“A COVENANT BASED ON FAITH”

Pastor Dawn Marie Berry

 

> A COVENANT IS A WAY TO ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP NOT NATURALLY EXISTING.

 > THIS RELATIONSHIP IS USUALLY CONFIRMED BY AN OATH AS WELL AS A CEREMONY.

 

GOD MAKES A COVENANT - WITH ABRAM.

IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS, GOD CALLS ABRAM AT THE AGE OF 75 TO LEAVE HIS KINDRED AND HIS COUNTRY TO GO BY FAITH TO THE LAND THAT GOD WOULD LEAD HIM TO.

 

FROM A SCRIPTURE IN JOSHUA 24:2, WE KNOW THAT ABRAM’S FATHER, TERAH, SERVED OTHER GODS.

 

WHEN ABRAM DECIDES TO OBEY THE WORDS THAT GOD HAD SPOKEN, WE CAN SEE HE ALSO MADE A DECISION TO ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE GOD WHO HAD REVEALED HIMSELF TO HIM.

 

THIS IS ESPECIALLY SIGNIFICANT SINCE THE GODS OF THOSE DAYS WERE PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH PLACES AND THINGS RATHER THAN WITH PEOPLE.  [MOON, STARS, HEAVEN]

         

 

GENESIS 12:1-4 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

         

AS THEY ARE TRAVELING, A DISPUTE ARISES BETWEEN THE HERDSMEN OF ABRAM AND THE HERDSMEN OF HIS NEPHEW, LOT.  SO LOT GOES EAST AND SETTLES IN THE WELL WATERED PLAIN OF JORDAN NEAR SODOM.

 

ABRAM STAYS IN CANAAN: 

THE LORD THEN SAYS TO ABRAM......

 

.GENESIS 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

 

SOME TIME PASSES, ABRAM BEGINS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE PROMISE GOD HAD MADE TO HIM CONCERNING HIS OFFSPRING. SO HE ADOPTS A SLAVE THAT WAS BORN IN HIS OWN HOUSE.   

 

 GENESIS 15:1-4 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

 

NOW GOD TELLS ABRAM TO LOOK UP AT THE STARS AND ASKS HIM IF HE CAN NUMBER THEM.  OF COURSE, HE CAN’T

 

GENESIS 15:5-6  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness

 

[ABRAM]   [THE LORD]

         

THE LORD THEN ASSURES ABRAM THAT HE HAS GIVEN HIM THE LAND AS AN INHERITANCE BY MAKING A COVENANT WITH HIM.

 

HE ASKS ABRAM TO DIVIDE IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM A THREE YEAR OLD HEIFER, GOAT AND RAM AND LAY THEM ONE AGAINST THE OTHER.  HE ALSO ASKS FOR A TURTLEDOVE AND A YOUNG PIGEON.

 

GENESIS 15:7-10 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?  And he said unto him, take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

 

AFTER ABRAM HAD DONE WHAT THE LORD HAD SAID, HE FALLS INTO A DEEP SLEEP.  DURING HIS SLEEP, THE LORD TELLS ABRAM THAT HIS OFFSPRING WILL BE HELD CAPTIVE IN A LAND THAT ISN’T THEIRS [EGYPT] FOR FOUR HUNDRED- YEARS, BUT THAT EVENTUALLY THEY WILL RETURN TO THE LAND THAT GOD HAD PROMISED THEM [CANAAN] THE SUN WENT DOW, AND IT GREW DARK OUTSIDE.

 

GENESIS 15:12-17 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

 

THIS SMOKING FURNACE AND BURNING LAMP WERE LIKE A TORCH.  THEY SIGNIFIED A ‘DIVINE PRESENCE.’  THE LORD PASSED BETWEEN THE HALVES OF THE SLAIN ANIMALS IN THE FORM OF A SMOKING FURNACE AND A BURNING LAMP.

 

HE WAS SEALING AND RATIFYING HIS COVENANT WITH ABRAM, AND AT THE SAME TIME PLACING HIMSELF UNDER AN OATH TO SEE THAT IT WAS FULFILLED.

 

THROUGH THIS ACT, GOD ALMIGHTY AND ABRAHAM HAD ENTERED INTO A BLOOD COVENANT.

 

THIS MEANT THAT ALL ABRAM WAS OR WOULD EVER BE WAS COMMITTED TO GOD.  IT ALSO MEANT THAT GOD WOULD ALWAYS PROTECT ABRAHAM.

 

AT THIS TIME THE LORD ENLARGED HIS PROMISE TO ABRAM SAYING....

 

GENESIS 15:18   In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

 

COVENANT RELATIONSHIPS:  

 

ROMANS 4:16 - 25 LB:  SO GOD’S BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US BY FAITH, AS A FREE GIFT; WE ARE CERTAIN TO GET THEM WHETHER OR NOT WE FOLLOW JEWISH CUSTOMS IF WE HAVE FAITH LIKE ABRAHAM’S, FOR ABRAHAM IS THE FATHER OF US ALL WHEN IT COMES TO THESE MATTERS OF FAITH.  THAT IS WHAT THE SCRIPTURES MEAN WHEN THEY SAY THAT GOD MADE ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS.  GOD WILL ACCEPT ALL PEOPLE IN EVERY NATION WHO TRUST GOD AS ABRAHAM DID.  AND THIS PROMISE IS FROM GOD HIMSELF, WHO MAKES THE DEAD LIVE AGAIN AND SPEAKS OF FUTURE EVENTS WITH AS MUCH CERTAINTY AS THOUGH THEY WERE ALREADY PAST.  SO, WHEN GOD TOLD ABRAHAM THAT HE WOULD GIVE HIM A SON WHO WOULD HAVE MANY DESCENDANTS AND BECOME A GREAT NATION, ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD EVEN THOUGH SUCH A PROMISE JUST COULDN’T COME TO PASS.  AND BECAUSE HIS FAITH WAS STRONG, HE DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT THE FACT THAT HE WAS TOO OLD TO BE A FATHER, AT THE AGE OF ONE HUNDRED, AND THAT SARAH HIS WIFE, AT NINETY, WAS ALSO MUCH TOO OLD TO HAVE A BABY.  BUT ABRAHAM NEVER DOUBTED. 

 

HE BELIEVED GOD, FOR HIS FAITH AND TRUST GREW EVER STRONGER AND HE PRAISED GOD FOR THIS BLESSING EVEN BEFORE IT HAPPENED.

 

Vs 21.  HE WAS COMPLETELY SURE THAT GOD WAS WELL ABLE TO DO ANYTHING HE PROMISED.” 

 

AND BECAUSE OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH GOD FORGAVE HIS SINS AND DECLARED HIM ‘NOT GUILTY. NOW THIS WONDERFUL STATEMENT, THAT HE WAS ACCEPTED AND APPROVED THROUGH HIS FAITH, WASN’T JUST FOR ABRAHAM’S BENEFIT.  IT WAS FOR US, TOO, ASSURING US THAT GOD WILL ACCEPT US IN THE SAME WAY HE ACCEPTED ABRAHAM, WHEN WE BELIEVE THE PROMISES OF GOD WHO BROUGHT BACK JESUS OUR LORD FROM THE DEAD.

 

Vs 25 - HE DIED FOR OUR SINS AND ROSE AGAIN TO MAKE US RIGHT WITH GOD, FILLING US WITH GOD’S GOODNESS.

 

GALATIANS 3:6-9 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

8: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

 

GALATIANS 3:6-9 LB: ABRAHAM HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE, GOD DECLARED HIM FIT FOR HEAVEN ONLY BECAUSE HE BELIEVED GOD’S PROMISES.  YOU CAN SEE FROM THIS THAT THE REAL CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM ARE ALL THE MEN OF FAITH WHO TRULY TRUST IN GOD.

 

 

 WHAT’S MORE, THE SCRIPTURES LOOKED FORWARD TO THIS TIME WHEN GOD WOULD SAVE THE GENTILES ALSO, THROUGH THEIR FAITH.  GOD TOLD ABRAHAM ABOUT THIS LONG AGO WHEN HE SAID, ‘I WILL BLESS THOSE IN EVERY NATION WHO TRUST IN ME AS YOU DO.’  AND SO IT IS; ALL WHO TRUST IN CHRIST

 

 

WE SHARE THE SAME BLESSING ABRAHAM RECEIVED.

 

vs 14.  NOW GOD CAN BLESS THE GENTILES, TOO, WITH THIS SAME BLESSING HE PROMISED TO ABRAHAM, AND ALL OF US AS CHRISTIANS CAN HAVE THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH THIS FAITH.                                     END.

 

 

COMMUNION:

 

Romans 4:23-25: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

EMAIL ME HERE

MY TOPIC INDEX

MAIN TOPIC INDEX

STROMBOLIS E-ZINE

SITE-MAP & GUEST-BOOK