“An Everlasting Covenant” | Sabbath School Panel by 3ABN - Lesson 4 Q2 2021

hello friends here at 3ab and sabbath school panel we're making our way through our study on god's everlasting covenant in fact that's exactly what it's called it's called the promise god's everlasting covenant and we're learning that the covenant really is all about our personal relationship with jesus christ and so we want to encourage you to stick it out with us each and every way through because we're learning more and more as we dive deep into god's word but we want to tell you how you can get a copy of this lesson if you don't have one already so you can go online if you don't have a copy you can get a digital copy at absg.adventist.org and you can access a copy for free but of course we always encourage you if you can find your local 7th day adventist church and they can provide a copy for you for free as well and you get to fellowship and study god's word with like-minded individuals so again grab your pens your pencils your writing utensils ipads whatever it is you use and get ready to dive deep with us into god's word as we discuss god's everlasting covenant [Music] do hello friends and welcome back to 3abn sable school panel again we're so blessed that you're joining us each and every week as we are studying through god's word on god's everlasting covenant that's our topic and we're learning so much and we have lots to cover today as today's lesson is actually entitled an everlasting covenant and we're going to be looking at god's names the meaning of those names and how they relate to god in connection with the covenant and his people and so that being said i'm going to go ahead and introduce this fine panel uh to my left i have miss jill moriconi it's always a blessing to have you thank you so much ryan privilege to be here amen praise the lord we have pastor john dinzie how are you brother i am doing well thanks to the lord and it's a privilege also for me to be here amen praise the lord and to your left is miss shelley quinn always a blessing to hear what you have to say about the covenants oh this is exciting to me amen and of course last but not least on the far end of the table thursday's lesson today is pastor john lowe mccain yeah i'll get whatever you guys leave over for me i appreciate it okay praise the lord again we're talking about god's everlasting covenant and um i'm going to read the memory text before we pray and then we're going to pray and get right into this so i love this genesis chapter 17 verse 7 says and i will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be god to you and your descendants after you so pastor john mccain on that note why don't you have a prayer for us gracious father loving lord as we come this morning before the table of grace father we pray that you'll prepare for us a table from which we can partake and know that this bread has been imparted to us to impart to others give us wisdom lord synchronize our hearts and minds and may your holy spirit pour through the funnel of our obedient hearts that those who are listening and those who are watching may find the strength that they are in need of to walk in harmony with this covenant bless the production aspects of it and may all the glory and honor go to you alone we pray in christ's name amen amen amen thank you brother you know growing up in the day family household when i was a kid my my family my parents taught us that your word means something honor your word honor your agreements that you make with someone if you make a promise then you honor that promise and as i'm reading that text that we just read from genesis 17 7 as god says you know to you and your descendants and to you in their generation for an everlasting covenant to be god to you and your descendants after you i love that the fact that we we say that a lot it kind of rolls off the tongue easy everlasting covenant but when you really focus in on what that's saying it's beautiful to consider that we serve an everlasting god that he's saying you know what through thick and thin whatever it is that we're going through i'm there for you i am your god and i'm going to honor my word i'm going to keep my word because that's who i am i'm an everlasting god and my covenant is not something that just goes and stops right or comes to a certain point and it just becomes null and void it is something that will last in as much as you stay with me and you are committed to me i love the fact that we serve an almighty loving god that is everlasting and his word never fails i want to start with sabbath afternoon's lesson there was a there was a beautiful little a couple of paragraphs here that really i think warms us up and sets us up for the study of this week i'm going to read that now it says how many remember distinctly in your childhood a sickness or a touch of pneumonia perhaps that made us very sick with the potential for some something even worse in the long feverish night we would awaken from a half-sleep to see our mother or father sitting in a chair beside our bed in the soft glow of the nightlight just so in a figurative human sense god set by the bedside of a sin-sick world as mortal darkness began to deepen in the centuries after the flood for this reason he called out abraham and planned to establish through his faithful servant a people to whom he could entrust a knowledge of himself and give salvation therefore god entered into a covenant with abraham and his posterity that emphasized in more detail the divine plan to save humankind from the results of sin the lord was not going to leave his world unattended not with it in such dire need absolutely i like the way that set that up because it sets us up for sunday's lesson which dives deep into the meaning and the emphasis and importance of the name of god and how he uh introduced himself to abraham and i want to go ahead and go to genesis chapter 15 verses 1 through 7. this is where god introduces the covenant to abraham and introduces himself and basically he shows up and says this is me this is what i'm all about this is who i am and i want you to know exactly who it is that is seeking after you abraham and that's calling upon you so this is genesis chapter 15 verses 1-7 notice what the bible says after these things the word of the lord came to abram in a vision saying do not be afraid abram i am your shield your exceedingly great reward but abram said lord god what will you give me seeing i go childless and the heir of my house is eliezer of damascus then abram said look you have given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir and behold the word of the lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir then he brought him outside and said look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them and he said to them you shall you so shall your descendants be and he believe i love this this is uh genesis 15 verse 6. he says and he believed in the lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness but our key verse is the next verse verse 7 it says then he then he said to him i am the lord who brought you out of ur of the chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it so god basically identifies himself here i am the lord your god and of course the lesson brings out that names of course can sometimes be like trademarks right they're often associated with certain traits and characteristics for instance if i say certain names like i don't know albert einstein right there's something that comes to our mind we have certain qualities certain traits and characteristics another person martin luther king jr absolutely hitler okay something comes to the mind right harriet tubman these are all famous historical names abraham lincoln right something comes to mind michael jordan [Laughter] and then one more ellen g white every one of these historical individuals when you say their name it's not just a name there are certain these are these names are associated with certain characteristics traits and ideals that immediately come to your mind when you hear that so during bible times obviously people of the near of the near east or the middle east attached great importance to the meaning of names in fact the sda bible commentary volume 1 has this to say this is volume 1 page 523 of the sda bible commentary it says the hebrews always thought of a name as indicating either the personal characteristics of the one named or the thoughts and emotions of the one giving the name or attendant circumstances at the time the name was given and so i think of certain names in bible like you know that famous one when you think of jacob right what was jacob's name associated with deceiver supplanter right so that was a horrible name to be given but that's what he was known before god changed his name i think of michael right michael is the one who is like god these names mean something well the same thing here is what the sunday's lesson is bringing about that when god introduced himself even though it says in our english bible for instance you may have a king james or a new king james bible and there in the if you have a king james bible it's going to be all caps l-o-r-d i am the lord your god right but in the original language they're bringing out that actually god's name he identifies himself he actually gives a name i am yahweh who brought you out of her so he identified himself and of course with that name comes a meaning with that name comes an identifying factor or characteristics or ideals or or certain traits that come along with that and it's interesting that that name yahweh which we see in our bible as lord it appears more than 6828 times in the old testament alone which is powerful god wants us to know who he is he wants us to know that i am the lord your god it also happens to be a name of course shrouded in mystery uh scholars suggest it could be a form of the hebrew verb i'm hoping i'm saying this correctly it almost makes me want to i don't know i just come to haiyah right you just want to do some karate there but seriously it's it's a real hebrew word and this is what the scholars say that it comes from the hebrew verb which means to be in which case it also can mean get this the eternal one the existent one the self-existent one the self-sufficient one or the one who lives eternally kind of like that everlasting current covenant that eternal covenant he is an eternal god he is an eternally existent god and of course this is describing the divine attributes of god it's describing his character god is revealing to abraham and it's powerful if you think about this abraham was in earth where this is a region outside of babylon so he would have been just just shrouded and just stooped in in babylonian culture so you're talking about he's living in the epicenter of occultic practices and pagan polytheistic culture where at every little turn somebody's worshiping some kind kind of god whether it's you know the god of the wind or the god of the air the god of the grass or the god of the sea or the god of gold and silver or whatever kind of gods they serve there and then this god shows up and says hey abraham i'm yahweh i'm the eternal one i'm the self-existent one and i'm calling you out i want you to be my man i've got so many blessings for you i'm not like all these other false gods and so this got abraham's attention you can imagine it shook his world right because looking at all of these other false gods what have they done for anyone he's seeing he's observing and he's seeing all these other gods that they're serving here in babylonian culture they haven't done anything but here's a god that says i'm going to do something i'm going to make things happen for you i'm going to bless you you're going to be a blessing to others and this is who i am i am yahweh i am the god of everything and so abraham the bible says he believed it and it was accounted to him for righteousness he knew that there was something different about this god in fact in exodus 3 14 that's what comes to my mind when god actually identified himself and what this yahweh means when he identified himself to moses and said you know when moses asked him when i go into egypt what should i call you who should i tell sent me he said i am who i am that's just who you tell me why because it means i rule over the past present and future i am the only true god that's who you tell is sent you the only true god so god wants abraham to know his name right because that name reveals aspect of his aspects of his identity his personal nature and his character and from this knowledge we can learn to trust in his promises i'm thinking of psalm 9 verse 10 as i'm as we're doing this study here and those who know your name this is psalm 9 verse 10 and those who know your name will put their trust in you for you lord have not forsaken those who seek you did god forsake abraham abraham found that out that god was not bluffing he wasn't just another false god like all the other false deities that they served in babylon he saw this personal god for who he was the mighty everlasting god another one psalm 91 verse 14. love this text because he has set his love upon me therefore i will deliver him i will set him on high because he has known my name god's name is much more than just a name my friends god's name tells us the story of who he is he is the almighty god he is the everlasting god who wants to bestow that everlasting covenant upon us if only we would just surrender to him now and accept him for who he truly is yahweh the eternally existent one amen amen thank you so much we're having church that's the truth i think maybe we could have you be just a little less excited no i love that i love ryan's energy and enthusiasm what an incredible setup to our lesson yahweh i love that i have another of the names of god i have el shaddai now l just means god in the semites it was their basic name for referring to god and it means might or power and it occurs many hundred times throughout hebrew but it's connected el shaddai god with shaddai and we're going to study what that means let's look first at the first time that this word for god el shaddai is used in the bible this is genesis 17 verse 1. this is talking to abraham genesis 17 verse 1 when abram was 99 years old the lord this is yahweh that ryan already addressed appeared to abram and said to him i am almighty god i am el shaddai walk before me and be blameless this covenant-making story is introduced by this appearance of god right here and god repeats his promise to abram remember his promise first made in genesis 12. it was repeated in genesis chapter 15 that promise of descendants but yet he's still childless that promise of land and yet he doesn't have a great deal that re-affirmation god reaffirmed his covenant right here with abram to both him and his descendants and he gave circumcision as a sign of that covenant now abram was 75 years old which we would consider in today's society he's already getting older maybe even retirement age and yet at the age 75 he is called to leave er of the chaldeans now at this point he's 99 years old and that promise that god gave to him he hasn't seen the fulfillment yet so god comes and says i am the almighty one i can fulfill that promise shaddai occurs 48 times the word should i in hebrew almost exclusively in the book of genesis and the book of job of course the first time it occurs we just read that reference there and shadai comes now we translate it we you could say sanitize it in english in the bible because we translate it god almighty and clearly god is almighty but the original word should i comes from shad which literally means breast so you could say this means the mighty breast this is where we get that concept of god almighty remember maybe two weeks ago i'm trying to remember when it was a couple weeks ago pastor john i think it was pastor john talked about we are made in the image of god male and female created in the image of god meaning that god has you could say attributes characteristics that would be both what we would naturally identify as masculine or feminine and in this case the mightiness of god implies power but not power of violence this is the power of bountifulness it suggests that god is the poorer forth the shatter of blessings he is our el shaddai in contrast with the weakness and the frailty of humanity so let's look at you might say okay so why do i care about that what does it matter to know that god is our el shaddai i think there's seven lessons seven reasons that i can see here you know i was going there i am so lesson number one el shaddai gives me hope in seemingly impossible situations that's what god did to abram he's 99 years old and he was given the promise years before and yet he and his wife are way past the child bearing age especially his wife past the time of women there's no way from a human perspective that they could have children and yet god appears and he says i am a powerful god i am a bountiful god i am the god who can pour forth and shed blessings upon you whatever you need whatever you lack i will supply it so are you facing a seemingly impossible situation today know that your god el shaddai he specializes god almighty and taking a seemingly impossible situation and turning it around the second lesson i see is that el shaddai can adjust how others view us now this is an interesting one this is in genesis chapter 43 jump over to genesis chapter 43 we see the reference to el shaddai again genesis 43 verse 14. now to set up this story we see that israel or this was jacob but of course his name was changed later to israel he believes his son joseph is dead although he was really sold into slavery in egypt and now he's the prime minister but jacob doesn't know all that so he believes joseph is dead there's a famine in the land and the people are starving his family is starving he sent them to egypt for food this harsh task master who turns out to be joseph kept simeon in prison there the family comes back to daddy and then he says oh but you need to go for food again and they said we can't go because the overseer said we got to bring our little brother benjamin with us this time and so this is where el shaddai comes in we're in genesis 43 verse 14 and may god almighty that's el shaddai give you mercy before the man that he may release your older brother and benjamin if i am bereaved i am bereaved he's praying god almighty el shaddai to change how this overseer looks at the situation to give him mercy in his heart lesson number three el shaddai pours out blessings into our lives we see this in jump over a couple more chapters i genesis 49 verse 25. this is israel's final blessing at the end of his life to his sons and this is the blessing to joseph in particular by the god that's el of your father who will help you and by the almighty that's shaddai who will bless you with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lie beneath blessings of the breasts and of the womb el shaddai pours out blessings into your life are you walking in a place that's seemingly impossible do you need the people around you to have an attitude adjustment or an eye adjustment with how they're viewing that situation do you need blessings poured out into your life call on god as your el shaddai number four el shaddai is able to correct us this is a very interesting one to me jump over to job job chapter 5 verse 17. behold happy is the man whom god that's l corrects therefore do not despise the chastening of the almighty that is should i now both parents correct clearly when you grow up usually the father disciplines and the mother disciplines but if we look at the connotations from this to me this is specifically looking at how would your mama correct you and i remember when i was growing up my mom had many ways to correct me but the one way that was most effective i remember she walked into the bedroom i knew i was gonna get whipped and she walked in and she knelt down i'll never forget this and she began to pray and she said god forgive me for not being the mother to jill that i should have been and that broke my heart that mother's love for me that desire that i would turn from my wicked ways and i would follow god that brought me wooed me back to the lord jesus christ next lesson is el shaddai is all-powerful still in job job 11 verse 7. can you search out the deep things of god that's al can you find out the limits of the almighty the should i there is no limit to the power of our god the next lesson lesson number six el shaddai sustains us job 33 verse 4 the spirit of god has made me and the breath of the almighty or shaddai gives me life so god not only created us in the beginning but through the power of el shaddai we are sustained and finally number seven el shaddai always does the right thing job 34 verse 12 surely god that is l will never do wickedly nor will the almighty that is should i pervert justice el shaddai is not swayed by other people's opinions by other people's emotions or outside pressure god will always do the right thing i'm so thankful no matter what we are facing that we can call on him as our el shaddai praise the lord i like that i love that story about your mom mama day she was a little bit different she said lord please let this whipping straighten my son out that's just how things were around my house and many times it did so praise the lord we're going to take a short break we'll come right back ever wish you could watch a 3abn sabbath school panel again or share it on facebook instagram or twitter well you can by visiting 3abnsabbaschoolpanel.com a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share a link save a life for eternity hello friends welcome back to 3abn sabbah school panel we're going to send it over to pastor john dinze for tuesday's lesson all right now we move over to tuesday's lesson and the title for today's lesson is from abram to abraham and so this begins with genesis chapter 17 we're going to read that again in verses 1 through 5. let's go when abraham was 99 years old the lord appeared to abraham and said to him i am almighty god walk before me and be blameless and i will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly and abraham fell on his face and god talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of many nations no longer shall your name be called abram but your name shall be abraham for i have made you a father of many nations so remember abraham or at this point now he's 99 years old no children and now when he presents himself to people i heard a pastor say this one that's very interesting they say what is your name my name is abraham and they hear oh you're a father of many nations how many children do you have well his answer would at that point be well i i have one you know but later of course the the promise of the lord became true he was a father of many nations and in him all the families of the earth have been blessed by the way abraham lived to 175 years old blessed of the lord now when you go to the scriptures you will notice that many of the names of the people this is a a common practice among the semitic tribes of ancient times the names were heavy laden with spiritual significance uh you see even uh adam and eve when after king killed abel and seth was born eve said this in genesis chapter 3 verse 25 and adam knew his wife again and she bore a son named named himself for god has appointed another seed for me instead of it instead of abraham cain killed seth means substituted and that was a blessing from the lord because they were comforted by the lord giving him giving them another son sat now it is interesting that the lesson brings out some examples of name change you have jacob jacob's name being changed joseph's name being changed by the egyptians daniel hananiah and azariah their names were changed i'm if time permits i will mention another one but i want to start with the number three example in the lesson let's go to daniel chapter one and i'm going to read verse six and seven notice what happens because the people of israel were taken captive to babylon and some of the princes were taken into the court to be a part of the nebuchadnezzar's uh people this was a strategic move by nebuchadnezzar because these princes of the people would help them be able to control the jews that were captive among them now notice what happens daniel 1 verse 6. now from among those of the sons of judah were daniel hannah nia michelle and azariah to them the chief of the eunuchs gave names he gave daniel the name beltachazar to hananiah shadrach to michelle meshach and to azariah abednego of course you noticed that their names were changed and it's interesting because these hebrews their names meant something special they had a spiritual significance the changing of the names was not for a good reason it was to in their in their lives experience in babylon so that they could identify with the gods of babylon actually even the name babylon in the babylonian language means gate of the gods so many gods they were pagans and they wanted these jews not to have their names having beautiful significance about the almighty god continually sounding when they call daniel let's look at the name significance of daniel and his friends daniel's name means a god of judgment or god is my judge hananiah signify the lord of grace or the lord is gracious to me michael or mishael convey the sense that the the lord is the strength my strength uh azariah it's a compound of azar and yah implied the lord is my help so their names being changed was to lead them to forget who they were and so this of course uh had they not stayed close to the lord that would have happened but they chose to be faithful and and these guys endured some terrible things i don't know how many of us after the statue was put up and the instruments sounded would have bowed before that statue that nebuchadnezzar set up but you have the three hebrew words being faithful to god until the end even after nebuchadnezzar said hey we're going to give you guys a second chance we're going to see if you're going to bow down and if you don't you're going into the fiery furnace they said the lord will deliver us and if he does not we are not going to bow down so there they stay they remain faithful to god you know it's it's very important to to recognize that your name means something connected to the lord and so uh i have good news for you and continue to listen and we'll see that in a moment see as christians we must not never forget not forget that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world i want to talk to you about jacob because his name uh was changed for a good reason uh in genesis chapter 32 verse 28 uh it says here and he said your name shall no longer be called jacob but israel for you have struggled with god and with men and have prevailed uh and so here you have uh jacob's name being changed he wrestled with the angel uh during the whole night and uh he realized that wait a minute this is no common man and so he held on he held on and he was blessed to have his name changed and i want to uh point out something interesting because his brother said something interesting about him in genesis 27 34-36 when esau heard the words of his father see jacob had come in and stole the the blessing that he that he was supposed to receive when esau heard the words of his father he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father bless me bless me also o my father but he said your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing and esau said is he not rightly named jacob for he has supplanted me these two times he took away my birthright and now look he has taken away my blessing and he said have you not reserved the blessing for me he was desirous to have the blessing that he despised earlier in his life but jacob's name was changed to israel a wonderful change and so i'm going to read to you from patriots and prophets page 198. notice here the error that had led jacob sin in obtaining the birthright by fraud was now clearly set before him he had not trusted god's promises but had sought by his own efforts to bring about that which god would have accomplished in his own time and way as an evidence that he had been forgiven his name was changed from one that was a reminder of his sin to one that commemorated his victory thy name said the angel shall be called no more jacob thus a planter but israel for as a prince has thou power with god and with men and has prevailed jacob had received the blessing for which his soul had longed his sin as a subplanter and deceiver had been pardoned the crisis in his life was passed doubt and perplexity had uh had perplexity and remorse had embittered his existence but now all was changed and sweet was the piece of reconciliation with god jacob no longer feared to meet his brother god who had forgiven his sin could move the heart of esau also to accept his humiliation and repentance praise the lord his name was changed from something negative to something positive and the good news i have for you i don't know what kind of name you have whether you like it or not and uh i i heard some horrible name that some father gave to his daughters uh they had three daughters they called them yesterday today and tomorrow i don't know what in the world got into the minds of these parents but i don't know if you've been called something else that you didn't like by your peers but god is going to give us a new name bro bought by us through jesus christ he paid the price to be able to not only redeem us to call us call us his children and give us an inher inheritance but to have our names changed because god loves us wants the best for us abraham's name was changed so that he could identify with the promises that god had made to him amen and amen thank you this has been such a lovely study wednesday's lesson is covenant stages we've already mentioned how god's covenant is an everlasting covenant one that was made before eternity began the covenant of redemption and god is constantly progressively unfolding this but even within the covenant of abraham he does so the first there's three progressive stages as god will see that he approaches abraham each time he gives him a command and a promise so let's look at the first stage genesis 12 verses 1-3 now the lord had said to abram get out of your country from your family from your father's house to a land that i will show you i will make you a great nation i will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing i will bless those who bless you i will curse him who curses you and in all the families of the earth you in all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and then in verse 7 he says the lord appeared abram and said to your descendants i will give this land and i will i will i will this is god's covenant abraham's 75 years old living in ur a pagan society reared by pagan parents and we know that because in joshua 24 2 it says to ra that's his father had served false gods so here is abram god's calling him into a new relationship with him and he says leave everything familiar behind you he's living in a town that's a seaport god's calling him to transition to living the life of a nomad this is an incredible example of faith and 25 years later he's finally given the son so god approaches abraham to be the first special covenant bearer if you will the the one who is going to be the first major figure of the god's covenant of grace and he does ask he gives him a command and it's one that involves total trust in god i don't know that i'd be that brave but hebrews 11 says it was by faith abraham went out not knowing where he was going but the promise was not only even though it was specifically made to abraham it was ultimately a promise that includes all of the whole human race we see in galatians 3 paul's writing about this verses 6 to 9 abraham believe god it was accounted to him for righteousness somebody asked me once do you believe in righteousness by faith let me tell you there is no righteousness except by faith righteousness by faith is the only thing that there is with god and he says therefore know that only those who are of faith this is paul writing in galatians 3 only those who are of faith are sons of abraham and the scriptures were saying that god would justify the gentiles by faith preached the gospel to abraham beforehand saying in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed so paul concludes galatians 3 9 so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing abraham that's the first stage now this is the exciting part god comes back on the second stage again there's an approach command and a promise genesis 15 5-18 god comes to him he brings abraham outside he says look now toward the heaven count the stars if you're able to number them so shall your descendants be and it says in verse 6 he believed in the lord and he god accounted it to him as righteousness the covenant the everlasting covenant has always been righteousness by faith justified by faith so then he says in verse 7 god says to him i am the lord who brought you out of her and out of the chaldeans to give you this land to inherit so he promises him the land and you know then what happens abraham makes a genuine request for assurance he says lord how shall i know i will inherit it so what god does is he tells them get a heifer a goat and a ram cut them in half lay them with a path where there is half's on one side halves on the other in a path in between and then he tells them to get a turtledove and a pigeon they they killed but they're not to be divided so abraham obeys he cuts these animals asunder lays them this way now you know in the ancient days when man would cut a covenant with man make a covenant they called it cutting a covenant this is what they did and and what would happen is then each man would walk through the path and they are saying basically as they're doing this taking this covenant so let it be done to me let me be cut in half if i break this covenant but let's watch this because what happens after abraham obeys god puts abraham in a deep sleep just like he put when he put adam in a deep sleep when he was going to create eve now get this while he's in the deep sleep god's going to walk through this abraham never walks through this because there's only one person making the promises abraham did there it didn't involve any promise on abraham's part it was god's promises so god is going to walk through this and he talks to his sleeping prophet telling him his descendants are going to be you know 400 years in this land that where they're going to be afflicted and there'll be strangers in the land and then he promises he'll judge egypt so he's talking to abraham it's from verses 13 to 21. abraham's hearing it in a in a vision as he sleeps but the abrahamic covenant it's interesting to me that god maybe it's because this is the way people cut covenants god wanted to prove that it was a covenant but he was the only one so figuratively god is saying so let it be done to me if i were to break my covenant now the third stage genesis 17 abraham's 99 years old god appears to him says i am almighty god walk before me and be blameless whoo there is remember the covenant is god's covenant he always says my covenant he makes the promises but there are stipulations there are conditions of obedience he says walk before me be blameless i'll make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly and abraham falls on his face and that's when he says my covenant is you're going to be the father of many nations i'm going to change your name from abram which means father is exalted to abraham which means father of many nations and then he says i'm going to make this an everlasting covenant that between me and you that through you the world is going to be blessed now let's look in the very short time we've got left galatians 3 7. paul the new testament makes it abundantly clear that the true descendants of abraham are those who have the faith of abraham who trust in the promised merit or the merits of the promised messiah galatians 3 7 paul says therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of abraham then in verse 29 he says if you are christ you are abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise what is the everlasting covenant it is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world it is god's provision for salvation for redemption it was introduced when he said i'm gonna the woman is gonna have a seed this is why when she's set she thinks he's gonna replace the scene she thinks hey seth is going to be this is eve the the promised deliverer the messiah but god wants you to know that he is inviting you into covenant if you're not in covenant with god you're not saved how simple can i say that oh thank you shelley thank you all of you i mean we've been talking about covenants all the way through and although it's kind of like daniel in revelation we have been repeating and enlarging because abraham has been mentioned a number of times and today mine is called covenant obligation now we pointed out the number of covenants we find in scripture and just to cap off what we've talked about i think since our lesson began there are about depending on how you count if you choose only the hebrew bible you find four uh major categories that the jews consider covenants but when you consider the bible in its totality you find the edena covenant the noah covenant the abrahamic covenant the mosaic covenant which also include a priestly covenant because of the ark of the covenant the services that the priests were to perform the davidic covenant and then the new covenant so you could totally about seven but the one thing that unites them all is the god who made the covenants so when you look at this you'll find if you put the phrase the short phrase i will in the bible and i've tried to track this as well as i can you find more than 2 300 phrases i will and when you look at all of them and i tried my best to count as many as i could because i mean i couldn't sit there and count all 2 300 but i noticed that almost all of those were were the lord saying this is what i'm going to do i will i will i will i will i will not to include the declarations of a fallen angel i will ascend above the heights of the clouds those take those seven out but in most cases god was making declarations and these declarations was from the god of the covenant uh as we talked about the the tetragrammaton the the the phonetic name of god yahweh with the just with yhwh and he is the god of the covenant so these covenants were made from beginning to end and every covenant this is something very important very important to understand every covenant that god made he did not have preconditions to him extending the covenant but he sure did have conditions to those who embrace to the covenant let's start with genesis 18 verse 19. and abraham has been the abraham has been the star of this panel today he says for i have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the lord to do righteousness and justice that the lord may bring to abraham what he has spoken to him so the lord made the covenant but he said hey wait a minute your children your household there's something i'm going to require of them and then when we find that requirement that the lord made very clear to abraham command your household after the covenant i've made with you and then you find these words that are so beautiful in genesis chapter 26 and verse 5. here's what the bible says and why did god bless him because abraham obeyed my voice kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws a lot of people read that and say wait a minute that's long long long before sinai you have abraham isaac jacob you have jacob's 12 sons and you have they go into bondage then they have they come out and the lord gives them 10 commandments and people that think the commandments just came into existence at sinai thought well what commandments did abraham keep well you find in the bible there were 1500 years of unwritten record but there was not 1500 years of unwritten requirements to be obedient why would you why would there be a need to be obedient unless there's something to be obedient in harmony with how could men have sinned all that time lest there's a law that could have been violated but abraham was the one that was the man that was obedient he obeyed my voice obedience could not exist except there is a law to live in harmony with so we find once again as we look at the old testament and the new testament you find once again this unconditional extension of a commandment and a covenant from god but surely he does require obedience on the part of those who embrace it hebrews 10 and verse 16. we're going all the way down to the new covenant and in as we look through the lessons i'm just so excited when we prepare for these lessons as we look through them we start to see things that we love to say today but we've got to wait till the time comes because i just have loved this study but he says this is the covenant i will make with them after those days says the lord i will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds i will write them in other words they're not going to have to carry around the torah they're not going to have to carry around the ark of the covenant it is going to be here it's going to be here and the consciences of men can only be consciences when the spirit of god awakens within them this reminder that there's an obligation god made a covenant with you and your obligation to honor that covenant if that covenant is violated it awakens within us this sense of guilt this sense of falling short all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god we can't fall short unless there's a covenant to live up to to exalt and to measure our lives by a standard by which each one of us is going to be judged now according to the lesson so far we have seen that the covenant is always a covenant of grace but it's never a covenant that does not require obedience so suffice it to say this let's look at a couple of passages looking at the obedience aspect of it and i'm going to come come at it from the new testament perspective because we know we find all throughout the old testament this cadence of the children of israel the cadence of the hebrews going in the israelites coming out of eden of noah of moses we find these covenants continually made but the covenant language continues in the new testament luke 6 and verse 46 look what the lord says why do you call me lord lord and do not do the things which i say so the covenant is there too because for anyone who calls the lord his lord or her lord we must do what the lord says remember the israelites when they were given the commandments all that the lord has said we will do the same thing applies here in the new testament why do you call me lord lord and do not do the things which i say another one that people love to ignore john 14 15 if you love me keep my commandments that's simply when the lord is your god you can't say he is my lord but i'm not going to keep his commandments then you will be guilty as as isaiah 24 5 says they they broke my laws they violated my commandments well they broke my commandments they violated my laws you can't call god and specifically speak to christians you can call jesus lord and then ignore ignore his commandments first john 2 verse 3 and 4 or verse four first john two verse four he who says i know him and does not keep his commandments as a liar and the truth is not in him that's that covenant obligation and then and then the apostles as they went forth proclaiming the gospel once again the show of obedience to that covenant acts 5 and verse 32 and we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the holy spirit whom god has given to those who obey him the covenant is not without obedience look at these five points god promised noah that his family would be spared but it was on the condition of noah's obedience to god's covenant hebrews 11 verse 7. by faith noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith and that shelley said there is no other righteousness but righteousness by faith number two when god gave moses the principles of the law israel responded with affirmation that god's law warranted a response and in short all that the lord has said we will do exodus chapter 24 verse 7 and 8. all that the lord had said we will do did they do it you can't do anything by declaration you have to rely on the spirit of god i can do all things through christ who strengthens me number three the covenant of god does not dismiss our obligation to god's commandments psalm 78 and verse 10 they did not keep the covenant of god why they refuse to walk in his law let me ask a question are you a new testament christian that believes you don't have to walk in god's law well the same statement applies to you there's no way that you could be a covenant keeping christian a covenant keeping worshiper of god and not be obedient to the law of god number four god requires obedience to his covenant jeremiah 11 verse 1 to 6 i don't have time to read all of it but i'll just simply put it this way he says obey my voice and do according to all that i command you and you shall be my people and lastly we find that god's covenant is always something that comes out of an obligation from our hearts let me make this point as we transition if your heart is not filled with love for the lord the covenant of god is his love to you your response to the covenant of god is your love to him do you love him that much amen praise the lord man that's this is a rich lesson this was a rich lesson indeed so let's take some time just to go back through and give some final thoughts monday's lesson we talked about el shaddai our god who can do anything and take any seemingly impossible situation and turn it around just want to encourage you no matter what you are going through no matter what you are experiencing call on him and he will be faithful to you amen well abraham's abraham's name was changed to abraham because he chose to be faithful to god and that means that god wants to transform him as well as us i'm reading to you from revelation chapter 2 verse 17 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes i will give some of the hidden manna to eat and i will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it and god wants to give you a new start a new name and make you part of his family amen we saw in on thursday or wednesday that god revealed separate he revealed his covenant in several stages to abraham the progressive unfolding of that in exodus 2 24 when god hears the hebrews he remembers his covenant with abraham the sinai covet is built on this everlasting covenant with abraham in luke 1 and verse 72 god sends christ he remembers his covenant with abraham it's all about the everlasting covenant that's right if you are a covenant-keeping christian god does not want lip service he wants life service amen matthew 15 verse 8 the people draw near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me i pray that you will not be a lip service christian but a life service christian amen praise the lord this this lesson has reminded me of just how committed god really is to us it's not always the case that we are as committed to him but he is certainly committed to us and i just want to invite you if you're home uh watching wherever you are around the world commit yourself to christ just reach out to him and ask him lord help me to be more committed to you and he will give you the spirit to do so we will invite you to come back next week and join us for another lesson entitled children of the promise until then thank you so much for joining us and we will see you right back here next week on three abn sabbah school panel [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

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Keywords: 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, The Promise, God’s Promises, Trusting God, Covenant, everlasting covenant

Id: oKfIHfx6Ebs

Length: 58min 31sec (3511 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021