Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law so that in order that the whole
purpose of this was not just that I
can be free but that the blessing of
Abraham might come upon us.
I mean he the Jews may claim him
to be their father but the blessing which
God gave Abraham is for us and if
the Jews don't claim it well just too
bad and that is so the blessing of
Abraham so we can receive the Holy Spirit
by faith we can receive a blessing and
the blessing in the New Testament is the
Holy Spirit.
See that's the opposite of the curse of
the law.
Law Holy Spirit, curse blessing, curse of the
law blessing of the Holy Spirit.
So this is it.
So if I don't replace this I was
you and I were under the curse of
the law for so many years because we
tried to please God that way and didn't
work but now have you just kept our
heart empty now we sort of nod and
say yeah I believe in the Holy Spirit.
It's not a question of believing it's a
question of whether he's occupied the place in
our heart and say Lord I believe that
you have given me the Holy Spirit to
give me Abraham's blessing.
That's been a tremendous encouragement to me.
We can receive the promise of the Holy
Spirit by faith.
Abraham received it by faith.
He didn't do any works.
I want you to turn to Genesis chapter
12 and see what Abraham's blessing is.
Genesis chapter 12 you know we read here
what the Lord said to Abraham when he
was 75 years old It tells us in
verse 4 he was 75 years old when
he departed from Haran.
Now I don't know at what age he
left Ur of the Chaldees.
You know because God had called him when
he was in Ur of the Chaldees is
down south near somewhere near south Iraq or
somewhere there and then he went north to
a place called Haran and that was just
the route to go to Canaan which is
today Israel.
But because he took his father with him
and took his nephew with him and there
were some others also.
It says in chapter 11 31 Terah took
Abraham his son and left the son of
Haran grandson and Sarah's daughter-in-law and
they all went together to Haran and when
they saw this place called Haran Abraham's dad
said hey this is a good place we're
gonna stay here and little boy Abraham 75
years old said okay daddy we'll stay here.
God had told him to go to Canaan
and he didn't listen.
Imagine listening to your dad when he was
75 years old.
That dad must have been a strong man
for Abraham.
You know what God had to do?
He killed his father.
I've got a full full of purpose to
live I'm not gonna let I mean he
didn't kill his father when he was young
father must have been 150 or something it's
okay about time to die just knock him
off so that Abraham can move on it
says there the days of Terah oh 205
he's much older than that that's fine.
So he killed him and then Abraham then
it says so chapter 12 verse 4 Abraham
went forth.
Why?
Because in between it tells us in verses
1 to 3 chapter 12 1 to 3
what God had told Abraham when he was
in Ur of the Chaldees.
You see chapter 12 verse 1 to 3
is not what he told him in Haran.
That's what he told him some years earlier
in Ur of the Chaldees.
Now as I said I don't know it
doesn't say here how long they settled in
Haran.
I hope it was only a year or
so or less.
I don't think God ever kept them long
there but anyway chapter 12 verse 1 to
3 says way back in Ur of the
Chaldees maybe a year earlier a few months
earlier God had told Abraham leave your relatives.
He didn't listen.
Leave your country listen to that part.
You see it's very common throughout scripture for
people to obey half of God's commandments.
They'll believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but
they won't get baptized or they'll come out
of Egypt but they won't go to Canaan
and then numerous cases like this the Lord
told told Abraham give up your land and
give up your relatives he gives up his
land but not his relatives and they become
the cause of the problem.
You look into your life you may see
a lot of problems come because you obeyed
one thing and you didn't obey the other.
The numerous husbands and wives who suffer because
God tells the husband leave your father and
mother and cleave to your wife the last
verse of Genesis 2.
God tells the wife in Psalm 45 10
forgive your father's house.
Well one or the other don't obey they
don't have very happy marriage.
That is true universally.
So it's like that you know they think
they know better than God and Abraham probably
thought okay but he didn't leave his father's
house.
He left his country but he didn't leave
his father's house.
He took his dad along with him.
The Lord said you've got to leave all
that if you want to follow me.
Even today you find you know Jesus said
if you want to be my disciple you're
gonna hate your father, mother, brother, sister, wife,
children and I'll tell you many many years
I've discovered the fundamental reason why many people
don't become disciples of Jesus is they got
some attachment to some earthly relative who means
more to them than Christ whose word means
more to them than Christ's word.
So they're never disciples.
They always wonder why they don't make progress
because they've got one leg tied back to
somebody on earth.
That's what happened to Abraham.
Anyway God did something radical and listen here
is Abraham's blessing now when you fulfill this.
It's like I said the other day you
get rid of this wretched chameleon or lizard
sitting on your shoulder and throw it down
it becomes a horse.
The steed on which you can drive right
and so when he the Lord said if
you break free from your relatives and break
free from your family you know what I'm
gonna do for you I'm gonna bless you
and this is the Abraham's blessing now listen
to this in verse 2 it's all there
together I will bless you and you will
be a blessing.
Basically that's it in one sentence two parts
I will bless you and you'll be a
blessing and all the families of the earth
verse 3 will be blessed through you.
Now there's certain other things he told him
about he would curse those who curse them
which you know in Jesus that's under the
law for the Jews but it doesn't apply
to us because there's no curse on us
and we don't put a curse on anybody
else either.
Jesus said bless those who curse you.
We don't curse anybody.
So that part doesn't apply to us.
We're talking about the blessing.
The blessing is I will bless you and
you will be a blessing to everyone.
You see in fact that's one of the
promises the Lord gave Israel towards the end
of the Old Testament in Zechariah chapter 8.
The Lord told Israel in Zechariah 8 and
verse 13.
That's a lovely promise and it will come
about that just as you were a curse
among the nations so now you will become
a blessing.
I will save you and you'll become a
blessing.
Don't fear let your hands be strong.
So that's a promise we can take ourselves.
I mean if you've been a nuisance and
a curse to other people in your past
life the Lord says I can change all
that.
Now the thing I want you to notice
in Genesis 12 you remember in our last
study on Sunday I mentioned how the old
covenant was thou shalt thou shalt thou shalt
thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt
not thou shalt not and now the new
covenant God says I will I will I
will I will I will.
Now notice how it is with Abraham's blessing
Genesis 12.
There's nothing of thou shalt.
There's nothing of you have to do this
or you shall do this.
It's almost like before God gave the old
covenant in Exodus he gave a glimpse of
the new covenant in Abraham.
He told Abraham I will make you a
great nation and I will bless you and
I will bless those who bless you and
and you will become a blessing not you
should.
You know there's a difference between you will
becoming a blessing and you should becoming a
blessing.
Some people they feel God said you should
be a blessing to others and so they
try to be a blessing.
Have you ever tried to be a blessing
to other people?
You don't realize what a nuisance you are
if you go and ask those other people
to whom you are trying to be a
blessing hey listen please don't try to be
a blessing to me.
You tried to be a blessing to me
last month and I know what happened.
Thanks