Romans 5:1-8:39 (David Cook)

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The following are the notes I (Daniel) took during the sermon when we heard it live at Word Alive in Wales (Easter 2015):

Word Alive 2015 – Romans 8 The way to maturity – David Cook  

From ch1-5 question: Well, does it matter then how I live? Paul anticipates this in chapter 6. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!

Problem of legalism or licence!

5:18-19 many will be made righteous. Are you Adam’s person or are you Christ’s person.

Illustrated in chapter 6. Baptism. Don’t you realise you were baptised into Christ. Died to Adam (old way) raised to new life.
Slave market – don’t you realise you are dead to the old master impurity
7:1ff marriage – can remarry only after death of spouse. Death has intervened – you have died to law, now free to marry Christ and new life.

6:11 in the same way make this calculation about yourselves: dead to sin, alive to Christ. (First command in Romans).

Legalism – dead to law. But licence is not an option! Dead to sin, alive to Christ.

Rom 8. Very hard to be a Christian in Nero’s Rome.

Will my past come back to condemn me
Am I a servant (can be fired) or a son (never taken away)?
What about my suffering?  Is this consistent with being Christ’s man, and can these things wreck God’s plans?

We need to keep hearing about justification again and again. Paul reminds us again and again: for the justified there is NO CONDEMNATION, Wooo!
Justification Past (what Christ has done), present (what Holy Spirit is doing)and future (what God will do)

V1-4 The past
No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus – because the rule of the Spirit which we have received has set us free from death. The law could not save us because we cannot do them. So v3 God sends his son as a pure man to be a sin offering – to meet the demands of the law in those how now live
The death of the innocent for the undeserving.
People will do anything (pilgrimage, even eat dirt) except trust in Jesus.
We cannot bear the guilt of our sin. Our past is gone. Guilt has been dealt with.

V5 the present
Q: am I well enough resourced in this conflict between the sin nature and the spirit.
The FIGHT. War of our natures. V9 you are NOT controlled by the sin nature. If you belong to Christ you have the Spirit.
I looked for the dove, and it flew away. I looked to the cross, and the dove flew into my heart (Spurgeon)
V10 body is dead because of sin, but alive to Christ cf 2 Cor 4:16 We do not lose heart.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the assurance of our resurrection.
Born. Born again / regenerated. Die. Soul will be with Christ in paradise.” You do not have a soul. You are a soul – you have a body” CS Lewis. We will come with Christ in the clouds. Resurrection body will clothe my soul.
My body is depreciating because of the wages of sin. But we will be raised to life again.
Only talks 2 times about leading of spirit. Led by the Spirit to v13 put to death misdeeds of the body. You do not have an obligation to the sinful nature. We do not need to obey the sinful nature!
When was the last time you gave in to your sinful nature and said “oh that was good, I’m so glad I did that!”
Trust the Holy Spirit to lead you in the path of moral transformation
V15 You did not receive a spirit of fear, but a sprit which cries Abba father. “I dared to call him Father”.
V22 all creation is groaning
v23 we also groan as we wait for new creation
V26 Spirit helps us in our weakness but He intercedes for us.
Sometimes life is so hard I simply don’t know what to pray. Spirit intercedes for us. The paraclete, said Jesus – He is who is alongside.

The future
V28-29 Things are not out of control. In all things God is at work. It does not say that all things work out for the best (as a universal principle) – it says God is at WORK. Even when we are being slaughtered, in hardship.
2 qualifiers.
1.Only those loved by God. (human perspective)
Those called by God (divine perspective)
2. what is the good? To be conformed to the likeness of Christ. Christ is in family of God by right. We are there by grace. God’s agenda is to make us like our elder brother, Christ.
Cf Gal 4 (They’re being tempted to go back to law) v19 In labour pains (life of pastor!) until Christ formed in you.


V28
threefold office
prophet – word of God
priest – prays to God 
king – rules
We have a kingly ministry. We reign over every event of life. Nothing ultimately harmful for me because it will make me like Christ. How comforting for you, how annoying for your enemies!
Illustration: Donald bought a new car. Loved it (finally saved up) Son Andrew crashed it. “Are you all right, son” Changed his life.

Paul concludes with three questions v31-21
is there an enemy who can prevail? No
is there an effective accuser on judgement day? No because the judge is on your side
is there anything that can frustrate the purposes of God? No! We are more than conquerors because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Are you Christ’s? Or Adams? Remember who you belong to?

JI Packer 5things (pg 257):
I am a child of God
Heaven is my home
Every day is one day nearer heaven
My saviour is my brother
All Christians are therefore my brothers and sisters

Psalm 1: True Happiness

Psalm 1

Imagine if I told you there was a way to be truly happy. A guaranteed method to experience joy!
Do you want to be happy? I do! To be happy, full of joy, at peace. What a delight.

Well, that’s what we find in today’s passage. The path of true happiness.

Happiness is difficult to get, isn’t it? Buying things promises happiness – fast cars, big houses, good food – but they rust or need painting or give us indigestion, and it’s gone. Experiences promise happiness but they disappoint or all too soon they are over.
People, people can make us happy! But they are sinners like us and will let us down - especially if you burden them with the impossible burden of making you happy all the time.

Happiness comes when you’re not looking for it. You cannot demand happiness, buy happiness, force happiness. Because happiness is a by-product of unselfishness. Only when we stop trying to make everything and everyone make us happy does happiness sneak up on us! Why? We were designed to be happy! That’s where our need comes from. It is God-given. The source of our happiness is not found within ourselves but in Him or reflections of Him. God is our happiness.

V1 Oh the joys of those… v2who delight in the law of God. The words translated “joy” in v1 is the word eh-sher, often translated Blessed or happy. In the Hebrew it literally says Blessed, Happy is the man... who delights in the law of God”.
And the “law” of God is Jewish shorthand for the holy Scriptures: the inspired (breathed-out) word of God.

So: you want to be happy? Delight yourself in the word of God!

Now this morning we’re looking at the first “Psalm”. The word Psalm is a Latin translation of the Hebrew “Tehillim” which means “song of praise”. Psalms are songs or poems, yes, but they are more than that: They are inspired songs. Inspired means words that God has breathed out and caused to be written. These are his written words.

Let’s turn to Psalm 1 and find out how we can be happy!

1. Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word

Ps 1:1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

The first key to happiness is… repentance. Repentance: turning away from what is wrong or evil, and turning towards what is good and right.

Do not listen to the wicked, to what they say is true and right. Because out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if they are against God, their words, their “wisdom” is anti-God. It pulls us away from God.

Just think about some of the things we’ve been learning recently, and what the world says in contrast.

The Lord says “Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. The world says “Love money, money brings happiness”. God says “be generous, all you have is a gift”, the world says “grab all you can, because you only live once. It’s yours! You deserve it!”
Jesus says “Do not worry about anything, what you will eat, what you will wear – seek first the kingdom”. But we seek first our own kingdom, and live in fear, trying to protect ourselves from everything that could go wrong.
Jesus says “Go into all the world and make disciples”. The world says “Faith is private and shouldn’t be shared.”
Jesus says “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through me”. The world says “there is no such things as absolute truth – and that’s absolutely true!

The “advice of the wicked” is all around us. It infects us. It’s in the songs that we listen to on the radio, in our movies, books, articles, in our conversation. How do we not fall into just doing what the wicked advise?
By counter-acting it with delighting in the law of God. The more we fill our minds with His words, the less we will be fooled by the words of the world. When we know the genuine, the true, we will not be fooled by the counterfeit, the false.

And the battle starts here – in our minds. Rom 12:2 says Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may know what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We start by transforming our mind – absorbing the mind of God as we study his thoughts, and we will start to think more like God, seeing his will, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let me read v1 of Psalm 1 again, Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

Do you see the progression there: from following advice, to standing with sinners, to joining in with the mockers. We move from listening to wickedness, to approving of (standing with) wickedness, to joining in with those who mock God with their words or lives or actions.
And it’s easy. None of us ever sets out to sin, do we? But infected by worldly wisdom, we think “that sounds like a good idea – look at them, they look happy” and then in we go. Think about Eve and the forbidden fruit: listened to the advice of the serpent, stood listening to the serpent instead of leaving, and then joined in – mocking God’s word – “you know nothing, God!”.
And we’ve never stopped falling into the same trap as Eve!

If you’re battling with some sin, the first place you need to start is with your mind. You need to replace the lie with Truth. You need to delight in God’s word. If you’re struggling with greed – meditate on 1 Timothy 6. If you’re struggling with sexual temptation, meditate on 1 Corinthians 7. If you’re struggling with revenge or bitterness or anger or hate – read Galatians 5:19-22 The fruits of the Spirit. Or read the praise Psalms and simply rejoice in our great God. If your mind is filled with Him and His glory – everything else seems to fade away.

The first step in the path to happiness is repentance: turning away from what is evil, and turning towards what is good.

I’m sure many of you have heard the parable, supposedly told by an American Indian chief, of the two dogs inside? One dog represents the sinful or worldy man versus the other dog: the Spiritual man. And they are in a battle, a fight to the death. When asked which dog would win, the chief replies “The one I feed the most”.

There is much truth in that, and gets at what these two verses in psalm 1 are saying. Feed your soul, Christian! Delight in the words of God. Fill your mind with Him.

So what do we do with this?
Impossible application from this is to avoid going to church and Bible study, or to be lacklustre about it “I’ll go if I feel like it, I’ll go if nothing better comes up”. And to have an “oh, must I” attitude towards reading the Bible. The impossible application as a Christian is to resist God’s word. To be annoyed when he says no to things that you don’t want to do.

The true application is to delight in God and his word. To be filled with joy when we read his word or hear them preached. To love obeying him. To see that obedience brings life and joy and happiness. To really believe that happiness comes from obeying the Lord.

Possible application: Go to church and bible study. Make it number 1 priority – not the last thing you do, the first thing. No, it’s not a law. But it is weird if you don’t. Set aside time every day to read the Bible and pray. It’s not a law. But it is odd if the Bible says the man of God delights in the law of the Lord and we can’t even be bothered to read it.

So delight in the Lord and in his word. We know him. We love him. He loves us! That is deep joy.

Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word.

2. The man who delights in God’s word will prosper

3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. 4 But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.

So many of us struggle in our lives. Often we feel like our lives are empty, purposeless. What are we actually here for? Our lives feel like worthless chaff - the bits of the wheat plant that can’t be used and at harvest time is just flung up in the air for the wind to blow away.

Well, if that’s how you’re feeling, maybe it’s because you don’t actually know the Lord? It is warning to you to get right with him.
Or maybe we do know him but we’ve stopped delighting in his word? Maybe we’ve stopped meeting with his people or reading his word – or I know what it says but I’m disobeying?

How often in my life have I felt uneasy, angry, snapping at Debby or the kids (or both) – feeling unsettled, without purpose. And I think “what’s wrong with me?”. And then I think – when was the last time I spent some quality time alone with the Lord? Sat down and read His word, not for a Bible study or a sermon, but just sat down with Him and prayed and listened to Him.

Because when we delight in His Word we are rooted. Life flows through us. Like a tree planted by a riverbank we give out life. We draw from His deep reserves of joy and generosity and truth and love. And we start to reflect Him.

Isn’t that the type of people we want to be?

Christian and Johanna are a great example of this delighting in God’s word leading to being like a tree planted by streams of living water. As they have put the Lord first, as they have thrown themselves into ministry, as they have made Bible reading and church and Bible study their number one priority, wow, have they grown! And their joy in the Lord radiates out from them, and is shared with us, with their neighbours, with their job colleagues.

Do you want to be like them? Then delight in the word of the Lord.

They’re not the only ones. Many of you have experienced the same thing. Many of you have said that this church has changed your life. And that’s right, that’s what church should do. Because church should be a bunch of people together delighting in God’s word. His word is our life! As Jesus says “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4 quoting Deut 8:3).

Psalm 119, the biggest Psalm in the Bible, has, in almost every one of its 176 verses, the “word of the Lord”. The word of God is central to the life of God’s people. Our God is a God who speaks!

Much of the weakness, lack of power and error in today’s Christianity can be traced back to one thing – our attitude towards the “law of God” the words spoken by God once for all time. We substitute with music and emotion, with “prophecies” new words from God which are more acceptable to us, or we fill it with ritual and religion – anything to avoid reading and thinking about what God has really said. Or we just go full liberal and completely ignore his word and overturn what he has said.

Much of the weakness, lack of power, and error in our own lives can be traced back to one thing: how we view God’s word written here for us in the Bible. Do I avoid his word in my life?

And just in case you’re thinking but it’s just a book, that God threw a book at us and said read that and then left… no, His Spirit is here with us, and when we open the Bible those words come alive with the Spirit’s power. As we obey blessings flow out. Is that not true? Have we not all experienced that? As we obey, take that scary first step – in that moment we are suddenly aware that the Spirit has been alongside us all the time, and as we obey we see!

Delight in the law of the Lord. Embrace his word. And be not like chaff - blown by the wind – but like a tree of life deeply rooted in Christ’s life-giving waters.

Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word. Happy is he, because the man who delights in God’s word will prosper, deeply rooted, full of joy.

3. Happy is the man who knows the Lord, for he will be saved

5 [The wicked] will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6 For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

It is a serious business with eternal consequences. The godly, the one who delights in the word of God, and avoids sinning - that person, they are the one who will not be condemned at the time of judgement.

So don’t fail. Because if you fail to delight in the Lord, if you fail to meditate on his word day and night. If you fail to bear fruit every season and prosper in all that you do – you will be condemned. Worthless, like chaff, scattered in the wind. Do not fail!
Sinners will have no place among the godly. The path of the wicked leads to destruction.

Let’s pray.

Almighty God, your word is clear. If we fail to delight in you, we will have no place among the godly. Please Lord, help us not to fail, because we don’t want to go to Hell. Amen

>>> Sit down

But wait a minute! I don’t delight in the Lord day and night. And, unless I’m very much mistaken, you don’t either. My life is not lived in complete obedience to Him. And neither is yours.
And if that’s the case, then we have a problem. Because according to Psalm 1, that means that we are the wicked!

This was a problem the Psalms understood. There is this tension throughout the book between knowing what the man of God should be and do – and the knowledge that, however hard we try we fall short.

A quick search of the book of Psalms for the word transgressions or sins gives 192 verses: and scanning through them we see how the Lord hates sin, the realisation that we sin, and therefore our only hope is confess our sin the Lord Ps32:5 I said “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord” – and amazingly the Lord has mercy. 32:5 continues And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

Now to the Psalmists this was a mystery. How could God forgive those who continually fall short? How could God bless those who did not delight in the law of the Lord? How could he treat us, the wicked, as if we were the righteous?

I want you now to read Psalm 1 again. This time recognizing that we are the wicked; who then is the righteous one? Who is the Psalmist describing?
....

Who did only what his Father willed? Who brought life wherever he went? Who prospered even amongst his enemies? Whose path did the Lord watch over, even unto death and beyond? Who did not advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers, but instead delighted in the law of the Lord?
Jesus. Jesus is the great hero of Psalm 1. And he is the answer to the Psalmists puzzle: How can God treat the wicked as the righteous?

The answer is through the great swap on the Cross, where Jesus took your wickedness and my wickedness upon himself, and walked the path of destruction, the path to hell that we deserved. And he gave us his perfection, his righteousness, his delight in the Lord. Given to us.

So we can say we are blessed. Blessed beyond belief! We have a new heart, new desires. We suddenly WANT to listen to God’s word. We WANT to be with his people. We WANT to be with Him. Just like Jesus because His Spirit lives within us.

That’s why someone who claims to be a Christian but doesn’t delight in God’s word – disobeys it, ignores it, is never in church or studying the Bible, someone who says “I know, but…” whenever confronted with the word of God – are they really a Christian? If you’re in Christ you become like him.

So if you’ve found yourself drifting away from the Word, being ho-hum about church, trying to ignore God. Whatever the reason: repent, turn around, away from wickedness, and embrace the forgiveness that is your in Christ Jesus.

And then, in joy, remember that His Spirit is within you and start living like it: taking delight in the law of the Lord. Rejoicing that this God whom we serve, this holy, powerful, pure, perfect God – has made a way for people like us to know him and enjoy him forever.

Because the wicked may be destined for destruction, but the forgiven are destined for Eternal Joy. A celebration of our God, a festival of delights, never-ending. That’s what we were built for, and, in Christ, that is our future. Put your roots down into that glorious truth, and spread the joy of knowing God.

Happy is the man who repents, knowing that he is forgiven in Christ, and so delights in the word of the Lord. For he is in Christ, and His Holy Spirit is a river of life in him.

Let’s pray (properly this time!)

Lord, we repent of disregarding your word. Help us to delight in you. Help us to put church and Bible study first, help us to set aside time to be with you each day, help us to obey you in everything, however hard or costly that might be. Thank you for your forgiveness.
Thank you Jesus for not stumbling, for delighting in your Word, and for giving us your Spirit that we may too delight in your Word. Thank you for taking our wickedness, so that we who were chaff can now say “The Lord watches over my path”. Oh how we bless your Name!

Genesis 23, 25:1-11 A blessed life

Genesis 23
Genesis 25:1-11

We have reached the end of our journey with Abraham, and what a journey it has been! We’re going to spend a few minutes on these final chapters, rounding off the story, and then we’re going to have an interactive review of Abraham’s story – so put your thinking caps on! – and I will end off by reminding us of the BIG things we have learned from Genesis 11-25: Abraham the man of Faith – or perhaps more correctly: God: The God of Blessing!

Chapter 23 tells us of the death of Sara at the ripe old age of 127, her final 30 years being full of joy and blessing watching her son grow to be a man. Her own son Isaac, born to her in impossible circumstances. God had blessed her as he had promised, and turned her sadness into laughter.

But what is significant in this chapter is the story which takes up the most time: buying the land. Because this is a purchase of faith. Abraham is not content to receive it as a gift, or even for a discount – he pays full price (perhaps even more than full price) – so that he secures it for his descendants after him.

Why is this a purchase of faith? Because Abraham is buying this land trusting that one day God’s promise will be fulfilled and that his descendant will live in THIS land, this place. He’s saying this is where my wife will be buried, this is where I will be buried, for this is where my family will live for generations after me.

Note the careful structure and attention to detail in this chapter. In v 6 Abraham is called an “honoured prince” literally it reads “you are a prince of God”. They recognise God’s blessing in his life, and the author reminds us of this: Abraham was blessed by God. Abraham then stands and bows low (v7) – here comes an important request: “I don’t just want a place to bury my wife – I want a burial plot – I want some of the land.”

He does not want to borrow a tomb, or even be gifted a tomb, as the gift would eventually revert back to the family who gave it.

He does not even want to pay less than fair price, as this could also lead to problems in future. What if Ephron’s descendants became poor? They might look back upon this “foreigner” as having cheated them out of the land, and so claim it back.

No, Abraham wanted to OWN the land, a symbol of his trust in the promise of God. And he bought it with the wealth that God had provided. God, the great giver of gifts, the keeper of promises.

And after some very polite negotiation “no take it for free” “no I will buy it” “it’s worth 400, but I’ll give it to you for nothing” “here’s 400” “deal” – and Abraham has a significant symbol of the promise of God.

It’s a little bit like the prophet Jeremiah buying a plot of land just before Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians. Their army was right outside, land was worthless – but Jeremiah buys it. Why? Because he believed the word of the Lord, that in 70 years they would return to the land and be restored. It was a symbol of his faith in the Lord’s word.

With us too, the way we spend our money reflects how we trust the Lord. Are we building up treasures in heaven, giving money to support gospel work, investing in people, their eternal destiny – or are we only concerned about the here and now, getting as much as we can. Remember – stuff here breaks, rots, falls apart, needs maintaining – but our heavenly treasure lasts forever.

So Abraham buys a burial plot because of his faith in the Lord. In Chapter 24 which we hopped over, the story starts to focus in on Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, provided by the hand of God, and we see that God is blessing Isaac, just as he had promised. As we read in 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
Because the story has now moved on from Abraham to Isaac. Chapter 25 spends a few verses on the final years of Abraham – and that’s basically it. Abraham’s part in this tale is over, his job is done – but God’s plan – oh, that is just beginning! Wait and see what God will do! After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.

So let us say good-bye to Abraham as we look at v1-10 of chapter 25. He married again after Sarah’s death and had lots of children – but 5 Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. Isaac was the son of the Promise, the son of Abraham and Sarah. The sons of his “concubines” were looked after, but it was Isaac who was the primary heir. The Bible background commentary tells me that “The concubines, or secondary wives, of Abraham were Hagar and Keturah. Concubines were usually women who did not possess a dowry, and thus their children did not have primary rights to inheritance.” Basically, women from poorer families. Sara was probably from a wealthy family, perhaps even royal, since her name “Sara” means “princess”. Hagar was a servant, and Keturah seems to have been from an ordinary family, certainly unable to pay a dowry to such a rich man as Abraham was at this stage! By calling Keturah a concubine in v6, the author reminds us that Isaac was the legal heir (the one who inherits everything), not her sons.

So Abraham had many happy years together with Keturah, his wife, and then the author tells us quite simply in v7-9, with no great song and dance that Abraham lived for 175 years, 8 and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. (the plot he bought back in chapter 23).

And that’s it. A long and satisfying life, full of the blessing of God. That blessing is now passed on to his son, Isaac, and the rest of the Bible traces that great promise of land, people and blessing, given to Abraham back in chapter 12 when he called him out of the land of Ur and set him on a new course, a new life, a new adventure, that would bless the world – the Bible traces that promise all the way through Moses, David, the prophets, and finally to Jesus.

Review of what we’ve learned. We’ll do it a little differently – Q&A-

Anyone remember the big promise God gave to Abraham in chapter 12: Promised three things: LAND, PEOPLE, BLESSING.

Land starting to be fulfilled: Symbol of the promise to come. Isaac, the miracle child, child of the promise, symbol of promise to come. And links in to previous promise in 3:15 of a serpent crusher. For the world was cursed through Satan’s work, but the descendant of Abraham would bless the world.

Blessing – wow, big time fulfilled. But how, how can God bless a sinner? Big questions throughout Genesis 11-25. And indeed through the whole Old Testament. That tension of a holy God meeting with unholy people is somewhat explained by the sacrificial system and Temple – but even OT people understood it was not enough. The tension only relieved finally in Christ. Christ the meeting place between God and man, the true Temple, the true sacrifice.

There are many things we could draw from this story.

There is the lesson of Lot, who abandons the blessing of God centred on Abraham, and ends up piercing himself with many sorrows. And often we can live a sort of “Christian” life like that. You probably know people like that – maybe you are like that or have been. I was. A life lived in disobedience, or in lip service, going through the external motions, but keeping your distance from God, not letting him be God in all of your life. And we pierce ourselves with many sorrows. Lot’s end was tragic: he lost all his wealth, his city was destroyed, his wife was turned to salt for disobedience, he ended up a strange old hermit living in a cave, and his own daughters raped him. Yuck. Why didn’t he just go back to Abraham?
If you’re doing a Lot – turn back to Christ, give yourself fully to him. The alternative is full of sorrow.

There is the story of Hagar, the servant girl. Her voice ignored by everyone – except God. Used and abused by everyone – but God hears her cry, sees her, seeks her out and restores her. If that’s you – unseen, unheard, unimportant, used – God sees you. Cry out to him, and he will answer. His mercy is everlasting, and his shoulders are big enough to bear your pain.

There is the great promise of land, people, blessing, the world being blessed through Abraham’s descendant – and as we trace this promise through the Bible this descendant turns out to be Jesus, son of Abraham, son of David, who says in Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Gospel; the great blessing of God. That he took our punishment for sins, and we take his place (it’s a swap) – his Holy Spirit comes to live IN US – that’s how close we are to God! Blessing. We, the church, are called his PEOPLE, and our country, our LAND, is Heaven itself, the New Creation, a city which is called “the Lord is There” (Ezekiel 48:35).

There is the sure judgement of God on sin. He is patient, but for those who refuse to repent his anger will burn against them. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were full of wickedness, and “a great outcry had reached the Lord, because their sin [was] so flagrant.” (18:20) – and the Lord moved in terrifying judgement and the cities were consumed with fire and sulphur and the land was laid bare. There is no hope for those who remain in rebellion against God. It’s no joke. His judgment is real. Hell is real. It is a severe warning, given time and time again. So if you don’t know God, if you are living in ignorance of him, or in outright rebellion – repent. If you have not accepted Jesus as both Lord and Saviour – do it now. The alternative is horrifying.

And that leads us to the one major point that hits us time and time again through this story, and indeed through the whole Bible. It is the heartbeat of God, the heartbeat of the Gospel, and it is our hope and our salvation.

It is this: God blesses sinners.
Abraham’s story tells us repeatedly that God blesses sinners.

If we turn to him, he will forgive us, he will bless us, for God blesses sinners.
For Abraham is not perfect, not by a long shot. Like almost all the other “heroes” of the Bible he has significant flaws! He lied, he was selfish, he was a sexual sinner, he made mistakes, he almost threw away the blessing of God (as if he could!) – in short he was a lot like you and me: an imperfect person, who is inconsistent in faith at best, who struggles to trust God, and who sometimes makes a massive mess of things. And yet God says “In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed”. And God says “I declare you righteous” (Abraham believed God, and he credited to him as righteousness 15:6).

Of course, Abraham never understood HOW God could bless sinners. He simply had to have faith and trust that when God said “I will bless you” that he meant it. But we know. We know that it was through the death of Christ. We know that Rom 3:25 God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past (like Abraham), 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Abraham’s hope was in Jesus. Even though he didn’t know Jesus by name, he trusted in God’s plan to forgive his sins and open the way to bless him eternally. That’s why Jesus said that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John 8:56). Abraham trusted in the future hope of Jesus, that through him God would bless sinners like Abraham, and like you and me.

Ro 5:6–11 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. … God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners… So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Friends, in Christ we are blessed like Abraham was. We are his children. God blesses sinners!
Beloved child of God, do not be afraid, trust your Father. Love him, and rejoice! Your sins are covered, your life is blessed, your eternal destination is secure. We will be with him forever. Amen.

Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

Genesis 14 Amazing Grace

Genesis 14

What is a Christian? Is it someone who goes to church on Sunday, pays their tithe, and is generally a nice person? Or is it someone who causes riots wherever they go, gets thrown into jail. I mean, the apostles fall into the second description! And perhaps we need a few more of those types of Christians, riot-causing-for-the-sake-of-the-gospel-Christians in this country.

But neither of those descriptions are correct. Because what makes a Christian is not what we do, or even what we are – what makes a Christian is God. If his favour rests upon you, you are a Christian, you belong to him, you are His. No matter what.

This was Abram’s experience. He was called by God. His favour rested upon Abram. His promise was given him. Nothing could shake that promise – not even Abram’s own sin! And you too, if you are called by the Lord Jesus – you belong to Him, His favour rests upon you, and nothing can shake His promise “you will always be with me where I am”.

So let’s dive in to this chapter where we see that Abram is undefeatable, those with him are blessed, Abram is Lot’s saviour – and Abram is a mere shadow of the great high priestly King of Jerusalem who is still to come.
1. God keeps his promises
2. A mysterious blessing
3. The Priest-King of God Most High

1. God keeps his promises

8 Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea. 9 They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains. 11 The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. 12 They also captured Lot—Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned.

Oh Lot. You threw your lot in with the wrong crowd! He cut himself off from Abram, who has now become the centre of God’s blessing on earth – and he faces the consequences. His eye for the “easy life”, seeing the well-watered land, and ignoring the fact that 13:13 the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the LORD. – well, Lot pays the penalty for his decision. War ravages the land, and he is carried off as prisoner.

Now I’ve been conditioned to thinking of Lot as righteous. You know, from the Sodom story a bit later “Oh Lord, if you find 50, 20, 10 righteous men”… But in reading carefully through this story - Lot is never presented as righteous. In fact, his story is the opposite –an unrighteous man, who keeps being rescued by God’s man on the ground: Abram. When I first read this story when I was planning the preaching program, I thought this story was about the fact that bad things happen even to good people – you know, the good man Lot was just living there, minding his own business, when war came and swept up everyone – the good and the bad – kind of like what has happened to some of you in your countries. Or just the general sufferings of life that sweep over us. As Christians we are not immune – after all, we will all one day die! But God has promised that he will be with us through the ups and downs, and Christ will meet us on the other side of death, clothe us in his robes of righteousness, and say “it’s alright, he’s with me”.
If I’d been reading my thoughts into the passage, that’s what I would have preached on – that’s what I’d planned to preach. But this passage is not about that. And my job is to lay GOD’S thoughts before you, not my own (or what I think God ought to be thinking at this point). So, after working on last week’s text I realised my initial ideas in reading this week’s passage was wrong.

The theme here continues from chapter 13 of the promise of God to Abram of land, people, blessing. He is the bearer of God’s promise. God’s promise is centred on him. So when Lot separates from Abram, he separates from the land, he separates from the blessing – and ultimately separates from the people, as he gives rise to the Amonnites and Moabites, a thorn in Israel’s side in the future, and enemies of God.

So the author carefully places this story here, directly after chapter 13, to highlight what happens when you separate from the blessing of God: destruction, slavery, destitution.

Now, by rights, that should have been the end of Lot. But because Lot is Abram’s nephew, he is not forgotten: immediately Abram rises up and gathering 318 men sets off after the enemy army.

Now we need to set the scene a little bit here. This army is an alliance of four kingdoms. It is huge. It has just swept through the whole area, from the east, down the whole side of the Jordan valley, down south near to Egypt, then up to Sodom and Gomorrah – absolutely destroying anything and anyone standing their way. An army of FIVE kings – that of Sodom etc, was soundly beaten– as v10 As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains. Fleeing for their lives, falling into the tar pits. Getting stuck, getting shot by arrows – absolute mayhem and destruction. Kedorlaomer’s army was a victorious war machine.

And here comes Abram with around 300 guys. Not professional soldiers, although they’d had a bit of training. This was no standing army – these were farmers, hunters, tanners, ordinary guys. And off they go in pursuit of this mighty army. Like boys with sticks against tanks.

But there is one more thing they have. They have verse 3 of chapter 12. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.
Abram carries with him the blessing of God. And my word what a turnaround from the failures of the previous chapter! In bold faith Abram rushes out, secure in the Promise of God to bless him and keep him safe.

Think what this would have meant for the people of Israel at the time this was written. As they stood on the outskirts of the Promised Land, looking at the mighty city of Jericho, worried about all the powerful tribes and people-groups living there – mighty armies. Don’t lose heart – you may be small, but God is strong. You are one nation vs many – but Abram was one man vs four kingdoms.
You might be like boys with sticks against tanks - but God keeps his promises. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He keeps his promises.

14 [Abram] pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. 15 There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives.

A great victory. God keeps his promises.

What promises does he keep for us? Should we pick up the sword and rush out and attack… Sweden? Well our Man of Promise is Jesus. Our land is Heaven. Our people is the church (not the buildings, not denominations, but the body of Christ, true Christians all over the world, throughout time and history – our brothers and sisters, saved by grace). And the blessing of the Holy Spirit, and the gospel of grace.

When we speak the gospel, people get saved, people grow. Trust his word. We don’t need anything else. The gospel may seem like a stick against the tanks of people’s beliefs – but it is the power of GOD for salvation for all who believe.
Keep telling people about the gospel of grace: our Lord Jesus, who gave up his divine majesty in order to take our place, and deal with our sin once for all, so that we can be free, and know him forever. We can know almighty God, and live as his beloved children.

It is a message that has changed the world, is changing the world, will change the world. It is the most powerful message in the history of mankind. Because it is God’s message, a message of miraculous rescue. Trust his promises. Because God keeps his promises.

2. A mysterious blessing

So, Abram comes back victorious, meets the king of Sodom, and the strange figure of Melchizedek (who we’ll talk about in a moment). Sodom tries to give Abram his riches – like Satan, offering Abram what he already has been given by God – Abram refuses, and instead gives a tithe to Melchizedek symbolising “all I have comes from God. My riches are provided by him. All I have belongs to Him.” But he does, in verse 24, ask that his allies be blessed 24 I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.

This picks up the theme that those who are connected to Abram are blessed. Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre receive the spoils of war (and a great victory). Lot is rescued from slavery.
And those who are against Abram, are cursed. Kedorlaomer faces Abram in war and suffers a huge defeat. Last week we saw Pharaoh suffer God’s anger because of the way he treated Sarai, Abram’s wife. It is the fulfilment of what God promised Abram in 12:3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.

In one sense, how they treat Abram is how they treat God. I (God) will bless those who bless you (Abram) and curse those who treat you (Abram) with contempt. Not I (God) will bless those who bless me (God). Or I will bless you (Abram) when you do the right thing. No. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. It seems to me that the way that people treat Abram, God sees that as the way they treat Him. Weird, isn’t it?

Or is it?

Israel – those who fought against Israel were destroyed or punished. Those who sought shelter in Israel, like Rahab, like Ruth, were blessed.

Abram is God’s representative on earth. How people treat him is how they treat God. Israel was God’s people: how people treated them was how they treated God.

Why? Because it foreshadows Jesus. Jesus is God’s perfect representative on earth. As he says to Philip “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). Or in Col 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

Abram and Israel were playing the role of Jesus in this great act of God to reveal to us his glory, reveal to us who He is and how great He is. Their role was to tell us about Jesus. “All of scripture is about me” Jesus said. If we are with Jesus, we are blessed - against Jesus and we are cursed; just like Abram.

The way we treat Jesus, is the way we treat God. They are the same. There is no way to know God outside of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of God. Because to try to do that – to ignore Jesus – is to treat him with contempt. And those who treat him with contempt will be, as 12:3 says “cursed”.

There’s another little indication of this in verse 3 of chapter 12: when God says All the families on earth will be blessed through you – the wording is actually “in you” all families will be blessed. Through Abram the blessing flows. In him the blessing is found. Because his descendant is Jesus. And to be in Christ, in Jesus, is to be blessed.

And that brings it to us. Because we are in Christ. We are all the families of the earth (many nations) blessed. And his favour rests upon us, like it rested upon Abram.

Now I had a problem when preparing this: how far do I apply this point? It’s risky, you see, because of the danger of triumphalism – God on our side, etc. Can lead to arrogance (like in Israel where they thought that they could do whatever they wanted because God was on their side. Like a pet dog).
But, there is also great comfort in this. We don’t have to fight our battles – the battle is the Lord’s. We don’t have to take revenge – God will deal with that. He takes it personally. Attacks on his children – he takes personally. Those who bless us will be blessed. Those who treat us with contempt will be cursed. This isn’t “ha-haaa. You will be judged by God you HEATHEN!!” But the conflicted and vengeful heart being quieted knowing that God, in his perfection, will deal with people rightly. Some will be completely turned – like Saul who became Paul, the great apostle.
Isn’t it comforting? We are under his protection. We belong to him. Those who bless us will be blessed; those who oppose us are not opposing us but ultimately God himself! And we can leave it in God’s hands.

It is a mysterious blessing. Which finds its fulfilment in Christ. And we too are blessed, knowing that his favour rests upon us – and that is, by his mercy, unshakeable.

So don’t be afraid for he is with you. He is with us.

You know, when my son Kaleb and I are together he is totally unafraid. “I’m with Dad. I’m safe. His favour rests upon me.” Kaleb knows I will protect him. If people treat him badly, I will stick up for him. He knows that if things get out of his control, he can simply hand over to me, and I will sort it out. Kaleb is happy with his Dad.

Our Heavenly Father is with us. What a mysterious, glorious blessing!

Let’s end by fixing our eyes on Jesus.

3. The Priest-King of God Most High

18 And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. 19 Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

This fellow Melchizedek is a weird one isn’t he? Totally unannounced, he arrives on the scene, blesses Abram, receives a tithe from him, is described as a king and a priest of God Most High...and is never seen again. He simply appears, does his thing, and vanishes, almost like an angel, some eternal creature. In Hebrews chapter 7 the writer there picks up on this: in v 2-4 he says The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” 3 There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. 4 Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.

See, this book (Genesis) was written during the time of the priests. Only those from the tribe of Levi could be priests or even serve in the Temple (Jesus was of the tribe of Judah). But here we see that there is another type of priest. A priest who is also a king. A priest without beginning or end. A priest who is greater than Abraham.

In Psalm 110 Melchizedek is referred to again – only the second time in the Old Testament. Psalm 110 begins A psalm of David. 1 The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honour at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. And in verse 4 The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord (Yahweh) says to King David’s Lord – but that’s God. So God says to God You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus is that type of priest. Not a Levitical priest (from the tribe of Levi) serving in the Temple – but greater than the priest of Israel, greater than the Temple.

And more than that: this Psalm was sung to the king sitting on the throne of Jerusalem. Melchizedek was the King of Salem, later called Jerusalem. David’s throne, in Jerusalem, is the throne of Melchizedek, the great priest-king. And David’s great-great-great-etc grandson is: Jesus. Jesus, the King of Jerusalem, the priest of the Most High God, the king of justice and the king of peace, displaying his justice and peace as he hangs on the cross to satisfy the demands of justice in order to offer peace to all who come to him.

Melchizedek points directly to the Lord Jesus: the King who is our great high priest, greater than Abram, the one who can bring us before God.

In Christ, God keeps his promises.

In Christ, we have this mysterious blessing: God’s favour rests upon us.

In Christ, we have this great High Priest, this Everlasting King, greater than Abraham: the king of justice and peace. Like Abram, let us come to our King, and acknowledge that we belong to him.

Gen 12: The Everlasting Promise

Gen 11:27-12:8

Do you ever despair over this world? Do you ever sit and think “what on earth will become of us? That this is an utter disaster”?
Abram probably thought that. The world he lived in was the world of Genesis chapter 11 – the Tower of Babel. And that was a disaster. The new generation of people descended from the “righteous and blameless” man Noah turned out to be just as unrighteous, just as wicked, and just as rebellious as those before Noah. Remember, those whom God described in 6:5 “everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” Oh dear.
And in 11:4 we see them gathered together in rebellion against God, gathered not to worship Him but to worship themselves, gathered not to build an altar of praise to Him but to build a tower in to the heavens for their own glory. Arrogance, self-righteousness, no thanksgiving, no praise, no humility before the Creator and King.

By the end of chapter 11 we are desperate to find a solution. How can we solve this problem of evil? Left on our own, we just go from bad to worse. We need a rescuer. Will there ever be born a serpent-crusher, the one God promised in 3:15 who would crush evil? There is hope: life carries on, babies keep being born and maybe this one will fulfil God’s promise. Remember that genealogies (the list of names) in the Bible are signs of hope – each new baby a reminder that one day there is coming the Rescuer, Messiah, the Saviour.

And then we meet Abram. A man called by God out from his family, out from his land, out from his people, out from his culture – everything he knew and could depend on – and called to go where God sends him. And he goes.

Could this be the rescuer?

Well, the answer is no, but he is part of the Rescue Plan. Abram (or Abraham as he is later renamed) is the first BIG block in God’s paving the way for the Rescuer, his own Son. And the promise to Abram in 12:1-3 is the plot-line for the rest of the Bible. In fact, we sitting here today are part of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abram made thousands of years ago. We are the people of God, blessed by God, heading for God’s promised land: the new Creation.

That’s where we’re going, so let’s start the journey of faith with Abram. And it begins, of course, with God. God speaks.

1. God speaks

Into the darkness, into the chaos of rebellion and confused languages, God speaks. There is no indication that Abram knew God or worshiped him in any way. In fact, he was an idol-worshipper. Probably worshiped the moon, as that was common amongst cultures in the area of that time. Josh 24:2 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods.
Abram was a pagan, far removed from God, living in darkness – until God spoke.

1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Can you imagine it! You’ve been worshipping the moon all your life. Giving it sacrifices. Listening for its advice. Hoping it would bless you and watch over you. And then some other God shows up. Not only that, but, unlike your moon-god, actually speaks. Imagine the shock, the fear, the wonder. You are real. You are here. You are speaking to me. That is a life-changing encounter right there!

And that’s the way God works. Getting to know God isn’t like wandering past the “Get to know God” shop and then one day thinking “that’ll be nice” and then deciding to step in and have a bit of a chat and then if you like it come again the next day. No. It’s more like being a beggar, chained up in a filthy dungeon, scrabbling around in the dirt, screaming and yelling – when the door is flung open, the light floods in, a strong hand reaches down, pulls you to your feet, and a voice says “Come! You have been summoned to the King”. As we stand before the King, eyes blinking, hair matted, filthy, dirty, completely out of place – the King steps down off his throne, walks towards you, throws his arms around you and says “my son, whom I love!”. Suddenly servants surround you, your old clothes are stripped away, your body is scrubbed and washed, all the old dirt and filth gone, washed away forever. And new glorious clothes are provided and then a crown is placed upon your head and you are seated before the King. “But, but, I’m not, this isn’t, I’m not… your son.”
“My son,” he says, “these adoption papers say otherwise”.

And you look and see your name “adopted by the King” and signed by Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

That’s the way God works. He speaks. He rescues. He takes the initiative. Just like with Abram.

Abram was a “Chaldean”, as it says in 11:31 “Ur of the Chaldeans”. A Chaldean was another name for a Babylonian – someone who built the tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar. Throughout the rest of the Bible, Chaldeans or Babylonians represent the worst of pagan religion. They are a fierce and cruel race, bent towards evil. Babylon is the city of Evil, opposed to Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of God.

But God! God is able to call out a Chaldean to be declared righteous and to be used to fulfil his purposes. God calls Abram out of the city that in the Bible is linked so closely to Satan, so closely to the Enemy of mankind, that it is called the evil city. God calls Abram out of Babylon and towards the promise of Jerusalem, in the land of Canaan.

Abram was not a righteous man, whom God discovered while scanning men’s hearts with his telescope! No, he, like Noah before him, was an evil and rebellious man in the midst of a corrupt people – and God chose him, chose HIM to be the vessel through which he would save the world. Amazing.

There is hope for you and me. There is hope for our friends and neighbours. There is hope for those you look at and think “disgusting” or “God could never save them”. God saved a Chaldean. He can save them.

Now for some of us this will be a real struggle. The idea that God saves sinners. It’s difficult to grasp. Abram, Abraham a sinner? No, he was a man of faith! God chose him because he was righteous, we say.
Our mind rebels against grace. The idea of earning our salvation is so deeply ingrained in us. This idea is in every other religion: do this, perform this ritual, and you will get blessing. If you don’t do the ritual, or behave in the right way, you will be cursed.

But this, that God can look upon a sinful man, and for no reason whatsoever declare him righteous – that we struggle with. But that is the message of the Bible. That is our hope. If you are a Christian today, you are a Christian because God called to you out of the darkness “follow me”. And like Abram you could not do anything except obey. And like Abram you are being changed into a man of faith. Abram became Abraham, famous throughout history, because of the work of God in him.

God declared Abraham righteous before him, because Abraham’s sins would be dealt with on the Cross. You are declared righteous before God, if you have accepted Christ, because your sins have been dealt with on the cross.

God speaks. And the message is one of hope and rescue. Praise God.

Let’s now turn our attention to what God actually says to Abram. What is this promise he gives him?

2. God’s promise

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him.

This is the second time I’ve read God’s promise in v1-3. Why? Because it’s critical to understand the rest of the Bible. In fact, it’s true to say that the rest of the Bible is simply unpacking how God will keep this promise. If you’re a Christian today, you’re only a Christian because God has kept this promise he made thousands of years ago to Abram!

It is so important that it’s repeated in chapter 15 and again in 17. It is so critical that from now on God’s name, Yahweh, the LORD, is so linked to this promise that he is known as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”: the God of the promise to Abraham.

So, what’s so important? What does God actually promise Abram?

V1 Go to the LAND I will show you. And in v7 he makes it explicit “I will give THIS LAND to your descendants”. (LAND)

V2 I will make you into a great nation. (PEOPLE)

V3 I will bless you, and all the families of the Earth will be blessed through you (BLESSING)

There is a threefold promise: Land, People, and Blessing.
And note who is doing this. It is not simply foretelling the future. It is not “you will become a great nation” or “you will move to Canaan” – God says “I will do this”.
And the whole way through the story we see that God’s promise cannot be fulfilled – unless God works a miracle.

The first obstacle to God’s plan we’ve already been told. Did you see it there in 11:30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. How ironic that Abram - whose name means “father” – is childless. How can Abram be the father of a great nation if his wife can’t have children?

The land promised to Abram is the land of Canaan. The land is already occupied. How can Abram and his few people take possession of a land already occupied by nations?

And is God’s blessing only for Abram when he is righteous? Or does his blessing cover his unrighteousness as well? We’ll see next week as that’s put to the test as the first thing Abram does after being blessed by God is blatantly lie about his wife being his sister because he was afraid. So much for the man of faith! What part of “3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.” did he not trust? God promised him protection. He disbelieved that promise. So Abram’s own sin is a problem!

So why does God promise things that seem impossible?
So that we will trust him! He promises Abram a land, a people, and blessing – and as Abram and those who follow in his line trust God they see his words coming true.

The first big problem is the lack of children. Abram has no son. Abram cannot have a son. And in fact you could argue that this whole story from chapter 12 to 25 is simply about Abram’s son Isaac. It is certainly structured that way. Even here at the beginning we get another extra genealogy in 11:27-32. But why tell us all this? We’d already got the genealogy in 11:10-26, the “godly” line from Shem through to Abraham, 10 names in all. Why another one? Why even tell us about Terah and Nahor and Milcah and Iscah? They’re totally irrelevant!

Well, there’s a hint in the number of names. There’s 8. There should be 10 (Adam to Noah in chapter 5 and Shem to Abram in chapter 11). Where are the other 2 names? Well, some think that it’s deliberately set up to point to Ishmael and Isaac, the sons of Abraham, the list of 10 ending with Isaac, the son of the Promise.
That’s also why Sarai’s barrenness is mentioned – she can’t have children. And why Nahor is mentioned – because the story of Abraham ends with Isaac’s wife Rebekah coming back from the land of Ur, from the household of Nahor.

This little introduction is pushing us towards the fulfilment of God’s promises. God keeps his promises.

Isaac is the child of the promise. Isaac’s wife Rebekah, it turns out, is also barren (25:21) – but miraculously God provides a son. Twin sons, in fact. Easu and Jacob. But unexpectedly God blesses the younger, Jacob, and not Esau the oldest. But that’s impossible, you would say in that culture – the blessing can only pass to the eldest. But God again does the impossible, picks the youngest, the weakest, and quite frankly the downright sneaky and manipulative Jacob to be renamed “Israel”, and from him come the 12 sons of Israel which make up the twelve tribes. Pure grace in action once again!

That family ends up in Egypt becoming a great nation (people), in fulfilment of God’s promise. But they’re not in the land, and they don’t seem very blessed: they are slaves under Pharaoh! But we know how that story goes: God calls another impossible rescuer, a runaway murderer hiding out in the desert, a stutterer who could not speak: Moses. And says to Moses “go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go”. And in mighty acts of power God rescues his people, blesses them, gives them the Law, the sign of the Covenant, and brings them in to the Promised Land (eventually).

Of course, we know how that ended up – how the people’s sin manages to ruin this great fulfilment and so we’re left wanting more, wondering how God is going to fulfil his promise to Abraham. Until we meet Jesus.

(If you want to know more there’s a great little book called “God’s Big Picture” by Vaughn Roberts which carries this theme of land, people, blessing through the whole Bible and helps you to get an overview of the whole story – see how it all fits together.)

Because it is when we get to Jesus that we see how his promise is truly fulfilled. Because Jesus is one of the descendants of Abraham. Mt 1:1 (NLT) This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham, and Matthew then goes on to list Abraham’s descendants, through David, and to Jesus. And so God’s promise made all the way back here in Gen 12:3 finally finds its fulfilment: All the families on earth will be blessed through you.

You see, in Christ, we are the true fulfilment of the promise to Abraham: our land is the New Creation, Heaven on earth, as we will stand together in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, and the Lord will be with us, forever.

Our People is the Church, all people saved by Christ, people from all family groups across the whole world: the faithful remnant of Israel in the Old Testament, and all true Christians, Jews and Gentiles together, from the time of Christ onwards.
And here we see a small foretaste of that. Look around you. We will be together forever. And not as we are now but perfect, sinless – no egos getting in the way, no selfishness, no pride – each of us perfect, glorious, sinless beautiful to behold, shining with the very glory of God.

And finally blessing. Oh what blessing we have from God! And praise Him that, as it was with Abram, his blessing is freely given in mercy. That he can call you and me out of our pagan worship of false gods, speak into our darkness and say “follow me, I have called you righteous”. Our sin is dealt with!

Abram had tremendous faith – for he did not know how God could deal with his sin. He just knew that there was One coming who would fulfil God’s promises. He held out in hope of his coming. That is why Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see my day (John 8:56). But we know him! We have seen him in action. We know what he did, what he said, how he did the impossible, how he took our place on the cross – the righteous for the unrighteous to lead us to God.

What little faith we need. We are more blessed than Abraham. We have it all before us. Let us respond like Abraham in joyful submission and give our lives, everything we have, to know this wonderful God.

God speaks.

God promises.

Will you listen and obey?