Main idea: Put your heart at rest in the safety of God and his covenant promises
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let's turn our attention to God's word, where in Genesis 15. Please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. If you are a newcomer, that's part of just a physical way we can give honor to God. And it's certainly honoring if you can't stand, you know, you've got feet issues, leg issues, like I understand hip issues, you know, it's it's not special that way. But this is just the way we get to do that as a church. And then I'll say after the reading, this is the word of the Lord. You respond back saying, Thanks be to God, because we are really thankful. We're so thankful. God keeps speaking to us and working through us through His Word, Genesis, 15, I'm going to read seven through 21
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and Yahweh said to Abram, I am the Lord who brought you out of from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But Abram said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? He said to him, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. And he brought him all these cut them in half, laid each half over against the other to make a path in between. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away as the sun was going down. Day two of this interaction, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 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 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions as for you. You shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire, pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the kenizzites, the katmannites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the girgashites and the Jebusites. This is the word of the Lord our Father in heaven. We are grateful to you that you have given us your word Holy Spirit. You are the one who inspired Moses to write these down. You are the one that is involved in all these visions and dreams. We thank you for communicating to our hearts, and I pray Spirit of God that you would give us sight and insight to a very ancient ceremony that we don't have today, help us embrace and understand what is being communicated here, even though it is distant and removed from us, help us bring it to the present and remember the truths that are here. Lord Jesus, we thank you that as we think of what's built on this covenant, this promise, is what you have done, to die for sinners, to rise from the dead, to ascend and pray for us as our High Priest. We thank you for your work, and now use your Spirit, Lord Jesus, to awaken spiritually dead, to give new life to the spiritually living. Give us refreshment from your word, Lord, I pray for people in our church. I pray for David Simon, that you would continue to help them. Help.as she continues to battle through cancer, thinking about future, give her encouragement. We pray for Helen Campbell after the passing of Jim, that you would continue to sustain her many others in long term affliction. I think of Ben, who's here and dealing with COPD for years. There's a lot of need for endurance. This passage is one of the things that's designed to give courage and encouragement to endure. Pray that you would have its good effect. All of us face things that we need to endure and we want. The comfort and knowledge to know where our security is found. We ask that you'd be working in our churches. I think of churches just in our little five minute circle. I pray for Brett sweet this morning, preaching and teaching at Grace Christian Fellowship at their central campus, and I pray that you would use him, that your word would be effective in transforming the churches around our city, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen, you may be seated. We're in part two of chapter 15, safe and God's covenant promises. This is part two of that. I was trying to think about security this week. What kinds of things we want secure gold values have skyrocketed. If you're a gold investor, we are jealous. It's a good idea to invest in gold. It seems like there is something called a London Good Delivery bar. It's the name of the 25 pound bar. It's 400 ounces. Yesterday's value was $1.3 million of a 25 pound gold bar. If you were given a London Gold delivery bar, first, you'd ask, Is this from drug money. Second, you would say, if it was legitimate, how do I keep this safe? It's the first thing you're gonna It's this little, tiny gold bar worth $1.3 million and you're gonna wonder, if you're safe to drive home with it. I want to talk about a gift infinitely more valuable than a gold bar and how it's kept safe that gift is a reconciled relationship with God forever. If I could boil it down to two essential promises that Christianity offers, I would, I would say these two things, it is adoption and it is eternal life. Jesus, Christ, sent by the Father, came on his own initiative, to die, to rise, for sinners, to pay for their sins, that they would be forgiven, that they would be reconciled, they would be justified, they'd be made right with God as father, John one the apostle. John's opening words, it says this to all who did receive Him, Jesus Christ, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. God does something to help us see the glory of Christ and gives new birth. If you receive Him, you have God as Father. And it's not merely for this life. It is forever in a life to come. Do you know the end zone verse? You know football end zone? Somebody's cooking a field goal. What's the end zone? Verse? Come on the four of you that are football players. John 316 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have what everlasting life. Put those together, God as Father forever. And that is the precious gift to the sinner. It's the most valuable thing to possess. I want to talk today about the security of salvation or the assurance of salvation. How do I know that this gift is secure? How do I know it's secure? Maybe you're here and you've heard that you need to be saved. You're with a friend, and people will tell you, are you saved? Here's what they mean. God is going to appoint a day where he is going to judge all rebellion and he is going to pour out His wrath. You need to be saved from that day of justice. And the only way to be saved from that day of justice is to put your full faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you know you're a sinner. Jesus died to forgive sins. He rose from the dead. You joined us last week for Resurrection Sunday, and you want to ask the question, How do I know I'm saved? It's.
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Others have repented, have trusted Christ, but you don't feel secure in that salvation. You need to hear the words from Yahweh in verse one, Fear not. I am your shield, your very great reward. This ceremony is the sign to Abram to know for certain that the promises God makes to him are secure, there are usually two culprits to insecurity about salvation. The first is suffering, some trial, some difficulty makes it feel like God has left. If God's good, why would he let me suffer. Maybe I don't belong to God. Maybe God is good to all these other people, but he's not good to me. The second is sin. Have I sinned so bad that God has finally said, Enough, enough. I'm done with you. I Ian, add one thing to suffering and sin, and it can rattle any saint time you add time suffering and time sinning, and it can make a person wonder, if they're secure. Am I secure in this salvation? Genesis, 15 sets the whole paradigm for assurance of salvation. It is found in an ancient covenant ceremony between God and Abram. Abram asks a question, How am I to know? How am I to know that I'm going to possess this land? How am I to know that you're going to fulfill your promise? Yahweh, what will you give me to assure me that you're not going to go back on your promise, that I can't ruin the deal for everybody. And the answer is this covenant ceremony, the big idea that we had the last time we're looking at it's the same it's the whole same chapter, and that that is this, put your heart at rest in the safety of God and His covenant promises. Put your heart at rest in the safety of God and His covenant promises. This morning, we will unpack the covenant ceremony in Genesis 15. I want to show you God's commitment. God's commitment to make and secure for himself, sons and daughters forever. What God said about Israel in Exodus 19 five is, you are my treasured possession. What God says about his people, the church, you are my treasured possession. What is God doing to secure his treasured possession? God's going to demonstrate his commitment to this. Before we do that, let me remind you of the Covenant structures of the Bible. You can go online. I know you got this Living Faith Magazine. You started reading the biblical covenants, and you took a long nap because, like, this is a bunch of facts, sorry, a bunch of facts about things that are far, far away. But if you go online, you're going to get a link to this. And what we are finding out as we look through the whole story of the Bible, is that there is a creation mandate. You could call it a creation covenant, that God makes with all things and with His people to represent him on the Earth. On top of that is a covenant to Noah, securing the safety of the planet while everything else moves forward. On top of that is built the Abrahamic covenant. We're in the middle of that right now, and this covenant is secured by God alone to administrate that covenant so people could know how to live in it. The Israelites have a Mosaic Covenant. That's the old covenant. When you look at the New Testament and you look back at the Old Covenant, the old covenant is the one with Abraham the old covenant is the Jews that went away with Jesus. But on the Abrahamic covenant is also built the Davidic Covenant, promising a great king and the new covenant, which you're all much more used to listening to or hearing, because we say the words every week when we talk about communion the New Covenant. You. I'm going to unpack what covenants are in a minute. We're going to celebrate the New Covenant at Lord's Supper, but covenants are the committed relationship between God and His people. Two of the covenants have a special sign or a special demonstration, they almost act out a reality that shows how secure they are. One is the Abrahamic Covenant this ceremony, and the other is the new covenant that we celebrate at the Lord's Supper.
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We don't have covenants like this today. We have some things that require real commitments. If you're an immigrant to the United States, you go through the proper immigration process, you take the classes, you stand at the federal courthouse and you are sworn in as a citizen of the US. You've taken a test. You understand enough of the Constitution, you swear to uphold the Constitution and you pledge allegiance to the country. That's that's about as close to Covenant as people might get. If you're born here, you've never gone through any of that. So this whole idea of a serious commitment might be a little different for you, hopefully this will help you understand what God is getting at in our relationship with Him. So in doing this, there is a powerful physical demonstration of what God does to secure his people. How do I know that I'm safe in the salvation that's offered in Jesus Christ? This is going to set the paradigm for that. It's going to set the pattern. I'm going to help you. I'm going to we're going to spell the word rest, just for memory sake. Remember God's calling and deliverance. Enter into the covenant by faith, see the one who fulfills the covenant and trust the one whose blood secures it. That's the outline for this morning. If you want to know if you are safe in God's salvation, this is going to help you do that. Say this just before we dive in, there's a promise made to Abram. They're different than you. You inherit a particular part of Abraham's promise that is to be blessed in Him, to be saved by his famous offspring, Jesus Christ. Abraham is given a different set of things, like a land and a nation, a place to live forever, we are given some things similar, and it's with a whole people. But this whole people is made up of individual persons. So the application for what's made for the whole really does apply to you. It really does encourage your soul. Let's double jump in with number one. Remember God's calling and deliverance? Remember God's calling and deliverance? Last time we were together, we finished with 15 six, where God had taken Abram out in the middle of the night. Abram was distressed. He was concerned that there was a there was a target on his back. He had just won a military victory, but now he's wondering if he's upset the social order, and he is distressed. God comes to him and says, Fear not. Abram. Fear not. I am your shield, your very great reward. He tells him to look at the stars. Your descendants are going to be as many as these stars. Abram believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, but Abram is still struggling with the unfolding of the promises. How am I going to know how this is going to work? Sarah is still barren. First thing God wants to tell us is this, God is the one who initiates. He is the one who calls. He's the one who delivers, therefore he's the one who secures. If God starts the process, he finishes the process. Verse seven says, He said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess, who brought Abram out. Well, Yahweh, Yahweh did, meaning the eternally living God. So if Yahweh, the eternally LIVING GOD, starts a process, he will be around to finish the process, where did he bring him from a land of idolatry and rebellion, Joshua. In Joshua, 24 is going to describe Abram as a moon worshiper with his father Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans. Yes, Abram was an idolater. When God called him, Abram had rejected the one true God. Had been worshiping the moon god, if he was in ur or had its own ziggurat, its own tower, Abram didn't grow up very far in perspective from the Tower of Babel and and God is the one who called him and brought him into Israel. Jump back to chapter 12, one through three, so that you could see the promises to Abram just after the fall of the Tower of Babel or the confusion of the languages, we get a promise to Abram, the idolater. Now, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you in him who dishonors you, I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed in verse four. So Abram went. Abram heard the calling of God, and he went, and God brought him out. God initiates. What does that mean to the security of salvation? God secures, if he starts, he's going to finish and think about Abram, was a moon worshiper, idolater who grew up and married and Abram, if we apply the New Testament language to Abram, like the apostle Paul in Romans five while Abram was yet a sinner, while Abram was yet a sinner, Apostle Paul looks back while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. While Abram was yet an idolater. God called him. This is the pattern that God has. God saves out of his own Grace out of his own mercy. Ephesians two, four and five says this, But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive. Together with Christ, there's nothing special about you, Abram, that's what God is saying to him. Great thanks for the boost of ego encouragement. In fact, Abraham, you are triply useless in the world's eyes. You are an idolater. You are old. Your wife is barren, like this is you want a recipe for a head scratcher, call somebody who's 75 whose wife is barren, to be the father of a great nation.
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Triply, useless. New Testament writers talk about Abram, as good as dead, thanks, all the 75 year olds are saying to us, thanks, as good as dead. Triply, useless in the world's eyes, triply valuable to God. Yahweh reveals that he alone is God to an idolater. He makes old things new. He gives offspring. God by His grace rescues. What does that mean for security? That means God by His grace delivers. What does that mean for security? God by His grace helps us finish the path. The apostle, so steeped in this theology says this at the opening of Philippians, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it in the day of Christ, Jesus, God starts it. God is going to continue it. Number two. First, we remember the calling, the deliverance. Second, we engage in the covenant relationship. Abram needs assurance. He needs assurance. He's an old man promised to have a nation with a barren wife and no children. How am I supposed to inherit this? Well, it's by faith which he exercises. In Verse six, it is a trust. It is knowing that you are helpless and worthless and offer nothing but trusting that God is all powerful and able and forgiving and you can trust him. It's entered by faith. Abraham asked a question because he he has concerns. He said, Oh, Lord God. How am I to know that I shall possess it? How am I supposed to know that I will possess this land, that I will have all these descendants? Abram is a lot like a father in Mark nine, one of my father. Favorite little lines for a normal, weak human, a father has a demon possessed boy, he asked the disciples to cast out the demon. The disciples are not able to cast out the demon, and he goes to Jesus, says, if you are able, will you help me? Jesus says, I will help you if you believe. And the father giving an honest assessment of the quality of his faith, said, I believe, help me in my unbelief. Think Abrams doing something similar here. It's like Moses in Exodus, 32 and 33 Israel had fallen into idolatry of the golden calf. God says, Moses, you're going to lead the people into the promised land without me. And he's like, No way I can't do this. You're going to have to show me your glory. And that's this famous line in in verse or in Exodus, 33 show me your glory. I need a sight of you that will sustain me while the rest of the knuckleheads in the group turn their back on you time and time again. Abram says, I need something to help me know you're not going to change your mind. God was gracious to Abram, gracious to us. He establishes a covenant ceremony. Remember at the end of the chapter, the summary is that on that day, God established, God made a covenant with Abram. What God now tells Abram to do is to set up a covenant ceremony. He said to him, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. These are all going to be sacrificial animals, and the age shows their maturity and their value. God initiates a covenant ceremony. Now I've been throwing out the word covenant. What's a covenant? Let me remind you, a covenant is a solemn, sacred commitment or agreement between one person and another person, or one group and another person. In this case, God, the great High King, the possessor of heaven and earth, the Eternal One, has graciously entered a relationship with Abram and Abrams offspring. It's a solemn and if we put the pieces together, you have a solemn agreement between two parties. Both have requirements. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. It's we have one that's a marriage relationship. And when somebody gets married, there are symbols, a gold ring, some vows, but it's pretty. The dress is wearing pretty or the bride is wearing a pretty dress. The flowers are out, the decorations are out. All of your friends are there. It's a pretty and lovely ceremony. That's not this ceremony. This is not a wedding. You have a sacred commitment, and then you have some way to solemnly testify about this. Two parties, they are going to make a mutual agreement. There needs to be some sign of commitment. That's what happens here. This is these are sacrificial animals, but there is more to it. All of God's relationship with his people are anchored in these solemn agreements. This is why you can be secure in them. This one has a very bloody component. So Abram wakes up in the morning, he goes and gathers the animals. He proceeds to slaughter and butcher them, cutting each one in half, except for the birds, they're too small, and he lays them out across each other, forming a path, and that path will allow the two covenant representatives, God and Abraham, to walk through together. We are we are binding a relationship together. Some some covenants have signs. This is, this is the sign for them. We have signs the Lord's Supper, baptism, and it seems very strange for us today, but this is a covenant. Ratification ceremony, the slaughtered animals, the various kinds, represent the kinds of sacrificial animals for every class of person. If you walk through the Old Testament, the turtle dove, the small birds, were what the poorest people could bring as a sacrifice to God. So that means every class of person is going to be included. So Abram gathers them. Verse 10. He brings all these he cuts them in half, laid each side over against the other. Did not cut the birds in half. Both parties are about to walk down the middle of the path saying, saying this by their action, if I break my side of the Covenant, may I be slaughtered like these animals. Is a cool word that you should learn. It's a maledictory oath. Yes, I know everybody's going to be tweeting that. If people tweet anymore, maledictory oath they're saying, May this happen to me? May I be cut in half if I break my oath, I promise upon my life. It's bloody. It's serious. When the birds of prey came down, so Abram slaughters them, cuts them, sets them up, waiting for God to show up, to walk through the pathway. It takes a while. God is intentionally waiting to show up, a dramatic moment. So the birds of prey, the the carrion birds, the vultures, the Hawks, start swirling. They see the animals slaughtered, and they're thinking lunch, and they're thinking dinner, and Abram is so earnest about getting this sign that he shoes all of these animals away. Nothing's going to get in the way. I must know what Yahweh is going to do. I must know what God's going to do to secure this promise. He knows what's coming and he knows what's in it for God, so he shoes them away. How do you enter the covenant? By faith. Abram had believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. In other words, you put your entire trust on the work that God does,
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and you put no trust in the work you do. It's by faith. It's putting full rest in God and His promises full trust. And that always produces something when you trust God as the great king. He is really your great king. You're agreeing to him being your king, you being his subject. Then faith demonstrates it by obedience. It acts Abram sets up the covenant ceremony. But it is faith in God, repentance from idolatry, faith in God, that is the entrance. So it is not any of your work that you bring to the table. How do you enter the covenant relationship, denying that you bring any work, any credit, any merit, and solely affirming that Christ brings it all in this case, as we're looking back here, almost 2000 years before Christ, that God alone is the one to trust. Enter the covenant number three, see who truly fulfills it. Abram understands the setup. He and Yahweh are going to walk through the animals he is. They're going to mutually commit. But let's look at who really fulfills the covenant. Abram set up the ceremony. God makes the promises, and God walks alone through the animals here See, look at how it unfolds, verse 12, as the sun was going down second night, night before Abram showed the stars. Night number two, sun's going down, and this divine interaction is beginning. A deep sleep fell on Abram, the verb construction means that he really couldn't help it. It was a divine sleep. God is putting a kind of a trance onto Abram. Behold a dreadful and great darkness fell on him. Abram fallen utterly paralyzed. All he can do is to receive the vision, to receive the sight. He can listen. He can observe the Holy God, Most High possessor of heaven and earth, was entering the scene to shield sinful Abram. He put him to sleep. A holy terror and dread took. Hold of Abram,
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which often happens in the Bible when sinful, weak humans encounter sinless, holy God. Look what God says. Then the Lord said to Abram, know for certain. Remember what question Abram asked? How will I know? Here's Yahweh s answer, 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 400 years, Abram, your descendants must first go through a very, very difficult and very long path, 400 years of slavery. Like you, the generations after you must also endure hardship. They must endure trial to enter the land that I'm giving you. Verse 14, I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possession. Fast forward, we know that's Egypt. They escape Canaan during a drought and a famine. They are protected by God's divine providence through Joseph, but then they fall into slavery under the Egyptians. God brings judgment on the Egyptians. God's promising this 430 years before they're going to be 400 years slavery, plus the time of the travel, I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. God is promising a deliverance through a judgment. It's not just justice, though, for Israel having been enslaved, but also in abundance, I'm going to give you many possessions. I will curse those who dishonor your people. That's the promise to Abram. That's going to be the promise to his offspring. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. Abram doesn't get the answer that he wanted, yet God is telling him you will not see the promise fulfilled in your earthly lifetime. I will, but I'll bring you to the end of your earthly life surrounded by goodness. You're going to be buried in a good old age, or it's, I think the Hebrew is a ripe old age, which doesn't mean you smell ripe. It means a fullness. It means a fullness and a sweetness, and it does go well to Abrams life. This is the down payment of the hope they shall come back here in the fourth generation, verse 16, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. God is patiently holding out salvation through the testimony of the patriarchs, through what God is doing to any of the Amorites, any of the Canaanites, who still might want to believe, but there is going to be an ultimate rejection. God's patience will run out. Judgment must come, and that's when people will come out. You
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who is going to go through Abrams asleep? Abram is in a dread terror. It is going to be Yahweh alone who ratifies the covenant Yahweh alone to rest in a security or have assurance of a salvation, is to look at Yahweh alone as the one who fulfills His promise you
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Ian even setting up the ceremony was an act of faith. Abram couldn't later on, he couldn't bring his commitment, he couldn't bring his secondary commitment. He couldn't bring a re commitment to earn God's favor. Abraham can't look back at his commitment to God and say, I really made a commitment. All Abram could do was watch God walk through the dead animals, and you need to see that your security relies on what God does, not what you do, or what you even bring to the commitment to Christ. Fourth you turn to the one who bore the curse. This rest remember the calling from dead to life, from Kingdom. Darkness to the kingdom of the Beloved Son, from idolatry to singular worship. Remember that God did all that while you were helpless and unable. You enter by faith. You trust him, which means you renounce that you have any ability to do anything, and you're putting your trust in God alone. You see the one who fulfills the covenant, and you turn to the one who bore the curse during the ceremony. God demonstrates that he himself will take on the cursings verse 17, when the sun had gone down and it was dark, we're now 24 hours after this first initiation. Behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch. Here is now the presence of the omnipotent, the holy, the glorious God, and he shows himself in a flourish of fire and cloud and smoke. Moses is going to see a version of this at the burning bush. God is going to appear to him and talk to him through a burning bush, and he is terrified at the sight and sound of God. He's going to see a brilliant the brilliant glory of God in a cloud in Exodus 34 when he needs reassurance that he should lead God's people out of the wilderness into Israel. God will appear in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire for the whole nation of Israel during 40 years of their wilderness wanderings. And so here we have what is really a great stoneware pot used for a fire Potter burning a cook stove, so to speak, and the smoke and fire billowing out of it, a torch, a standing pillar of fire. Ian he has entered the scene. Holy God, terrified Abram,
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behold a smoking fire, pot and flaming torch passed through these pieces in this ceremony, God in holy glory passes through the bloody carcasses, the dried Blood crackling under his feet, so to speak. Yahweh, eternally LIVING GOD Adonai, Lord, Most High possessor of heaven and earth, is here making a vow with as serious as signs as the ancients could come up with. If I break the covenant, may I die, which he never did, nor will do, never has, nor will. If Abram or his offspring break the covenant. Yahweh is saying, God is saying, May I die if Abram breaks the covenant, God takes the curses. If God takes the covenant, breaks the covenant, God takes the curses, and God never breaks His promise. Don't miss this. This is a unilateral covenant, a one sided covenant. It's not depending at all on Abram's faithfulness. It's not depending at all of any believers faithfulness. No believer is dependent on their work to finish out their salvation. God does this, but it's more. It's more than this. It doesn't depend on man's faithfulness, or Abram's faithfulness, any believers faithfulness. It's more than that. Here God commits to his own death as God the Son, here for the second time in Genesis. The first is in 315 where a serpent is going to bite the heel and he is going to crush the head. It's going to be a victor over the Head Crusher by a death. Here again, Jesus signs up for the task of bearing the weight of sin for his people. It's here verse 18, so that you would know on that day, Yahweh, the eternal. The Ever Living God made a covenant with Abram, saying to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. He promises eventual judgment and the saints to reign righteously in his land. Listen to the framework, because this holds true. The same framework holds true. Start at the beginning of the chapter. Fear not. I am your shield, your very great reward. God called Abram, out of idolatry into a relationship with God, and God is his possession. This great old saying we were reminded of this week, the one who possesses, the possessor of all things possesses. All things. Do you possess the possessor? Have you trusted him? Have you called out? Have you left your idolatry and trusted him? If you have, he promises to secure you. Abram is told that he will possess the land, not in this lifetime, but in a future life after resurrection. It's going to be a long time even before your seed gets this land. 430 years. Stephen tells us in Acts, you're actually going to be laid to rest. Go to your fathers. You
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yes, no, he has promised to dwell in a land forever, not in this mortal lifetime, but in a future immortal life. The Israelites, who died in faith in Egypt as slaves, would have a future immortal life in the land too. How do we know this is true? One day, the Sadducees in the temple, just shortly before Jesus was arrested, asked Jesus to tell them who he was. He asked, and they were challenging him with the idea of resurrection. And Jesus answers them about the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he answers them about resurrection. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And the answer is, God will resurrect His people to live in the land. How do we know that Abram knew this? Did Abram know that he's going to die but one day in the future? Yes, Abram knew this. Hebrews 11, nine and 10 says, 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 at the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations. Who designer and builder is God. Abram was looking forward same paradigm. God alone is his salvation. God alone secures it by blood. God alone promises to fulfill. There is not this land for your inheritance, but a land to come after a resurrection. Ian all those who believe in God through Jesus Christ now are credited with righteousness, are promised a future, immortal life on a new heaven and a new earth. Romans, eight describes what we what we call the golden chain. Romans, 828, 29 those that God predestined. He called, those he called. He also justified, those he justified. He also sanctified those. He sanctifies, He glorifies, He sanctifies them so that they become like Jesus, first born among many brothers, they're secure what God starts God finishes. And the culmination of Romans, eight tells us, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Jesus. How does this work? I have a good friend, Sharif, a fellow pastor. He has a big German Shepherd. Loves to walk as German Shepherd. He is highly trained as German Shepherd. He can go off into the parks in North Idaho, and that German Shepherd will come to him at a word. But when he's in public, he wears he keeps him on a leash. He's a German Shepherd. Not everybody else is as comfortable, but when you're at the public, there are distractions. Now he just talks to his dog all the time. Walking through Coeur d'Alene heel, good girl, you know, gives all the directions to her, constantly talking to her, constantly giving her orders and commands, which she loves. She loves orders and commands. It's how she feels like close to him, she's listening. She's listening. But you know, what could happen another dog, a squirrel, a person, a perceived threat, and what might that dog do? Bolt? What does he have in his hand? A leash? What does God do to secure you. He speaks to you, constantly speaks to you. He constantly tells you who he is, who you are, who you are in him and what you need constantly. But you are like a less trained German Shepherd. You are easily distracted. You always pull on the leash. You want to go this way and you want to go that way. You could actually pull somebody on a sleigh like and God with his omnipotent hand and unbreakable leash, hold you. He'll give you a jerk, which is usually suffering trial consequences to your sin. And then he speaks, come quiet. He comes your furry little head. And he speaks words tenderly, good girl, good girl. How does this work? The leash is the blood of Christ shed for you. It's not a golden chain, it's not a golden leash, it's a crimson chain. The blood of Jesus Christ secures you. The Holy Spirit speaks to you, works in you, calls you back, comforts you, convicts you, challenges you, this is how he keeps you. He who began a good work is going to be faithful to the end. But I know you say, what if I sin? What if I've sinned a lot? Abram gets this covenant next week. Nathan is going to take you how Abram really couldn't believe it. Still, there's a problem with a woman named Hagar. It's going to create real trouble. The rest of Genesis is not about how amazing the patriarchs are, but it's about how God holds the leash. It's about how God and His love and mercy hold the leash, fulfilling his promise to bring us to Christ. What if I've sinned a lot?
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Go back to the beginning. What were you before God called you? You were a sinner, fully guilty. You didn't enter by your works. You don't stay by your works in obedience. You stay by the blood and the Spirit. What if my life doesn't seem to be very fruitful? I know all kinds of other people that are doing amazing, million things, and I'm I'm not doing anything for the Lord. What if the spouse that I want never comes along? What if the child never comes along? What if the child denies the Lord. What if another religious person tells me that the Bible is wrong? And I suddenly am in doubt, and I wonder, and I start to think all screwed up. What happens God, by His omnipotent loving care, has hold of the leash he might give you a tug, suffering consequences of sin, calling you back, and then he will speak firm and then tender words to encourage you. Dan, if you tell people that they're secure in salvation, why would they ever obey? They think they can get away with murder? Do they really think that Richard Sibbes, writing 400 years ago, says this, oh, what should water my heart and make it melt in obedience unto my God, but the assurance and knowledge of the virtue of this most precious blood of my Redeemer applied to my sick soul in the full remission of all my sins and appeasing the justice of God. What should bow and break my rebellious, hard heart and soften it, but the apprehension of that dear love of my savior who loved me before I loved him and now hath blotted out all the handwriting that was against me. What should enable my weak knees, hold up my weary hands, strengthen my fainting and feebled spirit in constant obedience against so many crosses and afflictions? Temptations and impediments which would get in my way, but the hope of this precious calling to glory. What makes the Christian want to obey, to kill sin, to press on to serve him to death. It is the grace of his promise. God calls his people his treasured possession. God is the one you're way more valuable than gold. He is the one that secures it. This is what we can count on. Let's pray, Father, thank You for this covenant we we look at it and its promises are a little different, but the main one remains, you fulfill your covenant promises you did to Abram. You do through Jesus Christ, you do today, and that's what holds us secure. I pray that we as your people, would understand your grace, that we would be transformed by your loving kindness, that your holiness would stir us all the more tissue to show our dependence on you and may we, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, worship you and live holy lives. As a result, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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