Calvary Church • 11338 Ozga Road • Romulus MI 48174 • 734.941.0236 • calvary@calvaryromulus.org
. . .You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Psalm 138:2 NKJV
3. The Pledge
Next: The Exodus
God Chooses A People
MAIN CONCEPTS:
Understand who Abraham is and how he fits into the plan of God
Understand that those who believe are children of Abraham
Evaluate whether I am a part of this family
God’s desire and plan was to restore fellowship with mankind. The remainder of the Old Testament reveals the preparation for Christ’s coming. The Redeemer is predicted, foretold and people are invited to come to God through faith in a coming Redeemer.
The first mention of a Redeemer was expressed in God’s curse on the serpent.
Genesis 3:15
In light of the complete revelation of God that we now have, we understand this prediction to mean that the coming Redeemer would bruise the head of Satan after Satan bruised the Redeemer’s heel on the cross.
In Genesis 12 God begins to unfold how this will be accomplished. We are told that God reveals Himself to Abraham and begins to prepare him to be the father of a great nation through which Christ will come into the world
Genesis 12:1-3
God chose one man, Abraham, and made a special pledge to him (a covenant or promise). Whereas at Babel, the people had sought to make a name for themselves, God promises to make a “name” for Abraham, and pledged to him a special relationship. God would make a great nation from Abraham’s descendants, and give them a land of their own. He did this so that in the end, the whole world would be blessed, and humanity’s rejection of God would not go on forever.
WHO WAS ABRAHAM?
A man from Ur of the Chaldees (the vicinity of present day Iraq). He had no children because his wife Sarah was not physically able to bear children.
WHO GOD IS
God shows Himself to be sovereign, merciful, loving, forgiving and restoring
WHAT GOD DOES
He makes a promise to Abraham and fulfills it entirely Himself through miraculous events
Genesis 15:5-6; Genesis 17:7
Physically
Gave Abraham a child when childless
Gave him a homeland (drove out the Canaanites)
Made him the father of a great nation
Spiritually
Justifies or declares Abraham to be righteous through faith,
which was shown in Abraham’s worship of God and obedience to Him.
Brought Christ into the world through Abraham’s line
Provided salvation for all who believe
Galatians 3:6-9
Challenges to Abraham’s faith – he was human like us – not perfect
Leaving his home to go to a place he had never seen
Lied about Sarah being his sister instead of his wife
Promised many descendants and had no child
Tried to work out the descendants thing himself with his wife’s maid,
Hagar, which produced a son named Ishmael.
But his faith was genuine as shown by his worship of God and his obedience to God.
God demonstrated Abraham’s faith through a test. Sarah finally was given a child when she was 90 and Abraham 100. God then commanded Abraham to take his only son of Sarah to a mountain and sacrifice him there.
Check out the story here: Genesis 22:1-2; 11-12; 14-19
The proof of genuine faith is obedience to God no matter what.
OUR RESPONSE: FAITH RESULTING IN OBEDIENCE
Galatians 3:7,9
Are we willing to. . .
Reject a sinful lifestyle and follow Christ?
Go against family or friends to worship and obey God?
Reorder priorities to serve God?
Next: The Exodus
