Genesis (Part 24)
Bible Study Time 11-23-08
(From James Roberts 2-2-97)
Bible Study Time 11-23-08
(From James Roberts 2-2-97)
Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we considered Lot, a man whom God describes as being righteous. And yet, Lot had gone into Sodom and had become great in Sodom. But when God was ready to destroy Sodom, He delivered Lot out of Sodom because Lot had been made righteous in the sight of God.
Lot was rich when he went into Sodom, but as far as we know, when he came out, he lost everything. Just before the judgment came, God dragged Lot out of Sodom and then He rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains.
Lot stands as a picture of Christians who have been made right with God, and yet they become entangled with the affairs of life, with the affairs of this world. They become earthly minded. God will be faithful to deliver them out of the future judgment because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the day of judgment, instead of them being burned up, it will be their works that will be burned up. They will be saved, but they will be saved as Lot was, through the fire. Instead of works that would bring honor and glory to the Lord, they will have done works that will be burned up.
Today, I want us to see the one who stands in contrast to Lot, and that is Lot’s uncle, Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith and was called the friend of God. Even though Abraham failed God many times, he always returned to the altar. He would always go back to the place of worship and fellowship with God. This is a picture of the believer who sins but is willing to return to God where he can walk in fellowship with God, and where he can be used by the Lord to accomplish God’s purposes.
Abraham was a friend of God because he was a man of the altar, he was a man of worship, he was a man of fellowship with God. God could speak to Abraham and reveal things to Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 17, we find that Abraham received a visit from the Lord, and during that visit the Lord established a covenant with Abraham. Now, notice as we begin reading in Genesis, Chapter 17, with verse 4:
Genesis 17:4-5 NKJV
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
No longer “exalted father,” but “the father of a multitude,” because as God said, I have made you a father of many nations. Now, please notice the tense of this. God did not say, I will make you a father of many nation, but he said, I have made you a father of many nations. As far as God was concerned, this promise was an accomplished fact. He said, I have made you a father of many nations.
God can call things that are not as though they are already in existence, and that’s what He did with Abraham. Even though Abraham’s only son was Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman, yet God could say, I have made you the father of many nations.
Now, let’s look at the covenant that established God’s promise to Abraham. God said:
Genesis 17:6-8 NKJV
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
Notice that there is no condition here. There was no condition set forth that Abraham had to live up to. God did not say, I will do this, if you will do this. No, God in accordance with His grace, simply made these promises to Abraham. He established this unconditional covenant with Abraham. He said, I will, I will, I will, I will. This was a covenant of grace.
It was not until after this covenant was established that God gave to Abraham the ritual of circumcision as a token of the covenant. The Jewish people who came from Abraham are called the circumcision because circumcision was established for the people of Israel under the Law. That is why they are called “the circumcision.”
It’s very important to keep in mind that God gave this promise to Abraham even while Abraham was still uncircumcised. This turned out to be a very important fact when, after the death of Christ, the New Covenant was offered to the nation of Israel. This was important because the New Covenant was to be based on faith even as God’s covenant with Abraham was based on faith. The New Covenant was to be unconditional, and it was to be based on faith.
Since God’s covenant with Abraham was made before Abraham was circumcised, this opened the door for Gentiles to be saved by faith apart from circumcision and the other rituals of the Law. In the New Covenant, Abraham’s seed through Isaac, the people of Israel, will have a preeminent position. According to the book of Isaiah and all through the Old Testament, it is clear that part of God’s promise to Abraham was that the nation of Israel would someday become a nation of priests. They were to become a holy nation unto God, but they were to have authority over the Gentile nations as they ministered to them.
So, you see, according to the New Covenant, the nations of the earth were to be brought into the New Covenant kingdom and blessed with Israel. This is pictured in the covenant that God made with Abraham in that it was given to Abraham before he was circumcised.
This opening for the Gentiles to enter into the kingdom is not seen in the Law covenant that God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The Law covenant was a conditional covenant which was destined to pass away due to the weakness of those who tried to keep it.
As an aside here, I would like to say that the New Covenant, which is often spoken of in the New Testament, is in essence the same covenant that God made with Abraham back in Genesis, Chapter 17, and it is not a covenant that you and I participate in today. The New Covenant was promised all through the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham.
The New Covenant was confirmed in the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31, where in verse 31. In that passage, we see that the New Covenant will not be like the covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It will be different because it will be based in the power of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus said would come a result of His willingness to shed the blood of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant will also be different from the Law in that it will bring in the Gentiles to be blessed with Israel in the kingdom even though, as Jeremiah 31 plainly declares, the New Covenant will be a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. It is the covenant which will someday establish Israel’s spiritual and political authority over all the earth.
You and I today are not partakers in the blessings of the New Covenant. We are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. According to the book of Ephesians, this program of the Church which is the Body of Christ is an unforetold dispensation because the truth concerning the church was never made known to the prophets of the Old Testament or to the gospel writers or to the apostles during the time period covered by the book of Acts.
The truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was revealed after the Acts period by the Apostle Paul, and one of the distinctive aspects of the Church which is the Body of Christ is that it’s members, whether Jew or Gentile, stand on an equal footing before God. In this church, the Jews have no special authority over the Gentiles.
This stands in contrast to the New Covenant which is based on God’s promise to Abraham. According to the New Covenant, the nation of Israel will have a position of preeminence when the promises of the New Covenant are fulfilled. At that time Israel will be a holy nation, and they will be the ministers of God to the nations of the world.
But please notice that all those who will someday inherit the blessings of the New Covenant will do so on the basis of God’s grace, whether Jew of Gentile. They will all have Abraham as their father because whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, they will enter into their relationship with God on the basis of God’s grace through faith in God’s word. In this regard, the New Covenant is identical to the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.
God had promised to Abraham a son, through whom the covenant was to be established, but Abraham laughed at the promise that his wife, Sarah, was going to have a son. And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you. But God said, No. He said, Abraham, you are going to have a son through Sarah because I will make my covenant with the son of the free woman. You shall call his name Isaac, and I’m going to make My covenant with him.
In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we see something that is precious to us today regarding the faith of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, we see that Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise of God initially, because they considered their own bodies. Because of their advanced age, they concluded that they would be unable to have a son. But then, God said, it’s not going to be by natural means, not through the son of the bondwoman, but Sarah is going to have a son. Romans 4 reports that it was at this point that Abraham:
Romans 4:18-19 NKJV
18 . . . contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, Abraham did initially consider his own body, but when God told him that his son would come through Sarah, that’s when Abraham latched on what God said. Then Abraham said in his own heart:
I believe that. If God says I’m going to have a son, even though I’m a hundred years old, I believe that. Even though naturally speaking that can’t happen. Sarah’s 90 years old and, naturally speaking, she can’t have a son, but God’s not bound by the natural. What God tells me that He is going to do, He has the power to do.
In Romans 4, Paul said that Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body as being dead. He did not waver at that promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and notice this, Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Man by nature, generally speaking, when he first hears the gospel of the grace of God, he considers it to be something that is impossible. How could God save a person today on the basis of the death of a person who died 2000 years ago?
Well, here’s what God says. God so loved you and me that He gave His Son to die on the cross. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on the cross and to taste in full the penalty for the sins of the world, from Adam to the last person who will ever live. He paid it all on that cross, and when He was put in the grave, on the third day, He arose again, triumphant over death, hell and the grave.
I trust today that if you are like Abraham, inwardly laughing at the good news of Jesus Christ, refusing to believe the gospel, that you will listen today to what God has said, it is only by my Son and through His death that a man can be saved. Won’t you be like Abraham and become strong in your faith, not wavering at the promise of God. I trust that you will latch on to the word of God and say, what God has said, He is able also to perform.
Well, I see our time is gone, and we’re going to have to leave you today. But next week, the Lord willing, we’ll take up on our Journey Through the Scripture once again.
Church links:
Lot was rich when he went into Sodom, but as far as we know, when he came out, he lost everything. Just before the judgment came, God dragged Lot out of Sodom and then He rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains.
Lot stands as a picture of Christians who have been made right with God, and yet they become entangled with the affairs of life, with the affairs of this world. They become earthly minded. God will be faithful to deliver them out of the future judgment because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the day of judgment, instead of them being burned up, it will be their works that will be burned up. They will be saved, but they will be saved as Lot was, through the fire. Instead of works that would bring honor and glory to the Lord, they will have done works that will be burned up.
Today, I want us to see the one who stands in contrast to Lot, and that is Lot’s uncle, Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith and was called the friend of God. Even though Abraham failed God many times, he always returned to the altar. He would always go back to the place of worship and fellowship with God. This is a picture of the believer who sins but is willing to return to God where he can walk in fellowship with God, and where he can be used by the Lord to accomplish God’s purposes.
Abraham was a friend of God because he was a man of the altar, he was a man of worship, he was a man of fellowship with God. God could speak to Abraham and reveal things to Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 17, we find that Abraham received a visit from the Lord, and during that visit the Lord established a covenant with Abraham. Now, notice as we begin reading in Genesis, Chapter 17, with verse 4:
Genesis 17:4-5 NKJV
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
No longer “exalted father,” but “the father of a multitude,” because as God said, I have made you a father of many nations. Now, please notice the tense of this. God did not say, I will make you a father of many nation, but he said, I have made you a father of many nations. As far as God was concerned, this promise was an accomplished fact. He said, I have made you a father of many nations.
God can call things that are not as though they are already in existence, and that’s what He did with Abraham. Even though Abraham’s only son was Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman, yet God could say, I have made you the father of many nations.
Now, let’s look at the covenant that established God’s promise to Abraham. God said:
Genesis 17:6-8 NKJV
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
Notice that there is no condition here. There was no condition set forth that Abraham had to live up to. God did not say, I will do this, if you will do this. No, God in accordance with His grace, simply made these promises to Abraham. He established this unconditional covenant with Abraham. He said, I will, I will, I will, I will. This was a covenant of grace.
It was not until after this covenant was established that God gave to Abraham the ritual of circumcision as a token of the covenant. The Jewish people who came from Abraham are called the circumcision because circumcision was established for the people of Israel under the Law. That is why they are called “the circumcision.”
It’s very important to keep in mind that God gave this promise to Abraham even while Abraham was still uncircumcised. This turned out to be a very important fact when, after the death of Christ, the New Covenant was offered to the nation of Israel. This was important because the New Covenant was to be based on faith even as God’s covenant with Abraham was based on faith. The New Covenant was to be unconditional, and it was to be based on faith.
Since God’s covenant with Abraham was made before Abraham was circumcised, this opened the door for Gentiles to be saved by faith apart from circumcision and the other rituals of the Law. In the New Covenant, Abraham’s seed through Isaac, the people of Israel, will have a preeminent position. According to the book of Isaiah and all through the Old Testament, it is clear that part of God’s promise to Abraham was that the nation of Israel would someday become a nation of priests. They were to become a holy nation unto God, but they were to have authority over the Gentile nations as they ministered to them.
So, you see, according to the New Covenant, the nations of the earth were to be brought into the New Covenant kingdom and blessed with Israel. This is pictured in the covenant that God made with Abraham in that it was given to Abraham before he was circumcised.
This opening for the Gentiles to enter into the kingdom is not seen in the Law covenant that God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The Law covenant was a conditional covenant which was destined to pass away due to the weakness of those who tried to keep it.
As an aside here, I would like to say that the New Covenant, which is often spoken of in the New Testament, is in essence the same covenant that God made with Abraham back in Genesis, Chapter 17, and it is not a covenant that you and I participate in today. The New Covenant was promised all through the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham.
The New Covenant was confirmed in the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31, where in verse 31. In that passage, we see that the New Covenant will not be like the covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It will be different because it will be based in the power of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus said would come a result of His willingness to shed the blood of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant will also be different from the Law in that it will bring in the Gentiles to be blessed with Israel in the kingdom even though, as Jeremiah 31 plainly declares, the New Covenant will be a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. It is the covenant which will someday establish Israel’s spiritual and political authority over all the earth.
You and I today are not partakers in the blessings of the New Covenant. We are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. According to the book of Ephesians, this program of the Church which is the Body of Christ is an unforetold dispensation because the truth concerning the church was never made known to the prophets of the Old Testament or to the gospel writers or to the apostles during the time period covered by the book of Acts.
The truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was revealed after the Acts period by the Apostle Paul, and one of the distinctive aspects of the Church which is the Body of Christ is that it’s members, whether Jew or Gentile, stand on an equal footing before God. In this church, the Jews have no special authority over the Gentiles.
This stands in contrast to the New Covenant which is based on God’s promise to Abraham. According to the New Covenant, the nation of Israel will have a position of preeminence when the promises of the New Covenant are fulfilled. At that time Israel will be a holy nation, and they will be the ministers of God to the nations of the world.
But please notice that all those who will someday inherit the blessings of the New Covenant will do so on the basis of God’s grace, whether Jew of Gentile. They will all have Abraham as their father because whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, they will enter into their relationship with God on the basis of God’s grace through faith in God’s word. In this regard, the New Covenant is identical to the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.
God had promised to Abraham a son, through whom the covenant was to be established, but Abraham laughed at the promise that his wife, Sarah, was going to have a son. And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you. But God said, No. He said, Abraham, you are going to have a son through Sarah because I will make my covenant with the son of the free woman. You shall call his name Isaac, and I’m going to make My covenant with him.
In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we see something that is precious to us today regarding the faith of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, we see that Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise of God initially, because they considered their own bodies. Because of their advanced age, they concluded that they would be unable to have a son. But then, God said, it’s not going to be by natural means, not through the son of the bondwoman, but Sarah is going to have a son. Romans 4 reports that it was at this point that Abraham:
Romans 4:18-19 NKJV
18 . . . contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, Abraham did initially consider his own body, but when God told him that his son would come through Sarah, that’s when Abraham latched on what God said. Then Abraham said in his own heart:
I believe that. If God says I’m going to have a son, even though I’m a hundred years old, I believe that. Even though naturally speaking that can’t happen. Sarah’s 90 years old and, naturally speaking, she can’t have a son, but God’s not bound by the natural. What God tells me that He is going to do, He has the power to do.
In Romans 4, Paul said that Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body as being dead. He did not waver at that promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and notice this, Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Man by nature, generally speaking, when he first hears the gospel of the grace of God, he considers it to be something that is impossible. How could God save a person today on the basis of the death of a person who died 2000 years ago?
Well, here’s what God says. God so loved you and me that He gave His Son to die on the cross. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on the cross and to taste in full the penalty for the sins of the world, from Adam to the last person who will ever live. He paid it all on that cross, and when He was put in the grave, on the third day, He arose again, triumphant over death, hell and the grave.
I trust today that if you are like Abraham, inwardly laughing at the good news of Jesus Christ, refusing to believe the gospel, that you will listen today to what God has said, it is only by my Son and through His death that a man can be saved. Won’t you be like Abraham and become strong in your faith, not wavering at the promise of God. I trust that you will latch on to the word of God and say, what God has said, He is able also to perform.
Well, I see our time is gone, and we’re going to have to leave you today. But next week, the Lord willing, we’ll take up on our Journey Through the Scripture once again.
Church links:
3 comments:
Great Lesson Mr. Roberts. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it on the web.
Chris Swanson
Glad you enjoyed the lesson. My father gave me these recordings a few years ago, and I have enjoyed them so much that I decided to post them on the internet. Hope to meet you one of these days.
Chris, thank you so much for your encouragement. Jim has done a great job dressing up the old tapes. It was so good to meet you and your family.
James
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