lived in perfect harmony. But what began as blessing has ended in curse. God the loving
creator had given to Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, all that they ever
needed. It was all theirs to enjoy and delight in. Here I'm going to stop because, thanks
Connor, you've reminded me. I've got little notes here as well.
So keep your Bibles open at Genesis. Take two. We'll start again. It was all so beautiful.
Everyone and everything lived in perfect harmony. But what began as blessing has ended in curse.
God the loving ruler and creator had given to Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman,
all that they ever needed. It was all theirs to enjoy and delight in. And all they had to do
was obey. Look at chapter 2 verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the man,
you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will surely die. But like us, they were not content with
what they had been given. They wanted it all. They wanted to be like God. And so they listened
to Satan and his lies. Chapter 3 verse 4. You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman.
For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil. And with that desire driven from their hearts to be like God, they reached out
and they ate the fruit. And at that very moment of rebellion against God, everything broke. The
blessing turned to curse. Where the world was once teeming with life, there was now the stench of death.
Where man and woman once enjoyed God, there was now a fear of God. Where they walked with their
creator in openness, they now ran and hid in shame. Rather than enjoying the blessing of God, they now
experienced the curse of God. Chapter 3 verse 23. So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden
to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed him on the east side
of the garden of the garden of Eden and cherubim with there with a flaming sword, flashing back and forth
to guard the way to the tree of life. And that separation, that intimacy that they had is now been
separated. And it's what the world and we all experience today. We are cut off from the source of all love
and life with the fearful expectation of facing God's judgment and eternal and living death. All because,
like Adam, we want to live as if we are God, making up the rules for our own lives, deciding what is good
and evil. Now the awful truth is, we can do nothing about it. We cannot undo what we have broken.
Of course, we've tried to fix it, but history proves that we've done very little to make things better.
We could say the world has just gotten worse.
The reality is, when we are the problem, we can't be the solution. So what are we going to do about it?
Well, the story of the Bible is not about what we can do, but it's all about what God does for us.
Not what we do, but what God does. Not because we deserve it or earn it, but because of God's incredible
and amazing grace. I have a definition here that I think works very well. God's grace is God's
independent decision to treat rebels like us in kindness. And we've already seen glimpses of his
grace at work at the very beginning of the story. So have a look at chapter four. Cain was
Adam and Eve's first son. But look what we read in verse eight of chapter four. Now Cain said to his
brother Abel, let's go out to the field. And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother
Abel and killed him. Now look at how God responds in verse 13. God said to the Lord, my punishment is
more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land and I will be hidden from your presence.
I will be a restless wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me. But the Lord said to him,
not so. If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put a mark
on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. You see, in an act of grace, he is protected.
God does not treat him as he deserves. We see the same again if we look on in chapter five.
Here we have this history of the human race. And because we've all rebelled, we all die. So look at
how the theme runs. Verse five, altogether Adam lived 930 years and then he died. Verse eight, Seth
lived 912 years and then he died. Verse 11, Enosh lived 905 years and then he died. And look at the
very end of the section, verse 31. Altogether Lamech lived 770 years and then he died. And on and on it
goes, it's telling us that the tragic fate of every human being is this death. But in the middle of
the story or in the middle of this history of death, we see God's act of grace. Look in the middle of
chapter five, verse 23. And here we read about Enoch. And what do we read there? Verse 23,
altogether Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God. Then he was no more because God took him
away. Do you see right in the middle of death, Enoch does not die. God in his grace spares Enoch the pain
of death so he might live with God. Even when humans are at their worst, God acts in grace. Look at
chapter six, verse five. This is the lead up to the flood and to the story of Noah and the ark. But read
verse five, the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil all of the time. And the Lord was grieved that he had made man on the
earth and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, I will wipe mankind from whom I have created
from the face of the earth. Now let's remember as God gives this description of this broken world,
Adam is also part of that broken order. He's included in verses five and six. But look how God responds.
Verse eight, but Noah found favor or the word there is Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In other words,
God in his goodness treated Noah with kindness. Noah, who was a rebel, received God's grace. And we know
that Noah and his family were saved as if God rebooted and started creation again, another start, another
beginning by his grace. So here is our God who independently decides to treat rebels like us in
kindness. And it's God's desire and his plan and his longing to show this grace, not just to one or two
individuals, but that the whole world and every nation and every race would come to experience his
amazing grace. And the way that God was going to do it was through a covenant, a promise.
A covenant is like a legal contract. It's a promise between two people or two parties. A marriage is a very
good example of this. So when two people get married, they enter into a covenant relationship. This
lifelong commitment to love one another, to be faithful and loyal to one another and not to leave each other.
So we had a wedding recently of Sam and Yelena. When they got married, they made their vows or their
promises and they gave rings to each other as a sign of that covenant. It's a symbol of their binding
agreement to one another. And in a sense, they are saying, I'll never leave you. I'll be committed to you.
I'll be faithful. I'll be loyal. Now it was through a covenant, through a promise that God would show his
grace to the world. God saying, I am going to be faithful to you, loyal, committed. I will not leave you.
You will be my bride. You will be mine.
And that covenant was made with a man called Abraham.
Now there's three things we need to know about this promise, this covenant that God would make.
Have a look at chapter 12. The first thing we need to know
is that it is God's gracious intervention.
Genesis chapter 12, verse 1.
The Lord said to Abraham, we know that his name was later changed to Abraham, so we'll just use that
name. We won't get confused. So the Lord said to Abraham, leave your country, your people, and your
father's household, and go to the land I will show you. But well, who was this character? Where did he
come from? Well, the Bible tells us a little bit later on that Abraham was an idol worshipper.
He didn't know or worship the true creator God. He wasn't anybody special. He wasn't somebody who was
living a particularly good life that God looks down and goes, hey, he's doing very well. I think
I'll speak to him. No, it's kind of out of the blue. There's nothing special about Abraham, but yet
God reaches down and chooses him. This is an act of intervening grace in the life of one man.
And having intervened into his life, God makes this amazing promise, verse 2. He says, I will make you
into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. It's hard to miss it. Primarily, this is a promise that God is going to
bring blessing. Abraham is going to be blessed. But more importantly, look at the end of verse 3 again.
All peoples on earth, every tribe, tongue, and language will be blessed through you.
Now let's remember, at this point in God's story, the world is experiencing this terrible curse.
The world experiences death and pain and suffering. Men and women are cut off from God,
the source of all life and love. But all of that is going to change. God has not given up on the world
or the people he has made. He is graciously going to intervene, and he promises to bring blessing
instead of curse. And so someone from the line of Abraham, somebody from his family in years to come,
is going to bring this blessing that would reach all peoples on earth, and nobody would be excluded.
That is God's intervening grace.
But we also need to see that there is a binding obligation on our part.
You see, when God made his promise to Abraham,
well, it was dependent on Abraham having children.
Through a descendant of Abraham, the world would be blessed.
The problem is that Abraham and his wife Sarah are very old, and they don't have any children.
And without a child, the promise of blessing is not going to continue.
So God reminds them again of his promise to bless.
So chapter 17, verse 3, he repeats the promise to him again.
Verse 3, Abraham fell down, and God said to him,
As for me, this is my covenant with you.
You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abraham.
Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
I will make you very fruitful.
I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
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.
And this whole land of Canaan where you are now an alien.
I will give as an everlasting possession to you
and your descendants after you.
And I will be their God.
It echoes out of Eden, isn't it?
Where God was with his people and he says,
Adam and Eve, I'm going to be your God.
And he's promising again to Abraham,
I'm going to restore all of that for the whole world.
God has not given up.
He will graciously see that blessing will come.
But you see, in these promises,
God is not just committed to Abraham.
Abraham now in turn must be committed to God.
In response, Abraham must make promises to God himself.
Abraham has a binding obligation to obey God in everything
so that he will experience God's blessing.
So chapter 17, verse 9,
Then God said to Abraham,
As for you, you must keep my covenant.
You've got to keep your side of the bargain.
You and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
And this is the covenant with you and with your descendants after you.
The covenant that you are to keep.
Every male among you shall be circumcised.
You are to undergo circumcision,
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
Rather than exchange rings,
which is a whole lot less painful,
they're given a mark.
The foreskin of the penis would be cut off.
It was a daily reminder of their commitment to the covenant.
In the most natural act of a man,
going for a wee,
or for the most intimate moment with your wife,
you could not escape the fact of your binding obligation
that you must obey God.
So now it's very clear that to obey God,
if you want to experience the blessings of God,
you must obey God.
And if you disobey,
if you break the covenant,
then the blessing will stop.
The problem is,
so far in the story,
men and women like you and I
have a very poor record of being faithful and loyal to God.
So the question remains,
what's going to happen
if Abraham fails to keep his side of the covenant?
God will be committed,
but what happens if Abraham isn't committed?
Well, here's the third part of the covenant
that we must understand.
God's gracious substitution.
And for this, we need to go back to Genesis 15.
You see, God has been reminding Abraham of his promise.
And now Abraham wants this confirmation
that God is going to keep his promise.
So chapter 15, verse 8.
Abraham says,
O sovereign Lord,
how can I know that I shall gain possession of it?
How do I know I'm going to get the land?
How do I know this blessing from you is going to come?
Verse 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.
Abraham 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.
Now what a strange thing to be doing.
Now picture the scene here.
On either side is half a heifer,
half a goat and half a ram.
And on the other side is the other half of the heifer,
goat and ram.
And two birds facing each other.
And let's remember,
Abraham,
well, he couldn't just go down to Tesco's
or his local butcher
and get them all nice,
nicely pre-prepared and pre-wrapped
and all nice and clean.
No, he had to slaughter those animals there himself.
So what we have,
if you can picture this scene,
is bits of meat on either side
and in the middle is this bloody mess.
But what's it all for?
What's it all about?
Well, have a look at verse 12.
As the sun was setting,
Abraham fell into a deep sleep
and thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Verse 17.
When the sun had set
and darkness had fallen,
a smoking pot with a blazing torch appeared
and passed between the pieces.
On that day,
the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.
You see,
when we enter into a contract,
what we normally do is sign a piece of paper.
We put our signature to it.
Which usually means that
if you break the contract,
there's a penalty or a fee that you must pay.
We have it with our bills,
with electricity and gas.
You sign a contract
and if you break that contract
or leave early,
then there's a cost to pay for it.
Well, in these times,
what they often did was
they would cut an animal in half
and place them opposite each other.
This was part of the contract.
Then the two people
who entered into the contract
would walk between the cut-up animal.
And in doing this,
they were saying,
may it be done to us
if either of us
break the covenant?
In other words,
if I break my side of the contract,
may I be cut up or punished
like this animal?
But did you notice
what happens in Abraham's vision?
Look again at verse 17.
When the sun had set
and darkness had fallen,
a smoking pot
with a blazing torch
appeared
and passed between
the pieces.
You see,
this fire pot,
this blazing torch
that we see in the vision,
represents
the presence of God.
Whenever we see fire,
particularly in the Old Testament,
it's a sign
that God has showed up.
You know the story
of Moses in the burning bush.
God is there.
You know the story
of the fiery cloud.
God is there.
And so God shows up
in this vision.
But it's not Abraham
and God
who walk through.
It's just God
by Himself.
God alone
walks through
this bloody mess
by Himself
in between
these two animals.
And in this vision,
God is saying
to Abraham,
Abraham,
I will take responsibility.
May it be done
to me
if either of us
breaks the covenant.
I will take the blame
if you fail
to keep the promises.
I will step in for you.
I will be cut up for you.
I will be the substitute
for you.
I will take the blame
if you disobey.
What an amazing
act of grace.
It doesn't seem right.
It seems impossible.
But that
is the kind of God
that we have.
Now,
it doesn't take long
for us to discover
as we read on
in the story
that we just see
how man's failure
heightens
and how God's grace
has to intervene
time and time again
taking the blame
for man's rebellion.
You see,
the rest of the story
in Genesis
from chapter 12 through
is all about
Abraham's family.
They have Isaac.
Isaac has Jacob
and Esau.
Jacob has his 12 sons
which leads to
the nation of Israel.
And this is the family
which is supposed
to bring God's blessing
to the world.
They are to be
conduits of God's grace
to all the nations.
But when we follow
this story
and read about them,
they're a definition
of failure.
Read the story
for yourself
in chapters 12 to 50.
It's a catalogue
of deception
and betrayal.
Scheming and stealing
and murder.
This family of blessing
is a complete
and utter mess.
They only add
to the world's brokenness.
They don't do anything
to make it better.
At every point
in their generations,
this family fails.
But the amazing thing is
is that God
perseveres with them.
He does not
give up.
With each new generation,
He renews His promise
to bless.
It's as if He drags
this family
kicking and screaming
through the story.
Time after time,
He displays His grace
because He's made a promise.
He says,
I'm going to bless you
and I will take the blame
for your ongoing failure.
They are here.
Reluctant as they are,
God takes them through.
But this is not just
a God of history
away back then.
This is our God today.
He does not give up on me
and He does not give up on you.
He perseveres
with our rebellion.
In grace,
He drags us
kicking and screaming
to a place
of blessing.
You see,
the story of the Bible
is about a God
who is determined
to bless us.
He will not give up.
After hundreds of years
of dealing with
the world's
ongoing failure
and we'll be looking
at the story
of this failure
in the weeks to come,
God into the midst of it
speaks
of a new promise,
a new covenant.
Have a look at
Jeremiah chapter 31.
Almost in the middle
of your Bible.
Jeremiah chapter 31.
So this comes
at the end
of a people,
a family
and a nation
who have just
spiraled downward
into decay
and disorder
and failure
and into the midst
of this,
God yet again
speaks His promise.
And look what He says,
Jeremiah chapter 31
verse 31.
The time is coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will make
a new covenant
with the house of Israel,
with the house of Judah.
Verse 33.
This is the covenant
that I will make
with the house of Israel
after that time,
declares the Lord.
I will put my law
in their minds
and I will write it
on their hearts
and I will be their God
and they will be my people.
End of verse 34.
For I will forgive
their wickedness
and will remember
their sins no more.
How can God do that?
How can God change
this catalogue
and this history
of rebellious hearts?
How can He do it?
How can He just wipe out
our sins and failures?
Just like that.
Well, just as He had made
that promise to Abraham
that one from His family,
a descendant of Abraham
would come
and would bring blessing
to the world
and to the nations.
And that person
was Jesus Christ.
He comes to bring
this new covenant,
one that will deal
with our failures
once and for all.
And we see that take place
in Matthew chapter 26.
Have a look in Matthew chapter 26.
Here Jesus is nearing
His own death.
It's the Lord's Supper.
They're going to share
in this meal together.
And the people
who are with Him
in that meal
are people
who will betray Him.
People who will deny Him.
People who are going
to mess up.
People who have been
invited into this
relationship,
this covenant relationship
with Him.
And listen to these words
as Jesus speaks
to these failing disciples.
People like you and me.
Verse 26.
While they were eating,
Jesus took bread.
Picture it.
Okay?
This is something visual.
He took bread.
He gave thanks.
And He broke it.
And He gave it
to His disciples saying,
take and eat.
This is my body.
And then He took the cup.
And He gave thanks
and He offered it to them
saying,
drink from it,
all of you.
This is my blood
of the new covenant
which is poured out
for the many
for the forgiveness
of sins.
You see,
Jesus is talking about
His own death to come.
So Jesus is saying
to us in these words,
may it be done
to me
if I break
the covenant
or if you break
the covenant.
Remember Abraham's vision
back in Genesis 15.
Just as God
had promised
in that vision
to walk through
the bloody mess alone,
so Jesus comes,
the God-man,
and He says,
I will walk
to the cross alone.
His body
would be torn
in two.
His blood
would be poured
out on the cross.
And as Jesus
hangs and suffers,
He is saying,
I will take the blame
when you fail
to keep the covenant.
I will be cut up
for you.
I will be the
substitute for you.
I will take the blame
for you
when you disobey.
And so no longer
do we have to run
and hide
like Adam did
back in the garden.
No longer
do we have to try
and cover up
with our own performance,
our own mess.
Instead,
we now run
to Jesus
in faith
where we discover
the true blessing
of God,
that new covenant
where He gives us
a new heart
to be able
to live God's way,
where we receive
the forgiveness
of all of our sins.
And just as Adam
and Eve
walked in complete
openness with God,
so we
can now
enjoy life
with Him.
And just like
God intervened
into the life
of Abraham,
so God
by His grace
has intervened
in our lives.
and in response,
Abraham left
his old life
behind.
He turned
his back
on his old way.
In repentance,
he turned away
from his life
of sin.
He didn't go
back there.
Instead,
he stepped out
in faith.
And so the invitation
for us
is to turn
our back
once and for all
and step out
with Christ
on a new journey.
a life
where we can
enjoy the source
of all love
and life.
A God
who responds
in grace
and mercy
and compassion.
A God
who promised
us from the
very beginning
you will receive
blessing
and not curse.
What
amazing
grace.
Let's pray
together.
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