Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: God is a covenant keeper. He kept his covenant with Abraham. He is keeping his covenant with Abraham. God makes a covenant with us through Jesus Christ and he keeps it. He delivers on it.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Heroes. Let's listen in as JP gives us part two of Abraham.

JP Jones: Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God, which Spirit we have received so that we might know the things freely given to us by God. God gives us his spirit so that we can know him and know all the things that he has freely given to us. God is a revealer and he reveals who he is and he reveals his plan for our lives.

There's a second observation about the God who revealed himself to Abraham. God promises blessing. It's in God's nature to bless us and he promises blessing. You see, God shows up, reveals himself to Abraham and says, "Abraham, this is what I want to do for you. This is my promise to you. I'm going to bring you into a land. It's going to be your land. It's going to be the land of your descendants forever and I'm going to make a great nation out of you. Your descendants are going to be like the stars of the sky, like the sand on the seashore, and I'm going to use you to bless the nations. I'm going to make you a man of influence that blesses the entire world."

Then God reaffirms that promise over and over and over again to Abraham. God promises blessing. Now God's promises are a reflection of his nature. He's sovereign. He's almighty. He's good. It's his nature that guarantees the fulfillment of his promise. We make promises all the time. In fact, some of us as guys, we've gone to a conference: Promise Keepers, which is really made up of a bunch of guys who are promise breakers.

This summer, I have made some promises to my kids. Recently sat down with my daughters and talked about the things that we want to do this summer, talked about our family vacation and what you want to do and how you want to do it and where we're going to go. We talked about some of the events that we want to share in and I talked about some of the little day trips they want to take. I talked with my daughters about getting together with them. I'm going to meet with them over the summer the same way I did with my son before he went off to college and take them out to breakfast once a week and have a little daddy and daughter time. I made these promises to them. I hope to fulfill them.

God has made promises to us and the New Testament says those promises are not only something that we can hope for, those are promises we are guaranteed. In fact, they're promises, many of them, that are already ours. They're promises of blessing. That was the nature of God's promise to Abraham: promise to bless you. You know what Ephesians Chapter One says for every believer in Jesus Christ? Ephesians One says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

If we've come into a relationship with Christ, the promise of blessing is already ours. We have been blessed. And there are more promises, because Second Peter Chapter One says, "seeing that by his divine power and glorious nature, he has given to us precious and magnificent promises, that by them we might become partakers of the divine nature." God's given us promises. This book is filled with promises. I hope to fulfill the promises I've made to my children, but I'm finite and I won't fulfill every one of them.

God is infinite. God is perfect. God will fulfill every promise. Every promise he made to Abraham has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled, will be fulfilled. Every promise he makes to us has been fulfilled and will be fulfilled. God promises blessing. In Second Corinthians 1:18 to 22, it says this: "But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and by Silas and by Timothy, it wasn't yes and then no, but in him it has always been yes. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are always yes in Christ." Isn't that good news? Every promise that God has made is yes in Christ because God promises blessing.

Here's a third thing that we see about God in his interaction with Abraham. God is the Sovereign Lord. God chose Abraham. Think about of all the people who were living on the earth, all the people who were living in the Middle East, all the people who were living in Ur of the Chaldees, God chose Abraham. There's nothing in the text that says that Abraham was seeking after God. There's nothing in the text that says that Abraham had rejected the idolatry of his culture and was pursuing a relationship with the one true creator. No, God sovereignly chose Abraham.

Chose Abraham to be in a relationship with him. Chose Abraham to be the one that he'd bless. Chose Abraham to be the one that he would use to bless the nations. Don't get torque out by trying to have a nice theological package in understanding God and your relationship with God. Be a worshiper and praise God that he is sovereign. God didn't ask me my permission as to whether or not I wanted to be chosen. God didn't sit down with Abraham and say, "Now Abraham, here, I know you've been believing on all these gods of the day, but I'm the one true God. I want to bless people. In fact, I've got an eternal plan to bless not only people who are living today, but the people who are going to be living in the future."

"And I want to pick somebody that I could fully bless, give them a permanent home, bless their descendants, use them to be a spiritual blessing to all the nations, out of one of their descendants to be the Messiah to the world, to provide a salvation plan that would not only encompass this region, but all regions and all peoples. And I want to pick somebody and I'm thinking about you. Do I have your permission to pick you?" No, God sovereignly chose Abraham. God is sovereign. In fact, in Abraham's response to this promise of blessing, Abraham says, "Oh Sovereign Lord." It's a translation of two Hebrew words, Adonai and Yahweh.

Adonai means Master, Lord, the one who has absolute authority. Yahweh is the personal covenant name of God. It's tied to the revelation of God in Exodus Chapter Three when God says to Moses, "I AM that I AM." It's part of the seven I AM statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John when Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the true vine." All of those I AM statements, it's a statement of God's independence and self-existence, of self-sufficiency. God is the creator and we're the creation. God is the only one who has life in himself.

He is sovereign. He rules. He has absolute authority. You can argue with him, but you'll lose. You can deny him, but he still exists. You can disobey him, but he's still going to accomplish his kingdom purposes. He's the sovereign God. He made promises as the sovereign God to Abraham and to his descendants about a land, about an inheritance, about a Messiah. You know what's wild? Two weeks ago, I was in Israel with Dave Brodsky, the chairman of our mission team. We're driving from Jerusalem down to Eilat, which is a southernmost city in Israel on the Red Sea.

We made a stop at the Dead Sea, but driving from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, about 25, 30 miles south of Jerusalem, we came to Hevron, which is Hebron. You can look at that on one of the Bible maps in your Bible. If you read the rest of the story of Genesis, Abraham is buried in Hebron at a place called Machpelah. In fact, there was a sign as we drove by, Machpelah, and they could show you the cave, the tomb that Abraham purchased where his wife was buried and he wanted to be buried beside her.

Dave and I were talking, myself a Gentile Christian, Dave a Jewish Christian, in the land of Abraham that was promised to him and his descendants thousands of years ago. There we were driving by and we were there. God is the sovereign God who fulfills his promises to Abraham and to us. He's the Sovereign Lord.

Here's another observation. God is almighty. He's almighty. In fact, that's how he reveals himself to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 17. It says, "And when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'I am the Lord God Almighty. Walk before me.'" This is the first time this description of God is used, this name for God, this term for God. There're several names for God in the Bible. Elohim is translated as God. Yahweh is translated as Lord with capital letters. Adonai is translated as Lord with capital L and lowercase letters.

God Almighty is the term El Shaddai. It's used six times in the book of Genesis. In each case that El Shaddai is used, in each case where El Shaddai is used as the revelation of God, either God calling himself El Shaddai or one of the characters in the Bible talking about God, referring to him as El Shaddai, in each of the six cases, the context of El Shaddai is blessing. God's promise of blessing. God's commitment to bless. Think about this. This is what God wanted us to know. He wanted us to know, "I will bless you," and then he wanted us to know, "And you know what? I can do it because I'm God Almighty. In fact, I will do it because I'm God Almighty."

God wanted us to know that he would deliver on the promise that he makes. Several years ago, we were on a family vacation. We were in Hawaii and we went over to the North Shore to Waimea Bay. They have the falls there, Waimea Falls. I took my kids back to the place of where Waimea Falls are. There's a waterfall of about a 50 foot drop and over on the side is a cliff of about 70 foot. When I was in my 20s, I jumped off that 70 foot cliff. I was showing my kids that you can do that. Now they got it all barred, you can't even get in there. I guess they've had too many accidents.

But I was telling them, "Yeah, when I was a lean, mean fighting machine, I jumped off that cliff in Waimea Falls." Then we went over to the beach. It's a beautiful beach. Now in the wintertime, it's where they have big surf. The waves are so huge. But in the summertime, it's very still. In the middle of Waimea Bay, there's a big rock. It's about 30 feet high. You can jump off that rock. So we went to the beach there and we swam over to the rock and I jumped off the rock several times. Now this is quite a few years ago. My kids were small and I said, "Do you want to jump off the rock?"

They were scared. My daughter, Kylie, was about eight years old. She was in diving at the time, diving for Crown Valley Divers, and she said, "Yeah, I'll do that." So we climbed up to the rock and I jumped off. Now I'm in the water and I'm treading water, 30 feet high. She's looking down and I could see she's getting scared. So I'm looking up at her. I said, "Kylie, Daddy's here. I promise I will catch you. You jump in the water, I will get you. You're going to be fine." She looks down. I said, "Kylie, I promise. I'm going to get you." She jumped in the water. She had a blast. She loved it so much she went down then now she's doing it all the time.

I was out in the water and I promised to get her. Her confidence to make that jump was a belief that Daddy would come through on the promise. I would love to say as I told you earlier that I come through on every promise that I make, but I don't. But God does. Why? He's God Almighty. That's the reason he reveals himself that way to Abraham. I am God Almighty and here's the blessing that I promise to give you. God will come through. He's made promises to you. The Bible is filled with them. He's made promises to you because you've sought him in prayer and he's spoken to you. He's made promises to you because you've studied his word and he's used that word to speak to you personally about something that he wants to do in your life. He's God Almighty. He's going to do it.

God is God Almighty. You see, the story of Abraham is really a story about God. Here's one last thing. God is a covenant keeper. In Genesis 17, he reaffirms this promise of blessing and this covenant that he's made with Abraham and he said, "I want, Abraham, I want you to really know and always be reminded that this promise I'm making is my personal promise to you. You are in a covenant relationship with me and I am going to do my part. I am going to keep my promise. I'm going to keep this covenant."

So Abraham is there relating to God and God said, "I want to touch your body in a way that you will always remember my promise." Now I'm not there. I wasn't there, but I'm putting myself in Abraham's shoes. You want to touch my foot? No. You want to touch my hand? No. You want to touch my head? No. "No Abraham, I want to touch a part of your body that every day you will be reminded that I'm going to keep your covenant." I could see Abraham saying, "Well God, what part of my body do you think you're going to touch?"

It's interesting we somehow have a hard time discussing circumcision, but it's a pretty important truth in the Bible, both in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. You know the real truth behind circumcision? God made a scar on Abraham's body to remind him of his faithfulness, so he'd never forget it. The New Testament says that physical scar really has a spiritual principle, that God will cut away our old nature, our old life, so that we can live in the reality of God's blessing and promise, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, who permanently lives inside of us.

God is a covenant keeper. He kept his covenant with Abraham. He is keeping his covenant with Abraham. God makes a covenant with us through Jesus Christ and he keeps it. He delivers on it because God is a covenant keeper. Now here we have been talking about heroes and Abraham and I've been saying everything about God. What's Abraham's role in the story? It's real simple. Abraham obeyed, believed, and worshipped. Abraham obeyed, believed, and worshipped. He's in Haran and God says, "I want you to go to the land that I'm going to give to you." He got up and left and went to Canaan.

He says, "I want you to have a sign of the covenant," and at 99 years of age, he obeyed and he circumcised himself along with his household. He obeyed. In Genesis 15, God makes this promise that I'm going to give you an heir, a son, and he believed. In fact, it says he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed what God said. He didn't just intellectually accept it. He didn't reject it. He didn't argue with it. He believed it because God said it, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

And then in Genesis Chapter 12, because God had made these promises and he'd followed the Lord and he heard the voice of the Lord, he built an altar at Bethel and he worshipped God and called upon the name of the Lord. Abraham obeyed. He believed and he worshipped. Our response is the same. Whether you are in Ur of the Chaldees or Haran or in the land of Canaan, you know what God's desire from you right now today is? That you will obey, that you will believe, and that you will worship.

Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, whether you're outside of a relationship with God, whether you're just beginning a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whether you've been a follower of Christ for a long time, what God is saying to you with his word to you, with his revelation of who he is, with the will that he has for you is: obey, believe, and worship. That's what we learn from Abraham, the hero.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of twenty-five dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks Greg. We're looking at Abraham the hero. We're in a series talking about heroes. We're talking about how God chooses men and women to use for his kingdom purposes. When we hear the voice of God and we have a God-sized vision and we obey God in faith, God uses our lives to be heroes for his kingdom purposes. Abraham was a hero. Abraham was a hero because of his response to God. Abraham obeyed God. He believed God and he worshipped God. But the story of Abraham's life is God himself. God revealed himself to Abraham. God called Abraham by his grace and God empowered Abraham to serve for his purpose on earth.

That's what God does for us. God calls us. God reveals himself to us and God empowers us. Our response, our response is what makes us a hero. When we respond to God's grace, when we respond to God's call on our lives, when we respond to God's sovereign choice of our lives, that's when God can use us to be heroes for his kingdom. We need to respond like Abraham. We need to obey God. We need to believe God. We need to worship God. You see, Abraham is used as a prototype of faith all throughout the Bible.

In fact, Jesus himself says that it is when we are believing that we are children of Abraham. The apostle Paul in Galatians 3 says this: "Consider Abraham. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then that those who believe are children of Abraham. The scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham. 'All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Clearly no one is justified before God by the law because 'the righteous will live by faith.'"

It is our faith that pleases God. It is our faith that blesses our lives and the lives of others. It's when we obey and believe and worship that we emulate the faith of Abraham and that we become a hero like Abraham. God wants to use our lives today as his heroes. God wants to use our lives today to serve as examples of how he can change a person's life, how he can take an ordinary person and do extraordinary things. God wants to do that in your life. God wants to change your life. God wants to use you to be an example and a witness for Christ, a hero of the faith.

Would you like God to do that? Would you like God to change your life? Would you like God to make you a person that advances his kingdom? Then all you have to do is respond to God like Abraham. Obey him. Believe him and worship him. Abraham built an altar in his worship of God. It was called Bethel. We need to have altars in our lives. We need to have symbolic experiences where we worship him, we seek him, we exalt him, we acknowledge him, we say yes to him. Would you say yes to God today? Would you respond to God like Abraham and be a hero for God?

If it's your desire to do so, then I invite you to pray with me. Lord God, I want to be a hero. I want to follow in the faith and steps of Abraham. I want to obey you. I want to believe you. I want to worship you. I acknowledge that you are the sovereign God. I acknowledge that you're the Lord, the King of the Universe, and I acknowledge Jesus that you are my Savior and Holy Spirit, you are the one who empowers my life. I surrender my life to you. I obey you and your call on my life. I believe your promises and I worship you as almighty God. Lord, use me to be a hero, an example, and a witness for Jesus Christ. Do in my life and through my life whatever it is that you want to do in this time and for your kingdom. And I ask that in Jesus' name.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.