Sunday, January 5, 2019

Introduction – Genesis 11-25 (NLT)

ABRAHAM IS OUR FATHER

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Galatians 3:26-29 (NLT)

MAN’S PROBLEM

Genesis 1-11 documents mankind’s self-destructive nature when left to his own choices. From the events of the Garden of Eden when man chose to become his own God (Genesis 1-3) through the time of Noah (Genesis 4-6), the downward spiral was reset with the flood (Genesis 7-10). Tragically, man’s descent only repeated itself with man’s desire to be great in his own eyes with the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).

GOD’S ANSWER

Just as God had created a universe from a time when matter was “formless and void” (Genesis 1:1-2) so God would choose to create a chosen people from an older couple who were unable to have children (Genesis 11:30). God’s promise to Abram would set a course for mankind, providing a way to rescue man from his own brokenness (Genesis 12:1-3). It all began with the faith of a man who heard the command to “Go;” so, he went (Genesis 12:4).

FAITH

The apostle Paul was emphatic about the spiritual heritage of those who know Christ. The cross reaches back before the Law of Moses to the heart of a man who followed God’s lead without knowing the destination (Genesis 12:1). Paul assures us that Abraham is, indeed, the father of all who believe (Romans 4; Galatians 3).