BIBLE DOCTRINE WITH PASTOR ROBERT R. MCLAUGHLIN

The Abrahamic Covenant: There is no place for guilt or anxiety about the past.

Friday, March 7, 2008

The ceremony recorded in Genesis 15 indicates the unconditional nature of the covenant.

Emphasizing or recognizing only one side of a promise or covenant.

Reward - “sakar” = “your benefit or your reward”

In verses 5-7, we see these three pictures, all of which serve to illustrate the point that the One who made the covenant or the promises has the ability to keep them.

The promises do not depend upon who or what we are but on who and what God is.

(1) The stars.
The first object lesson is in verse 5, and illustrates the fact that God has the ability to solve Abraham’s problems.

God has established a traffic pattern in the universe, and He has the power to keep all of these great stars of space in their orbit; consequently, while moving at great speed, millions and billions of stars follow a perfect pattern.

This requires knowledge and God has omniscience.
It also requires power and God has the omnipotence to accomplish it.
Immutability is required; God cannot change.

COL 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created by Him and for Him.

COL 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

HEB 1:3....He upholds all things by the word of His power.

No matter how you look at it, if God has the power to hold the universe together, God has the power to handle any problem you ever had......or ever will have.

God holds the universe together, COL 1:17, and if He has the power to handle the problem of traffic in the universe, don’t you think He also has the power to handle your problems?

The fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and His way, and then simply embracing Him and what He does.

He is not our racial father--that’s reading the story backwards. He is our faith father.

GAL 3:6-7 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.

Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.

(2) The promise of salvation, GEN 15:6.
‘Aman - points back to a decision Abraham had already made; he believed in the Lord.
The perfect tense of ‘aman = past completed action, an action completed many, many years ago.

(3) Faithfulness, GEN 15:7.
“Have I been faithful to you in the past Abram?”

That is why prior to the different stages of spiritual growth, we must all pass through different forms of suffering for blessing that the Lord brings in our life.

As a part of God’s faithfulness, He always provides the doctrine or the opportunity to get the doctrine necessary to pass each test before it comes.

HEB 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

This results in the things around you which were formerly distracting to your spiritual growth becoming less and less important.

All of these illustrations point to one Person, and that Person is not only God, but also God the Son. Understanding these illustrations and hearing the promises and the unconditional or unilateral covenants, there is no excuse for Abram, or any other believer, to worry about anything.

The second cure for Abram’s doubts and fears is the doctrine of the word of God, suggested in verses 8-11.

Abram saw the land occupied by the Amorites, as well as many giants.
Not only that, Chedorlaomer and his forces had been moving back and forth throughout the land, threatening to envelop it.

MAT 17:20 “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain [a reference to any huge obstacle in your life], ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”

MAT 19:26 “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The Abrahamic Covenant or the unconditional, unilateral covenant of God.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The specifics are all on the part of certain things you have to do - the negatives. While the land is specified as to directions, there is certainly no detail here that encourages obedience.

This is a picture of the fact that there are many commands in the Bible that we are told to obey without God telling us what type of blessings we will receive if we fulfill them. No details are given on the blessings in the promise land until the obedience has been fulfilled.

This is why there are times that we are told to go in a certain direction but not necessarily told what lies directly ahead of us if we do.

JOH 21:19 He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
JOH 21:19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”
JOH 21:22 Jesus said, “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you? You - follow me.”

You must have enough trust in the Promiser and faith in His ability to give you what you need and what will make you happy.

We should obey not to receive something but to honor our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

ACT 20:24 “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”

A lot of times you do not see the objective or the place of blessing.

PHI 1:21 For me, living is Christ, likewise dying is profit.

PHI 3:7-8 But whatever quality of things were gains to me, those things [gains] I have concluded as an expert as loss for the sake of Christ. Not only this but more than this, I conclude as an expert all things [Paul’s pre-salvation human celebrityship and achievement] to be loss [singular] because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have forfeited all things, also, I keep on concluding as an expert them to be piles of dung in order that I may win for Christ,

Until Abram becomes a good recruit where he will go ahead and obey an order without questioning it, he’s not any good to God.

You have to learn to obey God and do it whether you feel like it or not, and once you do then you continue your spiritual growth.

For Abram, the only thing that is obscure in the order from God is the command to go to the land; not much is said about the land.

So far, all the details are related to separation geographically and separation personnel wise.

HEB 11:8 By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

What God does not make clear to us through personal revelation of His word in us, He intends for us to operate by means of faith, trusting in the object of faith, God Almighty.

A lot of the details are not given on the land yet, that will come later, so therefore the land is to be the object of faith.
Just like God tells us to reach certain stages of spiritual growth and we will be blessed.

God gives us many promises and to believe the promises of God is one of the greatest manifestations of spiritual common sense.

If God doesn’t give you details on the objective then obey without details on the objective.

God is going to test all of us in our lives to advance without a lot of encouragement and to do it just because He said to, without having to have a pat on the head.

EPH 1:16 I do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
1CO 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, I am with you in spirit,

If it is hard work for the teacher then it’s easy work for the student.
The harder it is for the teacher, the easier it is for the student.

In the spiritual realm there must be a relationship between your personal motivation and your spiritual life.

PRO 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.

To believe the promises of God before you see the result of them is the greatest demonstration of growing up spiritually.

“What is the Abrahamic Covenant?”
A covenant is an agreement between two parties.
There are two types of covenants: conditional and unconditional. A conditional or bilateral covenant is an agreement that is binding on both parties for its fulfillment. Both parties agree to fulfill certain conditions.

If either party fails to meet their responsibilities, the covenant is broken and neither party has to fulfill the expectations of the covenant. An unconditional or unilateral covenant is an agreement between two parties, but only one of the two parties has to do something. Nothing is required of the other party.

The ceremony recorded in Genesis 15 indicates the unconditional nature of the covenant. Reward - “sakar” = “your benefit”

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In verses 5-7, we see these three pictures, all of which serve to illustrate the point that the One who made the covenant or the promises has the ability to keep them.

"You Are God Alone"

You're not a God created by human hands
You're not a God dependent on any mortal man
You're not a God in need of
Anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is
[2x]

[Chorus:]
You are God alone, from before time began
You were on Your throne, You are God alone.
And right now, in the good times and bad
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

You're the only God whose power none can contend
You're the only God whose name and
Praise will never end
You're the only God who's worthy
Of everything we can give
You are God, that's just the way it is

[Chorus]

[Bridge:]
You're unchangeable (Unchangeable)
Unshakable (Unshakable)
Unstoppable (Unstoppable)
That's who you are (That's who you are)
[2x]

I Wish You Were Here
I wanted to tell you how closely I've kept
The memories of you in my heart
And all of the lifetimes that we had to share
Live even though we're apart
But don't cry for me
'Cause I'm finally free
(Chorus)
To run with the angels
On streets made of gold
To listen to stories of saints new and old
To worship our Maker
That's where I'll be
When you finally find me

No don't you be weary cause waiting for you
Are wonders that you've never known
Just hold on to Jesus, reach out for his hands
And one day They'll welcome you home
And that's when you'll be
Finally free
Finally free

(Chorus)
I wish you were here, I wish you were here

And all of the dreams that you treasure
Will soon come together
And that's when your sorrow will find tomorrow
And you will rise again

(Chorus)

We'll run with the angels on streets made of gold
We'll listen to stories of saints new and old
We'll worship our maker that's where we'll be
When you finally find me