is telling Abram, is Abram did nothing to deserve them…HE worshiped other gods, and did nothing to show his love to Yahweh (the One True God).

-God extended these promises and blessing to Abram before he did anything to merit God’s approval, which should go to show us how faithful God is, He just wants us to come to Him and response, we don’t have to do a bunch of stuff to earn the love of God, simply come an obey.

Abram stepped out in faith. God works through things, events, and circumstances, but faith must not be anchored in these. If it is, then when these do not materialize or turn out the way expected, faith weakens. If our hope is in a cause, and the cause fails, our hope falters. Our trust must always be rooted and fixed in the person of God.

Detours, Distractions, & Doubts Section (Genesis 13-14)

-Abram steps out boldly and follows God, yet that doesn't mean he does it perfectly in fact from Genesis 12:10-14 we see him go on some detours, get distracted, and have doubts. He even allows fear to guide his decision making.

-Abram goes to Egypt during a famine, and out of fear lies about his wife being his sister not his wife so they wouldn't kill him and Pharaoh takes her… CRAZY!…God intervenes and Pharaoh send Abram and his wife away with all Abram obtained while in Egypt (flocks and herds)

-After a this brief time in Egypt during a famine (Genesis 12:10-20), they returned to Canaan. There, Abraham’s and Lot’s servants were involved in arguments over grazing areas for their large herds of livestock. Abraham and Lot agreed to part ways, with Abraham giving Lot first choice of land. Lot chose the land of the plain of Jordan, near Sodom and Gomorrah, because of the rich pastureland there. Abraham settled near Hebron (Genesis 13). We know this was hard for Abram because of his love for his nephew and which many scholars believe Abram raised Lot.

- Lot’s choice proved to be a foolish one, as the wickedness of Sodom was very great (verse 13). The grass was greener near Sodom, but greener is not always better. As we know Sodom was filled with “evil men sining immensely against the Lord”

-An alliance of four kings attacked Sodom, and Lot and many others were taken captive. Upon hearing the news, Abraham led a force of 318 men to rescue Lot. As Abraham returned victoriously from the battle, he gave a tenth of the spoils to a priest named Melchizedek (Genesis 14).

-Its also here Abraham continued to learn about this God he now worshiped. In Genesis 14:22, following the example of Melchizedek, Abraham calls Yahweh “the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.” This statement shows that Abraham set Yahweh above and apart from the moon god. His decision to worship

The Covenant Section (Genesis 15)

-Now lets get into one of the most odd sounding yet beautiful chapters in Genesis. It’s been anywhere from 10-20 years since Gods initial calling and the promises and blessing He had told Abram. So when we read this and we here Abram question God and some undertones of doubt it makes sense.

-But first lets talk about what a covenant is as we are about to see a covenant take place between God and Abram.

-Many of us have heard the term covenant but may lack the understanding of what it is because its not really a term we use in our culture anymore.

-Covenant is a major structuring principle of our scriptures. This is most obvious by the two divison’s in our Bible we call them the Old and New Testaments but this is translated . the Hebrew word and greek word mean the Old and New Covenants.

-A covenant was an agreement enacted between two parties in which one or both make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advanced. So in some ways its like a contract. These agreements could be made at an individual, tribal, or national level.

-There are a couple of different types of covenants that were common in the ancient Near East one being the parity treaty (which was a covenant made between equals) then their was the suzerain/vassel treaty ( which is a covenant made between a greater and lesser power).

-The suzerain/vassal treaty. Here one party was clearly more powerful than the other and therefore had the right to demand submission on the part of his weaker ally. As a result, in this sort of treaty the partners referred to each other either as "father and son," or as "lord and servant." The metaphor of family was used to explain the political relationship established. In this sort of covenant the suzerain had authority over the land and people of the vassal nation.

-A covenant always involved oaths that resulted in obligations placed on both parties. Moreover, the oaths were always ratified by the sacrifice of mutually recognized, ritually appropriate animals. this practice was so consistent that the act of making a covenant was idiomatically expressed by the phrase "to cut a covenant.

Often this sacrifice did “double duty" as it also served to communicate the consequences of covenant-breaking. The eighth-century B.C. treaty between Ashurnirari V of Assyria and Mati' ilu of Arpad serves as an example.

Here a spring lamb is slaughtered to conclude the treaty, and the treaty states,

“This head is not the head of a spring lamb, it is the head of Mati'ilu, it is the head of his sons, his magnates, and the people of [his land. If Mati' ilu should sin] against this treaty, so may, just as the head of this spring lamb is cut] off, and its knuckle placed in its mouth, [... ] the head of Mati'ilu be cut off, and his sons [and magnates] be thrown] into ... This shoulder is not the shoulder of a spring lamb, it is the shoulder of Mati'ilu”

-Sometimes this message was actually acted out in the ratification ceremony such that the vassal was required to walk between the bloodied parts of the slain animals while he recited his oaths. In other words, by means of his actions the vassal is stating: "May what has happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to keep my oath". A powerful visual aid. After the treaty was concluded the sacrificed animals were typically roasted as the main course of a celebratory fellowship meal shared by the new covenant partners.

Ok now keep all this in mind as we jump into Genesis 15

Years have passed since Genesis 12. Abram is now a resident of Canaan. He has grown older, so has his wife, and his faith is wearing thin. In light of his childless state, Abram has done what any responsible man of substance would; he has chosen an heir from among his household.

Than Yahweh appears again!

Read Genesis 15:1-11

-Can you anticipate what is about to happen here? Yahweh is inviting Abram to confirm the oaths between them by means of a standard covenant ratification ceremony. How merciful is this God who condescends to Abram's place in time, and helps him to have confidence in the promise.

Read Genesis 15:12-16

-The text goes on to tell us that when the sun was going down "a deep sleep fell upon Abram." This is already a clue that something huge is about to happen in that the last biblical character to experience a "deep sleep' was Adam, right before Eve was formed from his side (Gen 2:21). While Abram was under the effects of this supernaturally induced slumber, "immediately a terror of great darkness fell upon him, and God began to reiterate and particularize his promises.

Again, the text gives us a clue as to the enormity of this event when it speaks of "deep darkness." A survey of the Old Testament demonstrates that impenetrable darkness is often an aspect of theophany (an appearance of the deity in physical form).

Read Genesis 15:17-18

-Notice who it was that "passed between" the torn and bloodied parts the sacrificed animals? Who by his actions announced, 'May what has happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to keep my oath"?

-Not the weaker party. Rather, the Lord of the cosmos traversed the bloody alley in order to announce to Abram and his offspring that he would not fail.

-The fact that God would meet Abram's need for reassurance in such a fashion is more than enough to focus our attention. But when we consider this story from a canonical viewpoint and recall that the God of Abram never failed in his promise but the children of Abraham certainly did,

- We need to ask the question, whose flesh was torn to pay the price for this broken covenant? Now our attention should fully arrested. For indeed it was the God-man, Jesus Christ the representative of humanity and the embodiment of Yahweh- whose flesh was torn to appease the broken stipulations of the oaths taken. And here in the opening chapters of the Bible, the echoes of the gospel can be heard.

-This covenant and the ones to come in the Old Testament are “copies,” or “shadows,” of the better covenant to come. The lives of animals could never remove sin; the life of an animal is not a sufficient substitute for a human life . The blood of bulls and goats was a temporary appeasement until the final, ultimate blood covenant was made by Jesus Christ Himself – the God Man. The New Covenant was in His blood (Luke 22:20). -The shadows became realities in Christ, who fulfilled all of the Old Testament blood covenants with His own blood. Christians can be confident that the gift of eternal life that God gives through Jesus is the true promise to people of faith. As the apostle Paul explains, the covenant was established with Abraham and his “Seed”—singular. Paul interprets this as the singular person of Christ (Galatians 3:15-16). Therefore, all who are “in Christ” are spiritual heirs of the promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3:29). -To put it simply, a blood covenant is a promise made by God that He will choose a people for Himself and bless them. The covenant was originally for Abraham’s physical descendants but was later extended, spiritually, to all those who, like Abraham, believe God (Galatians 3:7). God’s promise of eternal blessing is given only on the basis of faith in the saving blood of His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:12).

-Jesus came to establish a “better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22), a “new covenant” that Jesus said was in His blood. Jesus shed His blood on the cross to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29) and ratify the new covenant between God and man.

-Under the New Covenant, we are given the opportunity to receive salvation as a free gift (Ephesians 2:8–9). Our responsibility is to exercise faith in Christ, the One who fulfilled the Law on our behalf and brought an end to the Law’s sacrifices through His own sacrificial death. Through the life-giving Holy Spirit who lives in all believers we share in the inheritance of Christ and enjoy a permanent, unbroken relationship with God

-On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took the cup and said to His disciples, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27–28). By “this cup,” Jesus referred, to the contents of the cup, which was the “fruit of the vine” (Mark 14:25).

-This was representative of Christ’s blood. Jesus gave His disciples the cup, infusing it with new meaning, and told them drinking it was to be a memorial of His death: it was to be drunk “in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Now, “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” The New Covenant is based on faith in the shed blood of Christ to take away sin, not on repeated sacrifices or any other kind of work (see Ephesians 2:8–9). Because Jesus is the holy Lamb of God, His one-time sacrifice is sufficient to atone for the sins of all who believe in Him. We “partake” of Jesus by coming to Him in faith (John 1:12), trusting that His shed blood (and broken body) is sufficient to pay for our sins. The elements of bread and wine commemorate His death and the shedding of His blood. When we eat those elements in communion with other believers, we affirm our faith and fellowship in Christ.

COMMUINION

Questions:

1. In what ways did Abram demonstrate faith by obeying God's call despite the challenges he faced? How does faith look in your life?

2.How does the idea of God extending promises and blessings to Abram before any merit on his part apply to our understanding of God's grace?

3.What lessons can we learn from Abram's encounters with detours, distractions, and doubts as we navigate our own faith journeys?