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hello my name is Don Carson this is the

third in a series of 14 talks designed

to help you uncover what the Bible says

over the course of this series we will

come across a number of people the Bible

mentions people who play some sort of

role in the history of God's long and

multi-layered self-disclosure few if any

are more significant than a man who

lived and died about four thousand years

ago about two thousand years before

Jesus for much of his life he was called

Abram that name means exalted father

according to the Bible God Himself

changed Abraham's name to Abraham a name

that probably means father of many

probably the name Abraham father of many

is meant to evoke two of God's promises

to this man first that over time his

progeny would grow and multiply and

become many for he is the ultimate

ancestor of all Israelites and second

that in him and in his offspring all the

nations of the earth would one day be

blessed by God talk about father of many

if you want to begin to make sense of

the Bible's narrative line of its plot

line you have to begin to make sense of

Abraham so welcome to the third talk in

this series

I have called this third session the God

who writes his own agreements

how shall we think of the relationship

between God and human beings what kind

of mental model do we have when we think

of such relationships in various

cultures around us we could easily

delineate quite distinct models model

one the super-soft grandfather God

pictured as a benevolent gentleman with

a long flowing beard whose primary job

is to be nice when I was a student in

Europe many years ago studying in

Britain I went for a while to Germany to

improve my German and while I was there

in the language school where I was

studying the Goethe Institute there was

a young engineering doctoral student

from French West Africa who was also

there to learn German and because I was

reared in French and he was from French

West Africa every once in a while twice

a week or so we would go out for a meal

together and talk a language in which we

were more comfortable French rather than

German which was giving both of us

headaches as I got to know him a bit I

discovered that he was married and his

wife was a medical student in London so

he was in Germany studying German to go

back to finish his doctoral studies at a

German university in mechanical

engineering and his wife was studying

medicine in London and it wasn't too

long before I discovered that once a

week or so he would go to the red light

district in town and pay his money and

have his woman well by this time I got

to know him pretty well so

one evening when we were out for a meal

I said to him I don't mean to be too

intrusive but what would you say if you

discovered that your wife were doing

something similar in London oh he said

I'd kill her I said that sounds like a

bit of a double standard he said yes but

you have to understand from the part of

the world I come from and in our tribal

structure she would be dishonouring me

it would be a matter of Honor I would

have to kill her I said but you told me

you were brought up in a in a mission

school you were taught the Bible you

know that the God of the Bible doesn't

Mark on the curve one set of standards

for men and one set of standards for

women oh he said no bold you he's doing

new belt and they say so meet you god is

good he's bound to forgive us that's his

job now in fact he was quoting the words

of Catherine the Great

it becomes a great line to justify any

sort of guilt doesn't it so that's one

kind of model between God and human

beings he's a grandfather whose only job

is to be nice and forgive then there's a

second model this is the model of deism

God is spectacularly great think of the

unmeasured eons necessary to travel from

galaxy to galaxy at the speed of light

and how many galaxies are there where is

the end and God made it all he's bigger

than all of it incalculably huge

transcendently glorious so of course you

can't expect him to concern himself with

your two-bit existence down here you

have as much significance to him as a

nano particle has to us even if your

concern for the beings on your farm

you don't really give a lot of thought

to the earthworm's why should God give a

snap about you he's just so big and

glorious and transcendent he may have

wound this whole thing up like a big

wash but now it's just sort of running

down doing its own thing now neither of

those models will square very well with

the Bible after all already we've seen

that God God made it all he is that big

all right but he holds his image-bearers

to account and the God who is described

in the Bible is incalculably loving

we're coming to that one it's also

described as spectacularly undiminished

ly holy and transcendent such that when

he confronts rebellion sin all it is

tawdry and evil he is there's no other

word for it

angry and he holds us to account so the

first model which is very common can't

be squared with Scripture the second

model can't be squared with Scripture

because this God is intensely personal

but there's a third we might call it the

mutual back scratching model it's some

it's very very common in the world of

polytheism that is in religions where

there are many many gods because these

gods are all finite they all have

personalities and many of them have

their quirks and their weaknesses and

their own evils and eccentricity and

sins they have their own needs so the

way such pagan religion works is you go

to the temple of the particular God in

question and you give the God the kind

of thing that God wants you scratch

there

back and then maybe that God will give

you what you want so you want to make a

nice safe sea voyage in the first

century in the Mediterranean world you

go to the temple of Neptune the god of

the sea you offer the appropriate

sacrifices and you hope and pray

therefore that the god of the sea will

keep the sea calm when you have a safe

trip you have to give a major speech to

your stockholders well fair enough then

you go to the God of communication

Hermes in the Greek world

mercury in the Latin world and you offer

the appropriate sacrifices you scratch

the gods back the gods scratches your

back so it's a kind of tit-for-tat

arrangement you scratch my back I

scratch yours that's the relationship

between the gods and us do you see and

you live in a certain kind of fear that

you haven't paid enough or scratched

appropriately or maybe the God in

question is particularly bad tempered

now it has to be acknowledged that there

are some people who think of themselves

as Christians who think that their

relationship with God is of this you

scratch my back I scratch your back kind

of thing

provided you're good enough you'll get

married happily provided you have your

devotions every day you'll live a long

life and won't get cancer until you're

at least 96 provided you're honest at

work you won't lose your job the way

others will who really deserve to lose

them a lot more than you do

provided I always say my prayers my kids

will never rebill you scratch my back I

scratch your back the problem with this

model of course is that it presupposes

that the God of the Bible has needs and

therefore you really can offer him

something that he needs and wants that's

why it's a barter system that's why it's

a you scratch my back I scratch your

back sort of system that's why the

system works

in theory in polytheism the gods are all

finite need to have needs but supposing

you deal with the God has got no needs

what are you gonna offer him Paul

understands that Paul a first century

preacher Paul who preaches after Jesus

has come and died and risen again Paul

was trying to explain the difference

between the God of the Bible and the

surrounding paganism so we find him for

example in the great learned city of

Athens at the time Athens had the

reputation for being the most learned

city in the world followed by Alexandria

in in in Egypt perhaps Tarsus was next

and when he gives his address to some

philosophers and teachers in Athens he

tries to explain what his view of God is

over against theirs there's it is a

world of gods and the very nature of the

religion is you scratch my back I

scratch your back but he says Acts

chapter 17 verse 24 the God who made the

world and everything in it

there's creation Genesis 1 and 2 is the

lord of heaven and earth and does not

live in temples built by hands he

doesn't mean by that that God

not disclosed himself in a temple in

some sense what he means is that God

cannot be reduced to the temple where

he's manipulated and domesticated by a

priestly class you you can't get him

into a position where you can manipulate

him to do your will because he's in a

certain temple and certain priests or

in-the-know can figure out exactly what

sacrifices to offer and exactly what

ritual to go through provided you pay

with enough - the God of the Bible is

too big for that he made everything and

he's sovereign over the whole lot and

then he says this and he is not served

by human hands as if he needed anything

isn't that remarkable God doesn't need

you he certainly doesn't need me he

doesn't need our praise bands it's not

as if God gets to Thursday afternoon and

start saying oh boy I can hardly wait

till Sunday when they crack out those

guitars again feeling pretty lonely I

need to be stroked up here he doesn't

need our worship he doesn't need our

money he doesn't need us he doesn't need

anything in eternity past before there

was anything God was and he was entirely

full of joy and contentment and even

then he was a loving God because in the

complexities of God's oneness in

categories we'll see in due course as

this series goes on the father loved the

son will come to those categories there

was an other night within God himself

he didn't make us because he was lonely

and thought you know my job is God will

be a little more palatable if I make an

image-bearer or tube that strokes me

once in a while he doesn't need us

I don't misunderstand that does not mean

he does not respond to us that he might

not delight in us that he might not be

displeased with us it doesn't mean any

of those things he does respond to us

but he responds not out of some

intrinsic need in his own being or

character but out of the entire volition

of his perfections and will he responds

not because he does not foresee the

future not because he has let things get

out of control not because he has

abandoned his sovereignty not because he

has not suffered not because he

psychologically damaged not because he

needs something but out of the

perfections of all that he is with all

of his characteristics and attributes he

responds always in line with all of his

attributes all the time he's never less

than God

can you imagine how hard it was for Paul

to get that point across to a bunch of

sophisticated academics whose entire

notion of religion was bound up with you

scratch my back I scratch your back and

then to make it even steeper Paul adds

another line the God who made the world

and everything in it is the lord of

heaven and earth and does not live in

temples built by hands and he is not

served by human hands as if he needed

anything rather he himself gives

everyone life and breath and everything

else we need him this is also coming out

of Genesis one two and three life and

breath and everything else when the Lord

Jesus was alive at the beginning of the

first century he taught but not a

sparrow falls from the heavens without

caused sanction the very hairs of your

head are numbered that means in my case

God's keeping a rapidly subtracting

account and he knows them all even the

disappearing ones and every breath I

draw is by his sanction I'm dependent

upon him Paul reminds us for life and

breath and everything else for food for

health I am an utterly dependent

creature I'm not the Creator

now how are you going to have a

relationship with a god like that

he's not just some mushy grandfather and

he's not distant he's a sovereign as the

Dia's swamp but he's a lot more personal

and he's got no needs you you've got

nothing to barter with in fact the only

reason you're still alive is because he

sanctions it last week one of my friends

teaches at a Seminary in Dallas a good

man teacher of the New Testament is

written major books has three kids one

is a missionary in Siberia one's a

missionary in Russia one's a missionary

in in Afghanistan he was out jogging he

came home lay down and died

not a blessed thing you could do about

it if your heart keeps beating it's

because God sanctions it and if he ever

says you fool tonight your soul will be

required of you you die or if he ever

says come home my child now is the time

your work is done you go

how you gonna barter with a God like

that

God oh I'll give you 10% he owns you

he owns your life he oh he owns the

whole planet I mean what does that mean

Lord I'll become a missionary will that

make me a better person

I'll become a deacon a church no no

there's only one way that you're going

to have a relationship with this kind of

God and that is if he displays sovereign

grace because he doesn't owe you

anything you and I are rebels and we've

got nothing to barter with and the way

sovereign grace God's decision to be

gracious to some people the way that

works out in the Bible is in a number of

different structures sometimes what God

does is is graciously give promises of

what he's going to do so that people

learn to take him at his word to trust

his word and look forward to what he's

going to do and sometimes God enters

into formal agreements with them those

formal agreements are called in the

Bible covenants and they often mirror

covenants that were well known in the

ancient world so that we sometimes speak

of the covenant with Abraham and the

covenant with Moses and so forth he's

the God who writes his own agreements

but here again His grace is

spectacularly displayed we come then to

Genesis 12 Genesis 12 what's gone on and

the intervening chapters is not

particularly pretty abominations have

multiplied until God has wiped out half

the planet with a flood just a handful

of people are spared but the leader Noah

promptly gets drunk

and by the preceding chapter there is a

rebellion towering through the land

again defying God and now in Chapter 12

we're told the Lord had said to Abram

his name is later changed to Abraham

I'll keep calling him Abraham the Lord

had said to Abram go from your country

your people and your father's household

to the land I will show you now he had

been in a place called

in ancient Babylon then he moved to the

city called Haran and now he's being

told by God to go to what would

eventually become the Land of Israel and

now God promises him these things 12:2 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

that's a promise

later on the promise is further

elucidated his descendants would be as

the sand of the sea his his promised son

from whom all of this would come would

come from his old age at this point he's

75 years old he's an old man his wife is

getting up there too but nevertheless

the promise is that this child will come

from the union of Abraham and Sarah his

wife Abraham goes through periods of

doubt and uncertainty he tries to

short-circuit things by sleeping with

somebody else it's a pretty messy story

but ultimately God keeps his promise

they have this child called Isaac Isaac

eventually marries and his wife gives

birth to twins and before the twins are

born God says to the mother you've got

twins inside you let me tell you the

older will serve the younger and in that

culture that didn't

but in God's sovereignty he chose the

younger one before either child had done

anything good or evil just out of God's

Sovereign Grace he chose one above the

other and predicted what would happen

and preserved a certain line down

through the years generation after

generation generation after generation

until the tribes multiplied and

multiplied and multiplied and eventually

possessed the land and in the midst of

all of these promises this one stands

out too and all peoples on earth will be

blessed through here through you this is

God graciously sovereignly promising

something but then comes not only

promise but covenant in Chapter 17 we

read when Abram was 99 years old the

Lord appeared to him and said I am God

Almighty walk before me faithfully and

be blameless then I will make my

covenant between me and you and will

greatly increase your numbers Abram fell

face down and God said to him as for me

this is my covenant with you you will be

father of many nations no longer will

you be called Abram your name will be

Abraham for I have made you a father of

many nations there's a pun in the

original I will make you fruitful I will

make nations of you and Kings will come

from you I will establish my covenant as

an everlasting covenant then verse 9 God

said to Abram as for you you must keep

my covenant you and your descendants

after you for the generations to come

this is my covenant with you and your

descendants after you the Covenant you

are to keep every male among you shall

be circumcised this is all very

remarkable then at the end of the

chapter verse 23

we're told that on that very day Abram

took his son Ishmael and all those born

is household and he circumcised all of

them so here is a covenantal structure

and in between these two chapters 12 and

17 is another chapter that speaks of the

covenant chapter 15 at the beginning of

the chapter God says do not be afraid

Abram I am your shield your very great

reward and then at the end of the

chapter verse 12 as the Sun was setting

Abram fell into a deep sleep and he

experiences a spectacularly weird vision

the setup for it comes when Abram asks

God the question in verse 8 Sovereign

Lord how can I know that I will gain

possession of all of this 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 Abram brought all these to

him cut them in two and arranged the

halves opposite each other so now you

got a heifer cut into halves and a ram

cut into halves a goat cut into halves

one bird on one side one on the other

birds of prey came down on the carcasses

but Abram drove him away then as the Sun

was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep

and a thick and dreadful darkness came

over him then the Lord said to him know

for certain that for 400 years your

descendants will be strangers in a

country not their own that they will be

enslaved and mistreated there but I will

punish the nation they serve as slaves

and afterward they will come out with

great possessions you however will go to

your ancestors in peace and be buried in

a good old age in the fourth generation

your descendants will come back here for

the sin of the am rights has not yet

reached its full measure and when the

Sun had set and darkness had fallen a

smoking fire pot with a blazing torch

appeared and passed through the pieces

on that day the Lord made a covenant

with Abram what's going on this is

bizarre when we speak today of writing

our own agreements this is not usually

what is happened at the final signing

ceremony

there were different kinds of covenants

in the ancient world sometimes you had

covenants behind between a sovereign

regional superpower and small vassal

states the regional superpower

the Assyrians at some point in time the

Babylonians at other periods of time the

Hittites at other periods of time they

would arrange an agreement a covenant

basically the Covenant said we will look

after you we will secure your borders we

will make sure that you are protected

against enemies and you you will pay

your taxes you will show allegiance to

us and so on so on so on it was an

agreement between the two parties and

then there would be various curses call

down and if either side does not fulfill

the terms of this covenant then may

these disgusting things happen to them

now obviously it was in the power of the

regional superpower to impose the

nasties not the other way around but

that's the way they were written and

sometimes one of the signs of this was

to take animals tear them apart put them

side-by-side with a kind of bloody

alleyway between the two parts and then

the two sides of the Covenant would walk

between the divided animals so as to

signify may this be done to me if I

break up the Covenant may I be torn

apart may I be cut in half

so Abraham prepares the animals but

obviously God isn't a human being to

walk with him between animals he falls

into a deep sleep and in his sleep he

sees a fire pot something to represent

the presence of God but what is so

stunning is that instead of the fire pot

moving between the animals side by side

with Abraham so that the two of them are

saying may it be done to us if he either

of us ever breaks the Covenant God goes

through all by himself

he takes the full responsibility for the

fulfillment of the Covenant all by

himself

that's grace

Abraham Wilson Isaac will sometimes be a

wimp his son the next son Jacob oh he

learned some lessons on the long haul

but he is a trickster and a deceiver all

the way through he has 12 sons one of

them is sleeping with his father's

concubine another is sleeping with his

daughter-in-law 10 of those sons can't

figure out whether to murder the 11th

ortus element of slavery and these are

the patriarchs and still doubt God

doesn't wipe them out he's sworn in this

symbolic act oh they are to practice the

sign of the Covenant that they are

children of the Covenant so they

practice circumcision generation after

generation that's fine but then as the

years go by and the moral tide swings up

in the moral tide swings down it is

horrendous to see how much damage and

destruction are done and God still is

forbearing and promises to keep his

covenant he will protect them he'll

bring them into this land and from their

seed will come someone through whom all

the nations of the earth will be blessed

there's one more chapter to think about

chapter 22 chapter 22 this is after the

favored son Isaac has been born there

were told some time later God tested

Abraham he said to him Abraham Here I am

he replied then God said take your son

your only son whom you love Isaac and go

to the region of Moriah sacrifice him

there as a burnt offering on a mountain

I will show you so he gets there the son

who's about 13 says father

yes my son the fire in the wood are here

Isaac said but where is the lamb for the

burnt offering Abraham answered God

Himself will provide the lamb for the

burnt offering my son but in a

horrendous scene abraham eventually

stretches his own son out on this altar

and is about to kill him to sacrifice

his own son and the voice calls from

heaven Abraham Abraham Here I am he

replied do not lay a hand on the boy do

not do anything to him now I know that

you fear God because you have not

withheld from me your son your only son

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket

he saw a ram caught by its horns he went

over and took the RAM and sacrificed it

as a burnt offering instead of his son

so Abraham called the place the Lord

will provide on the mountain of the Lord

it will be provided and God called to

Abraham a second time I swear by myself

declares the Lord but because you have

done this and I've not withheld your son

your only son I will surely bless you

and make your descendants as numerous as

the stars in the sky through your

offspring all nations on earth will be

blessed

now you might begin by saying boy oh boy

what kind of God wants someone to

sacrifice his own son then the pagan

religions of the time it was not all

that uncommon for parents to sacrifice

their own sons there was one particular

pagan god who was pictured as holding a

big stone pot in its hands like that and

this stone God would have a fire built

under the pot till it was glowing red

and and parents would sometimes throw in

their screaming children into this pot

that was not all that uncommon it was a

mark of devotion but the whole point of

the story is that is not what God wants

how can you possibly please God that way

to use this as a kind of test according

to the cultural norms of the day

you have the kind of trust in me that

the pagans seem to have for their gods

their false gods their murderous gods

that they're willing to give their own

sons but when the push comes to the

shove God says don't you understand I

provide the sacrifice how can you ever

please me by sacrificing your son this

is in due course encoded into law in the

Old Testament it's a horrendous crime to

sacrifice your children over against all

the cultural pressures of the day

because don't you see this is a God with

whom we can have a relationship not

because he has needs and wants us to

sacrifice our children but because in

Sovereign Grace he provides a land he

provides a sacrifice

and what he wants of us is that we turn

to him wholly and say in effect you are

God you are Lord you are sovereign I am

dependent upon you I I need you I will

obey you and for all the failures in

Abraham's life and in your life and mine

God provides the sacrificial lamb the

stories and the accounts begin to

multiply and multiply and multiply

through the Old Testament and in

anticipation of a time when God will

provide a sacrifice that far exceeds the

value of some ram caught in a thicket

let us pray

we confess Lord God that in a digital

world full of countless material

blessings in a world of nuclear physics

and an astonishingly fast-paced it takes

an effort to think our way through these

passages but we begin to glimpse that

you are the sovereign God to whom we owe

everything and the very heart of our

rebellion is the desire to be God

instead of you to run things ourselves

to barter with you we make messes that

are damaging to ourselves and to family

and to the culture at large to the

relationships amongst nations everything

from petty one-upmanship to racism and

genocide and everything in between

yet at the heart of all of it we confess

is this horrendous rebellion this

idolatry that demands that we be our own

gods open our eyes Lord God that we may

see your sovereign independence your

glory your patience with us so that we

are not destroyed the way you took time

across countless generations to show

what a gracious sovereign God you are

until in the fullness of time you sent

your own son to be the Lamb of God who

really does take away our sin

open our eyes and our hearts Lord God

that we may be drawn inevitably

inescapably to him in Jesus name Amen you