I am Pastor Nathan and today we are going to be looking at the ceremonial
ratification of what's called the Abrahamic covenant. Now a covenant, a lot
of people hear the word covenant and they go, oh it's a promise. And there's
actually a subtle difference between the two. You know a covenant by definition is
a binding agreement between two parties. Some would say it's a legally binding
agreement. Like if you do a business deal with somebody and you sign a contract,
it's a covenant. When two nations make a treaty with each other, it's a covenant.
When a ruler makes an agreement with their subjects or a government makes an
agreement with their citizens, it's often called a constitution. Now the binding
part of a covenant is the fact that there's a strength behind it where it
can be legally enforced. That a covenant often appeals to an outside third party
that says you can enforce this or one party could force another party to do
what they committed to in the covenant. You can't just walk away from a covenant.
You can't break it without consequence, with contracts and such. We're familiar
with this right? You break your contract, you can get sued, you know. And so that's
different than a promise. A promise by definition is simply a commitment to do
something but it's typically one-sided, meaning I promise to do something for
you and you're under no obligations to do anything back to me. But a promise in
that commitment is something that you can't really enforce, right? You can't
take someone to court for breaking a promise even though that would be nice
at times. You have to depend on the character of the person with a
promise because the execution of that promise will depend on that. If they're a
good person, you could trust them to fulfill the promise. If they're a bad
person, well if they're dishonest they can just lie and change their mind or
not fulfill it and there's really not a whole lot you can do. And so the primary
difference between this word covenant and promise is really that legally
binding status. That's what makes a covenant special. Well in the Word of
God, God makes hundreds of promises, hundreds of promises. But there are some
very special promises, very special commitments that he makes that are
biblically called covenants. Now God is faithful to both obviously. God is true,
God is honest. But there is a reason why the Bible calls some of these special
promises by God covenants. And one of those things is that a promise can often
be conditional. And God does make some conditional promises in his word. For
example in Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6 we read it and says, trust in the Lord with
all your heart. Do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. So there's a conditional
element there right? You can't expect your paths to be guided straight if you
are not trusting the Lord with all your heart. If you're leaning on your own
understanding and we're gonna see some of that today. But the covenants that God
makes with us through his word are unconditional. They don't require action
and activity from us the other party. They're an unconditional thing and
they're often unilateral. Unilateral means that God's commitments to keep
these promises in a covenant, he makes those commitments to keep the promise
regardless of what we do. It's God saying I'm gonna do this and you can
count on it because of my character. But it's not so much a you do these things
then I'll do these things and that type of arrangement. There are no conditions
by which a covenant promise can be an old. And they're typically made by some
type of oath or ceremony. We would call that like signing the contract and you
get it notarized right? Marriage contracts we would call that. The whole
marriage ceremony. You're making this entire ceremony around making this
legally binding arrangement that we call marriage. Now God's making covenants with
us in no way implies that God might renege on a commitment that God might
change his mind or back out of a commitment. God puts these certain
promises in covenant form for our sake. It's so that we understand the
very serious solemn nature of what it is God is covenanting to do. It's so that
we understand that because it's a covenant and we understand this legal
arrangement of a covenant that God is saying I want you to be sure beyond a
shadow of a doubt that when it comes to this promise I'm making I will not
change my mind. And in a sense he's saying I cannot change my mind because I
am binding myself legally to this promise. This is what we're gonna see
today as God confirms the covenant that he has made with Abram through a
ceremony that reads very strange to us. But when we get there and look at that
we'll see that this ceremony was something very very significant and the
people of Abram's day clearly understood what the point was and we'll be talking
about that as well. But covenants in general they're a very important thing
to understand biblically because covenants tell us what God will do
regardless of what we do. They tell us what God's gonna do regardless of us and
these special promises that he has made to us and confirmed with oaths they
don't depend on us it is all a work of God. In these covenants often we're in
the place of just simply having to believe and trust the Lord. God makes a
covenant to himself to do what he covenants to do no matter what and
that's what we're gonna see today with Abram but first we're gonna open up
with worship. You guys want to worship the Lord? Absolutely. Worshipping God is
is so great because I mean he's so great. He's done so much for us and as we're
gonna see in the covenants today God is just so trustworthy so faithful and he
just is everything. He is the one and only thing that you could depend on and
trust your life with and be sure that what he says will come of that is gonna
come. Let's pray. Father we love you so much. We're so grateful God that you sent
your son Jesus Christ to come to this earth and to die on the cross for us.
Lord we we're so thankful for the promises you make through your word
cover to cover and God yet there's these special promises that that you use this
word covenant to describe and Lord I pray today that as we see this this
covenant you're making with Abram that we would understand why it's a covenant
not just a promise. We would understand the gravity. We would understand the
commitment being made. We would understand what this commitment is being
oathed to so that Lord when we come all the way forward in our lives
understanding the new covenant the covenant that says believe and you shall
be saved that we would know that once we've put our faith in you we have no
reason to doubt. Lord that there's never a reason to think that I've lost my
salvation because God you made a covenant and it is sure to happen. So
Lord speak to us today bless us today Lord we pray that you are blessed as we
praise your holy name lift up your name on high we love you so much it's in
Jesus name we pray amen. Alright Genesis 15 we we are looking at this covenant
that that God is making with Abraham and this is all based upon his great
promises that he has made to Abram starting in the very beginning. This
Abrahamic covenant that we're looking at actually is was was spoken to Abram in
Genesis chapter 12 and 13 and then here in Genesis 15 we see the ceremony that
ratifies that covenant and then in Genesis 17 is when God establishes the
sign of the covenant the the sign of circumcision with Abram and his people
but I want to just read over a couple of those real quick to kind of remind us
on what God had said in Genesis 12 verses 1 through 3 it says this the Lord
said to Abram go from your land your relatives in your father's house to the
land that I will show you I will make you a great nation I will bless you I
will make your name great and you will be a blessing I will bless those who
bless you I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt and all the peoples on
the earth will be blessed through you and then in Genesis 13 starting in verse
14 God kind of expanded on the land grant the make you a great nation and
give you a land kind of idea where he says after Lot had separated from him
the Lord said to Abram look from the place where you are look north and south
east and west for I will give you in your offspring forever all the land
that you see I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if
anyone could count the dust of the earth then your offspring could be counted
and so when you look at this covenant that's these promises God is making to
Abram here there's really two main parts there's the promise of the people and
there's the promise of the land now if you were with us last week we looked at
the first six verses of Genesis 15 where God restates and clarifies the the
promise he's making to Abram about a people that a people would come from his
own body and when Abram responded to that if you remember his response was a
little combative it was a little almost exasperated sounding because Abram
responded through the lens of his own understanding where he's like God what
can you give me what can you do and then he made this conclusion on his own a
slave from my house is going to be my be my heir and I want to read that to you
just so we have the proper language here Genesis 15 verses 2 & 3 but Abram said
Lord God so I still believe you are God I'm still respectfully believing in who
you are what can you give me since I'm childless in the air of my house is
alias or of Damascus now verse 3 shows us that this is a rhetorical question
rhetorical question is a question you ask not expecting an answer because you
already know the answer right there's all kinds of different ways people ask
rhetorical questions but verse 3 shows us that Abraham had already decided in
his own mind what the conclusion was so he says what can you give me since I'm
childless right and then verse 3 Abram continued look you've given me no
offspring so a slave born in my house will be my heir so Abram is is not real
confident right here that God can do what he said he was gonna do and so we
read how God patiently responded to him and said no your conclusions wrong and
then it's like really like I already told you the dust of the earth right okay
maybe that wasn't clear let's go outside and look up at the stars of the sky
your offspring will be that numerous and and then Abrams response to that we
read in verse 6 was that he believed right and and we talked all about that
really the foundation of what faith is all about he believed and God credited
that to him or counted that as righteousness and that was given to
Abram so we just read in the beginning of this chapter that Abram was made
right before God because he had faith in what God would do he just he just said
here's my objection God's like come on bro and he's like alright right that's
my Nathan translation and Abram was full of faith now Abram was looking forward
to what God would do right started in Genesis that there's gonna be a seed
and we were studied back there an offspring and the word is singular one
offspring is gonna come through Abram is now being told that there's a people
gonna come through you there's a land and a nation and in other places it
tells them kings and leaders will come from you and Abrams believing that that
that this is gonna happen that this offspring is gonna come now but still as
he was trusting in what God would do and was counted as righteousness we
similarly have faith in what God already did which was the Messiah the Bible
tells us in other places that what Abram was looking forward to is he knew that
it was gonna be one of his offspring that would be the Savior of the entire
world and that is Jesus Christ and so here Abram believed that he would father
a people and through them an offspring would come that would save everybody
from sin it's actually in Galatians 3 16 if you want to take note where Paul
says the seed singular the offspring singular is Jesus Christ and so Abram
saving faith was in the Messiah to come our saving faith is in the Messiah who
already came guys get that all right so now starting in verse 7 where we're
gonna pick up the story today God proceeds to further encourage Abram's
heart and faith by now raising the issue of the land right he just dealt with the
issue of the people now he's raising the issue of the land in verse 7 he also
said to him I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give
you this land to possess now chronologically if you're worried about
that this is probably a conversation taking place the next day because as
we're gonna read through this story Abram does a whole lot of work to prepare
for this ceremony and so he also said to him and what he's telling him here is
Abram I want you to remember something very important I am the same God who
called you out of her I'm still the same God that's a very important premise for
us to understand when we're wrestling with God's promises you see one of the
best things to do when you're going God are you gonna be faithful to this
promise is look back and remember how many times God has been faithful to his
promise and what God says to us is I'm still the same God I was back there
today so I'm no different if I was faithful then I'm gonna be faithful now
that's something important for us to understand and so God is reminding Abram
I am the Lord who brought you out of your homeland so and he's telling them
by by way of reference to that remember what I told you like he we read all
those things in Genesis 12 and 13 but he's like remember I told you that I
would lead you to a land that you didn't know and then he's like this is the land
you're in it you're currently standing here in this land that I told you I was
gonna bring you to but he uses this really interesting word here possess all
right this is the land that I'm gonna give you to possess in the Hebrew this
word possess means to gain control of something through means other than
purchase or exchange the idea of gaining control is to legally own
something not by purchasing it not by trading for it but by ways of
inheritance someone bequeathing it to you or in those days it was by taking it
by conquest like if one people invaded another people and they fought and they
battled the winner by right owned whatever they took the spoils they owned
the land and then it was up to them to defend it right that was kind of how
invasion and nation growth and all that happened back then but what he's telling
Abram here is this is the land that I'm giving you legally to own and it's not
gonna be through purchasing it it's not gonna be through trading for it it has
to be through one of these other means that you inherit it or that you take it
by conquest now having just believed God about his child right Abram believed
and it was accounted for righteousness Abram's response to this statement about
the land is very interesting verse 8 he said Lord God how can I know that I will
possess it now some of us read that question and we go Abram dude two whole
verses ago you believed and it was credit to you for righteousness two
verses how can you go back to questioning so fast but there's some
nuances here that I want to point out notice here the question is not
rhetorical it's no longer rhetorical it's not a question that Abram had
already decided to answer in his own heart and we know that because we're
there's nothing written here where Abraham was like how can I know that I'm
gonna possess land because blah blah blah question question detail so this is
what's already gonna happen it tells us here that this question from
Abram is sincere it's genuine it's not pre-answered by Abram's own
understanding earlier Abram's problem with God revolved around the fact that
that I don't believe you can do that God you're gonna have a child what can you
give me I have no you've given me no offspring right he was wrestling with
the fact that whether God could or couldn't do something but in verse 6
Abram gets past that it's like okay God you're God I believe you I believe you
created all that I get it you're telling me your word I have faith in that but
just because he came to that place doesn't mean that his faith was perfect
right I'm sure we would all love to be in a place of perfect faith God jumps
and we just go yes sir I don't even have to think about the the challenges to
that but we don't have a perfect faith and neither did Abraham it wasn't that
he no longer had questions it was that his questions now were not based on
whether God could or couldn't do something that was settled God I believe
you can I just don't understand how can you help me what can you show me that
will help me to understand that I will possess it and so his question now was
based on a proper understanding of himself right God I know you know how I
believe that but how can I know please help my faith is what he's saying here
this kind of place to be is perfectly acceptable we see numerous times
throughout scripture where people are like okay God I believe in you can you
show me something and in those stories we don't read God going you faithless
punk boom lightning bolt you're dead what he does is knowing our weakness he
provides things Gideon right that's the most famous story God I believe you but
can you do this thing with the fleece and God does it there's a story in Mark
chapter 9 about about a man dealing with the interaction between faith and doubt
right it's in Mark chapter 9 verse 20 and it says this so they brought the boy
to him and when the spirit saw him it immediately saw him speaking of Jesus
immediately threw the boy into convulsions he fell to the ground and
rolled around foaming at the mouth how long has this been happening to him
Jesus asked the father from childhood he said and many times it has thrown him
into fire or water to destroy him but if you can do anything have compassion on
us and help us I love Jesus's response if I can did did you do you realize who
you're talking to did you just say if you can everything is possible for one
who believes and then what does the father say immediately the father of the
boy cried out and he goes I do believe but help my unbelief that is a place
that most of us dwell in for a very long time I do have faith I believe in you
God but I also recognize that my faith is limited I recognize it's it's not as
strong as I would like it to be or as it should be so so I believe but please
help my unbelief this is both a statement of faith not doubting but an
admission that my faith is far from perfect and that's what Abram is doing
here in response to the land and so what he says is Lord God how can I know
that word no is another very important piece to understand Abram's question
here because that word no in the in the Hebrew it's to perceive something
meaning to be aware of the presence of something or the reality of something by
eyes or by touch so what he's saying here is what can I what can I what can I
see or touch Lord that will help me internalize that I will indeed gain
legal possession of this land in a sense what he's doing is God can you give me a
sign have you ever asked for that do you feel guilty when you do it oh I should
have faith maybe we should but I love the fact that God knows our weak frame
and he says you're my kid all right let me help you out sometimes he doesn't
give us a sign and that's his prerogative but the asking isn't a
sinful thing right it's simply an admission that God I'm just not where I
want to be with my faith this one is hard to believe in yes the goal is to be
able to believe God period but I think most of us many of us have things in our
lives where we're already there right oh I just believe you God I don't even
think about the what-ifs anymore I don't even think about the the but it's just
yeah there's things in my life and I'm like of course God 100% no question but
then there are other things in our life where our faith isn't quite strong
enough like that it's not the same strength of faith and so like the father
in Mark 9 what we say to those things is God I do believe but help my unbelief so
Abram here is like all right God I believe you I'm gonna have a kid that
kid's gonna grow up into many many people and nation kings and leaders will
come from that you brought me to the land yep we're here I see it I'm standing
on it I've walked the land Lord I've built altars but my question Lord is how
can I know that I will gain legal control legal possession over this land
how can I know that and and I think this is born of of what Abraham is seen in
the land right this land that is currently occupied by all the aides all
the aides this this land already seems to belong to other people you know who
the aides are right it's in verse 19 through 21 the Kenites the Kenizites
the Cabanites the Hethites the Perizzites the Raphael the Giants the
Amorites the Canaanites the Girgashites the Jebusites the aides they're all here
already Lord I mean they were here when I got here so it kind of feels like it's
theirs so this is speculation on my part but I imagine what might have been going
through Abram's mind is like if I'm not gonna possess this land through purchase
or trade and as I look around I don't see anybody here that's gonna leave the
land to me so I'm not gonna get it by inheritance so does that mean conquest
is that what you're saying Lord I mean I just defeated the army of four kings so
I get that but what are you saying verse 9 he said to him bring me a three-year
old cow a three-year-old female goat a three-year-old ram a turtle dove and a
young pigeon so he brought all these to him cut them in half and laid the pieces
opposite each other but he did not cut the birds in half so we read this and we
go what Lord how can I know I will legally possess this land or my offspring
will go butcher a bunch of animals all right what does that do that's how we
read this but we have to understand that that in the time Abram would have
understood exactly what God was asking him to do see in in Mesopotamia of
Abram's time that's where err was that's where Abram's homeland was it was very
common that when two parties were gonna make a promise to each other and not
just oh I promise this but they wanted to seal that to make a covenant out of
something or or sign the contract and have it notarized as we might say today
what they would do is they would slaughter these animals and lay them in
two halves and then what they would do is they would walk between the two halves
of these animals now you might go you know notarizing is much cleaner than
that and I agree but the idea of that ceremony was if either of us violate the
terms of this covenant maybe what happened to these animals happened to us
like it's going I'm I'm that serious I'm putting my life on this that that I'm
not just make it a promise I'm I'm I'm putting us in a situation where this is
legally enforceable in the sense where an outside party might be able to say
well yeah you broke the covenant here's the consequences and and people would
call this a blood covenant right blood was was shed to establish the covenant
and blood will be demanded if the covenant is violated now verse 11 birds
of prey came down on the carcass but Abram drove them away as the Sun was
setting a deep sleep came over Abram and suddenly great terror and darkness
descended upon him now this could be simply that fresh dead animal birds of
birds of prey I want to eat it right it just could be that but there are some
people that that see symbolism in this because the covenant that's being
established here is very particular about the land and Israel right about
the ownership of this land and so what they see here is symbolism that as these
birds of prey come down and try and devour the carcasses that's much like
how the enemies of Israel would constantly come down and attack Abram's
offspring as they're trying to occupy their land and we've seen that you know
ever since Israel became a nation again that they're just constantly under siege
they're constantly dealing with people that say no it's not your land it's ours
and that's what this is all about it belongs to Israel now he drives them
away and that's another part of the symbolism people see because they're
like you know how many people have attacked Israel and Israel keeps
driving them away and Abram being the father of Israel and da da da da and you
know that could be a thing and a needle connection there but I'm not gonna make
a whole big thing about it so what it tells us is these birds of prey came
down he drove them away and then the end of the day came the Sun started to set
and Abram was just waiting he was he was waiting for for the covenant
ceremony to commence he I believe he understood God said do this he goes oh
I see what's about to happen but he's waiting and he's waiting and the Sun
finally goes down and it says that a deep sleep came over him have you ever
had one of those sleeps where you wake up and you don't even know your own name
that's a good sleep right last Sunday my alarm didn't go off and I woke up I was
like what day is it what planet are we on and the Lord said it's Sunday I was
like ah get up you know but but you know deep sleep it's it's that kind of like
just you're out and so he fell into this deep sleep and great terror and darkness
descended upon him now the Hebrew word for terror there is often used to
describe the human emotion that happens when when we're in the presence of
Almighty God like when God appears there's these theophanies in the Old
Testament and people's response that their emotional responses is terror it's
this overwhelming awe that this this infinite being is I'm in their presence
and in our state in our sinful state it's a terrifying thing to be in God's
presence and then darkness in the Old Testament is often associated with God's
almighty presence right or it's associated when God is present when
something significant is happening or being said for example in Exodus 20 I
believe it's 22 I wrote the wrong reference up there did you get the right
one on the screen oh no that one doesn't go on the screen okay great doesn't
matter in Exodus 20 it says Moses approached the total darkness where God
was in first Kings 812 it tells us the Lord said that he would dwell in total
darkness so that phrase that God lives in the darkness that's biblical you go
how does God live in the darkness well if God is light is light then outside of
God is no light because he is light so he dwells in the darkness I think that's
an important one to share with your children when they're afraid of the dark
so you know God's here he's with you so darkness it's associated with God's
presence and then of course we remember that when Jesus was crucified on the
cross what happened darkness covered the whole land because something
significant was happening and so Abrams in this deep sleep and then God proceeds
to give him some of the details that he was asking for likely in a dream right
because he's sleeping but regardless this is these are the details of how him
and his offspring might legally come to possess the land so verse 13 he says then
the Lord said to Abram know this for certain your offspring will be resident
aliens for 400 years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved
and oppressed however I will judge the nation they serve and afterwards they
will go out with many possessions but you will go to your ancestors in peace
and be buried at a good old age in the fourth generation they will return here
for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure so if
you're a Bible student you should understand that this is this is a
prophecy about Israel's time in Egypt which we're gonna read about later in
Genesis now when Israel first got to Egypt it was a peaceful thing but then
a the leader died and a new leader came in and he didn't like the Jews and then
they were enslaved and they were heavily heavily oppressed and so again some
people see the fulfillment of the birds of prey symbolism here because the
Egyptian God Horus was a Falcon was a bird of prey so some people go connection
have fun with that but they're gonna be in a land that they do not possess a
land that is not theirs and they're gonna be oppressed and then but they're
gonna leave with many possessions and we of course know that from Exodus chapter
12 where where when they were leaving Moses said hey go ask all the Egyptians
for silver and gold and stuff it's almost like hey go to 7-eleven and get
some snacks for the journey right and and they go and there's like hey can you
give us silver and gold and all the Egyptian people were like we want you
out of here so bad take everything we have and it tells us in Exodus 12 thus
they plundered the Egyptians so they leave there with just insane riches and
God is telling him that this is what's going to happen before your people
actually occupy this land legally so God says as I'm about to make this binding
covenant with you regarding the land regarding your offspring I want you to
know something very important I'm not gonna deed it to you in your lifetime
why because the Amorites have not reached the full measure of their sin
that's interesting I'm waiting on the Amorites to get it together you know the
Amorites were one of the major populations of people in Canaan at this
time we read about that right all the aites and what we see here is God is
giving them time to repent now of course from God's perspective being outside of
time he already knows they're not but within our understanding of linear time
he's he's waiting for them to repent he's so patient but they wouldn't repent
and in fact the Amorites got terribly terribly corrupted got really bad to the
point where God was like they need to be wiped out they are so hopelessly lost
the Amorites had three primary gods and we see these throughout the Old
Testament Ashtaroth, Anath and Asherah these are the three primary gods of the
Amorites in the land of Canaan and worship of these gods solely revolved
around two things sex and war and so in Leviticus chapter 18 they're they're
given this long list of things that that these people were doing in Canaan so
that they could be instructed don't do all that stuff and you know when we get
to Leviticus some people read through Leviticus and you see these lists of
things they go why is this in the Bible why is God having to tell people to not
do certain perverse things it's because they were doing them there's 12
variations of incest that they were partaking in there's adultery child
sacrifice other perversions like bestiality he lists all these things and
then in verse 24 of Leviticus 18 Israel is told do not defile yourself by any of
these practices for the nations I'm driving out before you have defiled
themselves by all these things and so we see that the degradation of the
Amorites was around sexual perversion was around just gruesome things right
there was there was no holiness to marriage kids were sacrificed it was
just it was a terrible time and so what God is saying here in this vision to
Abram is like look the day is gonna come when when they're gonna reach the point
of no return when it reaches its full measure and we know that happened
eventually the Amorites reached the full measure of their sin it was so bad that
God would then unleash a flood of Israelites a huge nation that had grown
in Egypt come across the Jordan and conquer the land it would be God using
Israel to drive out all these pagan people and and they would conquer they
would conquer led by Joshua we're gonna study that when we get to the book of
Joshua and they would take the land that God has promised to them they would take
the land through conquest and therefore legally possess it and some people go
how is that how is that legal possession didn't they just steal it from them
well you have to understand something that the land doesn't really belong to
anybody but God because he created it God created the earth God created the
heavens it's his it all belongs to him and everything in it the scripture says
so the Amorites and all the aites who are living in that land didn't mean that
they legally possessed it they were just occupying for a time and then Israel
came in and conquered and took that land but from God's point of view he had
promised it to Israel that they were gonna take it it was gonna be theirs and
that promise went through the line back through Jacob Isaac and all the way to
Abraham so the covenants that God makes throughout scripture that understanding
the covenants are important because they always show us a lot about God they
teach us important things about who he is here specifically we see how patient
God is with all people giving them time and opportunity to repent did he know
they weren't going to of course he did but that's the thing we wrestle is when
we know somebody we're like oh why is God letting them live why is God letting
that wicked person continue doing wicked things and we have to understand that
that God patiently waits before he drops judgment and that when judgment does
fall it is right and proper legal we have to remember his patience when the
wicked flourish and when the wicked prosper because their sin hasn't reached
its full measure yet but we also have to understand that that patience of God
won't last forever we know that through our study of
revelation in this world God right now is patient and long suffering that that
people would get saved that are gonna get saved and that's why if you don't
know Jesus today you need to get saved now because you have no idea if your
sin has reached its full measure yet you need to know Jesus Christ now for
salvation today is the day of salvation the Bible says and if you delay and you
delay and you delay well God has been gracious enough to give you a picture
of the future in the book of Revelation to say the time is going to come where
I'm done I'm done with waiting on this earth that those who are gonna be saved
are saved and the rest are gonna perish in judgment and so Abram as he's living
in the land for the rest of his long life God said look you're not gonna get
it in your lifetime but you're gonna live a lifetime in peace and then you're
gonna die and it's gonna be great and for that whole time Abraham still living
in the land that he didn't yet legally possess is watching the degradation of
all these people he's in a land where he's observing the Amorites and whoever
else they're doing these gross things and I just cannot help but see the
parallel to our world today as we are Christians in this world and we watch
the world getting darker and darker and we watch the perverse things getting
more perverse and more perverse and and and we go God why are you allowing these
things to happen but God's timing is always perfect and so we have to trust
in that and say while we are here it is not for us to know when and why it is
for us to go into those places and say you need to get saved your wickedness is
going to destroy you so these covenants they teach us so much about God Psalm
103 verse 8 it says the Lord is compassionate and gracious slow to anger
and abounding in faithful love I personally am very thankful God waited
until I got saved are you thankful for that right like what if like right
before you got saved God's like that's it you're like wait hold on I am so glad
he waited and and that's why we extend that same patience to people we don't
like the the sin and evil we pray against it but but we don't come to the
place of questioning God God what's wrong with you because all you got to do is
look at yourself and someone else I'm sure was going God what's wrong with you
that you waited for Nathan it's all my high school friends when they find out
what I do for a living now what I have any proof God's real I don't know what
it is so Abram would would remember this lesson over his long life watching the
degradation these people knowing that I could just patiently endure because what
God has told me but I have hope and what is to come and so verse 17 says when the
Sun had set and it was dark a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared
and passed between the divided animals on that day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram saying I give this land to your offspring from the brook of Egypt
to the great river the Euphrates the land of the Kenites and the Kenanites
and the Kadminites and the Hethites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim and the
Amorites Canaanites Grigishites and Jebusites so Abram is still sleeping
here it doesn't say that he was awake and God physically appears this is what
we call a theophany right God physically manifests upon the earth in a way and
here it happens to be this smoking fire pot and the flaming torch and I kid you
not I was really going what is the symbolism of that and I dug like why is
he appearing as an oven you know these are things I get to do during the week
so I could share them with you it's not about the oven and the torch it's about
the fire and the flame you see there's a biblical motif that we that we see very
often to express the zeal the passion the the fact that God means business
that he ain't playing around and that motif is fire and flame every time we
see that fire and flame in Scripture and relate in relation to God's presence
it's saying this is serious God's not playing listen up what he's about to say
is serious and that's what we see here now of course fire also is symbolic of
judgment in other places but that's just another form of God's zealousness right
that where he says I'm making a covenant and you could count on it he also says
you deny me judgment will come upon you and so we see this fire pot and this
torch up here it says they passed between the animals and so passing
between the animals as I said earlier the covenant is sealed the contract is
signed the commitment is made but wait a second
Abram's sleeping Abram didn't pass through the animals only God did that's
what tells us that this covenant is unilateral unilateral meaning it's an
agreement between two parties but only one of the parties is required to do
anything and only one will suffer the consequences if they break the covenant
nothing is required of the other party no consequences on the other party if
the covenant is broken what does that tell us that this covenant is a promise
by God that he binds himself to and only himself to it and Hebrews chapter 6 it
tells us that that when God swore an oath to Abram talking about this
covenant it said he swore by himself because there was nothing greater to
swear by what does that mean as I said earlier a covenant is legally binding
that means when you're legally bound to this there's an outside party there's a
greater authority there's a court there's a judge or something you could
say hey enforce this make them do what they're supposed to do or hold them
responsible right is there a higher authority outside of God no so God said
I swear by myself now a lot of people will say I swear to God and say that
phrase today and they just mean it blasphemy I know Gen Z one of the thing
or even Gen Alpha now is on God on God on God right they use that to say I'm
serious to which I respond be very careful invoking God in your I'm being
serious here don't swear to that authority because he'll come back and
enforce you know promises in that sense but here God's going there's no outside
party for me to appeal to I'm appealing to me my character who I am I'm the
greatest authority in the universe and I am swearing upon myself I'm saying I
swear on me that this is gonna happen no matter what that's the covenant that God
is making requiring the land or in regards to the land here he's saying
this whole thing is on me in a sense what he is saying is Abram you will get
the land or I will die and God can't die so do you see how concrete the covenant
is regarding the legal ownership of this land what's taking place here is the
true honor of the land is contractually binding himself to give the land to
Abrams offspring and like a title deed we have the description of the land
there if you've ever been involved in those types of transactions there's
always this one page it says it's lot this and parcel that and because they
got to describe the land very specifically say this is what you own
and so God goes on to say look it's gonna be from this the brook of Egypt
which is a river down on the eastern border of Egypt down in Sinai and then
it either goes all the way up to the Euphrates or some people go from the
brook straight across Saudi Arabia to the base of the Euphrates and then they
go up and they say all of that is the promised land there's some debate on
that but the point being is God knew what he was giving him in Abram
understood and this takes us back to a very important thing that's like the
basis of all the unrest in the Middle East the Palestinians it's not Israel's
land give it back to us these people it's not your land it's not your land
everybody around Israel wants to say that's not your land it's Israel's land
it's theirs it belongs to them God gave it to them they didn't purchase it they
didn't trade for it it was freely given freely promised to them by the one who
had the authority to do that and it was based upon ratified by more than just
God's Word now as I said earlier right that should be enough for us God you
said it I believe it but at times our faith is weak and here Abraham's faith
is weak I'm no longer questioning whether you can God but how am I gonna
know so God signs the paperwork he binds himself to legal consequence if he would
go back on his word and then in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8 it tells us that this
land was indeed an inheritance to Abraham so in a sense when God used this
word possess you're not gonna buy it you're not gonna get it by trade he did
indeed bequeath it to them as an inheritance and they did indeed take it
by conquest so when Abraham asked how can I know that I will legally possess
this land without purchase without trade God said let's do this covenant
ceremony the ceremony that that you understand is a binding thing that when
somebody does this it's pain of death to break this covenant now sadly even today
Israel has never possessed the entire promised land whether regardless of what
definition you you think it is and a lot of that is because of their sin and
their disobedience you know times where God said hey go in and take it wipe
everybody out and they didn't wipe everybody out and then those people came
back to be a thorn in their side later on and there's still problems today and
then of course now you got world governments are like oh no this is
their land and done but guess what one day as Revelation tells us in the
millennial kingdom Israel will have all the land that was promised to them
granted to them by God so when God covenants it's unconditional it's
unilateral it's about him and what he is promising to do with no influence from
us no input by us the dependability on these covenants depends on the fact that
he is both parties in that covenant he is the one making the blood covenant he
is the one making the oath he's swearing by himself because there's no authority
greater this shows us God's heart it shows us God's intent it shows us God's
faithfulness it shows us his reliability and it's an important to
understand this about covenants why because there was a day long after
Abraham he became Abraham Abraham then there was a David and there was a
covenant there and there was these covenants all the way through but one
day God came to the earth born as a man lived as a man to fulfill promises and
covenants made by God but also to establish a new one in Luke 22 it says
and he took the bread and he gave thanks and he broke it and he gave it to them
and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me
and in the same way he also took the cup after supper and said this cup is the
new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you understanding covenants
helps us understand the new covenant and the gravity of it and the truth of it
because the new covenant is this God has promised to forgive all of our sins to
grant us new life to give us the future hope of eternal life to give us a new
heart a board against spirit the Holy Spirit living within us he's promised to
set us free from the bondage of sin and death while living in this world looking
forward to the city that has foundations whose architect and builder is God that
is the covenant he said I'm going to do this and you don't have to do this 50
Hail Marys visit so many doors and hand out you know a hundred magazines just
belief just believe don't question whether I can get past that that's when
your faith is credited as righteousness for us he already died on the cross the
blood was already shed so when we put faith in that it's not us looking
forward to the blood being shed it's us being cleansed by the blood that was
already shed and in that covenant he says you are my child okay God well what
do I got to do to to keep the covenant going nothing I made the covenant well
God how can I know that I will possess it how can I know that what what can I
see that will confirm that I have legal ownership of these promises of new
life and the promise of a land to come in heaven how can I know and the Father
points to the Son on the cross Jesus hanging there for you providing his body
and shedding his blood as a solemn legally binding oath that whoever
believes in him would not die but have everlasting life God sealed the covenant
in his blood he did all the work all we have to do is believe when we
understand how serious and binding covenants are this should do away with
us going am I still saved do it am I still saved today because I did a bad
thing and a lot of Christians deal with that and that's incidentally one of the
the tactics of the devil but God made a new covenant and that covenant is
binding and it is true and if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ you are
saved now and you are saved forever because it wasn't based on you it was
based on bomb what he did that's how strong a covenant is now if you don't
know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you're not in the covenant you're
outside the covenant what he promised to do doesn't apply to you because you're
outside of it how do you become part of the covenant belief you believe that
Jesus is God you believe that he as God died for your sins you believe that his
shed blood paid the price for every sin you'll ever do ever commit ever have
done you believe that by faith in that you are saved you are forgiven you are
adopted as a child in the family of God and you hang on to that because it is a
covenant he made with you God is trustworthy we're the ones who aren't
that's why we depend on him in his work and what he did because it is true and
it is binding let's pray father we thank you God for who you are we thank you God
for your covenants thank you God for your promises but Lord you know our
frame you know our weakness you know that outside of you we are we are we are
bound to sin that we we can't not sin there is no one good not even one and so
God way back in the beginning you made promises that you didn't then ratified
with covenants to come all the way through that when you were born in this
world as a human that we would know that it is you it is the Messiah the Savior
who came for us that when you said this is this is the blood of the new covenant
that we wouldn't be wondering is that binding is it not binding but we would
understand that when you make a covenant it is the most sure thing that exists so
God for any that may be here or watching online that are believers Lord that have
are struggling am I saved do I even know God am I really his God if they're
thinking that because of things they have done Lord I pray that today you
have reminded them that the covenant was not based on what they did or didn't do
it was based on you your promise your work what you did sealed in your blood
and that the only part that was on us was to believe and Lord when the devil
comes into our lives and says well if you really believed you your faith would
be perfect God may we just be reminded of Abram that God we come to that place of
believing just just your God you can but Lord in our sad weakness Lord there are
times where our faith just simply isn't strong enough to to understand how and
Lord we're so grateful that you're patient with us in that God you love us
so much and we so don't deserve it and Lord there may be people in this room
today are watching online that have never entered into that covenant with
you God I pray for them I pray Lord that you have spoken to them about about the
gravity of your covenants the surety of your promises Lord that these things
that you call covenants are unquestionable and that God is today they
have seen the covenant you made that if they put their faith in you that they
would be saved God that they would hear the truth of that and understand the
truth of that and receive the truth of that as well we're praying today if
you're in here and you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior I
just want you to raise your hand where you're seated and let me pray with you
if you're watching online and Jesus has spoken to your heart today just let us
know in chat that I want to receive Christ and pray this prayer with me in a
moment but I know Jesus is speaking he is always speaking and he will continue
to speak and if the Holy Spirit is knocking on your heart today saying look
believe I want to save you I love you I forgive you but you don't enter in
unless you put your faith in that if God is telling you that today just raise
your hand let me pray with you if you're online again just put it in chat and I
will pray with you all right let's pray father God Lord I pray for those that
that don't know you that they would come to know you God I pray Lord that even in
the quietness of their own spirit if they come to that place of saying I
believe that Lord your word doesn't say they have to raise a hand or go forward
in an altar call it simply says believe and that Lord in that moment they would
know that they are saved I pray God that that you would lead people to that and
if you're here and you want to receive Christ you just say Jesus I know I've
sinned but I put my faith in you today save my soul I want to be a part of the
new covenant I believe you died for me and I receive all that that means thank
you for loving me so much God I pray for any who pray that prayer that Lord as
your spirit fills them even in this moment as they've prayed that prayer that
they would know your presence among them they would feel the love and the warmth
that you have for them that Lord they would know that they are forever set
free from the bondage of sin and death because you said so and Lord for the
rest of us God let us be people who understanding the gravity of this
covenant go out and share that with people Lord your word of salvation the
gospel is not a well try it and see well maybe it'll work for you no Lord it is a
truth it is a truth truer than every other truth that's ever been God that
that if we believe in you we shall be saved and that applies to whoever God
and so while we are patiently waiting in this world while we are looking around
us God and even when we don't understand Lord may we just trust you knowing that
when the full measure of time comes you will judge according to your word but in
the interim we have a call to share the truth of salvation with as many as
possible Lord we love you we thank you Lord we believe but help our unbelief
it's in Jesus name we pray amen well God bless you guys let's let's worship