Abraham (2)
Notes
Transcript
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Propensity to disobedience
++Pride
++Self-centeredness
++Rely on our logic
++Follow our heart
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Patience
++Mercy
++Grace
++Faithfulness
++Justice
Where is Hope?
Where is Hope?
Repentance
++Faith
++God’s Faithfulness
So Far:
God reaches Abram who was sinner
God gives Abram a Promise, 12.1-3
Abram has faith, but takes his nephew
God promises the land and offspring, 12.7
Abram worships
Trouble with Lot
God promises land and offspring, 13.14-17
Abram worships
Abram rescues Lot (by God’s power)
Melchizedeck blesses Abram
Abram worships by tithing to Melchizedek
God speaks with Abram, 151-7
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.”
But Abram said, “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.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God has a relationship with Abram
God has a relationship with Abram
We have seen that God reached out to Abram when he was in Ur, and again in Haran
He talks with Abram, reiterating his promises, and assuring Abram.
God Credits Righteousness
God Credits Righteousness
example of teacher giving credit for work not done
He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
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.”
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.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
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 Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
What do we see about God? The Covenant making God
What do we see about God? The Covenant making God
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
What do we see about Man?
What do we see about Man?
Want things when we want it… impatient
Try our own means to bring about what God promised to do
11 years after God promised to bless him
He was 75 when he came to Canaan. He was 85 when Sara suggested Hagar, 86 when Ishmael was born.
Gen 16 Hagar
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
He does not accept our work, but he still cares
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Preincarnate appearance of the Son of God
13 years later
Gen 17.21-22 99 years old… promise of a son this time next year.
But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
God’s Promise again
Gen 18.10 - this time next year, a son
Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
then told him about Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 18:16-33 “When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.”
When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,
what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
God had a relationship with Abraham
God had a relationship with Abraham
God’s Judgment
God’s Judgment
Gen 19 Sodom and Gormorrah
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Propensity to disobedience
++Pride
++Self-centeredness
++Rely on our logic
++Follow our heart
++Reluctance to follow the Lord
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Patience
++Mercy
++Grace
++Personal
++Faithfulness
++Justice
Where is Hope?
Where is Hope?
God Reaches Out
++God is Faithful
++God Sees and Knows
++God Credits Righteousness
++God Lives with His People in a Relationship
++Repentance
++Faith
