The Call, the Promise, and the Sacrifice

Big Idea

Tension: How does Abram respond when God promises to give him a land, to multiply him, to bless, to make the name great, to bless others through him, and a seed?

Resolution: By making atonement for his sins.

Exegetical Idea: When God promises to give Abram the land, to multiply him, to bless him, to make his name great, to bless others through him, and to provide a seed to him, Abram makes atonement for his sins.

Theological Idea: Before God can give Abram and his family the blessings of the promise, sin must be atoned for.

Homiletical Idea: If God is going to bless his people, he must atone for our sins first.

Big Idea: Before we experience the goodness of God’s blessing, we need atonement.

Outline

Introduction:

Background in Genesis

The first audience

Creation

Fall

Cain and Abel

Flood

Tower of Babel

Genesis

Effectual Call of Abraham

When God calls Abram, he’s not seeking after the truth, he’s not looking for the Lord, he’s not really interested in finding the Lord. No, he’s a pagan idolater. (Joshua 24:2)

So before Abram ever has faith, God calls him. You see, it’s God’s call that creates faith. (Paul, Disciples of Jesus, Lydia)

Leave

Your country

Your kindred

Your father’s house

In other words, leave the old gods your family and your

Six Promises - As Christians, we know that all of these are fulfilled in the New Covenant.

A new land (New heavens and new earth; Is 66:22-23)

make you a great nation (Gen 1:28)

make your name great (Acts 11:26)

you will be a blessing (Matt 5:13-16)

those who bless you I will bless/those who curse you I will curse - This is covenant language. (Jeremiah 31:33)

all the families of the earth will be blessed in you (Matthew 28:16-20)

Abraham leaves

Headed towards Canaan

He thinks Lot will be his heir

Second Call

I will give this land to your offspring

Seventh promise

This will not be Lot

zera - seed protoeuaggelion (Gen 3:15)

He makes atonement

Abraham knows that if he is going to receive all of these promises, the chief obstacle is going to be sin, and the only thing he can do about it is to ask God to look on the sacrifice rather than on him. So he builds an altar.

What Abram does not yet know is that the seed that he will get, will himself deal with the problem of sin, he himself will make atonement, he will be atonement. (Gal 3:15-16)

Abram calls on the name of the Lord

The character of God - What we see here is that God is so good and gracious. Abraham doesn’t deserve this. Abraham is not a particularly worthy. In a lot of his life, he’s a pretty miserable person. He’s a bad husband, not a great father, an idolater, and he even mocks God at one point. But God is so good and so gracious to him.