Blessed with Abraham the Believer

Introduction

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Galatians 3:6–9 NASB95

Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Abraham’s legacy

Abraham is best known for his faith in the God who called him

Abraham is also know a man blessed by God, whole blessing is coveted even in today’s generation

Main Points

God’s Blessing to Abraham

In God began to speak to Abraham

Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

-1-3

God’s blessing to Abram would make him a significant, notable person

I will make you a great nation

I will make your name great

I will make you a blessing (to others)

I will bless those who bless you, curse those who curse

I will make you a blessing to all the families of the earth

God’s blessing to Abram would raise him above all other individuals and families

In God’s blessing to Abraham is fully established

Genesis 22:15–18 NASB95

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

God’s blessing is directed to Abraham’s children

I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens

your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies

in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

Characteristics of God’s blessing, the true blessing:

God’s blessing is expressed in the multiplication of the seed

- be fruitful and multiply

- - to Noah

- to Isaac

- to Jacob

- to Israel

- to the saints

God’s blessing is manifested in what God does to the seed

The true beneficiaries of God’s blessing upon a man are the children

It was the children of Abraham who conquered and possessed the land of Canaan

It was the nations who benefited from the faith of Abraham!

Only the children of Abraham can receive the blessing of Abraham.

Who are the Children of Abraham today

Those who are of faith

In the Apostle Paul declares how faith becomes factor in Abraham’s family

Genesis 3:6–9 NASB95

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Abraham was reckoned as “righteous” because of his faith in God

the Gospel was already preached to Abraham back then

To be a child of Abraham, one must be identified with the faith of Abraham, through the Gospel

In Paul describes how faith makes us Abraham’s children

Galatians 3:23–29 NASB95

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For 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, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3.23-29

Christ is the Seed of Abraham - see

Faith in Christ makes you a child of Abraham

Faith in Christ makes you an heir according to promise.

Those who are like Isaac, a child of Promise

See

Galatians 4:28 NASB95

And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Isaac was a “promised child”

- God promised a son as his heir

- God blessed Sarah and promised Isaac to Abraham

Note: “promise” = a verbal commitment spoken to a person to do something. A promise is a “spoken word”

A promise is a “spoken word”

God “promised us” to Abraham!

the natural seed, Isaac, multiplied like the sand

the spiritual seed, Christ, multiplied like the stars

LIKE ISAAC WAS, WE ARE CHILDREN SPOKEN BY THE MOUTH OF GOD TO ABRAHAM

In Paul shows us how redemption is connected to the promise

Galatians 3:13–14 NASB95

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Christ redeems us from the curse of the Law

Redemption makes a way for the blessing to come to Abraham’s children

Redemption paves the way for the promise to be fulfilled in us by our being born again by the Spirit of God

the promise of the Spirit

It is the personal verbal

our being born again by the Spirit of God

See

Galatians 4:27–28 NASB95

For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Isaac was birthed by an “old woman” who was “blessed by God”

Genesis 17:15–16 NASB95

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

God empowered Sarah so that she will be able to give birth to a child!

Abraham’s children today are born by the “power of the Holy Spirit”!

1 Corinthians 4:20 NASB95

For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

LIKE ISAAC WE ARE ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN BORN BY THE POWER OF GOD!

Isaac and the Children of Promise

Isaac dwelt in the land

As a child promised to Abraham, Isaac was the undisputed heir of the blessings of Abraham.

God didn’t have to make a new covenant; He just repeated His promise to Isaac.

Isaac dwelt in the land

In the Bible tells us what God asked Isaac to do as heir of the promise.

Genesis 26:1–5 NASB95

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. “Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”

stay in this land

dwell in this land enjoy the promise!

stay in the land because you are the heir!

Isaac dwelt in the land

The “children” of Abraham who went out of the land must return

*

- God promised Jacob to bring him “back to this land”

Genesis 28:15 NASB95

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

, - God promised to bless Israel when they finally enter the land of Canaan

Deuteronomy 7:1 NASB95

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,

Deuteronomy 7:12–13 NASB95

“Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. “He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.

The only place of blessing for a child of Abraham is the Land of Promise”

the Word of God is our Land of Promise!

STAY, DWELL, ABIDE, in the Word of God

If you are backslidden, RETURN to the Word of God!

Conclusion

The blessing of Abraham is as real today as it was back then.

We only need to follow God’s instructions.