Generation Faith, Generational Sin
Transcript
Morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in Genesis 26. We are continuing our journey through Genesis following this storyline of this family. We are following Isaac still.
And we're in Genesis 26, which will be on page 12 in a blue Bible near you. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. We want you to have a Bible that you can read at home. I would encourage you. There's not going to be a lot of Scripture on the screen. We are going to be walking through this story.
So please do grab a Bible. We'll walk through this together. Growing up, my stepdad had some quirks. They were quite humorous. My brother and I used to watch movies in our living room. And we wanted to be kind of like a theater.
So we would turn off the lights, watch the movie. And my stepdad would get home and he would see that we're watching a movie in the dark. And the first thing that would come out of his mouth was losers sit in the dark. That's just what, every time he'd come through the door, losers sit in the dark. And he'd come on and he'd turn on one light. That was one of his quirks.
Because in our family, you just didn't watch movies in the dark. It was just a thing. Like you had to have at least one light on. And it drove me crazy that this is one of his quirks. Fast forward. Anna and I, we got married.
We got an apartment. She gets a movie. We're watching it. Getting ready to watch it. She starts turning out the lights. I started getting fidgety.
I'm like, baby, let's put one light on. And she's like, no, this is a completely normal thing. Like, turn off the lights. We're going to watch the movie. I said, no, just, I mean, I get it. Like all the lights, we can turn off at one.
We'll just keep one light on. And she was like, why? And it came out. Because losers sit in the dark. She looked at me. What did you just say?
And I had to explain the history. That in my family, we all have one light on when we watch movies. It's just a thing. And to this day, we do not watch movies in the dark. We always have one light on. It's just this quirk that I picked up from my stepdad.
This happens. Like we pick up things from our parents. We pick up behaviors. We inherit things from our parents. We inherit both things that like are the kind of inheritance of traits. Like there are things about our parents that we inherit that are in us.
And then we also inherit behaviors. Just being around, absorbing some of the behaviors, some of the patterns from our parents. And they just kind of become ours. And we're going to see that a little bit in this story today. That Isaac follows in the same footsteps of his father Abraham. Doing almost the exact same thing.
Because he, like us, inherits patterns that have been passed down to him. And we see this show up in three distinct ways. We see that Isaac inherits obedience. And we're going to see as we walk through this that he inherits sin. And then ultimately we're going to see that he inherits grace. And as we walk through the story and we see these three things that he inherits, I want us to do this a little bit reflectively.
Thinking about the things that we inherit from our parents. Some of the behaviors that show up in us. But also for those of us that have kids, what we pass down. Because it matters. So I'm going to pray.
And then we're going to jump in. And Father, thank you so much for your word. That it is accurate. That it is good. That it instructs us in righteousness. And shows us your gospel.
God, I pray this morning that you would open our hearts. That we would hear it and receive it. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so it starts off in verse 1. Now there was a famine in the land.
Besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. Alright, so that phrase, now there was a famine in the land. And it's supposed to take you back to Genesis 12. This is supposed to help you clue in to the story of Abraham. Because Moses uses the exact same phrase in Genesis 12. So it's cluing you in.
This story is a little bit like Abraham. And then as we continue to read this, we're going to see even more so how this shows up. How this is a repeating of history from Isaac and Abraham. It says, And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
Sojourn in this land. So now this is starting to sound even more like Abraham. It's starting to sound like Genesis 20. If you think back in the fall when we went through this story, Abraham took his family to the land of Gerar. God doesn't want them in Egypt. That's coming down the line at the end of Genesis.
But for now he wants them to settle in Gerar amongst the Philistines. And guess who the king is? Abimelech. Now, this could be the exact same Abimelech. There's a long gap between when Abraham was living amongst Abimelech in Genesis 20 and this time period. It's a huge gap.
So it's possible that Abimelech was very young at the time being a king. And now he's very, very old. It's also possible that this is the son of Abimelech who bears the same name. But regardless, they would have been very familiar with this family. This family has history in this land. And they would have remembered it when they came to settle amongst them.
So he says, verse 3, Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands. And I will establish the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. And then God continues. He says, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. And will give to your offspring all these lands.
And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So Isaac settled in Gerar. So he tells Isaac, trust me. Obey me like your father Abraham did. Like he trusted me in settling where I told him to.
Trust me. Obey my commands. Obey my statutes like your father Abraham. And you'll get this promise. This promised land. This blessing of a great nation.
That is for you. Just trust me. And what's important here is it says, So Isaac settled in Gerar. That Isaac, he trusts God. He listens to his word. He trusts him.
And he settles in the land. And that is huge. Isaac inherits obedience from his father Abraham. And this happens with us. We pick up patterns of behavior. We pick up patterns of good patterns.
Obedience from our parents that shows up in our lives. I think to my parents, one of the values they instilled in me was generosity. It's just something that they taught me at a young age. I have vivid memories of my mom. And we would be at church on Sunday. And she would be writing a check.
And she's explaining to me, this is what we do. We give to the church. And I remember the moments, not just giving with the church, but also there were situations growing up where there's someone that either worked for my stepdad or was a family member or someone we knew that they would cut checks, they would cover bills, they would help pay for things. That generosity was a rhythm. It was a natural thing for our household. And it's something that's shown up in my own life that I've been able to practice in our own family.
And sometimes that stuff is taught. Like I remember specifically my mom teaching me some of this stuff. But oftentimes a lot of this is caught. You absorb it over time. It becomes some of your behavior. And we see this as an intense example with Abraham and Isaac.
Because if you go back to Genesis 22, you look at the story of Abraham taking Isaac to the Mount of Moriah to sacrifice his son. Isaac was front and center for that. He got to see how Abraham was obedient to what God had called him to, so much so that he was in the center of it. But that Abraham ultimately trusted that the blessing was going to come through Isaac, that God was going to make this blessing happen. He just had to trust God. And he got to see this, that he trusted God, and there was blessing that came out of it.
And he got to inherit this obedience, and it was passed down from Abraham. And ultimately this is passed down to the nation of Israel. This love for God, that the heart of the Old Testament law is love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, that you would be wholly devoted in love to God, and in your devotion and love to God, that might show up in your kids. That you might teach that to your children, that they also might love God wholeheartedly, with their whole self. Proverbs 22, 6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
And that's the hope, is that you would train up a child, which sometimes is intentional teaching. Sometimes it's opening up the Bible, it's showing how to pray, it's intentional moments of training, but a lot of times, it's just stuff that is caught. It's them seeing your love for God, so much so, that it shows up in their own lives, that they might never depart from it. And this is something, that we have been trying to focus on as a church. That we've realized, we have a lot of families here, and as a gospel-centered family, we want to help families do this, and we've made some shifts. Like Kid City, I don't know if you have seen this, have gotten to see this, they've been crushing it lately.
We've made some shifts over the past year, and it's been awesome. My daughter came home a month ago, and she was learning about Romans 6, 23, and she was learning about, for the wages of sin is death, and she's explaining to me, the connections of sin and death, and I was blown away. I was so thankful. And we want to continue to press into that, but we also want to see this happen, outside of Kid City, because you, parents, have the most opportunity for impact, with your kids. You do. You have the most opportunity for influence.
My mentor, for over a decade now, he's a pastor in Houston. He used to be a youth pastor, and I interned under him. When he first showed up at the church, that I was interning at, this kid got busted, this high school kid got busted at a party. And his parents came to the church, and said, where were you? Well, my kid got busted at a party. You guys are failing.
And he said, okay. He realized, this is kind of the culture of this church. It's really the culture of down south. You take your kids to school, that's where they get their education. You take your kids to sports team, that's where they get their athletics. You take your kids to the church, that's where they get their spiritual growth.
That was kind of the mindset. So he got all the parents together, in one room. And he had one small jar, and one giant jar. And he had a bucket of ping pong balls. And he said, he took out a ball, and he said, this ball represents one hour of influence, that I get with your kids every week. Sometimes it's one, he put it in the small jar.
Sometimes it's two, he put another one. Sometimes it's three. For some of your kids, I might even get four hours, with your kids a week. And he took the bucket to the big jar, and he dumped it in. He said, this is the amount of time, that you get with your kids. 30, 40, 50, 60 plus hours a week.
And he said, tell me, who has the most opportunity for impact? Who has the most opportunity, for influence with your kids? It's you. And that is how God has designed this. That we might influence our kids, we might train them to love the Lord, with their whole self, that they might never depart from it. And some of that is intentional, it's going to be, in the future, we're going to be making shifts, to make sure that we're encouraging, time in the word at home, and time in prayer.
And we want to encourage, some of those intentional moments, but a lot of times, it's just going to be caught. It's going to be caught, and it's going to show up in your lives. We were talking about this, in our teaching team this week. And Bianca, who serves in music, and she also serves on our teaching team, and helping write sermons. And she said that she remembers, that her mom, not necessarily her teaching her, how to read the Bible, how to study the Bible. But what she does remember, is she would come home, or she would come downstairs, every morning, and she'd see her mom, with her Bible, reading.
And that has had a lasting impact, on her, to where she values, the word of God, like her mother does. I think of a friend, one of my friends from seminary, he had a daughter, and we didn't have kids yet, so I was just learning, and observing. And they had this culture, of forgiveness, and repentance, in their household. That when him and his wife, would mess up, and they would sin against their daughter, they would go to her, and say, will you forgive me? I'm so sorry. And they had this, this rhythm of repentance, and forgiveness, and love, that I hadn't seen before.
I was like, man, that is awesome, that one day, that's all she's going to know, is a culture, of repentance, and forgiveness, and love, and not one of pride. that she might never depart from that. This shows up, in the everyday moments, of crisis, and chaos. Your kids will remember, our children will remember, how we respond. Will we go to the things, of this world? Or will we go, to the Lord in prayer, seeking his wisdom, and his care, and his provision? Now some of you, may be thinking, that's great, for those of people, that grew up, in a Christian household.
That was not mine. We picked up, all kinds of different patterns, but not that. So how in the world, am I supposed to, if God gives me children, or if I have children, how in the world, am I supposed to, to teach them this kind of stuff? That sounds great. How? Well, you have a, gospel centered family, that you're surrounded with.
We are figuring this out together. Ask. Learn. Ask how some, we have older parents here. Ask how, they have done it. Because we are figuring this out together.
And you might be thinking, some of you are like, wow, this is really good. You've spent quite a bit of time, in the first six verses, talking about, how to raise kids. I don't have kids, and I don't think I'm ever going to have kids. How does this apply to me? You are a part, of a gospel centered family. We get to do this together.
We need you. You get to join in with us. You get to help raise our kids, that they might love the Lord, and never depart from it. That's a beautiful thing, that you get to be invited into, in community groups, not just in Kid City. That you get to help raise our kids. So ask, how you can help.
And parents, receive it. Ask how they can, how you can pitch in. How you can help. Maybe it's babysitting, where parents can go on a date night, at least once a month. Maybe it's, intentional, moments of conversation, that you get to share the gospel, with kids in your group. Be a third wheel parent.
We are asking you to join in, that we might partner together, that we might be a village, that raises gospel centered families, that kids might depart from, might not never depart, from the love of God. This is what we are moving towards, this is what we want to embody, as we obey the scriptures, and as we love our families. And we all have opportunities, to pass on this obedience, this love of Jesus. But at times, this gets difficult. And one of the reasons, this gets difficult, is because we, inherit sin. We inherit a sinful nature, and this shows up front and center, starting off in verse 6.
He says, So Isaac settled in Gerar. Alright, so they're settled. Verse 7. When the men of this place, asked him about his wife, he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, my wife, thinking, lest the men of this place, should kill me because of Rebekah, because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window, and saw Isaac laughing, with Rebekah, his wife.
So Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, she is my sister? Isaac said to him, Because I thought lest I die, because of her. Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people, might have easily lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us. So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, Whoever touches this man, or his wife, shall surely be put to death.
Now, doesn't that sound familiar? This is Abraham Abimelech, the remix. I mean, this is happening in almost the exact same fashion. And Isaac doesn't have the weird kind of half-truth, this is my half-sister kind of thing. This is a straight-up lie. He fears man.
After God just gave him this promise again, he said, This is the promise. You are going to have this blessing. You are going to have these lands. You are going to have all these things. And he goes, Well, my wife is a stunner. She is good-looking.
They might kill me. He fears man. And out of that fear, he lies. And it wasn't a small lie. This thing carried on for a while. It says in verse 8, that a long time had passed before Abimelech started to figure this out.
So Abimelech, he sees them, and they are laughing. Now, this isn't just laughter. This is flirtatious laughter. That's what the Hebrew is getting at in this text. They're flirting. So he sees them, and they're all starry-eyed, and laughing, and cutting up, and they maybe got a little bit physical.
And Abimelech's like, Wait a second. Y'all, this is not brother-sister love. You guys are married, and I like to think that everything just clicked. That he just, that this is OG Abimelech from back in the day, or this is his son. Regardless, it just clicks. This is what this family does.
They show up. They pass their wives off as their sister. What have you done? Which, by the way, is such a weird thing to be known for. It's like, What? You could have gotten us all killed again.
He operates out of fear. He doesn't trust God. He fears man, and eventually this scheme gets exposed. And it's because we inherit sinful patterns. Not just by absorbing them through observing bad behavior. We inherit this.
There's a philosopher named John Locke. He's one of the most influential philosophers on America. He's a British philosopher from the 17th century, but he influenced much of the founding fathers in our Constitution. Stuff like property rights, taxation without representation. That's all him. And one of the things he also, one of his philosophies was something called blank slate theory.
Blank slate theory was the idea that every child is born morally neutral. So they come into this world with a blank slate. And it's up to us, as families or as society, to shape virtue in children. They come in morally neutral, and if you could raise them in a moral vacuum, they would never have any type of evil. We could educate them to be good citizens, to be good, virtuous people. And that's one of the reasons why academics put such a high value on education to fix morality.
You may have picked up on this, that the way you solve racism is education. The way that you solve systematic injustice is education, which has not worked in any society ever, because education is not the problem. Children do not come in with a blank slate. There is one fatal flaw in this theory. It's children. Have you ever seen a two-year-old?
Have you ever? My daughter is so sweet. She's also a little schemer. She's schemey. And she, like, at a very young age, would scheme and would lie. And I didn't teach her that.
I don't spend most of the time with her during the day. That's my wife. But my wife isn't schemey. It took everything she could to throw me a surprise birthday party last year. She's just, she's not. And I didn't teach her.
No one else has taught her. It's natural. It's something that she inherited from me, because when I was a kid, I was very schemey. She inherits this naturally from me. Isaac, he certainly probably picked up some fear of man patterns from Abraham. But he wasn't even alive when Abraham and Abimelech were doing this dance in Genesis 20.
He never got to see this front and center. We inherit generational sin. Romans 5 teaches, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned. That's the formation for the basis of original sin. That from Adam, sin spreads to all of humanity. That we inherit this sinful nature, it is passed down all the way back to Adam.
In 1 Peter 1.18 it says, Knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. That we naturally inherit sinful patterns from our forefathers. Sinful, futile ways. The Old Testament law teaches that we inherit sin from the second, third, and fourth generation. It's passed down. Now psychologists look at this, formation of behavior, and they kind of fall in between two camps.
On the one side you've got nature, and the far end of nature versus nurture, you have, basically when conception happens, genetics are formed, and therefore it's all decided from there. That's the far end of the nature side of the bait. Once your genetics form, that's who you are. On the other end of the extreme, is nurture. The idea that education, that how you are raised, is what forms you and shapes behavior. This is where clean slate theory has some of its merits in this argument.
That it would be education that would form you. That you would, through experiences, through upbringing, this is kind of what forms you. Most people fall between the two of these and see that both of them have value. That what you, there's something about you, inherit to you, that helps form your behavior. Also, there are things that shape you, and mold you. And as Christians, we look at this and go, yep, that makes sense.
You inherit a sinful nature, that matters. You also inherit, patterns of obedience and disobedience, that form and shape you. Let me give you a few examples. Take alcoholism or addiction. People look and they say, how is it that a father, or a son, and his father, and his grandfather, and his great grandfather, that all of them, are alcoholics? That all of them struggle, with addiction.
How is that? On the nature side, there are people who will say, well, it's genetics. That has to be what shapes you. And they've done a ton of studies. They haven't isolated the one gene, that causes this. They may have found some factors, into this.
But we as Christians, can look at this and go, yeah, that makes sense, that you would inherit, the sinful nature, that sin causes physical changes. The reason we know that, is because sin causes death. That yes, on this level, down to your very traits, you would be corrupt. It also makes sense, that the only way, you ever saw your father, deal with stress, or with burdens, is with a bottle. If the only time, you watched your parents celebrate, was them, stumbling through the door, killed over a toilet. If you saw, if this is who, you come from, and this is what you see, it makes sense, that's generational sin.
This happens in, in anger. People look at families, and go, there tends to be, a pattern between, all the people in this family, that are angry, especially some of the men, cousins, dads, brothers, they're all angry, and violent. It's like they have, an extra Y chromosome. There's something going on here, that they're just, angry, and violent. Every time, they face, opposition, they use their fists. Yes, you inherit a sinful nature.
Also, if the only time, you ever see your family, deal with opposition, is with their fists, are getting violent, or getting verbally abusive, those are the only patterns, you would ever know. This happens with any, I'll give you one more, this happens with anxiety. People look at families, and go, how is it, that anxiety, plagues this family so bad, that mothers, and sisters, that even brothers, uncles, there's just, it's so stressful, in this house. And it was the same, for their parents. There's all these, burdens and stress, and it was just so tense. Well, there's something going on there.
There's a fallenness, that is inherited, that shows up. Also, if you never actually, get to see, families that go to the Lord, in prayer, that fight, that trust, fight to trust the promises of God, to make through. Both of those matter. When you have inherited sin, and you have observable, bad patterns, of response, of behavior, and you put them together, that is generational sin. This is what we inherit. We inherit, we inherit generational sin.
And when you think about that, when you think about all of the fallenness, all of the brokenness, that you have inherited, is all the way down, to the core of who you are, that feels a little bit depressing. But when you also think, that you, this is what you are passing on, to your kids, that feels even more depressing. But the good news of the gospel, is that's not the only thing, that we get to inherit. That we also get to inherit, grace. And that shows up, in the rest of the story. Verse 12.
And Isaac sowed in the land, and reaped in the same year, a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more, until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks, and herds, and many servants. So the Philistines envied him. So just off the heels, of him running this lie, running this scheme, God blesses Isaac.
He gives him a harvest, that's a hundredfold, which in an arid culture, is an absurd amount of crops. He gives him animals, he builds this family, they get blessing, upon blessing, upon blessing, and the Philistines, start to get envious. And it continues. Now the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth, all the wells, that his father's servants, had dug in the days of Abraham, his father. And Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us, for you are much mightier than we. So the hospitality starts to end.
They're like, you guys have gotten way too big, y'all need to get out of Gerard, go to the valley, and then from this point forward, the rest of the story, which we don't have time to watch, walk through, they just start filling up wells with dirt. Which you might think, oh that's petty. That's like you kicking down your neighbor's mailbox. I guess, it's more than petty. That's almost an act of war. Because in an arid culture, where water is life, it's how you feed your animals, it's how you feed your family, water sustains you, you start filling up wells, you start ending opportunities to live, to prosper, to grow.
And they go, the rest of the story, from place, to place, to place, to place, digging wells, taking care of the wells that Abraham dug. And they get filled up, and filled up, and filled up. And Isaac is starting to feel this, as they have to go from place to place, not ever having peace. And there had to be some part of them that wondered, oh, is this blessing going to end? What's happening here? And then God comes to him in verse 23, and makes it clear.
From there he went to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham, your father, fear not. For I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring, for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well. That in the midst of this uncertainty, God makes it abundantly clear. This blessing is yours. This blessing is yours.
You are going to be taken care of. You are still inheriting the promise. You still are going to have a nation that is as numerous as the stars in the sky. I am going to take care of you. It doesn't matter how he acted before Bimelech. It doesn't matter the schemes and the lives that he lived in.
He gets grace. Continued grace. And the story ends with, we don't have time to look at this, but in your community group this week, you can look at it. The story ends with Bimelech and his posse showing up, and it's like, is this going to be a war? Are they going to fight? And they end up striking a deal.
In the most politically schemey fashion, you can look at Bimelech and laugh at how he just lashed through his teeth. They strike a deal. And peace is made. And Isaac's family is sustained. They are sustained. They are preserved with this promise.
And because Isaac was preserved, the bloodline eventually gets to Jesus. And therefore, we get grace. Grace is unmerited favor, unearned favor, which I like. That lacks a little spice and flavor. It seems a little bit overly technical. They say it like that.
Someone came up with an acronym, I don't know who, for grace. It's God's riches at Christ's expense, which I love. That in Christ, not by any good works of our own, we get the riches of God. That in Christ, we get brought into the same blessing that Isaac had. We get brought into the same fellowship that he had with God. That, y'all, we get access to the God who created everything.
We can come to him in prayer. We get fellowship in part in this life, more fully realized in the next. We get fellowship with God. We get the perfect love of Christ. That's one of the most amazing God's riches of God, that we get the eternal love of Jesus. That no matter what, for those of us who are in Christ, God's love captures us, it seals us, it never lets us go.
We get to experience his goodness, and his joy, and his hope, and his love. That one day, one of the riches we get, is we get to dwell with God, in the city of God, which Psalm 50 calls, the perfection of beauty. The perfection of beauty. We get to dwell in a land like that with God. We get excited about shiplap, and some farm tables. We don't even know beauty.
That we get to dwell with God, in the new Jerusalem. That he will be in the center. That we get to gaze upon his goodness, and his glory fully. We get riches upon riches. We get the perfect record of Christ, that stands for us. We don't have our own sin, it's replaced by the righteousness of Jesus.
You could go on, and on, and on, and fill your days, with writing out, the blessings of God. We wouldn't even come close, to scratching the surface, because those are just the ones, that we have written down in the scriptures. And they're not the ones, that through faith in Jesus, that we will get to fully realize, one day, we get God's riches, at Christ's expense. That the God of the universe, stepped into our timeline, humbling himself. He went to the cross, having his blood poured out, suffering for our sin, and having the full cup of wrath, poured out on him, so that he can make a way, for us to have life, and experience those riches.
That is the kind of grace, that we inherit, through faith in Jesus. We are just like Isaac, in one minute, scheming and lying, and the next minute, experiencing the goodness, and the glory of God, not by our own merit, but by God's. So for those of us, who are in Christ, for those of you, that grew up, in a Christian family, that got to hear this, I want you to think, through this for a moment. That you got to observe, the gospel. You got to be in a house, that filled the house, with the word of God, with prayer. You got to see this, over and over again.
And you know what, that didn't turn into? That didn't turn into legalism. That didn't turn into, false belief. By grace, you believed. You inherited grace. For those of you, that didn't grow up, in a Christian household, you inherited grace.
Because somebody, shared the gospel with you, and you believed. And someone shared the gospel, with that person, and before that person, before that person, you inherited grace. We all, through Christ, believing in Him, get to inherit this blessing, get to inherit grace. So parents, as we parent, may your homes, may our homes, be so infused, with the grace of our God, that in our obedience, that we hope to pass down, we can ultimately point that back, to the goodness of our God, working through us. That it's not, anything of ourselves, it is the goodness of the God, goodness of our God, and the gospel, working through us, that they might see, the Lord of grace.
That in your sin, and in our sin, and our fallenness, our kids may see repentance, they may see forgiveness, they may see us point back, to the gospel. May we be so, saturated with grace, that we would display this, the next generation of this church, might never depart from it.
Blood Covenant
Transcript
Good morning. So we will spend, I believe, some more time talking about this and praying about this in the upcoming weeks. I know in the middle of this kind of stuff, I always feel the tension of I want to I want to learn how to pray about this past week, learn how to react less like a white guy from South Carolina who grew up here and more like I belong to Jesus. And so even in my own thoughts, in my own heart responses to things, I'm just trying to grow there. And I think we'll spend some time talking about that in the next couple of weeks at some point and praying about it, certainly. But today we're going to continue our covenant series.
So we're in week five of our covenant series. We're walking through the Old Testament covenants and seeing how they point us to Christ and how they're ultimately fulfilled in Christ and how we can, as we read through the Old Testament and see how God interacted with people, begin to learn and see where that puts us and kind of how history has moved forward through the covenants. And so we're going to learn some words this morning. Because we're going to be talking about a certain type of covenant that was very common then, but is not common to us now. And so we're going to talk about suzerain vassal covenants or a suzerain vassal treaty.
And that's how you spell it, because I know all of y'all wanted to know how to spell it and be able to use it later. Basically, here's how a suzerain vassal treaty worked. And this was very common throughout history and throughout how nations organized themselves. A suzerain was a more powerful nation. And a vassal was a less powerful nation. And they would set up a suzerain vassal covenant.
And the way this worked was the suzerain, they weren't the suzerain yet, so like a more powerful nation would roll up. Usually they'd be like, you know, murdering people and burning and pillaging and knocking out smaller towns on their way to like a capital. And they'd show up and they'd be like, hey, do you want us to kill all y'all or do you want to be friends? And a lot of time the smaller nation would be like, be friends? And they'd be like, yeah, that's great. All right, here's what we're going to do.
It's going to be a suzerain vassal treaty. And the way it worked was the larger nation became the suzerain and the smaller nation became the vassal. They became a vassal state of that nation. And they would work out this covenant where the vassal basically said, we will belong to you. So they differing levels of autonomy, but they basically said, we belong to you.
If y'all go to war, we'll go to war with you. If you tell us to do something, we'll do it. If you tell us not to do something, we won't do it. We'll send you some money and you'll be our only suzerain. We won't have any other suzerains. We won't have a side suzerain.
Like you're going to be bae. Like that's what they'd say. Like you, you are straight up our suzerain. That's it. No other suzerains. And the suzerain would say, I'll protect you.
If some other nation rolls along, like I'll defend you. I will allot you a certain amount of land. I will treat you as if you belong to me. And a lot of times they were called, the suzerain would be called Lord and the vassal would be called servant or the suzerain would be called father and the vassal would be called son. But this happened all the time.
The closest thing I think we have to it now that we could easily understand would maybe be the mafia. You know how like, not really in life, I don't know if any of y'all have ever interacted with the mafia for real, but like in movies, they walk in and they're like, hey, you're going to pay us some money and we'll protect you. And the person who runs the store is like, I don't need protection. We're good. And they're like, we're going to hurt everyone and burn this place down. And it's like, oh, then I'll give you money.
Yeah. And then we'll be friends. It's like, okay, I see how this works now. Like that's kind of the system was that the suzerain was the one that had power and they would exert their authority over vassals and vassals would become a smaller servant to the larger nation. So this happens all the time.
Let's go to Genesis chapter 15. We're in pay on page seven. If your Bible looks like this, if you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. You may have it. Genesis chapter 15. So we've been looking at Abraham and God's covenant promises to Abraham.
And so we're not really getting a new covenant today. We're actually seeing God basically ratify, confirm his covenant with Abraham. So we'll pick up in verse one. Um, it starts off with the phrase after these things it's referring to chapter 14. Uh, Abraham was the patriarch of, uh, his family, which meant he was the, the head guy in charge. He was the chief of this pack of nomads that were farmers and shepherds, not farmers, shepherds.
Uh, and they would travel around with their, their cattle, their livestock. And, uh, in the previous chapter, a couple of Kings from little cities around captured his nephew. And so Abraham took 318 men that he had trained. So apparently this is a large group that he's overseeing. And they had trained men who were going to fight. They went and beat up all the Kings and got a lot back and then gave some money to a guy named Achilles.
And that's what it says after these things. So after all that happened, where Abraham was protecting his family, like a good patriarch, this is where we pick up in chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. That's Abraham. He gets his name changed later. Um, so there you go.
Uh, Abram in a vision. Fear not Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, Oh Lord God, what will you give me?
For I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliazar of Damascus. Okay. So this was a big issue. Abram's the patriarch. His heir becomes the patriarch. So he would want that to be his son so that his name continued so that his son was overseeing the family.
What he's saying is, I don't have an heir. You've been telling me you're going to bless me and give me a nation and give me an heir. And you just said, Hey, I'm going to bless you again. And I just got a quick question. How you figure? Because right now I've got to hand over everything to this guy named Eliazar or Eliezer or whatever his name is.
The guy from Damascus. I've got to hand it over to him. And so that's Abraham's kind of response there. And so God is going to respond back to him. So Abraham's saying, Look, when I die, everything goes to him.
Like I've got to set up an heir. He's going to take over the family. So you said you were going to make me into a big nation. You were going to make me into a big family. Not if this guy gets the stuff. And Abraham said, Behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heirs. That's God reaffirming the promise. It was good news to Abraham. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars.
So God walks. He's apparently seeing this vision in the night in his tent. God walks him outside and says, Look at the sky. Look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.
So God walks him outside and says, Look up. And he's outside. This isn't Columbia night sky. This is middle of nowhere night sky. This is all the stars. Maybe you're out somewhere in the woods.
I don't know what you're doing there, but you're there. It's night. Maybe you're at the beach, but not near one of the crowded beaches. Not Myrtle Beach. But like one of the beaches that doesn't have people at it.
You know, like one of those maybe. Or maybe you just are somewhere. You grew up in the country or something. But you've looked at the sky. And there's way more stars. Because there's no city getting in the way.
There are no other lights getting in the way. There are pictures of this out in the desert in the United States. And he's staring up in the Middle East where there's no city. There's nothing. And it's just stars. Just an endless, uncountable amount of pinpricks of light.
And he's staring at it. God says, Look at the stars and number them if you can. And he's staring at it. He's overwhelmed by the number of stars. And then God says, That's how your offspring will be. And there's something in that moment that changes in the heart of Abraham.
Something in that moment when he's staring at the stars. And God's affirming this promise to him. And it says this. Verse 6. And he believed the Lord. And he counted it to him as righteousness.
So Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord counted it to Abram as righteousness. There's this moment of faith for Abram. Galatians tells us that this is actually when he was saved. This is when he was justified. This was when he was made right before God.
It was this moment of just believing God. He's staring at the stars and he believes him. He's thinking, This is how many children I'm going to have. Take that, Eliezer. Like he's staring at this in this moment. And he trusts him.
He believes. And God justifies him. Not based off what Abram does. Not based off of his own morality. Not based off of his own goodness. Just that he trusted God.
And God made him righteous. 7. And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans. To give you this land to possess. But he said, O Lord, how am I to know that I shall possess it?
And he said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old. A female goat three years old. A ram three years old. A turtle dove. And a young pigeon. And he brought him all of these.
Cut them in half. And laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down to the carcasses. Abram drove them away. Okay.
That got weird. Abraham says, How am I going to know that you're going to fulfill this promise? And God says, Bring me some animals. And Abraham brings them. And then just chops them up. Seemingly out of nowhere.
Like you wouldn't want Abraham to pick up your dog from the vet. I'm going to get off work late. Go by and swing up and pick up mittens. You come home. Mittens? Like you wouldn't want this to happen.
Like Abraham, It seems this was like a terrible, He told you to bring you animals. It's a good thing Noah didn't have this plan. Go get all the animals, Noah. I know what you want. And Noah just starts making kebabs. And God's like, This was terrible.
No. He apparently, Apparently, Abraham knows something we don't know. Apparently, Something's going on here. That while you and I may be terrified. And like that was, He just said, Get animals. Why did you, What on earth were you doing?
I can't carry the way getting the animals. Like no, He knows something we don't. All contracts, All covenants, All agreements are socially based. Like the way we go about affirming an agreement. Have social, Cultural, Bounds to them. So, Imagine, Like one of the things we do is a handshake.
Let's say you didn't know anything about handshakes. So you're watching two guys negotiating. And it's getting intense. And they're going back and forth on price. And then finally, One of them juts his hand out at the other one's torso. While staring into his eyes.
His hand lingers there for a moment. While the other one stares back. And then his hand reaches back out. They clasp hands together. And then shake vigorously. And then stop talking.
That might be weird if you didn't know about handshakes. We're like, Yeah, It's a handshake. The reason Abram started cutting up these animals. Was that he knew something was going on that we don't know about. This was the normal way. That they would ratify.
That they would solidify a covenant. Similar maybe to a marriage ceremony for us. Where it's a normal way to do this. So when God says, Go get these animals. Immediately, Abram says, Ah, We're going to have a blood covenant. Ah, We're going to do a suzerain vassal treaty.
That's the covenant we're about to have. So when Abraham starts cutting these animals up. He knows why he's doing it. And here's why he was doing that. When you ratified. When you had a solidified an agreement.
When you had your ceremony. The reason they would cut up animals. Was because it signified the curse of the covenant. This is what would happen to you. If you broke the covenant. We actually have a decent amount of these still written down.
That we have copies of. From around this time period. One of the things says. That the vassal is to not turn his eyes to anyone else. So he's going to be a vassal.
And this other nation is going to be the suzerain. And the vassal is not to look to anyone else. But his eyes are going to be solely focused on him. And then when they begin talking about the ratification. We have a copy of some of the ceremony. And it says this.
It says a guy named Matti Elu. Is going to be the vassal. So if you're looking for baby names. Jot that one down. Matti Elu. He's going to be the vassal.
And here's what it says in there. They're a written down copy of this. It says. This head is not the head of a spring lamb. It is the head of Matti Elu. It is the head of his sons.
His magnates. And the people of his land. If Matti Elu should sin against this treaty. So may. Just as the head of this spring lamb. Be cut off.
The head of Matti Elu. Be cut off. And his sons. And his magnates. And it keeps going and naming other body parts. This shoulder is not the shoulder of a lamb.
This. It goes through. So when Abraham's chopping these parts up. He knows. That the reason he's cutting them up. Is because this is me.
This is me as the vassal. If I break this covenant. He's promising to obey God. He's promising. Saying. Whatever you tell me to do.
I'll do. Whatever. Tribute you tell me to bring. I'll bring. Whatever you tell me not to do. I won't do.
And he's promising. I'll be wholly devoted to you. And when he's cutting up these animals. He knows. He's thinking through. This is me.
Five animals had to die. He had to cut a goat. A heifer. And a ram. In half. He didn't have to cut the pigeons in half.
And the turtle dove. But five animals die. And the whole time. Abraham's thinking. This is me. If I break this covenant.
If I disobey God. Or if I look to someone else. As my God. As my suzerain. As my Lord. This is me.
It's a very intense moment. For Abraham. This is how they did this all the time. So what they would do. Is they would lay the parts. On one side or the other.
They'd let the blood mingle in the middle. And then they would walk through together. And as they were walking through. The suzerain was proclaiming. I will be your suzerain. I will protect you.
I will hold up my end of the bargain. And if I don't. You can make me like these animals. And the vassal was saying. I'll obey you. And I'll be devoted.
Only to you. And if I don't. You can make me like these animals. This blood is my blood. That body is my body. This life that was.
Shed. Is mine. This life. That died. Was mine. This life is my life.
That's what they were. That's the deal they were going to make. So when God says. Go get some animals. Abraham knows exactly what's happening. And I'll just say.
I think they broke covenants less often. Because of. How they did this. I just. I think that was the case. It was a little bit more intense.
When they made a deal with somebody. Than maybe a handshake. So if you go to Verizon Wireless. They're going to put you in on a two year contract. You know what I'm talking about? Like you go in.
And they're going to. Like this whole wall. Is just iPhones. And Samsung Galaxy. Things. And Motorola's.
And Nokia's. And all that stuff. This wall. And then you pick one out. And you go up there. And you're like.
I want to do a two year contract. And I want to get the rebate. And I want these many minutes. And I want the family plan. Or whatever. And then they go in the back.
And they start doing stuff on the computer. And they come out with a chicken. And they lay the chicken on the table. And they get a. It's kicking around and stuff. And they hold a big knife.
And they go. Are you sure? You want to do this deal? Two years. And you say. I'm sure.
And they go. This is you. If you break the covenant. Blood goes everywhere. And you're like. Deal.
And that way. When Sprint comes on. And they're like. We'll buy out your contract. You're like. No the heck you won't.
You better send somebody with me to Verizon. I saw what happened to that chicken. Wearing a Sprint t-shirt. Hey. He said he'd make good on this. I'm out.
That's what they were doing. So. He cuts up these animals. And Abraham is saying. Okay. God.
I'll make this deal with you. God says. Go get these animals. Abraham goes. And he cuts up all these animals. He sets them aside.
And he's standing over them. Having to protect them. From birds coming down to get them. Because he's making this covenant with God. That in his blood. In his life.
He's laying it on the line. And saying. I'll follow you. If you'll be my suzer. And I'll be your vassal. I'll obey you.
And I'll be devoted completely to you. Alright. Pick back up. Verse 12. As the sun was going down. I didn't notice this till this morning.
It's a different day. From when he made him go outside. And look at the stars. So. It took a while. To cut these animals up.
Maybe it's the next day. Maybe this is just later in time. But the sun's going down at this point. So he's. Been guarding these animals. A deep sleep.
Fell on Abram. And behold. A dreadful and great darkness. Fell upon him. So. This is the presence of the Lord.
Descending to where Abram is. So he's cut up these animals. He's standing there. The sun starts to set. And the presence of the Lord comes around him. And the reason I think he falls asleep.
And this is just a made up theory. But I'm going to share it with y'all. Because might as well put it in your brains. Because. Little infants. If you like.
Play rock music to them. It just shuts them down. It's like too much. Or you just lay them next to a vacuum cleaner. It's just. It's too loud.
It's too much. And they'll just fall asleep. I used to do this with our son. I think that's why he's terrified of the vacuum cleaner now. Because I used to. When he was little.
Just lay him next to it and turn it on. Watch three hours of TV. No. I think that's what happened to Abraham. I think the presence of God was just too much. God comes down.
And his presence just overwhelms Abraham. And that's why he says. A deep sleep fell on him. It's the presence of God comes among him. And it. It just wears him out.
Again. That's just a theory. All we know is he fell asleep. And the presence of God comes. 13. Then the Lord said to Abram.
Know for certain. That your offspring will be sojourners. In a land that is not theirs. And will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment.
On the nation that they serve. And afterward they shall come out. With great possessions. As for you. You shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age.
And they shall come back here in the fourth generation. For the iniquities of the Amorites. Is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down. And it was dark. Behold.
A smoking fire pot. And a flaming torch. Passed between these pieces. On that day. The Lord made a covenant with Abram. Saying.
To your offspring. I give this land. From the river of Egypt. To the great river. The river Euphrates. The land of the Kenites.
The Kenizzites. The Kadmonites. The Hittites. The Perizzites. The Rephaim. The Amorites.
The Canaanites. The Girgashites. And the Jebusites. Jebusites. Okay. Go back before we read all those names.
And your brain was completely erased. Verse 17. When the sun had gone down. And it was dark. Behold. A smoking fire pot.
And a flaming torch. Passed. Between. These pieces. On that day. The Lord made a covenant.
With Abram. Okay. Maybe. Maybe y'all picked up on this. You would have. If you came from Abram's time.
Something really weird. Just happened. They did. The ceremony. Wrong. They did it wrong.
Abram didn't walk down the middle. They did the ceremony wrong. See. Abraham was cutting up all these pieces. He was laying it down. He and the suzerain were supposed to walk through.
If only one person walked through. It was supposed to just be the vassal. The suzerain could sit back. And the vassal would have to walk through. And just say. This is me.
If I fail. This is me. If I disobey. This is me. If I. If I look to someone else.
This is me. If I don't give you complete devotion. But. Abraham doesn't walk through the middle. And this immediately should stand out to us. It doesn't.
Because we're culturally distant from them. We're like. That sounded great. They did it. So again.
I said. One of our. One of our ceremonies that we do. That maybe we're more familiar with. Is a wedding. I get to perform weddings every once in a while.
I enjoy performing weddings. It's a little bit nerve wracking. I write down exactly what I'm going to say. Word for word. Some of y'all have been around long enough. To know what happens when I just start.
Winging it on jokes and stuff. Like it can get really weird. And people tend to remember their wedding. And not forgive you for stuff. I've found. So.
I write down. Word for word. What I'm going to say. I practice it a few times. Then what happens at the beginning of the wedding.
Is. Me and the groom. Go stand. Up front. We've done a couple here. We just stand.
Right there. Everybody's already here. Groom and I are standing. This is. I think. For a couple of reasons.
One. The bride. At this moment. Has her chance to leave. The groom does not get to leave. He is stuck.
He would have to run out. In front of everybody. And this helps keep him here. But the bride. She's got like. I mean.
I'm pretty sure. As soon as we come out here. Someone's like. All right. Where you want to go. Which way.
We can go this way. To the parking lot. We can go this way. Into the. Like there. There.
You know. Somebody's back there. Consulting her. Usually she does decide to come in. But we stand here.
He is wearing a suit. That matches all these other guys suits. He could pass out. We would just slide him out of the way. They would bump down. No one would even notice.
Like that. We're just standing here waiting. I usually at this point. Feel pretty good. Like I'm ready to go. This guy.
Sweating bullets. Looks like he's going to throw up. It's really enjoyable. I'm like smiling at people. He's trying to keep it together. Then.
Music starts. Whatever. And then like. The bridesmaids start coming in. And they're. They are wearing some oddly colored dresses.
They're not wearing normal colors. They're wearing. Turquoise. And periwinkle. And coral. And sea foam.
And ocean spray. And Sierra mist. Like they've got. All these different. Colors. That you've never heard of.
And they come walking down. And they line up over here. And then everything stops. Music stops for just a second. The doors close. They close them.
Just to reopen them. They're just like. Okay. And they open them back up. And then the music starts up. It's different music.
Music. And I won't try to do it. Because I always get that one. The death march. And the star wars thing confused. And I can never start the one I want.
But it's the one that's about the bride. Or whatever. And then she comes in. And everybody has to stand. And everybody has to look at her. And she walks down the aisle.
And somebody's holding her arm. And they just float down here. And everybody has to stare at them the whole time. And they turn. And then you're supposed to stare at her. For the rest of the time.
And that's how this is done. And then different things happen. They say different things. Sometimes they're communion. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they tie a knot in a rope.
Sometimes they pour sand all over the place. And they set something on fire. But like. That part happens. Pretty much everywhere that part happens. If you were at a wedding.
And when you walked in. The bride was standing up here in her dress. Your first thought would be. I'm really late. But then you would notice the groom wasn't there.
And the people were still sitting around talking. And you would think. Okay groom's not here. That cat must have left. She didn't seem stressed out. People were talking.
I'm just going to sit down. I'm going to ride this out. And see what happens. And then music starts playing. And groomsmen start walking in. And they're wearing.
Seafoam or whatever. And like they walk in. And then doors close. Music changes. Opens. And the groom just comes walking out.
He's just. You know. He's pointing at people. He's smiling. And he walks down the middle. You would think.
They did this wrong. This was super weird. And I wonder why they did it this way. Like they're making a statement. Yeah. A statement was made.
And you'd be like what? And you'd be like. I don't know. I don't know. Something though. It was weird.
That's what just happened. Abram doesn't walk down the middle. And immediately. Everybody went. Well that was weird. That is not how that should have happened.
They did this wrong. They're making a statement. God doesn't know how to do covenants apparently. Like that's what it looks like. So. Yes.
For most of us. I think. We approach God. The way Abram was about to. We approach him with this. There's certain promises you give.
You're going to bless me. You're going to protect. You're going to give me wisdom. You're going to help me through life. You're going to provide for me. Eventually you're going to let me go to heaven.
That's his side of the deal. And our side of the deal. Is what Abraham was cutting up those animals saying. I'll obey. I'll read this. I'll figure out the stuff you like.
And I'll try to do that. I'll figure out the stuff you don't like. And I'll try not to do that. Like I'll obey. I'll be good. And.
I'll worship only you. That's the deal. I'll be good. I'll worship you. You'll hold up your end. That's the deal.
And for a lot of us. That's how we approach it. We're like Abraham. We're like. Yeah. That's the deal.
That's what Abraham was cutting up the animals. He knew what he was getting into. But see like Abraham. I think we're. While we're doing that. Abraham wasn't thinking about God.
While he was cutting up the animals. I don't think. I think he already. He said he already believed in God. He already knew that God could hold up his end. I think if I was Abraham.
And I was having to cut up. And kill. Five animals. Before a covenant ceremony. I would be thinking about me. And every time.
I had to kill an animal. I would think. Can I hold up. My end. Of the deal. Can I hold up my end of the deal.
Can I obey. Can I actually do. What God tells me to do. Can I. Can I. Whatever that is.
Like now. We're Christians. So we're reading the Bible. We're saying. That's. That's love people.
That's sacrifice. That's be generous. Can I actually do that. Can I not do the other stuff. He says. Can I.
Be moral. And good. And then. Can I completely. Be devoted to him. I think that's what Abraham was thinking through.
And for a lot of us. That's what we think. The deal is. So. Some of you. Have avoided.
Becoming a Christian. Because you're looking at it going. I can't do that. I can't be good enough. I was in. Until I heard the thing about sex.
I'm not allowed to have sex with anybody. Unless I'm married. I was in. Until I heard the thing about money. I was in. Until like.
I can't do that. I can't. Be good enough. I can't. Live up to these rules. So I'm done.
I'm out. I'm not making that deal with God. Some of you. That's. That's where you stand. And others of you.
Are like. What I think Abraham was thinking. Which is. I can do this. And you think that's your relationship with God. You've walked down the middle with him.
And you've said. I'll obey. And I'll be devoted to you. And that's our deal. And you're trying really hard. To do that.
Obedience. Let's look at this for a second. Obedience is. I'll not do the stuff you tell me not to do. Was that clear. If you say not to do something.
I won't do it. So you're looking through the Bible. Trying to figure out what all the things it says don't do. And you're trying not to do them. And that's good. You're trying to obey.
I'm not going to talk like that. I'm not going to go to those places. I'm going to avoid this type of situation. I'm going to stay away from this. I'm going to try to control this. I'm not going to eat too much.
Or drink too much. I'm not going to. I'm not going to party. I'm going to avoid all these. Like I'm going to be moral. And then you try to read the stuff you're supposed to do.
I'm going to love my enemy. I'm going to love my neighbor like I love myself. I'm going to think of others more highly than myself. I'm going to put other people first. I'm going to be radically generous. I'm going to give up my time.
I'm going to give up my money. Like this is getting harder. And then I think we think the third one is the easiest. I'll be devoted just to God. And it's actually the hardest one. Because we think what it means is don't also worship other gods.
Like don't also worship Islamic gods. Don't also worship Hindu gods. But really what it means is don't look to anyone else or anything else for your protection. Your comfort. Don't look to anything else as what is going to make life good for you. And as soon as it turns into that we'll make a suzerain out of anything.
Money becomes that so quickly. It'll protect me. It'll make life good. A relationship becomes that so quickly. This will help me know I'm loved. This will help me know I'm okay.
If I can just have my kids turn out this way. If I can just have a spouse like this. And suddenly we realize we've run around everywhere trying to find something else to provide for us. To protect us and to make us okay. And so Abraham was cutting up these animals thinking. I'm going to walk down the middle and I'm going to make this deal with God.
But that's not what happened. The ceremony was different. Let me tell you what happened. See they would walk down the middle and here's what would happen. The suzerain would be saying. I'll do what I said.
I'll keep my promise. I'll provide for you. I'll protect you. I'll be your suzerain. And if I don't you can kill me. And the vassal would say.
I'm going to obey you. And I'm going to be devoted only to you. And if I don't you can kill me. But Abraham didn't get to walk down. A smoking fire pot and a torch did. It was just God that went down the middle.
And here's how the promise worked. God said. I'll provide for you. I'll fulfill my covenant. I'll fulfill my promises. And if I don't.
You can make me like these animals. This will be my blood. This will be my body. This will be my life. And you'll obey me. And you'll be devoted only to me.
And if you don't. You can make me like these animals. This will be my blood. This will be my body. This will be my life. God looked at Abraham.
And said. You're going to obey me. You're going to be devoted only to me. And if you don't. I'll kill me. This will be my blood.
This will be my body. This will be my life. And in Jesus. God made good on that promise. Because Abraham. Didn't keep it together.
And we. Didn't keep it together. We didn't obey. We weren't completely devoted. And in Jesus. God kept the covenant.
Isaiah says it this way. Talking about Jesus. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed. For our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement.
That brought us peace. And with his wounds. We are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone. To his own way.
All of us. Broke that covenant. All of us. Ran from God. All of us. Fell short.
And the Lord has laid on him. The iniquity. Of us all. God. Signed both ends of the covenant. And in Christ.
Kept the deal. So for us. As Christians. The invitation. The invitation. The invitation is not.
The gospel is not. Going to God and saying. I will obey. And I will be devoted to you. And if I can keep that together. You will save me.
I will obey. And I will be devoted to you. And if I can keep that together. You will love me. I will obey. And I will be devoted to you.
And if I can keep that together. You will not destroy me. But I will have a home. And I will have a family. You will be a father to me. I will be a son.
You will be a Lord. I will be a servant. It's not that. The gospel is this. I couldn't obey. I couldn't be wholly devoted to you.
But I, like Abraham, who had faith, trust, that that blood wasn't my blood, it's Jesus' blood. And that body wasn't my body, it's Jesus' body. And that life wasn't my life, it was Jesus' life. As a Christian, we get to walk down the middle of the aisle and say, Jesus' blood is covering me. Jesus' body laid slain for me. Jesus' life was given up for me.
Jesus took the curse of the covenant so that we can have the blessing of it. Jesus took the curse of us falling short so that we could have the freedom and the hope and the life that is offered through him. Jesus was slain on a cross. Jesus was laid in a tomb. It wasn't the head of Abraham. It wasn't the body of Abraham.
It wasn't the blood of Abraham. It was the body and blood of Jesus. That's why Abraham didn't get to walk down the middle. It was a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, as if the father and son walked down the middle. And Jesus said, I'll keep good on this promise. This will be my blood and this will be my body and this will be my life and I'll keep good on this promise.
They'll obey you and they'll be devoted to you. And if they don't, you can kill me. And that's the gospel. That's the hope we have. Not that we can be good enough, but that Jesus already was. Not that we can pay the debt, but that Jesus already has.
And let me tell you what happens when we forget that. When we misunderstand that. Some of you, it's already happening. You, you aren't, you're, you're staying away from Christianity because you think the opportunity to you, the call to you is come be good. Come be moral. Come be a Republican.
I don't know. You think it's some sort of a come, come do these things and God will love you. Come work really hard and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus.
That's not it at all. So you've avoided Christianity. You maybe rightly saw, I can't do all that stuff, but the response isn't to run from Jesus, but to run to him. Other of us who say we're Christians, let me show you how this shows up when we fail to believe this, when we forget that this is how this works. When we sin, when we know we've disobeyed, when we know we've worshipped something else, when we realize that we've loved money more than God, when we realize that because we see that, that we can't be generous because we need money to protect us and to save us. And we realize, Oh, that's because I don't trust God.
When we look at our relationships and realize I was willing to run away from the church to be in this relationship. I was willing to, to sin, to have this amount of comfort. I was willing to sin, to chase out. We begin to realize I had another Susan. I had something else that I was looking to for hope and health and life and joy. Here's what happens.
We feel guilt and shame. And we run away from God. We feel terrible. You sin again, doing the same thing again. You don't want to pick arguments with your spouse, but you do. It's like you can't stop.
You don't want to look at porn again, but you do. You said last time you were going to study for the test and you weren't going to cheat because they let you take the test at home, but you do. You said you weren't going to swipe things from your roommate anymore. And this, this one's the last time. So you weren't going to lie again.
Next time I get caught, I'll just be honest. But you do. Here's what happens. We sit around and we think, am I even a Christian? How do I, how do I keep doing this? How do I keep struggling with the same thing?
We beat ourselves up for two, three days, feel terrible because we've forgotten that it wasn't our body and it wasn't our blood and it wasn't our life. We don't get to atone for our sin. We sit around and we bottom out because we've forgotten that we were never on the hook for it anyway. Jesus was willing to take it. When we placed our faith in Jesus, he atoned for our sin. He took the punishment.
If you are a Christian and you are sinning, you repent and you praise Jesus that your sin is not what makes you okay or not okay with God. Your behavior, your devotion was never part of the deal. The covenant made was that Jesus was going to hold up your end of the bargain. When you sin, when the enemy comes along and says, look at how terrible you are. How on earth do you think you can go hang out with your community group and try to pretend to be a Christian and you want to hide and you want to run from God and you want to not confess this to anybody? Your response gets to be, look at how good Jesus is.
Look at how much grace he has that my sin is covered in Christ fully. And then you actually, when you see other people's sin, you get to have grace for them. You get to forgive them because you realize what made you good wasn't you, it was Jesus. What made you okay with God wasn't you, it was Jesus. You're free. But when we oscillate between feeling great and bottoming out, we oscillate between pride and how good we're behaving and fear and torment and how much we're failing, we've forgotten that we never got to walk down the middle.
That it was Jesus' blood, Jesus' body, Jesus' life for ours. And we're free. The band's gonna come back up. We're gonna take communion together as a church today. That's where we remember that it was Jesus' blood and it was Jesus' broken body. It's where we reenact that Jesus signed our side of the covenant and kept good on the promise for us.
It's where we go back and we remember that we're free and that our sin doesn't own us. But Jesus' grace has made a way for us. If you're not a Christian, don't take communion. It's not offered to you. Communion is for those who have placed faith in Jesus. Now I would tell you, if you're not a Christian, you can place faith in Jesus and you can walk right back there and you can know that this is Jesus' blood on my behalf and this is Jesus' body on my behalf and it's not about my behavior.
And my ability to be good and my ability to keep it together, it's about Jesus. That's offered to you. And Christians, you get to repent of sin and you get to believe the gospel. That it's not about your behavior, but it's about Jesus on your behalf. That he went to a cross and that he died for your sin and that you have freedom and hope and life in him forever and that God kept this covenant. God, we pray that you would help us to remember this so that when we sin, we would look to you only.
We would turn our eyes to you only. God, we pray that we would remember this so that when we're tempted to think that something else will provide us happiness or joy or fulfillment or life, we would turn from it and look to you only. And God, we pray that we remember this so that every time we fail, it would be to the praise of your glorious grace that you save sinners. That the reason you signed both sides of this covenant was because we weren't ever going to keep it together. But you wanted to save us, you wanted to redeem us, you wanted to make us yours.
God, we praise you and we thank you that in Jesus we do have life and hope and freedom. That in Christ we are forgiven. We thank you, Lord, that you don't ask us to keep it together ourselves, but that you provided fully for us through the cross. In Jesus' name, Amen.
July 10