Well, good morning. After yesterday's rain, it's bright and sunny, mostly. I have learned, living in Oklahoma, trying to do long-range forecasts is little glimpse of when you see it. Could you imagine if I was wrong as often as the weatherman was? Wow. I probably am, I don't know. Alright, last week we started looking at the Abrahamic Covenant and it really, for all practical purposes, it gave kind of a beginning what I would call a somewhat superficial look to sort of get into it as it were. We have the overall basic premises that God initiated a covenant, that the covenant involved land. We saw even just briefly the covenant commitment that God made in symbolizing the splitting of the animals. and God alone going through those. But what I want to do, since we've got that overview, is now start getting in depth. So let's go back to Genesis chapter 12. And to be perfectly honest, we're gonna spend a good bit of time just picking apart those first few verses. You might think, boy, that's kind of detailed. Yes, it is. All right, Genesis 12. I'll just read the first three verses. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. Now, I mentioned before that in Genesis 12, you don't see the word covenant. But as you get to Genesis 15, the word covenant shows up. I will clap my covenant. And then you have the whole situation in which God, as the theophany, goes through the two animals. What you see in Genesis 15 is further promise, further encouragement of what was already promised in Chapter 12. And then you'll see it again when you get to Chapter 17. But let's look now at Chapter 12, verse 1. There are actually technically one thing that God commands, but there's really four different things there. that God says. What's the very first thing that God says for Abram to do? Leave. Leave. Leave what? Your country. Go from your country. What's the second thing? And from your family. And from your family. Now, that's an interesting one because chapter 12, what do you notice happens? Leave your family. What does he do? He takes Locke. Takes his nephew Locke. Now, there could be some debate as to whether or not somehow Locke was excluded from this or whatever the case may be. But one thing that's And that's really putting it mildly. Abraham had to go rescue them, and he had the whole issue with their flocks being too big for one area. And so Lot ended up, I'm using the figure here, a bit of a four-minute splash. So go from your country, go from your family or relatives, your kin, But even before that, from your father's house. So isn't it fascinating to see this starting to tunnel down? God is making it clear to Abraham. You're going to go, period. Leaving everything behind. Leave your nation, leave your relatives, leave your father's house. What's the fourth one? Now it's go to the land. So the first three are somewhat negative, if you will. Leave. And then the last one is positive. Go to the land that I will show you. Now, one of the things that I think is important for us to understand is that what Now, grammatically speaking, from the tax is only one, but it's understood to be four because it's controlling all of this. The command, go, leave, depart, pick your word. We are consistently told that when it comes to God's gracious dealings. It's all grace. And that's not wrong. But they swing that pendulum so far that they fail to recognize that even before there's a promise mentioned to Abraham, he's told to do something. Go. It reminds us that simply because you have a gracious covenant, There are still going to be stipulations. There's no way around it. The fact that there are stipulations is gracious, that if God didn't have to give it, we could have left you where you were. Yeah, that's the other side to it. So in all of this, you see that Abram is given commands, then he's given the promise, and it's good to remind us that in initiate, he does not seek God. He does not negotiate with God. He's like, OK, God, how about I just, for investment purposes, keep a plot of land there just in case? No, it's go from your country, go from your relatives, go from your father's house. Now, here's the thing, and this is important to help stress this. We see it in the New Testament, but even just last night as we were reading this for family devotion, Joshua chapter 24, right at the beginning, Joshua is giving his And he reminds them how they got here. He starts with Abraham. So he gathers the nations in verse 2 of chapter 24. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates. Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor. And that's what it says. And they served other gods. So where did Abraham come from? He was a pagan. He worshipped other gods. And here's the fascinating thing. Who does Abraham descend from? Seth. Well, yeah, Seth, but a little more recent than that. Shem. Abraham descends from Shem, the blessed son of Noah. And where does Abraham go? Following his father, he served other gods. That didn't take long, did it? Abraham didn't wake up one day and decide, you know what? Maybe I should listen to what Shem used to tell people. God initiated. God commanded. Then he promised. So it's good to remember as we take a step back, especially as we think about the Abrahamic covenant, that this should control our thinking all throughout and remind ourselves of this, especially when we get to the Mosaic covenant, because it's always Now, I want you to think about these commands in and of themselves. Go from your country, go from your family relatives, go from your father's house, go to the land which I'm going to show you. In and of themselves are those moral commands. They're not. Not in and of themselves. Now, of course, every command of God, even we understood this with Adam, not to eat of the tree, Because that's a command that does not reflect the nature of God in the command in and of itself. But to obey a command is in and of itself moral, but the substance of the command may or may not be. That's what we see here. Go from your country. That's not a moral thing. Of course, you could argue, though, that the consequences of leaving is a moral good, because think about what we just read in Joshua 24. Abram left a pagan country, a pagan household, and a pagan father. that while there may be things that God directs for your wife that in and of itself may not be a moral imperative in its substance, nevertheless, the consequences, whether positive or negative, can and often does have moral ramifications. And that's what we need to remember. A directive for one person may be completely different than a directive for another person, but the blessings and the consequences of obedience or disobedience will have the moral consequences behind it. That's what happened to your neighbor. That's what happened with Adam in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In and of itself, not a moral command in its substance, I'm impressed with how all the debates about sovereign race, Arminian versus Calvinism, they're all right there. And they're clear. And I'm thinking also about the question about evangelism, how that's going to develop over the course of the Old Testament history. And there's a kind of a field that one grasps. It's like, well, maybe he did it. Well, that's where you take the rest of Scripture in total, and you look at how does the rest of Scripture interpret Ambrose's actions. God is his best interpreter. Even what we read in Joshua kind of indicates it's God who did this. You see it in the New Testament, generally speaking, that God initiates. You see it with Abram in specific, that God chose him. And yet, despite that, there is great serious favor, as there was with Noah. Abram still has responsibilities, he still needs to obey. I'm not trying to diminish that. But it's the conclusions that some make from that that, therefore, there are no responsibilities. We don't have to worry about it. I'm saved. I'm good. Jesus saved me. Yeah, I can do whatever I want. Don't talk to me about obedience, because if I have to obey, that's worse righteousness. I always have fun with that, when people get into that mode and just say, well, we're commanded to love our neighbor. Is that our righteousness? Yes. Yes. That's what Paul is down to. Our grace should have been saved through faith, and this not of yourself, this is free gift of God, so that no one will boast. But we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. That we ought to walk in that. Yeah. But here's the interesting thing, and I'm not enough of a historian surrounding, that it is not simply a unilateral covenant. There's always this mutualness, even with their deeds. It's kind of interesting. So there is uniqueness to the covenant that we see with Abram, and then later with Moses and David, and especially the new covenant. Just to indicate, and this does springboard off of earlier what Conrad said about even the giving of commands can be gracious, go back to Genesis 1. Now you come to Genesis 1 verse 26, and this is where God says, let us make man in our image. So things shift a little bit. It's not so much let there be, now it's let us make man. And then you see what we see this description of man, what he's to do in 26 and 27. But notice verse 28, and God blessed them, and God said, really know for sure, I'm kind of leaning that it's not supposed to be there. And God blessed them and God said to them, and notice what God does. He gives them commands. God said to them and God blessed them. We have this nasty habit of thinking that commands are a burden. When people tell us what to do, who do you think you are? God said to Adam and blessed him and gave him commands. That shows that the commands in and of themselves really are commands from God, are a blessing. In chapter 12, Abraham was a pagan at that point. The fact that Abram lost sight of that somewhere along the way, that's his problem. I think God revealed himself in some way to be the one true and only God. He said, Go, and thus he went. Yeah, effectual call. And it was specific to him. And, of course, his household after that. I'm still meditating on this idea that the whole picture gives us a paradigm. And that paradigm shapes a lot of the rest of our thinking. It should. So I make a joke about what you just said about the pagans are supposed to be a god. And I say, Christian nationalism. And I think the corporate response is just laughter a little bit. Because there's a lot to unpack in that. But the unpacking comes in the context of having a paradigm. God is God, and we ought to serve him. We have no excuse for not serving him. Now how that works out may be difficult to think through. But the way we approach it comes in the context of a paradox. And it works out in all kinds of places. It works out in terms of our thinking about sacraments. It works out in our thinking about what the church does when working in the world. shapes our approach. Now, God graciously commands his people. And we see this in Deuteronomy, where Moses is speaking to the people, and sort of in this sermon, he gives this description that the nations will see this, and they will say, what a God, that he loves his people to give them these statutes and commands. And yet some, even in our reformed society... Josh? Providentially, when we were at Provident, I was teaching first and second grade Sunday school, and we were touching on this topic. At the same time, we were getting ready to find out where you were going to be called to serve as a pastor. And at the time, I was really blessed by just studying as a pastor. So I'd encourage you, if you're having a transition in your life or an uncertainty, Just to look back through this because it all sums up as I summed it up with the children, I would rather trust and obey than have my own way. And it's just a simplistic way of looking when you don't know where you're going, when you're leaving your own family, when you're going out. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but... And it was a fast move. I think some of you would like to know our story. But anyway. Yeah, it's not PC. It was rather quick. Yeah. So I mean, I'm just saying on a personal level, you can make this very simplistic and humbling. And just humble ourselves before the Lord and just know that he gives us commands to guide us. And he already knows what's ahead for us. And it's a beautiful picture of his care for us. Chase? She says, simplistic, mad complicated, if you have the time. I think part of where the issue comes in is what's said by Peter in Acts, when speaking about the Gentiles being justified by grace, like we are, and not putting that burden on them that our fathers I think that's really the point. You're speaking of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. And this is the part that people miss because there is such a focus on the question of circumcision, which of course ties back to Abraham and Covenant. an entrance into the nation of Old Testament. But what was also argued at its essence was not just that they had to be circumcised, but that they had to obey the whole law of Moses to be saved. They lost track of it. And the whole point of the law of Moses was that it was given to a people that already was redeemed. When we get to Moses, and especially as we start arguing the various viewpoints of the Mosaic Covenant, that has to be front and center. And even within our reform circles, I won't make many friends that way, but you've got to go with what the text says. All right. More generally, the whole purpose of what I'm bringing out here is more generally grace in the broad sense, not just in terms of saving grace. It does not do away with responsibilities. That's key. And as we'll see later on, even after we really get in depth into Genesis 17, And you start moving into that conversation, and you see how God describes Abram as one who obeyed commands, laws, and statutes. He still had responsibilities. I'll let you look at that on your own time, but we will come to that. So God says to leave your country, and what does he promise in verse two? I will make of you a great nation. Now, do you see this? Isn't this beautiful? Sometimes God's commands initially don't make sense to us. And while even in our own lives, and we are seeking God's will for life, like graduating seminary, where am I going to go? Where am I going to get the call? Who knows? And so the call came, and so, OK, is this what God would have me do? Sometimes these are the things we need to simply Yeah, that's the wonder. I've been promised. And on the other hand, because they were pagans, and he said, well, God came to me in a vision, and so I'm going. Because it's just another God. What? How? He had a vision. That's awesome. But I have no idea. That's the thing. So all right. So God says, Abraham, leave your country, leave your nation, and I'll make you a great nation. David? I just want to note some historical things here. So the same area where Abraham is, leaving with this family, her, was actually where the location of what we know, the Tower of Babel. So he was very aware of the Tower of Babel. It was probably standing, if not, if it is still standing today, debating whether or not the Ziggurat Temple was the Tower of Babel. Yeah, the foundation and all of that, right. He was very aware of the pagan culture. Their culture, where he's coming out of, were experts of dirt. And they were also experts of the stars. So later on, when you see God making a covenant with them, God is speaking something very familiar that Abraham was already familiar with. Look at the sand. Look at the stars. The ultimate reason that even in his culture they understood that was because they still had the remnants within. Right. And I think the whole story is fascinating in particular because here it is still, even though language has happened, there's division in language. You've got this giant nation, a great nation, still trying to be one in one particular region. And that's her in particular. And God's saying, no, I'm going to make a greater nation out of you. I need you. Abram believed God, and righteousness was credited to him. That's what it boils down to. And hold that thought of battle. We'll come back to that. The promise here in verse two, I will make you a great nation. There's the promise. And the language there, we need to understand, in that the covenant extends beyond Abram. It's talking about a nation. God's covenant, even with Abram, is intended for a nation. And so what we're seeing here, and so by virtue of that, it extends to his descendants, offspring, seed. A nation cannot be made on one's own. I'm a nation. Good luck with that, right? There's no doubt that this would have been long-range thinking. And that's the other side to this. We need to understand that covenants are not just right there in the moment. They're long-range and long-term. We need to think generationally. there's stages of unfolding and unpacking as well. Every country in the Bible does. It's not, this is one of the disputations between the Baptist and the New Covenant. They see it as like a once and done, that's why they take Jeremiah 31 when they do, as opposed to seeing it as an unfolding that ultimately leads us to the heaven and the new heaven. Correct, and so they see this as, they take their literal hermeneutic a little too far, which we'll unpack when we get to chapter 17. that it was just for that time. God's looking a lot further than just Abraham and even just Isaac. I'll make you a great nation. And so, as we think this through, I can remember, you know, some time back, and from time to time, Dave Blanger reminds us of this. We, even as reformed Christians, we think covenantally, we think of our children, and that they are a part of the covenant. Do you know what else we need to be thinking of? Our grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Beyond that, 100 years from now, unless the Lord comes, 200 years, a millennia. We need to think generationally. In fact, you see this in the New Psalms. For a generation yet to be born, that they will praise you. Covenant. not just here and now. Even us as we're formed, we kind of fall into that trap of just thinking, me and my children. And that's a good thing. But you've got to think beyond that. Grandkids, great-grandkids, great, great, great, great, just tack them all on. Pray for those descendants now, even though you have no idea what they're going to look like. I'm giving you a hint, the world has some of your traits. It's just helpful to have the eternal perspective. Last night, in family devotions, we were thankful for the world to come, and just keeping in mind that Christ will return, and that all of this is for the world to come. Right, the world to come. And that's the connection to the New Covenant. The whole of this is long-term. When Christ returns, that's the point. That's long-term thinking. And none of our idols and things will be part of it. That's correct. They need to get rid of it. They'll all be gone. And so what we're seeing here with this promise of a nation, what we're really seeing is the formal, covenantal establishment of the church. That's not to say there wasn't a church of God before that. the Lord as a corporate body. But this is the formal covenantal establishment. Now, that seems like a stretch here because we're talking about nations. Well, that's exactly right. Go to Galatians 6.16. Galatians was written to who? The Galatians. Yeah, well, like the Galatians in general, but which Galatians? The church, right? The church that was in Galatians. So go to Galatians chapter 6 and verse 16. This is a request for prayer and so forth. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon, what? The Israel of God. The true Israel. Let's go now back to Acts chapter 7. Everybody know what's happening in Acts chapter 7? Alright, so Stephen is giving his sermon, tying together Israel's history with Jesus Christ. So you go to Acts chapter 7, and unfortunately this is a situation where English doesn't help. Actually, it's a bit of a hindrance. Particularly what we have in verse 38, what Stephen says here. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our father. things to pick out there. But the thing that I want to highlight, the word there that's congregation could very easily be translated church. That Greek word is ekklesia, the assembly. And that's really what the church is. Stephen recognized and used New Testament language, as it were, to describe the people of Israel at Sinai. The Ecclesia. This was the formal establishment of the nation slash the church. Now, you still may be saying, well, we're not putting the two together. Well, let's go to 1 Peter chapter two. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. And who's Peter waiting? He's writing to the church. And what is he saying to the church in chapter 2 verse 9? You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy what? Nation. a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Why is that so significant? Because Peter there in chapter 2 verse 9 is actually citing from Exodus 19. You go to Exodus chapter 19, the very beginning, that's where everything shifts. The whole theme of Exodus shifts at that point because they come to Sinai. And so what Abraham is promised as being a great nation is realized at first at Sinai. and further expanded into the New Testament, as the nation, the holy nation, the Israel of God, is equated with the church. So what we see happening with Abram in chapter 12, and 15, and 17, is really the formal No. Conrad. So some who hold to the idea that the Jews and the Christians are two separate peoples of God would argue that when he titles it to the elect exiles and dispersions, he's only speaking to Jewish Christians. Yeah, that's pretty weak. I agree. I think 1 Corinthians 10 goes back a bit. Right, because language is typical language of anybody who has suffered persecution for the sake of Christ. And so it's language that was. of dispersion actually more originates from the intertestamental period. And then in the New Testament era, they kind of adapted that to describe the church. Well, what happens after Stephen was stoned? Persecution breaks out. Persecution breaks out, and the people are dispersed. So that's a very wooden understanding of what it says here. And verse 10 puts that to bed, because it clearly ties in. Christ, who we serve and worship, is the same one who's with them. He's their spiritual rock, too. Right. And verse 10, this is interesting, because there are no footnotes here. And I'm a little bit surprised here. Some Bibles will have cross-references in verse 9 to Exodus 19. But verse 10, once you were not a people, but now you were God's people, It's an Old Testament citation too. It's an Old Testament citation of Hosea. Chapter 1 and 2, really. Chase? And wouldn't that be indicative of Gentiles? Yes. Because Paul uses that same language in specific reference to Gentiles. That's correct. Especially in Ephesians 2. to avoid what the second half of Ephesians 2 says about the two becoming one. Which is what Romans 11 reiterates. That's correct. One root. There are not two peoples of God. There is one. And that's Paul's emphasis in the second half of Ephesians 2 and even into Ephesians 3. There's one people of God. John 10, Jesus himself says he only has one flaw. One flaw? All right, so we're seeing this formal covenantal establishment. All of this connects, ultimately, to the salvation that is found in Christ, the true seed of Abraham. And, of course, it stands. Now, all of these blessings of nation, of people of God, that's the essence of the covenant promises, that we are one We are to be one in Christ. And so the blessings of all of God's covenants toward His people really can only be experienced and enjoyed corporately and in a one-anotherness. The blessings of God's covenant with His people can only be enjoyed and experienced corporately and in one another nest. I made up a word. That's so important to teach our children because they're living in a self-centered culture. Correct. Which is why we need to teach to love the church. Is the church a mess? Yeah, it is. It's a mess. There's no denying that. But Christ loved the church and gave his life for the church. Love what Jesus loved. Jesus loved you as individuals. We need to love one another as individuals, but in the context of a corporate setting, one anotherness. And also notice, to close out, the other promise that is given there in verse two, I will make your name great. This comes in chapter 12, and what's significant about that? Well, what happened, and this is where we go to Genesis 11. What did the people want to do? We talk about the Tower of David, they wanted to make a tower. Okay, that's true. They wanted to make a name of themselves. And so, no, no, you're not gonna do that. God says, Abram, I will make your name great. should be working hard to make our own name great. Your name should only become great if God establishes you into that position. The people decided, we're going to make our name great. That's Babel, where Abram came out of, that region. God says, Abram, I'm going to make your name great. Jake? Just to hold on to. All right, and then back to this idea of blessing, though. God then promises, I will bless you. That's the middle promise. But then in verse two, it ends with this, and you will be a blessing. And the fascinating thing there is in verse two, and I'm going over time. We're in Genesis 12 again. I know I'm quickly jumping here. There's a fascinating grammatical structure that takes place in this. And it's not that this is a bad translation. It's not. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. The main verbs in that verse are all imperatives, every one of them. You don't really see that in English. The first three, with respect to it, and that's what makes this interesting, is the language of a self-command. It emphasizes the commitment that God is making to Abraham. He's, as it were, commanding himself. And then the result comes with the fourth thing, so that you, Abraham, will be a blessing. That's also an imperative. If God is your blessing, That blessing, by necessity, needs to overflow and bless others. It's not just for you. Those blessings you receive from God, those gifts, those spiritual gifts, are intended to bless others. God initiates, God commands, and yet God promises blessing that is corporate in nature. It is about the church. So, all right, I'm out of time, past time. So let's close in prayer. Our Father in God and heaven, we thank you for your covenant faithfulness and the realities of all that you promised to Abram, you followed through with. Lord, we see that as just being a foreshadow of what you have promised ultimately in Christ, and none of those promises have failed. And so Lord, because of that, we look with eager anticipation for the return of Christ. May we be filled with awe and wonder and expectation and anticipation. May that rule our hearts as we're about to come into your presence to worship you. to see you through the eyes of faith, longing for the day when our faith will become sight. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.