Sermon Transcript

I want you to open your Bible to. . .the beginning! And we are going to begin an epic summer sermon series right now! It’s going to take us all the way through the summer. And let me give you a little background and tell you the reason why we’re doing this.

Back in the month of April, I went to Israel for the very first time, and, quite honestly, I didn’t really know what was about to hit me. I hadn’t really prepared for that trip; I just kind of inherited that trip as a gift. And I got there, and…how many of you remember the first time you saw high definition television? Do you remember that? I had a friend invite me over for a ball game. He had a brand-new fifty-five-inch plasma, and I sat about six inches away from it. And I watched a football game in a way I had never watched a football game before, and I said, “I gotta get me one of those!” And many of you have had that experience.

Well, going to Israel, for me, was much like that experience. I am seeing the Bible in a way I have never seen it before! I’m reading the Old Testament in high definition, and it’s just going to be the overflow of everything that we’re going to study throughout the summer of 2017. So, we’re going to study our legendary, colossal, ancient and ongoing story of faith right now!

Now, in order to do this – this is a little different than marching through a book like Ephesians, okay? There’s going to be a lot narrative, there’s going to be a lot of story. Would you just let me tell you some Bible stories here for the summer? That’s what we’re going to do. And the message is going to kind of be front-loaded with just a bunch of information. That’s a little different. If you come to Harvest, normally it’s explanation, it’s illustration, it’s application all weaved in together. And much of our application’s going to come at the end.

And so, I’m going to appeal to you: hang on! Alright? And lean in. A lot of information coming at you! And, by the way, if you are new to church—if you are new to the Bible—you couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to show up. Because we’re going to start from the beginning, and over the course of the summer, we’re going to basically march all the way through the Old Testament, looking at these epic stories of faith.

Now, getting into this, let me give you some introductory material. When we open our Bibles to the Old Testament, do you understand—we have to view the Old Testament the way that God intended us to read it. And so, I want to start with some helpful information, helping us to understand this. When we read the Bible, we have to understand:

 

The Bible only has one epic story – and we call that story “the gospel.” (2Timothy 3:15)

 

And so, even though I’ve asked you to open to the Old Testament, what we’re about to learn is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason we know that is because of what the New Testament says about the Old Testament. I want to show you this verse in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15. Paul, the apostle who wrote half of the New Testament, says this about his friend Timothy. He says, “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings…”

How many of you can say that that is true; that’s your story? From a child, your parents poured into you, you had a Bible story book; you heard the ancient stories; you went to Vacation Bible School? How many Vacation Bible School graduates? How many of you, that was one of the best things that you ever did? That’s why we invest so much. That’s coming next week.

And so, Timothy, from a child, had heard the stories “…which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus [Christ].” [ESV] Do you see what Paul just said? What were the sacred writings that Timothy had? It wasn’t the book of Romans; it wasn’t the gospel of John. Do you know the sacred writings that Timothy had were Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Daniel and Ezekiel and Isaiah and 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles – the books of the Old Testament?

But notice what the verse says: those Old Testament books were able to make him wise for salvation through faith in who? Jesus Christ! And so, we understand that:

 

Every epic story in the Bible is simply a chapter in the unfolding story of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Luke 24:27)

 

Jesus Himself said this in Luke chapter 24[:27]: “And beginning with Moses [who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament] and…the Prophets [those were the latter parts of the Old Testament], he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures…”  At that time He was saying it, what was He referring to as Scripture? It was the Old Testament books! Jesus interpreted to them “…all the Scriptures the things concerning [who?] himself.”

            The books of Moses, the books of the prophets, and all the Old Testament Scriptures were the story of the unfolding revelation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. This was after His resurrection, on the road to Emmaus. He wanted them to know the stories that had been written about Him.

How many of you, like me—several years ago—were addicted to the television series Lost? C’mon, it’s okay; this is church; just confess—it’s alright. It’s like, “Oh, that was…that was one of the best shows ever!” And what made it so good? (How many of you have no idea was Lost is, and yet you need to go find out—as an application to this message.)

But, listen—the story was cool. It’s about this group of people that crashed on an island, a plane crash, and you meet all these people in the first episode. But then, what happens—what unfolds over the next seven years of this television program—is, you get to see the backstory of everybody on the plane—and how they were all connected together. And once you’ve finished the seven years, you sit there and go, “Oh! Now I understand!” And you have to go back and watch it again, and waste more of your precious life on a television program.

Do you have a favorite movie? Do you know what my favorite movie is? My favorite movie of all time—best movie ever made, epic story, never to be improved upon is—the movie Cars! Why are you laughing?! Cars 2 was flop. Cars 3 is coming out on my birthday; I can tell you what I’m doing for my birthday, coming up in two weeks. Alright? The movie Cars.

Second favorite movie of all time is the movie The Prestige. Do you know this movie? It’s kind of a lesser-known movie; Christian Bale is in it. And it’s this story where it unfolds and it unfolds. You’re kind of scratching your head, “What’s happening; what’s going on in the relationship?” You get to the end [gasp!] and there’s this incredible plot twist! And you have to go back and watch the movie from the start. It’s a movie like The Sixth Sense. Remember that movie? And Bruce Willis? And you find out that, actually—spoiler alert!—Bruce Willis is dead in the whole thing, and you’re like, “Uh! I got it!” You can’t just watch it once.

When you read the Old Testament, what you’re reading is the backstory of our faith. And so, if you were just to start with Genesis and walk through the Old Testament, you kind of scratch your head: “What’s going on? What’s going on?” But when Jesus rises from the dead, He says, “Now you understand what Moses was writing about.” Now you understand what the prophets were writing about, and now you understand what the whole unfolding story of the Old Testament actually is.

 

Every epic story in the Bible is telling the story of Jesus. (John 5:39)

 

Notice this verse in John chapter 5. Jesus said, to a bunch of hard-headed Bible fat-heads—alright – these guys knew the Bible backwards and forwards – and this is what He says: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life…” Good! Thumbs up! Way to go! Keep searching the Scriptures! But it’s “they that bear witness [of] me…”—and they never made the connection between what God had said in the Old Testament and Who Jesus was, in coming, in those gospels.

What is this? Can you see what that is? That’s an acorn. If you were trying to describe to your children what this is—and you had to use more than one sentence—how would you describe the acorn? “It’s brown; it’s kind of hard; it’s a seed.” Listen! If you never mentioned an oak tree, you would fail in your description!

What I fear that a lot of people do is, when they read the Old Testament, all you are reading is about the seed, and you never make the correlation that on the inside of this there is a massive oak tree that is involved. And so, when we read the Old Testament, you are reading about the acorn. It is the seed of what is to come! It’s going to unfold over thousands of years, but it is the Old Testament—like the acorn—that is going to turn into something that is colossal! It’s huge! It’s massive, just like the oak tree that’s gonna come out of the acorn. And every epic story in the Bible is not only telling the story of Jesus. . .

 

Every epic story in the Old Testament is also telling my story. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

 

If you’re a person…have you ever tried to do one of those one-year Bible reading plans? How many of you are actually doing that right now? Kind of reading through the Bible? Way to go! Keep it up! I did that early on, and it was painful!

It just—I still to this day—it’s like, you gotta read like three-and-a-half chapters to get done in a year, and I’m like, I just don’t read that fast and I don’t process information that fast. And so, I would just get so bored, and you get bogged down in Leviticus, for crying out loud! And, how do you get to the good stories over in 1 Kings, and all the good stuff? It’s a tough assignment! You need…every Christian needs to do that! It’s like Basic Christianity 101. Everybody needs to do that!

But, you will yawn your way through that unless you understand what you’re reading is the story of Jesus, but it also “my story.” Understand, there’re basically only four things that happen in the Bible: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration. If you understand that four-fold plotline, it will help you understand what God is doing in the unfolding story of redemption in human history.

But it’s not just that, at a cosmic level. Matt Chandler calls that the “air war.” That’s kind of way up here, it’s kind of happening—and, “I’m not quite sure I’m connected to it.” Here’s the way you get connected to it; here’s how that story becomes your story – and it is a four-fold move. It’s this: God is holy. I am not. Christ is a Savior. I’ve got to respond with repentance and belief. Which leads us to this in 1 Corinthians [10:11]. It says, “Now these things [he’s speaking of the stories in the Old Testament, everything we read about: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and Solomon and the kings, and everything that happened – “These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the [age] has come.” We are living at a time in history where we look back at what God has done in the lives of others.

And when you read the stories of the Old Testament, here’s what you should be looking for: the Bible is not a collection of inspirational writings. The Bible is not a collection of good advice. We’re not looking for something to inspire us. We’re looking for this: what is God like? And why does He seem so distant? And what does He bless? And what does He curse? And what is the significance of all of the blood and the bloodlines? And why does God seem so angry? And what has man done to provoke that anger? And why does He continue to put up with us? And why do I continually see, in the Old Testament, these flawed human heroes that seem to snatch victory out of the jaws of death just in time, so that the story keeps continually unfolding? Those are the questions that we have to ask.

And then this:

 

Every epic story calls for a response of faith. (John 5:46)

            We are not interested in information; we’re interested in transformation. I have to respond. Either I believe it or I don’t it, and either God will transform me through my faith, or I will read it like a history professor reads it—reads some book about World War II – really interesting, but that doesn’t really connect to who I am. And so, we have to understand, every epic story calls for a response of faith.

In John chapter 5 Jesus, again, was talking to these Bible fatheads, and He said, “Your father Abraham [that you love to talk about, and talk about how you’re a descendant from Abraham!]—Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.” [John 8:56] Do you understand that Abraham lived two-thousand years before Jesus showed up, but Jesus said, “He saw my day—and he was glad!” His heart exploded in connecting the dots between what God had promised and what God one would day fulfill.

Later on in this chapter, do you know what He says? Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” [John 8:58] Here’s a question for you; this will be on the test! Sequentially, who came first? Jesus or Abraham? Yeah, you knew. You were paying attention! Jesus said, “Before Abraham…I am.” And in saying that, He was identifying Himself as the eternal God, who actually created Abraham.

Speaking of Abraham, we’re going to talk about Abraham here for the next several minutes. Now, let me just prepare you. For the next several minutes, I’m going to tell you the history of the world in about seven to ten minutes, okay? And we’re going to begin in Genesis chapter 1. Now, I’m just going to kind of summarize some things for you, but if you’re new to the Bible, Genesis chapter 1—the book of Genesis means “beginnings.”

And of course we unfold this story of the beginning: God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a garden; He said it was good. He created man—it said, “It’s very good.” He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Which every wife in this room knows that is true! And so, God brought a helper to the man to fill in those gaps.

And this is an incredible statement we read in Genesis chapter 1, verse 22. And again, if you’re just plowing through the Old Testament, you’ll miss this epic statement! God said, He “blessed them, [and said to them], “Be fruitful and multiply [and subdue the] earth.” God blessed them. To be blessed is to live in favor with God!

Why would a holy God go to the trouble of creating man? Out of His grace and out of His love, He wanted to set His affection on them. He wanted to live in intimacy with them. He wanted relationship with them. “And God blessed them…” One of the most epic words in the Bible – “blessed.” How many of you want to be blessed by God? You want to. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you scraped yourself out of bed on this beautiful day, to come to church. “I want to…I want a blessing; I want a right relationship with God!” God blessed them, and so God created this incredible environment for them to live in, and they enjoyed the blessing of God!

But not too long after that, we know what happened. Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. The serpent said, “Did God really say you had to obey Him in order to be blessed?” And then, she sort of scratched her head—and sure enough, pretty soon we got an apple with a hole in it. Have you ever noticed the symbol for Apple computers—it’s got that bite in the middle of it? I’m like, “I’m not quite sure what that means, but that’s satanic for sure!” And so, do you know what they did? They forfeited God’s blessing. They declared independence from God. They said, “We think we can make our own rules up around here.” And do you know what happened? The blessing was traded for a curse.

There’s only two types of people in the world—blessed or cursed. If you’re a descendant from Adam…how many of you are a descendant from Adam? There’s really no other option! It’s – you showed up because God created Adam. They had babies., and here you are, many, many years later. You are either blessed or cursed.

Here’s the problem: your family forfeited the blessing and they got the curse. The Bible should have ended in Genesis chapter 3. Your Bible should be three pages long. Human history should have been three pages long—because God said, “In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” And they did begin to die. Dying, in the Bible, is not the cessation of life; dying, in the Bible, is the separation of God from man. You lose the blessing; you inherit the curse—and ever since then, we’ve all lived under the curse. The Bible should have ended. But it didn’t! God went to work in order to redeem them, in order to restore the blessing.

And in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15—one of the most significant verses in the Bible—it says this: He said, “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman…between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Now that may seem kind of cryptic in nature, but just think about it.

Think about your heel. Would you rather have somebody whack you with a stick in the heel, or whack you with a stick in the head? I’d rather…neither option sounds joyful, but given the two options, you can whack me [here]. That seems like it would be less of a wound, right? Well, here’s what God said. The offspring of the woman (Eve)—her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild would be bruised on his heel by Satan, sin. That happened on the cross. Everybody agree that Jesus suffered some painful things on the cross?

God compared that to somebody bruising your heel: “You’ll recover. It’s gonna be okay.” And Jesus did recover. Three days later He rose from the dead. And do you know what He did? In rising from the dead, he whacked sin in the head! He killed sin! He crushed it! He put His heel right on top of the head of sin, and He bruised the head of sin—even though it cost Him the bruising of His heel!

That is called (theologians love to use big, multisyllabic words; impress your friends with this): that is called the “protoevangelium.” It means, “the first gospel.” The first time we see the mention of the gospel is in Genesis 3:15. And so, that begins the story of redemption. It was the first promise in the Bible!

And so, Adam and Eve have some hope. And then they had some kids. How’d that work out? One of the kids killed the other kid. I don’t know how much sibling rivalry is in your family, but hopefully they’re not killing each other. But Cain killed Abel, and their children ended up being train wrecks. And the Bible says it got worse and worse until we get to Genesis chapter 6 – and God looks upon all these descendants of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel and Seth and all these people, and God said, in Genesis 6:5-7,  “[He] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart [were] only [continually] evil.” Only. Continually. Evil! That fills all the blank space in. There wasn’t any room for any good, anywhere in man’s heart. And the Bible should have ended in Genesis chapter 6.

As a matter of fact, God sent a flood and destroyed the whole earth. But there was one man, and the Bible says that Noah found favor in the eyes of God. And so Noah entered the ark with his wife and his children and their wives. After the flood, eight people stepped out of the ark—and God started over.

The problem was is, they started having babies, and they weren’t any better than the first generation and there was a train wreck that happened, and we finally get to Genesis chapter 11. These people spread out across the earth. And then in Genesis chapter 11 (you can kind of start to look at it now), there’s this famous story of the Tower of Babel. And the reason that these men got together and started to build a tower, it tells us, is because they wanted to make a name for themselves. The pride of their heart: they wanted to be known, they wanted to be recognized, they wanted to accomplish something, they wanted to work, they wanted to be recognized for their work. God said, “That’s not going to work.” And so, He confused their language, stopped the work, He scattered them.

The second half of Genesis chapter 11 is a genealogy. Don’t you love it when you’re reading through the Bible in a year and you come to one of those awesome genealogies? And it just tells you “this dude” begat “that dude,” and “this dude” had a grandson, and his guy did this…and so that’s the second half of Genesis 11.

Now, the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis cover approximately two-thousand years. When we get to the end of chapter 11, it slows down. The next thirty-nine chapters of the book of Genesis cover four generations, and it all starts at the end of chapter 11 (I want you to look at it here) in verse 27. Actually, look at verse 26: “When Terah [everybody say “Terah”]…” “When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram [do you see the name Abram there? Abram had two brothers], Nahor, and Haran.” I want you to focus on the name Abram.  Now, we know later that the Bible…that God changes his name to what? Abraham. I’m going to call him Abraham throughout this time, just because that’s what we know him as, okay?

So, here we have little baby Abram. Verse 27 says, “Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram…” Now look down at verse 29: “And Abram and Nahor [that’s his brother] took wives. [And] the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai [we know that God changed her name later to Sarah; I’m going to use the term Sarah throughout this message]…” So here we have this new bride—Abram and Sarah—and it says in verse 30, “Now Sarai was barren.”

Everybody say “aww.” Sarah was infertile—she was unable to have children. And that is still, to this day, one of the most sensitive subjects. I know some of you struggle with infertility. One in six couples today struggles with infertility. And some people – “We just…We want, we long, we pray that God would give us a child.” And, for whatever reason, it’s biologically impossible. That was what Abraham and Sarah were facing. And in that day, if a woman couldn’t have a child, she was treated if she was broken, useless—unable to produce—and all the stigma and the agony that came with that. And yet Abram loved her, Abram stayed with her, but…verse 30, “She had no child.”

Then, look at verse 30: “Terah [that’s the father] took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran.” So Haran dies, and Lot—the nephew of Abraham—becomes a part of the family. And you’ll see this unfolding relationship of Abraham and Lot throughout the book of Genesis. And so, it says – look at the last part of verse 31: “. . .[and] they went forth together [now they’re moving] from Ur of the Chaldeans [that’s where they were living in the western Mediterranean; they went from there] to go into the land of Canaan…” Ur was in the Eastern Mediterranean.

So they set out to go on this journey to the land of Canaan. But notice, “…when they came to Haran, they settled there.” They stopped; they didn’t go all the way. They went half-way. And they stopped and they said, “This looks like a nice place to live.” They set up tents, they began to do community together, they began to build their family—and they stopped.

Genesis chapter 12, we come to the story of Abram, and I want you to see it. “Now the Lord said to Abram…”  Stop right there. That is an epic statement. We have not seen God speak to man since the days of Noah. And before that, it was when He spoke with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Incredibly epic story of God, by grace, speaking to a man—Abram. Why? We don’t know! But He says, “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…”

            Do you see the word “bless?” We haven’t seen that word since the Garden of Eden! God, by His grace, wanted to reverse the curse and send a blessing to a man that was under the curse—and start a whole family of people that would be blessed through this man named Abraham. He says, “I will make of you a great nation…I will bless you…[I will] make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Verse 3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

There is an opportunity to have favor with God restored again! In spite of the fall, there can be redemption and restoration. Verse 4: “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. [And] Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran…Abram took [his wife] Sarai, and [his brother Lot] and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions…” Look down at verse 7: “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

Now I want you to skip over to chapter 15, still the story of Abraham. God continually appears to him. God makes His promise; God reminds him of His promise. He says, “I’m gonna give you a land.” [Abraham]: “Where?” [God]: “I’ll show you later; just go. I’m going to make a great nation of you.” [Abraham]: “God, maybe You haven’t heard: my wife is infertile. How You gonna get that done?” [God]: “I’ll tell you later.” [Abraham]: “And you’re going to ask me later to sacrifice my son? Why?” [God]: “I’ll tell you later!” Abraham had to believe that what God said was true; that His promises would be fulfilled. And the great news is Abraham believed God! And in chapter 15, verse 6, it says this: “He believed the Lord, and [God] counted it to him as righteousness.” Do you get the story?

Abraham is minding his own business. Abraham is not a good man; as a matter of fact, he is an idol-worshipper. At this particular time, when they settled in that territory, that territory was known for worshipping the moon. Something created, not the Creator. And so, man in his heart has a heart of idolatry—and he loves to substitute things—and he loves to settle for less than what God wants him to have. God wanted him to have the land, but his family settled for less. They got stuck in a place God never intended them to be, and they were absolutely helpless to go where God wanted them to go without God intervening. God steps in.

The Bible should have ended in Genesis 3. The Bible should have ended in chapter 6. The Bible should have ended in Genesis 11. But in chapter 12 begins this unfolding epic story of God making a promise. The rest of the Bible is the story of God keeping that promise! How does that relate to you? Thank you for asking! Let’s try to answer that question.

Remember, every epic story is a story of Jesus, and every epic story in the Old Testament is…my story is too—is true. So you read those first eleven chapters, if you’re reading that like history, and not understanding that the brokenness and the chaos and the relational conflict and the sin and the curse is all owned by you, then you’ll think that you are disconnected from the story.

But if you will understand that—not only was Adam and Eve cursed—but “I was cursed,” as a human being…It’s like, “Well, if I was there, I would have made a different decision!” No you wouldn’t have! Because you still have the same heart that is only continually evil. There is nothing good in me!

I have to understand, as I read this story, “I am cursed!” I should have ended before I was born, and yet God created me—and here I am. He’s brought me into this broken world. But He wants to redeem, He wants to restore what Adam and Eve had in the garden.

Do you understand you have never lived in the world that God has designed you to live in? When you see the headlines and you turn on CNN and find there’s another terrorist attack somewhere in London or somewhere else and you read that and you scratch your head, and it’s like, “Why? Why? Why?” I just explained to you “why.” Because we have chosen independence from God, we’re under a curse, there is violence, there is a desire for control. There is hatred and there is dysfunction in relationship because:

 

• My world is falling apart.

 

Do you feel it? Do you feel it? And you ask, “Whose fault is that?” You know what the human heart wants to do? We want to blame God for that: “God, why don’t You do something?!” He did. He created a perfect world. You broke it! And you’re under a curse! The only question is, “How do I get the curse reversed? Is there any possibility of me receiving a blessing from God and being put right back in favor with Him?”

Here’s the second thing:

 

• I have settled for less.

 

The human heart always wants to settle. It only wants to go half-way, and we get stuck in places God never intended us to be—and relationships that we never should have had—or habit patterns or patterns of thinking that we never should have. We substitute saviors. Rather than worshipping Jesus, we settle for things that are created. We don’t worship the moon—hopefully—but we worship things like our careers or our children or ourselves or sports or money. We always want to settle for things less than what God wants us to have.

Number three:

 

• God continually calls me out of my comfort zones.

 

Just like Abraham, God says, “I want you to leave everything that you find your security in…” whether that is related to your family, whether that is related to your finances. Nothing wrong with family and finances, but they make horrible saviors! And if all we settle for is a nice little safe, comfortable, secure place, we’ll never go into the place of God’s blessing He wants us to have. Because good things can become “god things”—like security and family—and what’s familiar to me.

A lot of times when people are considering, “Do I want to be a person of faith? Do I want to follow Jesus with all my heart?”—they’ll ask questions like, “Well, do I have to give up…that?” Maybe. “Uh, is God going to send me to Africa?” That was my big question. It’s like, “Do I have to go to Africa, God? Just tell me! God, if You’ll just kind of show me what the road map is for the next thirty years, then I’ll decide whether or not I want to take the first step.” It doesn’t work that way. You can’t even be a Christian if that’s your approach.

You have to sign on a blank sheet of paper and say, “God, I will follow You. I trust You. I don’t how You’re going to get it done, I don’t know why some things are going to happen, but God I trust You. I believe the promise.” That’s what Abraham had to do, and that’s what you and I have to do if we’re going to follow Christ.

Number 4:

 

• I can only receive God’s blessing through a promised son.

 

How did Abraham receive the blessing? He had to believe the promise that somehow God was going to perform a miracle and provide a son through a barren woman! Think there were some obstacles to belief? Uh-huh! How’s God going to get that done? As a matter of fact, Abraham had to wait for that. It was ten years later before God actually opened the womb and provided that son.

Do you know how you and I receive the blessing? The same way. We have to believe that the Son that was promised is sufficient to save us. We read a commentary about that over in the New Testament. In Romans chapter 4, he interprets for us what we should know by reading Genesis chapter 12. And this is what the apostle Paul says about the story: “In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become [a] father of many nations, as he had been told, so shall your offspring be.’” And Abraham’s like, “I can’t have offspring! It’s impossible! God, You could never reverse the curse!”

If you think that you’re too bad, for God to bless you, or if you think you’re too good, so that you don’t need God’s blessing—you need to understand this reality:

 

• My life will never be right until I trust God to fulfill His promise.

 

– that I cannot be blessed apart from the promised Son. And again, we read about this in Romans chapter 4[:20-24] (speaking of Abraham): “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith [and] he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’”

            “But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.” But for ours also! “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead [the Lord] Jesus…” And then, in the book of Galatians – another commentary on this story in Genesis 12: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to [the] promise.”

Now, let me wrap this up. Only two types of people in this room: either blessed or cursed. Big epic question: “How do I move from being cursed to blessed?” We’ve read it. There’s only one way. It is believing the promise of God, looking back to the Son that came through the line—the bloodline—of Abraham.

Abraham had to look forward; you and I get to look back. It should be easier for you and I to understand this epic reality. And when the Scripture says, “It was counted to him as righteousness,” do you know what it’s saying? You have no other way to become righteous than for God to simply declare you righteous—not because of what you do, but because of what He did – the impossibility of providing a Son that one day would go to that cross, have his heel wounded symbolically (His whole body was wounded!), so that believing in Him, your sin could be crushed on that cross through the promised Son that one day would become Jesus Christ. Do you understand, Jesus was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Abraham? And, if your faith is in Christ—if you are in Christ—then you are part of this faith story.

The sad reality is, many of you are not. How would you come into this family? It is only by faith. Can I invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes for a moment? Are you absolutely sure—100 percent—that the curse has been reversed? And if not, if there is a spark of faith in you, would you just acknowledge to the Lord, “God, I have no hope of being counted righteous. My world has fallen apart! I’ve settled for less. My heart is only continually evil! And without You calling me out of that, I’ve got no hope of having intimacy and relationship with You.” The issue is sin. Acknowledge your sin before Him.

If you’re here as a Christian, maybe you’ve not understood the significance of your connection to faith. Renew that faith; trust the promise of God, that every sin can be forgiven; that you can walk in victory over that sin; that Christ has crushed the head and the power of sin.

Father, today, thank You for these epic stories and the high-definition view that we have of what You’ve done. Our relationship with you is not just individual, isolate, personal. It is all of those things, but God, it is connected to the grand story that You are writing in this world. Help us to get to that message right. Help us to get that message out! We pray, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!