Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday morning, August 10, 2003, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.

JESUS, THE PROMISED SEED

By Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia

Scripture Reading: Genesis 13:14-18

Text: Genesis 13:16

Genesis 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Introduction: Any mature Bible student is aware that our text is a prophecy that God would give children to Abraham who would possess what we call “the Promised Land.” However, a New Testament Christian who studies his Bible knows that the prophecy is also a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. We should not be surprised to find Jesus in this early promise to Abraham. After all, Jesus said:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

I remind you that after His resurrection Jesus took two of His disciples,

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

I want us to look at this promise and take you all the way from Abraham to Jesus, as I tell you this morning that JESUS IS THE PROMISED SEED.

But first, let’s look at

I. THE PROMISE OF THE SEED

Genesis 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

A. An unlimited promise

You can’t number the dust of the earth
Thank God, Jesus can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)!

B. An unseen promise

Abraham had to accept this by faith (Hebrews 11:1), as he had no child
We are saved by grace through faith not sight (Ephesians 2:8-9)
We WALK by faith, not sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

C. An unlikely promise

Abraham lived to be 100 and his wife 90 before she became pregnant.
As Christians, we, too, believe the impossible – the virgin birth of Christ, His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection

D. An unexpected promise

Abraham and Sarah BOTH laughed at the promise of God.
God specializes in doing the unexpected!
But God! – Ephesians 2
Saul the persecutor would have never become Paul the preacher, BUT GOD!
In Mark 5 a man seemed like he was crazy, with no hope, BUT GOD! He met JESUS …. and Got cleaned up Got clothed over Got calmed down. AMEN!

II. THE PROMISES TO THE SEED

Galatians 3:16a Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made …

There were promises, plural:

A. The parcel of land

The fighting today is over Abraham’s lapse of faith and trying to fulfill God’s promise through a union with Egypt, a type of the world

B. The presence of the Lord

God is omnipresent, but was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a special way

C. The preservation of a line

Satan and his workers have tried to destroy the Jewish line

III. THE PEOPLE OF THE SEED

Exodus 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

The people of Israel were

A. The people of choice

GOD chose them

B. The people of a covenant

C. The people of circumcision

Today we are spiritually circumcised – Colossians 2

D. The people of the commandments of God

E. The people of Christ

IV. THE PERSON OF THE SEED

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Jesus was:

A. The seed of the line of Abraham

Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

B. The seed of a lone woman

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

C. The seed of the Lord God Almighty

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.