Genesis 15
Notes
Transcript
Handout
ME
ME
I’ve had a pretty good 10 years. Starting and leading this church has been pure joy. You guys are incredible church members. You are. You give generously. You serve when asked and you make a way. Caleb Fisher setup at 6 something last week, then taught an incredible lesson in the kids, went out in the heat and got the signs, then afterwards offered to head up our safety team so that our kids would be protected and safe. I took a break from preaching and you all engaged with the teachers.
Even in the pandemic, you gave so much grace. You have let us test the waters and trusted. I just can’t say enough about the last 10 years. I couldn’t have made it without you all and I certainly couldn’t have enjoyed it without you.
But I’ll let you know life ain’t easy right now. I think this season for me is 10x harder than the pandemic. I’m beginning to see that I’m just in the midst of a hard season. These seasons happen. This is my toughest yet and it is hitting me from multiples sides.
So today I want to talk about how God shows convinces He will bless/ save us when we are unconvinced that he will.
YOU
YOU
It is the same for many of you. Coming out of this season where we were all cooped up and now some of us are taking steps of faith. Some of us are leaving jobs and starting new jobs. Some of us are dealing with struggles that the pandemic exacerbated. Some of us are in a time of listlessness or apathy. Things are different for many of us.
If there is one thing in this sermon I would love to give you it is certainty. Confidence that you are going to be ok in this life and the next. Confidence that even in your uncertain seasons that you can’t breathe or figure out, that you
GOD
GOD
Genesis 15:1–21 (ESV)
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
- Why is Abram fearful, he just defeated a 4 nation army and was blessed by a priest of YHWH. He’s rich. He’s powerful and God seems to be blessing him greatly.
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
Doubt!
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Faith
Faith
Faith is presupposed in the O.T. It is usually stated in the negative. “The people did not have faith”. Every work in the Bible presupposes a genuine faith.
We are not all hypocrites looking for money or a free ticket to heaven or a way to justify sin. Real faith drives you to change.
All Christians fail, but we are not all hypocrites hiding behind faith in order to get rich or keep sinning. If you think that, you haven’t experienced the life changing faith and trust that I’m talking about.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise
Abram’s faith meant he believed God was going to do what He said, so he began living that way, even if he still had doubts. Faith is a choice of how we live in obey.
You’ll never be 100% about anything, certainly not God. You have to place your faith and decide you are going to live as if this is true. We all are already doing this.
EXP Belief- Faith has always been the path to God.
EXP Belief- Faith has always been the path to God.
Romans 4:13-14
Romans 4:13-14
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. (no law exists yet) 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. (no law exists yet) 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Question: So why the law? The law was our guardian.
Question: So why the law? The law was our guardian.
English Standard Version (Chapter 3)
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
ILL Raising my kids- I am the guardian for now.
ILL Raising my kids- I am the guardian for now.
I am 100% their guardian. It is a blessing for them while they are young. It is not a blessing when you are Brittany Spears and almost 40 years old
I am 100% their guardian. It is a blessing for them while they are young. It is not a blessing when you are Brittany Spears and almost 40 years old
APP- obeying is a tangible way to display faith.
APP- obeying is a tangible way to display faith.
So obeying the law is a demonstration of faith the way being home on time is a way for my kids to say, “I’m with you, I accept your guardianship.” It is a way for them to show they have faith in me and love me.
So obeying the law is a demonstration of faith the way being home on time is a way for my kids to say, “I’m with you, I accept your guardianship.” It is a way for them to show they have faith in me and love me.
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
Doubt #2!
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
EXP Covenant
EXP Covenant
A covenant confirms a promise.
A covenant confirms a promise.
Abram knew right away what was happening. He knew God was upping the ante. God was ratifying a covenant that would connect .
God is using something that is well known to Abram- a custom.
A covenant has consequences.
A covenant has consequences.
Instead of signing a piece of paper, ancient customs put skin in the game.
Between 2 people. Blood brothers. Linked.
Covenant is “to cut” in Hebrew. Cutting them is preparing for the covenant. It is not the covenant.
Covenant is saying, “If I don’t do what I say, may my body be ripped to pieces”.
11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
ILL Driving away the birds
ILL Driving away the birds
God has been speaking to his heart (not face to face) but now God has set this confirmation. It is like bringing you a contract, but he hasn’t signed it yet. As soon as He signs it, it is as good as done. You might have to wait, but it will happen or else.
Abram drives away the birds in anticipation of God ratifying this covenant.
Abram drives away the birds in anticipation of God ratifying this covenant.
He won’t let foreign influences stop this promise from being signed. His faith is displayed by driving away the birds.
Some of us are sitting on these promises of God and we need to drive away some birds.
Bird of sin.
Bird of bitterness.
Bird of apathy.
Bird of jealousy.
Bird of pride.
Bird of idols- money, sex, celebrity.
I don’t want anything else picking apart the promises of God in my life. He has promised to bless me. He has promised His presence with us. I’m not gonna let a vulture take that because I was sleeping while waiting for God to ratify this.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Signing the covenant.
Signing the covenant.
Remember the stakes. When God signs it, He is saying, if I don’t bless you and your offspring- may I be broken and split. May I be cut off. May my body be ripped to pieces.
And the stakes are the same when Abram walks through. Abram is about to sign his life on the line.
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
But that is it. God doesn’t ask Abram to go through.
He creates a one sided covenant, but that isn’t how this works. If two people are involved, both have to have skin in the game. So why doesn’t Abram walk through?
This is the Gospel. God signs the covenant for Himself and for Abram.
This is the Gospel. God signs the covenant for Himself and for Abram.
God says, If I don’t do my part, may I be broken, but if you don’t do your part, if you rebel or ignore me, may I be broken as well!
You have not lived up to your end of the bargain and neither have I. So in order to make the covenant good, what does God do?
YOU
YOU
We’ve seen foreshadowing of Jesus all over the Old Testament.
English Standard Version (Chapter 53)
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
English Standard Version Chapter 15
22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
We
We
If I could beg you to do one thing with your life- it would be to place your faith in Jesus. Place your faith- begin to live as if God covered your righteousness. Live as if He is fulfilling his promises now in your life and will someday bring you into eternity. Trust Jesus 100%. Orient your life around him. Call on his name and you will be saved.