Gen.15:1-17 and 18:1-16
Sunday 9/12/21
The week before last
Review
Narrate Abram and Lot going their separate ways because they ran out of land story.
Last Week Review
Lot’s captivity and rescue
Gen. 14
Abram Rescues Lot
1 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar,[fn] Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, 2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley). 4 For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.
11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.
13 A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
God makes a promise to Abram
Gen.15:1-17 and 18:1-16
MEMORY VERSE
ROMANS 4:13
For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
How do we sometimes let people down?
Is it sometimes hard to keep promises?
Can we depend on God?
Does He always keep His promises?
God wants us to trust Him. So what do we need to have?
(Faith)
LESSON TIME!
We will see God's promise to Abram, his response, and the testing of his faith.
The Lord’s Covenant with Abram
Gen.15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
The words, “After this,” speak of what had happened at the end of chapter 14. What had just occurred in Abram's life--the rescue of Lot and the offer of the riches of Sodom?
Abram was victorious in both things.
Here, God tells him that He was Abram's shield, Abram's protector, and his great reward.
Abram lost nothing when he refused the reward offered by the king of Sodom.
We can rest in the fact that God is our shield in the time of the battle, and He is our "exceedingly great reward," as we wait upon Him. As Abram refused the world's riches, God rewarded him.
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram now responded to God by asking the Lord how he was to become a great nation, he was aware that humanly speaking he was pretty old and still childless.
He wondered if his servant, Eliezer, would be his heir. Without a son to continue his line and receive his inheritance how could he hope his descendants would become a great nation?
When Abram responded to God’s promise with a question, God did not rebuke him. His honest question did not express unbelief.
Is it okay to ask questions?
Is it good to ask?
What does the bible say?
Mat 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
In verse 4, we read God’s answer, "And behold, the Word of the Lord came to him..." Eliezer would not be his heir and gave him the precious promise that a son would be born unto him.
Does anyone know what Abram’s sons names where?
(Isaac and Ishmael)
God then told him, “Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them...so shall your descendants be.”
Abram could never count the stars, but God could. As Abram looked at the stars, he saw a lot of them, a number he could not count; yet, it was symbolic of God's promise to him. So Abram believed God even though, it seemed impossible.
It was this trust in God, in the face of a future that seemed hopeless, that caused Abram to be remembered as
the hero of faith.
Heb 11: 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Verse
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Abram believed in God; that is, literally, he built his faith in God. Because of Abram's act of faith, God declared him to be righteous.
To be righteousness is to be living in a right relationship with God. This declaration of righteousness God gave to Abram was because Abraham believed and trusted God. It was not based on anything good that Abram had done.
Abram entered into fellowship with God by faith, and God entered into fellowship with Abram by grace.
We, also, are saved by faith and trust in Jesus Christ, not by doing good things.
Again, Abram trusted in God's promise.
Do we put trust in our circumstances, or do we trust in our God and His Word?
Does God want us to trust Him?
7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward, they will come out with great possessions.
15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants, I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
God reminded Abram of the covenant He made with him. God repeated to him the promise that he should inherit the land, and Abram asked Him for a sign. Again, Abram’s request for a sign to confirm God’s Word to him was not unbelief. God responds to our honest desire to know and verify His Word and will for our lives.
Sometimes God’s promises are hard to see; but, we can trust Him because He always keeps His promises.
Does God want us to trust Him?
Abram was obedient in preparing the sacrifices God asked him to prepare. He was given a prophecy that his descendants would leave the land and go into captivity for 400 years and afterward return with great substance.
Abram would pass in peace to his fathers before these things would happen. This prophecy is actually talking about a time in the future when the nation of Israel would be enslaved in Egypt and then delivered by God through Moses.
GENESIS 16: 1-3
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan for ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
GENESIS 17:1-3a
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” 3 Abram fell facedown,
GENESIS 17:3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[fn] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 18
1 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[fn] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said. 10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” 13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
Abraham Pleads for Sodom
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their
PRAYER
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