Those Who Are Truly Abraham's Descendentsįirst, you who hope in Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are Abraham's descendants and heirs of his covenant promises.

That these promises are sure, rooted in God's unchanging truthfulness and confirmed by Christ's coming.ġ.

That these promises to you are more spectacular than anything you will see or hear this season.

That you who hope in Jesus Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are descendants of Abraham and heirs of his covenant promises.

Three Things to Learn from the Abrahamic CovenantĬoncerning God's covenant with Abraham, this morning I want you to take away three things. And the motto of your advent season can be: His coming confirms the covenants for me. And if you are an heir of those promises, Jesus is God's yes to you. He is God's yes to the covenant promises. If the sin of man and the righteousness of God were an obstacle to the fulfillment of those covenant promises, the sacrifice of Jesus has removed the obstacle for ever. Or as Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 1:20, 'All the promises of God find their yes in him.' Everything promised to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, and their descendants is confirmed and secured by the coming of Jesus Christ. Romans 15:8 says, 'Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.' I hope everywhere you go this advent season you will repeat to yourself again and again: His coming confirms the covenants! His coming confirms the covenants! The overarching truth of these advent messages is that Christ's coming confirmed the covenants of God. We need a solid insight into the meaning of Christ's coming that will keep us sober in a world intoxicated by the love of things. What we need in advent is some deep, quiet, unshakable truth from God's Word to give us our bearings, keep us on course, provide ballast in the ship, and to help us walk down Nicollet Mall unmoved by covetousness, freed from depression, and relaxed amid the frenzy. There are so many gifts to buy and guests to serve and decorations to put up and all under the pressure of deadlines.

'Tis the season to be jolly, but that just makes things worse when you're lonely or sick or discouraged. And shopping exposes you to a thousand things you don't need and didn't want until you saw them.

Advent in America has its special dangers.

John piper abraham piper