Tag Archives: abraham

Abraham

By Faith

Sunday, February 19, 2020

Hebrews 11:1-19 (NLT)

One of the most powerful chapters in Scripture is in Hebrews 11. Here, the author lists many of the great people of the Bible who lived by faith. 

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

Hebrews 11:1-2 (NLT)

In verse 6, the writer underlines the importance of faith as the critical element for the person who wishes to walk with God.

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

ABRAHAM’S FAITH

Abraham’s walk in faith was against impossible odds and he made many mistakes along the way.  When his faith was ultimately tested, however, he had learned how to trust completely the God Who is faithful to His promises.

GOD’S PROMISE

God’s promises to Abraham began when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:1-9). Within the next ten years, God would underline the promise, assuring Abraham that a child would come from his own gene pool (Genesis 15:1-6). The time from the initial promise until it’s fulfillment in Sarah’s barren womb would be 25 years (Genesis 25:1-7). Nine months later their son of promise, Isaac, would be born.

ABRAHAM’S TEST & OUR FAITH

Perhaps Isaac was a teenager or young adult. Abraham would have been around 115 years of age by Genesis 22:1-19. The parallels between the event of Abraham and Isaac’s experience and God’s beloved Son on Golgatha are written for our benefit (Romans 4:20-25). They lived out the reality of the cross to show us God’s purposes before the Law and 2,000 years before the cross. Looking back 2,000 years after the cross we see God’s unfolding purposes and believe

20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Romans 4:20-25 (NLT)

Some of the parallels between the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah lay the groundwork for understanding God the Father and the sacrifice of His One And Only Beloved Son, Jesus. In both events Isaac and Jesus chose to obey their Father’s will as they allowed themselves to be sacrificed. Isaac could have easily outrun his aged father. Jesus could easily have called ten thousand angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53). Of course, God rescued Isaac (Genesis 22:9-19) while, for Jesus, His love for us led Them to follow through (John 3:16). Note some of the parallels that the Scriptures allow us to ponder:

ABRAHAM’S TESTGEN. 22
VERSE		New Testament REFERENCE
Take your son, your only son, whom you love2Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11, 9:7; Luke 3:22; John 1:14, 3:16, 18.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you22 Chron.3:1; John 19:17-18
Abraham cut the wood for the offering 3John 19:17-18
3-day journey (vs. 4)4Mark 10:34
We will worship…we will come back to you (vs. 5)5Resurrection Faith
Hebrews 11:17-19
Abraham ‘placed the wood on his son’ (vs. 6)6John 19:17-18
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood (vs. 9)9John 19:17-18
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (vs. 12)12Hebrews 11:17-19
By Faith – The Sacrifice
ARI HAUBEN – (I Met Messiah)
Abraham

Heirs

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Galatians 3 (NLT)

Paul had a serious problem with the church in Galatia.  Some were teaching that people must become good Jews in order to be Christians.  Paul had planted this church on his first missionary journey (see Acts 13-14).

ANTIOCH & JERUSALEM

When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch they were forced to confront this heresy directly. Finally, the church asked them to consult with the other apostles and elders in the Jerusalem church for a definitive answer (Acts 15:1-5).

As soon as they came together in Jerusalem the Jewish believers “who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees” stood up and asserted this very challenge:

“The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

Acts 15:5 (NLT)

With Peter and James’s approval the other apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem made three simple requests for the sake of unity: 1) avoid meat sacrificed to idols, 2) avoid blood and meat from animals that had been strangled and 3) avoid sexual immorality (Acts 15:1-35, NLT).

GALATIA AND ABRAHAM

To confront this challenge to the gospel in Galatia, Paul reaches back to the faith of Abraham. The promise God made to him was before the rite of circumcision and the Law of Moses. He wanted to assure the Galatians that it was their simple faith in Christ that made them ‘heirs’ of Abraham, not their obedience to Jewish laws and regulations.

 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)
Heirs of the Promise
Abraham

Faith

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Romans 4

In our series on Abraham we started at the beginning according to the Scriptures.  We learned that mankind is incapable of saving itself (Genesis 1-11).  So, God chose Abraham to start a family through whom He would save mankind (Genesis 11-25). 

Jesus expanded this family beyond Abraham’s descendants to now include those who believe in Him and obey His commands (John 8).  Sandwiched between Jesus’ two “I AM” statements (John 8:28, 58) Jesus makes a clear statement that there is a difference between being Abraham’s ‘seed’ and his children (John 8:28-58).

Stephen accuses the Jews of intentionally rejecting God’s plan and, even, killing “the Righteous One” (Acts 7).

ABRAHAM’S SEED

The apostle Paul builds upon Jesus’ teachings to make it explicit: those whose faith is in Christ are now Abraham’s true descendants—his children–regardless of their genetic connection (Romans 9:8-9).

In today’s lesson we reach back from the apostle Paul’s point from Romans 9 to chapter 4 where he talks about the importance of our faith in contrast to our works, the Law of Moses or our ancestral heritage.  As Paul says,  “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

Abraham – Faith
Abraham

Father

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Acts 7 and Romans 9

Jesus started it. It was now time to redefine what it meant to be Abraham’s children. This was to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that he would father a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3).

To his religious-ruler audience, being a child of father Abraham meant that a person had come from Abraham’s gene pool (John 8:31-47). In fact, Jesus agrees that this is a true statement in verse 37. This genetic connection is still true today as people identify themselves as Jewish or, for those outside of the Abrahamic gene pool, non-Jewish Gentiles.

RE-FRAMING ANCESTRY

In John 8 Jesus re-frames the world’s understanding of “Abraham’s children” from God’s perspective. Here, Jesus makes the distinction between Abraham’s descendants (literally: “seed”) and his ‘children’ (John 8:31-47). Abraham’s children are now including all who live by faith, believing in Jesus as God’s Son and obeying Him.

TEARING DOWN

When Stephen gave his final sermon before the Sanhedrin he was speaking to a purely Jewish audience; genetic ancestors of their father Abraham. Stephen’s concluding statements led to his violent death at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders (Acts 7:51-60). These same leaders were the very Jews who had denied Jesus as God’s Son, actively worked in opposition to Him and, finally, killed Him.

Among the points of Stephen’s sermon was that God is not limited by time and space. So, He spoke to Abraham in Ur, Haran, Canaan and Egypt (Acts 7:1-8). Nor has God ever been limited to buildings ‘made with human hands’; a direct reference to the Temple (Acts 7:48-50). And the Law? Their disobedience to it was enough to blind them to “the Righteous One” (Acts 7:52-53) and to deny God’s appeal to the nations through Him in line with God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17-18).

BUILDING UP

The Apostle Paul Writing Romans
Apostle Paul: The children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Stephen states that the Jewish rejection of Jesus as the prophesied Messiah was deliberate disregard for the Law to which they claimed allegiance (Acts 7:53). Years later, in Romans 9, Paul begins to build upon Jesus’ teaching in John 8. Taking it one step further, Paul makes a direct connection between the faith of the true ‘children’ of Abraham actually becoming his “seed” or genetic equivalents!

…those who are the children of the flesh,

these are not the children of God;

but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Romans 9:8 (NKJV)

What a powerful assertion that connects the promises of God to Abraham. These promises are still being realized every time someone turns to the Lord by faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, realizing the detailed nature of God’s plan over the generations is wonderfully illustrated in the first chapter of Ephesians according to The Message.

Father – Abraham’s Children