A New Covenant

Good morning good morning, good morning…It is so great to be here this morning. We have had such a great morning so far. I hope you have all enjoyed some amazing coffee and are all awake and ready to go…If not, feel free to go grab yourself a refill to get you through the morning :) ha ha....Hey, right now our kids get to have the opportunity to go out to their special class where their teacher has spent time this week preparing to teach them some amazing truths about Scripture in a way that makes sense to them. For those of you with kids here this morning, please remember to thank them for the amazing work they do. For everyone else, find a volunteer and thank them for what they are doing to keep us moving forward as a church. It truly takes all of us serving each other for us to exist the way that we do today. I also want to welcome those of you that are joining us online right now…It is such an honor that you have chosen to be a part of our extended spiritual family this morning! Of course everyone here in person I am just floored at the fact that i get to stand up here every Sunday and worship with you all as your pastor. I am so encouraged to get to see everyone every week and have this little family reunion that we get to have every week., Amen?........Amen.

Over the course of the last few weeks we have been in this series called Abram’s Journey. So far we have seen that God made some promises to Abram and those promises are pretty important. Actually right in the beginning we saw that God promised Abram land, by going to the place that he would show him. God promised him descendants, by telling Abram that his descendants would number the dust of the Earth or the stars in the sky. We also saw that God promised blessings to Abram, going so far as saying that anyone who blessed Abram would be blessed, and anyone who cursed Abram would be cursed…These are some pretty amazing promises being made to a 75 year old man with no children.

Now, this morning as we gather in this beautiful church, I am reminded of the promises of God that extend beyond the boundaries of time and space. I mean, look around you and you will see God’s promises fulfilled in this place. Those of you that have been around for a while and have lived through some of the harder times of LRBC can remember the times that God has not forgotten you. Those of you that are newer can look around and be thankful that God has brought you to an amazing spiritual family here at LRBC.

This morning I want you to remember the intensity that Abram has just experienced. Abram was concerned for his brother Lot and his family. Abram was so concerned that he took his own safety as secondary as he went into battle to get everyone and everything back from these invading armies. Now I want you to think about those times in your own life when you accomplished something remarkable…maybe not going into battle to rescue prisoners of war, but maybe the loss of a loved one, or 100 hour work week, or the construction project of a church, or other facility…Think about how exhausted you were in that time, and you kind of let your guard down…and maybe felt a bit exhausted emotionally and spiritually. You see, there are times that even the most dedicated Christian feels “in the dark” and wonders why God seems so far away. During the Boxer Rebellion in 1899, the China Inland Mission suffered greatly; and its founder, J. Hudson Taylor, who God used in amazing ways, said to a friend, “I cannot read; I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust.” It was an emotionally dark time, but God eventually gave light.

The same is true for Abram this morning. Abram has just undergone enormous physical exertion and he is exhausted…and while we don’t know exactly what Abram is feeling, we can get a glimpse from the beginning of our passage this morning. Go ahead and turn over to

Genesis 15:1–6 (ESV)

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

In this chapter we are about to see an amazing gift from the Lord to Abram. Today we get to read about....

Abram’s Vision from the Lord

Well first, the safety of Abram is actually important to God. The previous chapter we looked at last week talked about Abram’s actions, but this week we are able to see a glimpse of Abram’s feelings. You see, people of faith are also people of emotions and we cannot overlook the impact that our emotional state can actually have on our lives. That is why we offer free Biblical Counseling here at LRBC because our emotional state can lead us into a healthier spiritual state.

You see, we are made in the image of God, and that of course includes our emotions. While we cannot trust our emotions, frequently I will say something like feelings are not facts, and it is unwise to allow our emotions to control our actions, it is equally unwise to ignore and suppress your emotions. Men…Im talking to you, becuase we all know sometimes it just feels easier to cram those emotions under the bed, or in the closet…right. We see all over Scripture men that allowed their emotions to flow to the Lord. Look at Psalms and how David, who is a man’s man by the way, but look at how he allowed his emotions to flow to the Lord and let God know how he actually felt and how things were going…Jesus did the same thing allowing his emotions to be heard, and even seen.

What I love here is how God greeted Abram in this conversation though. Did you notice how God called Abram by name. God did not simply say, hey you, or ignore Abram, but he called him by name in order to remind Abram of his importance. Of course that leads to a whole conversation between Abram and God doesn’t it. Abram starts to complain to God here…Now, I want to point something out here that is actually really important. You see, Abram complained to God. Now, if you’re me, you immediately assume that God is about to strike him dead, right. I mean, I can remember when I was a kid if I talked back to my mom or dad after they just told me something, I would have recieved a very swift back of the hand to the face…Like, you just don’t talk back to those in authority over you, yet that feels like exactly what Abram is doing to God here. I mean, God has just told Abram about his shield and his reward. Did you catch what was said there…God is Abram’s shield. So right off the batt, that means nothing can possibly get to Abram to harm him. Then he goes on to tell Abram about a reward. To be more specific, this passage says, God will reward Abram greatly.

So listen after that, God listens to Abram’s complaints and reassures him again that he is in fact sovereign over all that happens. But there is something that I want to bring out of this briefly this morning. Now, Im going to be honest with you that this is a topic that I am still studying and trying to understand from a Biblical perspective. What we see here, is Abram lamenting to God. One definition of lament is a prayer expressing sorrow, pain, or confusion. So here we have Abram expressing confusion to God about how he does not have any children, and his heir will be someone that he has not fathered. We see this type of conversation frequently between David and God in the Psalms, but here we have this same idea as Abram responds to God promise of being a shield and a reward. As a result we have God reaffirming his commitment and promises to Abram and finally Abram believed the Lord.

Now, I want you to pay attention to something here. This passage says that Abram believed the Lord and the Lord counted that as righteousness…It does not say that Abram preformed certain actions, or did so many good things, or attended church so many times....Just that Abram believed the Lord. Of coarse that is an active belief meaning that he worshiped the Lord, like we’ve seen. But just let that sink in while we take a look at the rest of the chapter here.

Genesis 15:7–21 (ESV)

And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he 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 turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, 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 four hundred 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 Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Wow…there is alot going on here isn’t there…First we have Abram continuing to question God and finally what we are able to see is

God’s Covenant Promise

Now this is really interesting because through this we see something that is incredibly important, and an event that is pointing towards something much greater. So, lets get into what is going on here.

First of all we have God reminding Abram about his promises. God promised Abram land when he lead him away from Ur. God promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Finally, God promised Abram blessing going so far as to tell him that those who will enslave his descendants will be judged, reminding Abram that God said those who bless Abram will be blessed and those who curse Abram will be cursed, and that they will leave their subjugation with great wealth…So we have God reminding Abram about these three primary promises that have been made.

Next we have God responding to Abrams questions about how Abram is supposed to know that this is all true…I mean, can you imagine the nerve of this guy…Dude, you are literally talking to God who is telling you all of these amazing things, and you are questioning him. Although, that was a very different culture then, right. Abram was accustomed to talking to God in a verbal manner, where you and I aren’t. So…God answers his questions in a pretty amazing and fairly scary way.

God tells Abram to go and retrieve certain animals that are typically used for various sacrifices and rituals. God tells Abram to cut these animals in half and create a blood path. Now, we will talk about that in a second here becuase that is pretty intense. Abram does as he is told and he keeps the wild birds away from the carcasses he has cut in half. Now, the birds were not cut in half as they were two small, and so they were likely simply separated on each side of the blood path. Later that evening Abram got pretty nervous, I think I would be too, and God put him into a deep sleep. Then, God moved a smoking firepot and a flaming torch between these animals, saying parts of his promises to Abram both before as well as finishing after these items passed through these carcases.

Now, what in the world is going on here? I cannot tell you the number of times that I looked at this over the years and was so confused about this situation and why this is happening. Then at some point, I decided to look into this a bit more and try to understand what was actually goin on here. So, let’s talk about what Abram is doing here. In the Ancient Near East, which is what that time and location is referred to, they practiced the custom of Cutting a Covenant, or in todays vernacular, cut a deal. In this custom you would have two or more parties that were making a covenant with each other, those parties would each bring the appropriate animal and cut it in half allowing for the blood to pass through the middle. Then each party walks through the blood path starting from the greater person and ending with the lesser person in the group. The point of this ritual is that each party is agreeing they should be as the animals if they break this covenant.. Meaning my blood should be spilt as I die...

Now, here is where it gets really interesting for us today, as if it’s not interestingly terrifying already. You see, Abram knows that he will not be able to keep his side of any covenant with the Lord…after-all, he has already chosen not to trust God when he lied about his wife. So, Abram is a bit nervous when he goes to sleep. God then passes through the blood path as the greater of the parties. (show picture) However, something truly amazing happens here. God walks the blood path, twice. Go passes through as both a smoking firepot, an image we see associated with God throughout Scripture, and then again as a flaming torch, another image we see associated with God throughout Scripture…God not only walked his path, but he also walked Abram’s path. Basically, God’s blood will be spilt if either party breaks this covenant. Of coarse this is an action we see fulfilled through his son Jesus when Jesus’ blood was spilt on Calvary. God promised his blood would be spilt the day he walked through the blood path for Abram, Abram just didn’t realize that...

Today we are on this side of history which means we have the benefit of seeing and understanding many of the ways that we can see Christ sacrifice throughout the Old Testament. That means that you and I can appreciate even more the gift that was given to us as we look back and understand more and more every day that all of these things that have happened in history happened as part of his plan to bring redemption to you and I. All of those struggles that you are experiencing in your life and those hardships that you have experienced in the past are all used to bring you to the place you are today…The question really becomes…What are you going to do about it?

In other words, does seeing God’s faithfulness through Scripture encourage you to lean on his faithfulness today…or do you think you can do better with your situation by yourself? Does seeing God’s plan for sacrifice cause you to desire a deeper relationship with him....or do you feel you are good enough on your own? Remember Abram tried doing things on his own and it took cursing the Egyptians for Abram to realize that God was faithful. Cain…way back in the beginning tried doing things on his own and murdered his brother…Lot, tried living his life away from the promises of the Lord and he was taken hostage as a prisoner of war. So, what do you want to do today? Do you want to make the choice to actively believe God and seek to live a life pleasing to him…or…do you want to continue living your life for yourself...

This morning the band is going to come back up and I want to ask each and every person here this morning to pray with me as we prepare our hearts to worship. Then, as the band plays and the singers all lead us to worship through music I want to ask you to join in and worship the Lord with your heart this morning. Listen, you’re not here to worship me, or your spouse, or your kids…you’re not here to worship the songs that are being sung or the band that is playing…you are here to worship the Lord. This morning trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not in your own knowledge…Submit to the Lord today and allow the Lord to make your path clear...

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