CONSIDER ABRAHAM - NOTES
Living in the Covenant, Part 1
Genesis
12:1-3 - The Lord had
said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to
the land I will show you.
“I will
make you into a great nation,
and
I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and
you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and
whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will
be blessed through you.” (NIV)
Three Promises:
1. I will make you a great nation
2. I will bless your nation
3. I will bless all nations through your nation
Genesis 15:1-6 – … the word of the Lord came
to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be
afraid, Abram.
I
am your shield,
your
very great reward.”
But Abram said,
“Sovereign Lord, what can you give me
since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is
Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me
no children; so a servant in my
household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came
to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and
blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look
up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said
to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two
and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did
not cut in half. Then
birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As
the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and
dreadful darkness came over him.
Genesis 15-17-18 - When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with
a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your
descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the
great river, the Euphrates—
1. Unbreakable
2. Penalty for breaking covenant
Jeremiah
34:18 - Those who have violated my covenant and have not
fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the
calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. (NIV)
3. Mark of being in covenant
4. Exchange of possessions
5. Extends to heirs
Genesis 15:6 - Abram
believed the Lord, and he
credited it to him as righteousness.
Galatians 3:6-7
- Consider
Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand,
then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
E. GOD’S
GRACE APPLIED: DAVID AND MEPHIBOSHETH (2
Samuel 9:1-9)