Exodus 3 Then God said I am the

Exodus 3 Then God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ”

For roughly 1500 years, God wanted the whole world to know Him primarily as the God of these three dudes!

1) CALLING 2) MAKING 3) WAITING

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MAKING

Genesis 12: 1010 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. ’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you. ”

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me? ” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister, ’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had. 13: 1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. ” 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. ) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

BEFORE THE SIN IN EGYPT… Gen 12: 6 -10 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land. ” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

NEGEV - NO ALTAR, NO WORSHIP EGYPT - NO ALTAR, NO WORSHIP

AFTER THE SIN IN EGYPT…. Genesis 13 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Shechem, Canaan (Altar) | | Between Bethel & Ai (called on the name of the Lord) | | Negev (no calling on God) | | Egypt (Trades wife for safety & wealth) | | Negev (no calling on God) | | Place to place (no calling on God) | | Between Bethel & Ai (called on the name of the Lord) | | Abraham is gracious to Lot!!!!

WE ARE ALL SERIAL OFFENDERS! IN CALLING HIMSELF, GOD OF ABRAHAM, GOD IS ALSO SAYING THAT HE IS A GOD WHO TRANSFORMS SERIAL OFFENDERS!

Genesis 20 20 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister. ” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman. ” 4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister, ’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands. ”

Genesis 26: 1 *7 -9 26 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar…. . 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister, ” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife. ” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful. ” 8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? ” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her. ”

GOD WILL NOT MERELY FORGIVE US WITHOUT TRANSFORMING US. THAT WOULD LEAVE GRACE INCOMPLETE…. EVENTUALLY, GOD’S GRACE WILL TRIUMPH OVER OUR SIN!

1) Transformation is slow and messy, but God never gives up. 2) We must not make the mistake of underestimating or overestimating the our sinfulness. 3) Ultimately, Grace is more powerful than sin!

Genesis 15 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Romans 4 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. ”[a] 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.