The video in this post is from the YouTube site, Ligonier Ministries.
Some people have a hard time believing the promises made by Jesus because they were spoken about 2,000 years ago. But it’s important to remember that the birth of Christ itself fulfilled a promise made by God two millennia earlier.
In this message, R.C. Sproul introduces us to a man named Abraham and to the covenant God made with him, showing that the Lord always keeps His promises and is never late in fulfilling them.
Highlights of R C’s lesson are below video.
Highlights of video [bracketed statements, emboldening and underscoring are mine]:
Remember, highlights do not contain many transitional statements that connect and more thoroughly explain events. If you do not hear the video, then you may not grasp the importance of this message from R C.
The covenant promises that are the foundation of R C’s lecture are also the foundation of Christianity. If you do not understand those, then you faith will lack significant theological elements, to say the least.
In the book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, one of Bunyan’s characters climbed over the wall and began his journey; that is he did not enter in at the gate [likely meaning that person lacked the initial repentance and more]. It turned out that Bunyan’s character was not a genuine convert….
- R C opened by talking about the significance of transitions from one millennial to another
- He noted that 2000 years had elapsed between the promises God had made to Abraham; as the same block of time has elapsed from Christ [promises of the new covenant]
- R C noted that higher criticism [German critics] had focused on attacking the biblical character Abraham for over a hundred years, calling him a mythological figure…
- During the 19th century, it was acceptable to believe that the scholarship regarding Abraham was accurate
- But archeological discoveries that occurred in the 20th century that verify that indicated that writing existed in the day of Abraham; that Abraham exsisted…
- There is a remnant today in the church that still trust those promises God gave to Abraham
- R C looked at words from Mary’s magnificat and from the song of Zechariah from the following verses:
- Luke 1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever”
- Luke 1:71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham…
- R C emphasized that those promises they were praising God for had occurred 2000 years earlier
- The Old Testament could be described as an autobiography of God the Father, He was the chief character and is revealed in every word, deed and relationship that is remembered
- From a human perspective, we could say that the entire record of the OT is a history of the descendants of Adam and Eve
- In a narrower sense, the scope of OT history is chiefly of the descendants of one man, Abraham
- We should look at the record of Abraham as an announcement from scripture about something that took place in real history, in real space and time, wherein a real God called a real individual out of a Pagan land, spoke to him, consecrated him and made a promise to him that changed the entire course of history
- The “call” of Abraham:
- Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing
- God ratified that covenant in Genesis 15; there, God answered several questions that troubled Abraham regarding his descendants, seeing that Abraham had none at that time
- 3 significant elements of the above covenant:
- The LAND; the DESCENDANTS; the BLESSING (he was blessed to be a blessing)
- How much land did Abraham receive in his lifetime? Only Machpelah, the burial site for his family
- Genesis 23:17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field…. [See vv 16-20]
- Regarding making Abraham a great nation, R C covered the questions Abraham asked God and God’s answers: showing Abraham the stars…
- R C spent time on God’s testing of Abraham, including chapter 22, wherein God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac…; the relevance of that sacrifice to us and the significance of the place
- The concluding point: the entire history of redemption is the working out of those promises God made to Abraham 4000 years ago
Ligonier provided a link below to R C’s 57-part series From Dust to Glory. It is an overview of the Bible, the lecture of this post is one lecture from that series. Lectures are all 22-25 minutes in length. I checked the link and I believe that the series is free to listen to. Many Ligonier series are not free unless you are a member. Members pay $90 a year and can take classes on the Bible; his series are many of those classes. If you are new to the Bible, then Ligonier is a great place to bolster your knowledge base. Ligonier fellows are thoroughly biblical. Recently we learned of one of those pastors that turned away, and that happens. But it is a trustworthy site overall.
The following links to posts about The Pilgrim’s Progress indicate the harm that comes from trying to be a Christian without reading the word, praying, and partaking of other means of grace.
Links to Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress: https://sheeplywolves.com/characters-in-john-bunyans-book-pilgrims-progress/
From a sermon on Bunyan’s book, The Fearful end of Ignorance [the character Ignorance]: https://sheeplywolves.com/the-fearful-end-of-ignorance-studies-in-the-pilgrims-progress-by-thomas-sullivan/
This message is from Dr. Sproul’s 57-part teaching series overview of the Bible: Dust to Glory. Learn more: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series…