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God, the Covenant Maker and Keeper

January 10, 2016 Preacher: Series: The Abrahamic Covenant: The Mission of God Declared

Scripture: Genesis 15:1–21

Key Truth: God condescends to us so that our faith will come by His grace alone as the covenant maker and keeper who provides resources to glorify Him and bless others.

 

Introduction:

Q: What is the greatest blessing that God could ever give to you?

“The Abrahamic blessing is more than a blessing of creation because it is designed to contend with and to overcome its opposite: God’s curse….The ultimate goal of God’s promise to Abraham is that blessing will prevail over curse. It does so when the seed of Abraham, the singled-out descendant of Abraham, the Messiah, becomes “a curse for us…”.”

Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Mission in a Postmodern World

 

God Condescends and Abram Believes:

Genesis 15:1-6

“For he who has God for his inheritance does not exult in fading joy; but, as one already elevated towards heaven, enjoys the solid happiness of eternal life. It is, indeed, to be maintained as an axiom, that all the promises of God, made to the faithful, flow from the free mercy of God, and are evidences of that paternal love, and of the gratuitous adoption, on which their salvation is founded. Therefore, we do not say that Abram was justified because he laid hold on a single word, respecting the offspring to be brought forth, but because he embraced God as his Father. And faith does not justify us for any other reason, than that it reconciles us unto God….”

John Calvin, Genesis

Q: How has condescended to reveal Himself to you? What impact did it have on your faith?

 

God the Covenant Maker and Keeper:

Genesis 15:7-17

“…as the covenant is instituted formally in Genesis 15, the Lord dramatizes the gracious character of the covenantal relation by having himself alone to pass between the pieces. This covenant shall be fulfilled because God assumes to himself full responsibility in seeing it to realization.”

O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenant

Q: Is it comforting to you to know that your covenant relationship with God is mediated and moderated by Him alone?

 

The Land and Nation of Purpose:

Genesis 15:18-21

“…God’s choice of Canaan as a land for Abraham was intentional and central to the redemptive mission for which Abraham was chosen. What was important about this particular piece of real estate was its geographic relationship to other lands. It was a doorway to the world, on the way to everywhere else….(Canaan) was not an end but a means. When Israel finally entered the land under Joshua, it was beginning its mission in earnest.”

Michael D. Williams, Far as the Curse is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption

Q: What has God provided that can be used for His glory and the blessing of others?

 

Genesis 15:1-21 teaches us that:

-God condescends to us so that our faith will come by His grace alone

-God alone is the covenant maker and keeper

-God provides us with resources for the purpose of glorifying Him and blessing others

“It is nothing short of amazing to find in the patriarchal age so clear-cut an answer to the question: How can a man be justified in the sight of God? The way of salvation was one and the same in the old covenant as well as the new.”

H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis

More in The Abrahamic Covenant: The Mission of God Declared

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The Triune God and the Mission of Redemption

January 31, 2016

The Great Commission

January 24, 2016

The Gospel