Scripture Alone: God’s Covenantal Word, Part 1
Scripture Alone • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 44:52
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· 12 viewsThe promises to Abraham of Land, Seed, and Blessing are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and by union with Him we inherit those promises.
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1 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 he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Important Cultural Background of Reformation
“Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492.
Trade routes were opening.
A middle class was rising.
Opportunities for learning were increasing.
Knowledge was multiplying.
Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press (1454) had vastly improved the dissemination of ideas.”
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) (Chapter Twenty: Fortress for Truth: German Reformer: Martin Luther)
Martin Luther
“More books have been written about him (Luther) than any other man of history except Jesus Christ and possibly Augustine.” —Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) (Martin Luther)
Luther grew up the son of a hardworking copper miner.
His father labored for Martin get an education.
He was being educated as a lawyer.
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Martin Luther
Luther’s life took an unexpected turn in July 1505, when he was twenty-one. He was caught in a severe thunderstorm and knocked to the ground by a nearby lightning strike. Terrified, he cried out to the Catholic patroness of miners, “Help me, St. Anna, and I will become a monk.” Luther survived the storm and made good on his dramatic vow. Two weeks later, he entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. His father was furious over Luther’s apparent wasted education, but Luther was determined to follow through on his vow.
He served as a Augustinian Monk.
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Lost in Self-Righteousness
In 1510, Luther was sent to Rome, where he witnessed the corruption of the Roman church.
He himself was tortured within himself.
He would fast.
Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Luther’s Conversion: The Tower Experience
The righteousness of God imputed to believing sinners is, Luther declared, a “foreign righteousness.” That is to say, the righteousness man needs to possess is alien to his experience. It comes from outside of him. It must be given by God—the very righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Luther viciously translated the Bible into German.
By 1546, there were an estimated half million copies of the Bible in the hands of the people.
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by evident reason—for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves—I consider myself conquered by the Scriptures adduced by me and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”—Martin Luther
From Gen 1 to Gen 11, there has been a timespan of about 2,000 years.
It is as though you were watching on one of those older VCR’s.
From Genesis 1 through Genesis 11 it was on times 2 speed.
At times it was on 10 speed.
But after two-thousand years and in 11 brief chapters.
Moses slows down to consider one man and his family.
If you remember from last week, when we see the phrase, “These are the generations…”
We see this happen with Noah’s son, Shem (Gen 11:10).
Now Shem’s name is Hebrew for the word “Name.”
After God scattered a group of people in Genesis 11:4…
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
God scattered them as an act of mercy because they would have destroyed themselves.
God does something even more ironic from one man named Shem, he calls another man named Abram.
If God were really to show Himself as great, how would He do it?
What kind of person or people would God show His greatness through?
Insert an elderly couple well advanced in years AND WITHOUT children.
Insert a pagan idolater like Abram.
Advanced in years.
Impossible to think of having children.
The Call of Abraham
The Call of Abraham
(Genesis 12:1-4)
Genesis 12:1 (ESV)
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house…
“What can God do next? Something that only God could have thought of. He sees an elderly, childless couple in the land of Babel and decides to make them the fountain head, the launch pad of his whole mission of cosmic redemption.
We can almost hear the sharp intake of breath among the heavenly hosts when the astonishing plan was revealed.” —Christopher Wright, The Mission of God
Abraham chosen by God’s Grace.
Abraham chosen by God’s Grace.
2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
Joshua 24 tells us that Abram was called from serving “other gods.”
God was not looking for someone…
“Doing their best!”
“Trying hard to make themselves right before Him.”
As the Roman Catholic church taught.
“God gives grace to those who do their best.”
He’s not looking for someone striving with all their might to be “good.”
He has chosen to lavish His grace on one man and his family.
1 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.”
God’s Promise to Abraham: Seed, Land, and Blessing.
God’s Promise to Abraham: Seed, Land, and Blessing.
Moses uses the word “bless” five times here in this short section.
We see God describe the kind of “blessing” he is bringing to Abraham.
Already in the narrative of Genesis we have seen God curse humanity in some way five times.
But here we see those curses that God has placed on humanity
God promises three things for Abram here.
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.
The Promise of a Great Name–Seed.
The Promise of a Great Name–Seed.
The Promise of a Great Name.
The people in the tower of Babel were trying to “make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4).
The surprising thing here is that God tells Abram that He will “make your name great” (Gen 12:2).
God’s desire is to make from Abram a people who will bless the whole earth!
This “great name” that God intends to give Abraham is for the purpose of pouring out blessing on the nations.
Abraham will be blessed by God and from his seed will come all the blessing to the nations.
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.
Abram and the Problem of Eden–Abdication and Unbelief.
Abram and the Problem of Eden–Abdication and Unbelief.
Abram is not a “nice guy.”
He wouldn’t have won any “Husband of the Year” awards.
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
He fearfully did not want Pharaoh to harm him.
Abram does not believe that God can or will protect him in Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20).
Rather than trusting God’s provision even in sending him to Egypt, he allows his wife to be vulnerable.
What is Abram doing here?
Abdicating.
He’s “protecting” himself instead of protecting his wife.
He’s putting the promise of seed in jeopardy.
This is meant to place the reader in a difficult place because ultimately this places the promises of God in "danger of not coming to pass.”
This same sin happened in the garden with Adam neglecting his duty as the protector and provider for Eve.
Adam passively stood by and the same is true of Abram here.
Abram will go on to do this again in Genesis 20:1-8 as well.
In both instances he is following the path of his father Adam.
In neither instance is he trusting God’s promise.
But the Word of God is more faithful than Abram.
God promised a linage.
God promised the birth of a son.
So it comes to pass.
But what does this promised “seed” matter for us?
Everything.
The Bible refers to the sons of Abraham in four distinct ways.
1. Physical
2. Physical/Special
3. Christological
4. Ecclesial
—John Resigner, White, A. Blake. The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians . New Covenant Media. Kindle Edition.
The physical seed is followed all the way down Israel’s line.
But it culminates in One man.
In Galatians, Paul is criticizes the Galatians for rejecting the gospel.
They’re not rejecting it by getting rid of it, but by adding to it.
They are being tempted to add the necessity of circumcision for salvation.
Galatians 3:16 (ESV)
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
The word for “offspring” or (Gk: σπέρμα) is the same word as “seed.”
Abraham’s seed is his offspring.
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
Paul’s point is that the “offspring” in Genesis was not about Israel.
It wasn’t about ethnic Israel.
It WAS about One singular “offspring.”
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
“In Christ, I inherit all the promises due to Abraham’s offspring so that everything that is true of him is true of me… The future of Israel then does belong to Gentile believers but only because they are in union with a Jewish Messiah.” —A. Blake White, The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians . New Covenant Media. Kindle Edition.
The promises to Abraham of Land, Seed, and Blessing are fulfilled in the Jesus Christ, and by union with Him we inherit those promises.
The promises to Abraham of Land, Seed, and Blessing are fulfilled in the Jesus Christ, and by union with Him we inherit those promises.
The Promise of a Great Nation–Land.
The Promise of a Great Nation–Land.
(Genesis 13-14)
The Promise of a Great Nation.
The aching question of Genesis, “How will God crush the head of the serpent?”
God begins to answer this in the call of Abram.
The great nation that God is forming through Abram has a land.
His nation will be blessed.
God is blessing this nation that will come through Abram.
Keep in mind that Abram was not just a old man and his wife.
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
He was a wealthy in many ways.
Abram had strife with his nephew Lot so they separate themselves.
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
Lot saw the land of Sodom and it looked the garden paradise God created.
Genesis 13:10 (ESV)
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord…
14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,
15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
In the ancient world, when land was exchanged, he new owner would walk through the entirety of the land.
Walking throughout the whole land was a sign of the transference of land.
Yahweh’s promise is to make Abraham’s offspring as a numerous as “the dust of the earth” (Gen 13:16).
This also then leads to the narrative of Genesis 14 where Abraham has to rescue his nephew Lot.
Abram fights off five different kings and saved his nephew Lot (Genesis 14) with ONLY 300 men.
And refuses to accept any spoil from them because he trusted that Yahweh would give him the land.
Think about how strange this would have been for Abram.
He left his homeland.
He left all that he knew.
Hebrews 11:8–10 (ESV)
8 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.
9 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.
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
What was Abraham looking for?
The Promise of Land and “the Heavenly Jerusalem”
The Promise of Land and “the Heavenly Jerusalem”
Let me give you an example given by one author (Christopher Wright)
Picture with me a father and son who lived long ago.
They would go out every day and tend to their horses.
The father one day makes a promise to the son.
The son only being 5 years old, can’t receive the promise at this time.
Imagine the father promising his son a Mustang someday.
The son would be so excited.
What would the son be thinking about receiving from his father?
A horse.
He would only imagine a horse from his father.
It would have been all that he would have known.
Now imagine between the 5 year old boy grows up.
He grows up and at age 21, the father makes good on his promise.
He wakes up and looks outside to see a Mustang.
Except this Mustang is far greater than he could have imagined.
It was a beautiful car.
Bright red.
Huge engine.
What kind of son would look at his father and say, “This isn’t what you promised!”?
How could he be upset that his father blessed him far exceedingly more than he could have imagined?
The father fulfilled his promise.
In a way far greater than his son could ever imagine.
The promise was made in terms that Abraham could understand.
But it was fulfilled in a way far greater than he could have ever imagined.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
When Paul speaks of the blessing of Abram with respect to the land, he always universalizes it.
Romans 4:13 (ESV)
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
So when Paul talks about the promise of the promise of the land.
He doesn’t keep it constrained to the area he showed Abram.
He makes it so much bigger.
More grand.
More extravagant.
Paul again describes the way it is to try and be “declared righteous” through circumcision, it’s like living under slavery.
He gives an evocative illustration.
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Paul links the place of Jerusalem to the place of the woman who is enslaved.
She is enslaved because she is still “under the law.”
Those who try to fulfill the law in their own strength and power are slaves under the law.
They are slaves because they can never obey.
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
What does Paul mean by “the Jerusalem above”?
Think about what Jerusalem meant for the Israelite.
It was the center of all worship.
It was the center of all life.
But Paul switches this up for the believer.
He argues that it is through the Holy Spirit.
The place where God dwells has come to earth.
The Holy Spirit makes alive believers.
He breathes life into dead corpses.
He regenerates believers.
All Christians bound to Jesus Christ are children of the promise.
We have never been children of the slave woman.
And all those who desire to be made right before God by some other way are children of the slave woman.
27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Instead of being brought to Mt. Sinai like unbelieving Israel.
We come to Mt. Zion, “the heavenly Jerusalem” and to Jesus who currently sits enthroned over all heaven and earth.
Hebrews 12:22–23 (ESV)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect…
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
“Abraham was promised numerous offspring and they continue to increase, we are blessed with being declared right through faith, we are blessed with the gift of the Spirit who guarantees us that God's future is here and there is yet more to come, and the Jerusalem above is our Mother.” —A. Blake White, The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians
The promises to Abraham of Land, Seed, and Blessing are fulfilled in the Jesus Christ, and by union with Him we inherit those promises.
The promises to Abraham of Land, Seed, and Blessing are fulfilled in the Jesus Christ, and by union with Him we inherit those promises.
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