Genesis 15:1-6
Notes
Transcript
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”
Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Introduction
Introduction
One summer when I was in bible college, at worked at a summer camp at a church in North Port, Florida.
Every day we would have chapel, and all of the workers would lead in music and then the pastor would come out and give a message to the kids of the community.
We would sing the standard church kid songs, but one of the songs that many children’s churches sing that he would not let us sing was Father Abraham Had Many Sons.
He didn’t think that it meant anything, and didn’t want us to sing songs like the hokey pokey just to take up time or just because they were fun.
Well, I agree that the song was pretty simple and was probably not understood by the thousands of kids who sang it growing up, but it does actually have a meaning.
Father Abraham did have many sons, and if we have true biblical faith, I AM one of them and so are you.
Abraham, or Abram before he had his name changed by God, is the subject of the 2nd part of Genesis, the first part is Moses explaining the events of world history up until Abraham, and the 3rd part being the things that happened to the children of Abraham until they ended up in Egypt.
We spoke a little last time about the reason that Moses wrote the book of Genesis.
He was explaining to the Hebrew people where they had come from before they were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years.
We have been a country for 248 years and many have already forgotten where we have come from.
But what is so amazing is, because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it also simultaneously introduces every major doctrine in the Bible!
They all have their roots in Genesis, and many in the first 11 chapters.
When we get to the end of the 11 chapter we get another genealogy.
It is a genealogy of Shem, one of the sons of Noah.
Towards the end of the genealogy we come to a man named Terah.
Terah was the father of Abram.
And boom, we get to chapter 12 after this long list of names of fathers and sons, and come to God calling one of these sons, Abram, to leave his country and the next 13 chapter are about him.
The reason is God, for His own purposes, has a plan.
This plan started all the way back in the Garden of Eden after our first parents fell into sin and were cursed by God.
In His curses, He also gave a promise.
That one day, the seed of a woman would save mankind from the curse of sin, His heel would be bruised by the serpent, but He would crush the head of that serpent once and for all.
This is the promise that all believers in the Old Testament would look forward to, and what all believers after that seed was revealed to be in Jesus Christ would look back to in faith.
But God would do it in His own time and in His own way.
So, according to His will alone He picks this man out of a sea of other men in Ur of the Chaldeans to father a nation that would one day birth the savior of mankind, Abram would be the father of the Hebrew people.
Chapter 12 begins with God’s call
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
And so Abram did.
And just like us, what crazy adventures did he find as he followed God.
He goes to Canaan, where God will settle his future family, but there is a famine and he takes his current family to Egypt.
The famine ended and Pharaoh kicked him out and he went back up to Canaan where he becomes very prosperous.
He gets so wealthy that he is able to battle a group of allied kings and win.
It is after that where Moses, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, shows us that he is not just the father of a physical nation, but a spiritual one as well.
Paul will later call him the father of all who have faith in Christ.
And so as we look at our passage today in chapter 15, we will see that Abram does have many sons, and I am one of them and so are you, if you have true, biblical faith.
The Promises of God Precede Faith v.1-5
The Promises of God Precede Faith v.1-5
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”
Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Abram has been following Yahweh since he was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans and he had experienced a lot of things.
He experienced the blessing of God grow and grow in his life, his riches, his flock, and his servants.
So much so, that in the previous chapter, he was called to battle with other kings of some city-states that were fighting against some other kings of some other city-states after one side had kidnapped his nephew Lot.
He and his forces went by night and defeated the kidnappers and recovered all of the loot that was plundered.
Then a priest of Yahweh named Melchizedek king of Salem, comes and gives him a blessing from Yahweh.
After worshiping with the priest, the kings that he had assisted in battle came and wanted to split the loot with him.
He declined their offer saying in
Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
“I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”
So Abram showed that he wasn’t greedy for money or things, he showed that he was different from all of the other men around him.
He wanted to continue to show that he was different, his wealth and power were not gained my normal means, but by God’s express favor and grace.
Then we get to our passage in chapter 15.
Yahweh came to Abram in a vision and told him
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
Abram had denied the normal, earthly reward that most in his position would take, and God was promising him a greater reward.
God was saying for Abram to trust in Him, and for Abram to hope for what He had promised.
This is the pattern.
God makes promises to us, but not in a vacuum.
We can have a sure hope that His promises will be kept, because He is a trustworthy God.
He promises to be a shield for Abram, He proved that He was able to be his shield when was with Abram in battle.
He promises that He will reward Abram, Abram has experienced that He keeps His word, therefore hoping that he will be rewarded is not in vain.
Do you see the logical progression here?
The world tries to change the definition of hope and faith to mean something that is blind.
Like you are called to hope in something that there is absolutely no evidence for.
This is not what biblical hope or faith is, this is not what God was calling Abram to do.
So God makes Abram a promise, that his reward shall be very great.
And when Abram believes that promise and acts on it, he is exhibiting faith in the God who is making the promises.
Hope is an assured promise, whereas faith is acting out that promise. Faith is hope put into action.
June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Hope: The Anchor of Your Soul (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 6.
It’s not out of the ordinary, when explaining the promise of good news to people that they have questions, and Abram was no different.
Listen to his questions in verses 2-3
Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”
He had questions.
“Lord, you are telling me that you are going to give me all of these rewards, and that’s great, I appreciate it, but so what? I’m old and I don’t have any children! What’s it going to be for in the long run!??!”
It was tradition for a childless man to adopt a servant, or even a lender, so that his burial would be taken care of and his possessions would go to someone.
And Abram’s servant Eliezer was queued up for the position.
Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
The Lord said no. This is not what it’s going to be.
Eliezer will not be the heir, someone from Abram’s own body, the Hebrew means inward parts, will be the heir!
This is the promise of God.
We get the blessing of seeing the reality of this promise come to pass through thousands of years of history.
A nation chosen by God being grown from the Patriarch all the way through the promised seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, son of Abram.
But Abram didn’t have that, all he had was what he had seen God do so far, and a promise.
So God took him outside at night and gave him a beautiful illustration.
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
A 5 years ago, we took a vacation to Arizona.
We travelled from Phoenix up to the Grand Canyon and mad several stops a long the way.
We went to the Petrified Forest, Sedona, Route 66…
One of out stops was in the Navajo Reservation just to the East of the Grand Canyon.
We stayed in a Hogan, which is made out of clay.
This part of the reservation didn’t have any electricity or running water, so no fridge or toilets.
We had to use an out house.
It was an interesting experience, but one of our favorite memories about it was dragging our cots out of the hogan and laying under the clear sky.
There wasn’t an electric light for miles, so no light pollution.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many starts in my life.
So this is what Yahweh does.
He takes Abram outside at night and tells him to look up and count the stars.
Now, put yourself in the sandals of Abram.
Yahweh, the creator of the universe is giving you an illustration of His awesome power and prodigality, His extravagance.
He created the stars before He created man.
When the author of Psalm 147 wants to let us know how powerful and intelligent God is he says in verse 4
He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
He knows exactly how many stars there are, because He put them precisely where He wanted them.
He maintains their existence.
We are just now seeing millions and millions of stars that no living person has ever seen in the history of living people with our technology, and there are millions and millions more that we cannot observe.
So he takes this old, childless man, a nobody who was made somebody solely by the choice and blessing of Yahweh, and graciously, with much patience and mercy, expounds His power and promise to Abram.
What an amazing God!
Remember when Philip was explaining to us from Ephesians 3 that God was able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us?
And that Paul was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to Paul, according to the working of His power?
That His grace and His power aren’t given to out of God’s store of them, but they are given in proportion to them!
So it is here with Abram, God is showing the amazing power He has to fulfil His promise to Abram, is in the same proportion to the amount of power it took for Him to create the stars of the sky.
And we’re like wow! And God shrugs and says, “I just spoke, and they were there!”
How humbling!
God didn’t make thunder and lightning, a windstorm, shake the Earth, and in a booming deep voice ask how Abram dared to question the promise of God!
He took him outside and said count the stars!
He showed compassion on Abram.
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
And this is how He treats us, and praise Him that He does!
How many of His promises to us do we doubt, and question?
How many times does our faith waiver?
He calls us to try Him and see if He is good, to test Him and see if He keeps His promises
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Not the testing of a cynic, but the honest questions of a 100 year old childless man, who was just promised great rewards in a very unusual situation!
God’s promises proceed faith, because we are creatures of doubt, and we learn when we experience His faithfulness, that our hope will be well placed.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
We are getting a little ahead of ourselves, but I want you to see that God works this way for a reason.
We are justified by faith in Christ so we have peace with God, even though we are breakers of His law and do not deserve peace with Him, only wrath.
And not only do we have peace with God by grace through faith, we are introduced into a place that those without Christ cannot comprehend, we have a standing of grace with Him.
We don’t come before Him with shaking knees, we come before the throne of God standing tall, through Jesus Christ.
And we exult, or revel and boast, in the hope that we have, the glory of God, that is made ours through His grace, introduced by faith.
But that is not all we boast in, look at the next verses in Romans 5
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We revel and boast in the tribulations of this life, knowing that through them we will see God is faithful and powerful and loving and we learn this over time and experience of God’s faithfulness.
And by the end of it, we learn hope, so that we know we will not be disappointed!
Oh may God give me grace to go through the trials and tribulations of this life, with hope in Him!
May He teach me to see His promises and trust in them, one by one, until one day my faith becomes sight, and all of His promises come to completion in His Son, Jesus Christ!
God’s promises precede faith.
Then faith brings a reckoning of righteousness.
The Imputation of Righteousness By Faith Alone v.6
The Imputation of Righteousness By Faith Alone v.6
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
We believe that verse by verse exposition is the best way preach the Word of God.
We believe this because we are commanded by God to preach the whole counsel of God, and skipping over verses would obviously not be following that command.
This sometimes takes a lot of time.
It took a couple of years and two churches for Philip to finish preaching through the Gospel of Matthew.
When he did, we actually threw a little party after church, at Larry Creasy’s house where Rachel made an amazing cake that looked like a Bible and a commentary on Matthew.
Some preachers can take several sermons to go through one single verse.
If there is any verse where this is called for, Genesis 15:6 is one of those verses.
This verse sets the foundation for the plan of salvation that God first hinted back in Genesis 3:15 in what is called the prototype gospel.
We learned all about this at the Here We Stand Conference on Friday night.
How would a holy God be able to accept sinners, law-breakers, into His holy kingdom and still maintain His perfect justice?
What could they do being so far past the mark of righteousness to be put back into proper standing with their maker?
God accepts them by grace through faith alone, and when He does, He reckons them, us, to be righteous.
This one verse is expounded on to a great extent in Romans 4.
Explaining the way that we are justified, like Abram was, by faith alone.
Let’s unpack that a little.
Look at out verse again
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
The first part says then he believed the Lord.
What did Abram believe?
Abram believed more than just that he would have a lot of children, Abram believe all that the Lord had promised.
Ever since that first call of God on his life to uproot his family and go to a land that would be given him, Abram had been following the instructions given to him.
It took a while for him to start putting everything together.
Remember the promises that God had given him back in chapter 12.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
God brought him to Canaan and told him that his descendants would inherit the land there.
He started to show him what would be added to him, and Abram through the time kept questioning in his heart how all this was going to work out.
Until our passage today, where God promises him all of these rewards, and he finally lets out all that had been on his heart.
He wasn’t just questioning who will inherit all the stuff that he was going to be rewarded with, but all of the things that God had promised him.
The land, the great nation he would become, and the blessing that would come to the whole world through him.
So God brings him outside at night, shows Abram His power through the stars, and Abram believes God, not just about the stuff, and not just about the many descendants, but also about the greatest promise, that all of the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him.
He believed that God would send a savior to the world through him.
Old, childless Abram believed that God would give him a lineage, and that lineage would include the promised one who would crush the head of the serpent!
He didn’t know all of the details, like we do now looking back, but he believed.
Notice back in the verse
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
It says that he believed IN the Lord, not that he believed what the Lord was saying.
It was at this point that he didn’t just believe what Yahweh was telling him to be true, but that he believed that the Lord would keep His promises.
His trust became personal.
He believed everything, the whole package.
He saw who God was and placed all of his trust in Him.
And the last part of the verse.
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
God reckoned it, Abram’s faith, to him as righteousness.
We, as southerners, have a good understanding of the word “reckoned.”
The word used here means to count, as it is translated in the ESV and LSB.
God saw that Abram trusted Him, and counted His faith as righteousness.
This is where we get the idea of imputation.
Imputation is a financial term where something is credited or debited to an account.
In Adam’s fall, we sinned all, as we learned at out conference, is the fact that the sin of Adam was imputed to us.
His sin, the original sin, was passed on to all of us, so that we are all sinners.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
But through faith, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to every believer, he reckons, or counts, us righteous based on the righteousness of Christ put on our account.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
And Abram’s justification, his being made right in the sight of a holy God, was a result of this faith alone.
No other of Abram’s works were involved in his being reckoned as righteous.
Calvin writes
Calvin: Commentaries 1. Aspects of Faith
The sequence of time must now be noted. Abram was justified by faith many years after he had been called by God, after he had left his native land and had become a voluntary exile, after he had been a conspicuous mirror of endurance and self-control, after he had devoted himself wholly to holiness, after he had practiced himself in the spiritual and the external worship of God and had led an almost angelic life. So it follows that, even at the end of life, we are brought into God’s eternal Kingdom by justification by faith.
And again
Calvin: Commentaries 1. Aspects of Faith
This truth holds: men are justified by believing, not by what they do. It is by faith they obtain grace: and grace cannot be earned as a payment for works. Since Abram, with all his preeminence in virtue, after a long life of unique service of God, was yet justified by faith, the righteousness of each perfected man consists in faith alone.
And so today we are saved in the same way, faith alone in the God who makes, and keeps, promises.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want you to know today that all of the good works you do, all of the charity, every act of religion, done outside of true faith in God, will do nothing to make your standing before God better.
Paul exposited this verse in Romans 4. He started off like this.
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Then later he said
Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.
Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,
but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
Are you resting in Christ alone for your salvation?
Is there any part of you relying on some good work, some church attendance, some sacrament, some emotion for your standing in the sight of God?
If you are, then reckon all of that as rubbish before God, and trust in Him alone!
Put your faith IN Him, in His person, He is able to keep His promise and has provided a way of salvation to needy sinners like you and me.
The next part of this chapter gives us the story of how God made a covenant with Abram and lays even more foundation for God’s plan of redemption.
We’ll be going through that passage next month.