Genesis 15

Life of Abraham series

In today.

Met Abram, which was Abraham’s name before God changes it in chapter 17, he wasn’t anything special.

This is important to remember; God didn’t choose him because he was special, he was special because God chose him.

It’s why God changes his name from Abram to Abraham later, signifying

God gives him these massive promises back in

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” (, ESV)

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Great Land

Great Name (through your many descendants)

Great Blessing to the entire world

This is our introduction to Abraham. He’s just living his life, blissfully ignorant that God is about to turn it upside down.

God shows up and says, “I’m choosing you. Here’s the plan, let’s go.”

And Abraham’s obedience, his faith, to GO, is what makes him the example of faith that is looked back upon for the rest of the Bible.

But as we saw last week, this doesn’t mean he was perfect.

As God’s plans don’t unfold as quickly as he’d like, he begins to have doubts. And these lead him to Egypt, leaving where God told him to be, and he ends up making one of the worst decisions you could make, giving up his wife to another man.

But even through that, God protects Abraham from his own stupidity doesn’t he?

I mean, Abraham has been given these MASSIVE promises, and they all pretty much bank on him having kids with Sarah;

There’s no kids to give the land to without her, there’s no great nation without that, and without that, the whole world isn’t getting blessed.

So Abraham does maybe the worst thing he could do, the thing that on paper looks like it would absolutely sabotage God’s plans for his life.

But you know what? God remains faithful. He rescues Abraham from his poor decisions, dusts him off, and says, “you weren’t faithful, but I still will be. You didn’t obey, but I still love you. I still chose you. Let’s get back to the plan.”

What encouragement for us. To know that NO MATTER what you think you’ve done to mess up God’s plans for your life, he remains faithful. He remains committed to us.

So finally, at the end of chapter 13, Abraham is back where God wants him.

Now I want to summarize chapter 14 for you, before we jump into 15 where we will spend most of our time today.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 begins giving us some context for this land that God has called Abraham to go to.

Remember, nobody else was in on this plan yet. There were already people living there, and we will talk about them when we get into 15 as well.

But chapter 14 shows us that there were 9 kings that ruled over different regions of the land.

Essentially, there were 4 more powerful kings, from the Eastern side of the land, and 5 smaller kings that served underneath them near the Jordan Valley.

eventually, after about a 13 year truce, the 5 Jordanian kings decided they didn’t like that anymore, and rebelled against the 4 Eastern kings.

Turns out there was a reason the 4 Eastern kings were in charge, as they wipe out the 5 Jordanian kings in battle pretty quickly.

Why does all this matter, you ask?

Look at v. 11-12

“So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.”

So Lot was living in Sodom, which leads to more problems later, and gets himself kidnapped by these powerful kings.

Despite this sort of being his own fault, family is family, and Abram gathers together his own allies, and goes to rescue him.

He chases them down, defeats them in the middle of the night, and brings back Lot, as well as all of the possessions that were stolen.

This is a pretty big victory for him, and is one of the first examples we see of God “blessing those who bless Abraham, and cursing those who curse him.”

Abraham should most likely NOT have won that battle; but he was able to, not with superior numbers, not with phenomenal strategy, but because God was with him.

After this, Abram gets a visit from a priest/king named Melchizedek, who is the first person Abram meets that is closer to God than he is. And he’s given this blessing in v. 19-20

(ESV)

(ESV) — 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Some think he was actually a Christophany, meaning it was God the Son appearing in the OT.

i. Some think this was actually a Christophany, meaning it was God the Son appearing in the OT.

(ESV) — 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, Some think he was actually a Christophany, meaning it was God the Son appearing in the OT.

19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, Some think he was actually a Christophany, meaning it was God the Son appearing in the OT.

Some actually believe this was a Christophany, which is an appearance in the Old Testament of God the Son, before he entered the world as Jesus; we know this happened elsewhere, but there’s debate about if that’s what happened here.

Don’t have time to go into it today, but for more reading on this, check out Hebrews 7

1. Don’t have time to go into it today, but for more reading, check out

a.

This bring us to chapter 15.

I want to read the whole thing, then come back and look at a few different things.

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 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, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Okay; I know that was a lot, especially with all the “-ites” at the end.

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 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, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

But let’s go back to the beginning and look at a few important things.

In v. 1-6, we see God reminding Abram about the promises he’s made to him, and that he’s going to keep them.

Remember, Abram isn’t getting these reminders every week like you are; YEARS are going by, and his situation isn’t seeming to change all that much.

He still doesn’t have his own land, he still doesn’t have his own children.

He points this out to God in v. 2

“I still don’t have any kids, I guess my heir will just be my favorite servant Eliezer.”

God says in v. 4, “No, he’s not going to be your heir. Sorry Eliezer. I’m still going to keep my promise. You will have not just an heir, but a family so vast that it’s greater than the stars in the sky.”

And that brings us to v. 6

“And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

This is where I want to stop first.

When we read the Old Testament, and we read about sacrifices, and priests, and rituals, and goats getting cut in half…we are tempted to think of God as a totally different God back then, almost as a different person. And we tend to think that forgiveness and salvation were granted in a totally different way.

“Well, that’s all pretty weird and different.

What the story of Abraham makes CLEAR to us is this; SALVATION HAS NOT CHANGED.

Salvation has not changed because God has not changed.

There wasn’t a different way to heaven in the Old Testament; just as it is now, it’s always been;

The ONLY way to please God is through faith.

NOT works of righteousness, NOT sacrifices, NOT anything else, but faith and faith alone.

Paul spent half the New Testament proving this to new believers, some Jewish and some not.

And he used the example of Abraham not as someone who was saved differently, but as someone who was made righteous through faith and faith alone.

Verse 6, that we just read, was cited by Paul in .

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

(ESV)

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

It matters that you understand this. If you don’t, you end up thinking God is something that he’s not.

He didn’t change his mind, he didn’t change the plan, and he didn’t change the way his people can be forgiven of their sins and granted righteousness.

It has ALWAYS been through faith, and faith alone.

God has not changed. Salvation has not changed.

Next, I want to keep going in , where we see this; GOD’S PLANS ARE BIGGER THAN OUR PLANS.

Let’s look back over what’s happened here before I show you what I mean. First, we see God make his covenant with Abram official through this ceremony that we read about. This would have given Abram even more confidence that God would keep his promises.

What kindness of God? Abram keeps getting worried God will forget, and instead of responding with anger, God responds with kindness, and comforts Abram with this ceremony to bind their covenant and give Abram peace.

So after this covenant is affirmed, I want to look back at what God says beginning in verse 13.

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

God drops some pretty big bombs on Abram right here.

He tells him that his people, his descendants that God will give him, will not live peacefully in the promised land, but will instead be sojourners in someone else’s land, foreigners, and will also be enslaved for 400 years.

AFTER that, he’ll judge those who have enslaved them, and lead his people into the promised land with great possessions.

Just thank about this for a minute.

He’s just a moment ago had to convince Abram that he hadn’t FORGOTTEN about the promise he made him, and then says, “oh by the way, I’ve got the next half century mapped out already, so...”

Don’t miss how ridiculous this is!

Abram, a lot like us, has a hard time trusting that God has our next few days planned out, when all along, he’s already plotted the next 400 years! And the next 4,000, and every day that will happen on this earth.

What’s amazing is, He’s not trying to keep up. He’s not trying to juggle a lot of things at once and hoping he doesn’t drop something.

16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

HE’S GOD! And he isn’t like us. He’s got it all mapped out, and it’s not even hard for him.

The Amorites are the people who are currently living in the land.

Abram is panicking, wondering if he’s going to be able to have a single child, and meanwhile, God is already plotting and orchestrating a plan, moving nations and kingdoms around as he pleases, setting the stage for the MILLIONS of descendants he knows Abram is going to have.

God is already plotting and orchestrating a 400 year enslavement in Egypt for Abrams descendants, giving the Amorites more time to repent, knowing that he will ultimately bring his people back to the land.

Abram is worried about if God can actually give him his land, and God is already moving pieces around so that it will be ready for them when they come back hundreds of years later.

His plans are big, we need to trust him. You can’t help that you have a narrow perspective; that’s part of what it is to be human.

But, you can make a choice to trust God’s perspective, and his plan, over your own.

Why wouldn’t you?

I promise you, if someone wrote down your life story, and we could read it like we read Abrahams, the people reading it would all say,

“Well God kept reminding them it would work out, why didn’t they just trust him? Why couldn’t they just believe what God kept trying to tell them?”

That’s what God wants for you; trust his plans, they are bigger and better than yours.

Looking back at , theres one more thing I want to point out. We won’t spend a ton of time here, but it’s easy to miss.

Look at v. 16

16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

What God just said is this; Abram, your descendants, my chosen people, are going to leave this land and be brutally treated as slaves, SO THAT the Amorites, the ones living in this land, can have more time to repent.

I told you God hasn’t changed. God of the OT is the same God we worship now; he didn’t get nicer, he didn’t learn to control his temper; it’s the same God.

GOD IS PATIENT AND MERCIFUL

“Well, God in the OT seems so much quicker to punish and pour out wrath.”

One prime example used to justify this thought is his allowance of his own people to come and conquer the land that these others had been living in.

Couple things;

It wasn’t their land, it’s all HIS land. He would have been totally justified to kick them off it whenever he pleased.

He allowed his OWN people to be enslaved for 400 years because he was giving the Amorites more time!

Do you think if they had sought God during this time they would have found him? If they found him, he would have forgiven them? If so, do you think he would have brought his people back to conquer them?

God is patient and merciful. He was then, and he is now. Even for this enemies, even for those that rebel against him and curse his name.

I want to now shift gears a little bit and talk for a bit about why all this matters.

I told you one temptation when we look at the Old Testament was to view it as entirely “other,” a time when God was different, salvation was different, and so on.

WHY did God see fitI told you one temptation when we look at the Old Testament was to view it as entirely “other,” a time when God was different, salvation was different, and so on.

Another temptation is to view Old Testament stories sort of like parables.

“God saved Daniel from the lions den, so remember to trust God.”

“God helped David, he will help you too.”

God

“God made a donkey talk, hey that’s sort of cool.”

And we see them as just stand-alone stories that we tell our kids.

But I need you to understand something about the story of Abraham, and the Old Testament as a whole.

These are not just stories; they aren’t just there for us to read and enjoy and tell our kids.

They should matter deeply to us, the people of God.

When we read the Old Testament, we aren’t reading stories about somebody else; this is our own Family History!

“Well, I’m not Jewish!”

That doesn’t matter!

The New Testament isn’t an entirely new book, it’s the conclusion, the final chapters of the Old Testament! They’re one story, not two.

You can’t understand the New Testament without the Old.

Abraham is a perfect example of this. Let me show you why the story of Abraham, why this conversation between an old Palestinian man and God that happened 4,000 years ago matters for you right now.

Let’s look at the world as it sat in , where we are today.

God has created the world, placed man in it, and since the beginning, mankind has been rebelling against him.

Sin takes over to the point that God wipes the earth clean and starts over with Noah.

Eventually, we are right back where we started. Sin is reigning, and the best and brightest of mankind has come together in to build the Tower of Babel, proving their own greatness once and for all.

And despite this great rebellion, God doesn’t destroy the earth again.

Instead, he steps down and chooses Abram.

He chooses to reveal himself to a man who he will one day build into a nation.

He’s decided that instead of pouring out judgment and wrath like the world deserves, he’s now going to reveal himself to the world through a people that he will call his own, a group that will one day be called the Israelites.

We know from that God makes himself evident to us through so many ways already, so much so that anyone who does not find him has no excuse; yet God goes further, and sets apart a people for himself, a representative that can act as a light in a dark world, pointing people back towards the God that they had forgotten.

He chooses Abraham, he chooses the Israelites, not for their sake alone, but for the sake of the entire world.

And throughout the rest of the Old Testament, we see him using his people, despite their OWN rebellion against him, to show himself to the entire world.

In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel represented God to the world.

God was under no obligation to do any more.

We see God save those who are outside of Israel, like Rahab in Joshua, or the Ninevites in Jonah, who recognized God because of the things he had done in Israel.

But the Israelites fail to live up to their end of the covenant; they did not trust him, they did not obey his commands. It reaches the point that they became so saturated by the rest of the world that you could hardly tell the difference.

But, the Israelites fail to live up to their end of the covenant; they did not trust him, they did not obey his commands. It reaches the point that they became so saturated by the rest of the world that you could hardly tell the difference.

And at that point, God was under no obligation to do anything else.

Could have said, “Welp, I tried. I gave them a chance. These people just won’t listen. Gave it a go with Abraham, but it didn’t work out. Guess everyone will just be forced to pay the price for their own sins.”

But that was never God’s desire.

And it was never his plan.

Even though God began this great redemptive work with an individual, he had the world in mind when he did it. He had you and me in mind when he did it.

His plan was to offer salvation to the entire world.

And if the people of Israel had paid better attention to , they would have known that.

The promise wasn’t just for a great nation, not just for a great land, but Abram was promised that one day, someone from his line would be a blessing to every family in the entire WORLD.

King David was great, the prophets and rulers of the Old Testament had great impacts on the world, but NONE of them were a blessing to the entire world.

We see God save those who are outside of Israel, like Rahab in Joshua, or the Ninevites in Jonah, who recognized God because of the things he had done in Israel.

No, only one can claim that, and it’s Jesus Christ.

Jump to the New Testament world, and Jesus has come, fulfilled the entirety of the law and the prophets, but there’s just one problem;

The Israelites have rejected him. God’s chosen people that were supposed to be a light to the world turned their back on their Messiah.

This left people like Paul having to make sense of this; were the promises God made to Abraham still true, or had they failed?

Jesus, from the line of Abraham, comes, and though he’s rejected by God’s chosen people, he comes not to save the Jews, but to save the entire world.

No, Paul explains that belonging to God’s people was never about your lineage.

(ESV)

Romans 9:6-8

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

When we read about this covenant with Abraham, it matters because it’s a part of our salvation story!

Paul's answer is that God's promises to the descendants of Abraham have not failed, even though many Jews are unbelieving, because the promises were never made to every physical descendant of Abraham.

Paul's answer is that God's promises to the descendants of Abraham have not failed, even though many Jews are unbelieving and therefore accursed, because the promises were never made to every physical descendant of Abraham. Just as Isaac, not Ishmael, was the child of promise, and Jacob, not Esau, was the child of promise, so also throughout Israel's history there has been a true remnant within Israel who are the heirs of the full covenant blessings. The rest are not the seed of Abraham because, even though they trace their physical descent to him, they do not share his faith and obedience.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. When we read about this covenant with Abraham, it matters because it’s a part of our salvation story!

We see this hold true throughout Scripture. Isaac, not Ishmael, was the child of promise. Jacob, not Esau, was the child of promise.

Being a descendant of Abraham, and laying claim to these promises was never about sharing his DNA, it was always about sharing in his faith and obedience.

The rest are not the seed of Abraham because, even though they trace their physical descent to him, they do not sharing in his faith and obedience.

If you have faith in Jesus, you do!

The Bible calls you a descendant of Abraham not because of your blood, but because of your faith!

When we read about this covenant with Abraham, it matters because it’s a part of OUR salvation story!

This isn’t how he saved THEM, it’s how he saved US!

The people of Israel are God’s chosen people, but being God’s people was never about blood, it was always about faith.

(ESV) 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

So because we worship the same God that shut the lion’s mouth, that defeated Goliath, that led the slaves out of Egypt and made a covenant with Abraham, these aren’t stories about some one else, these are stories about US!

ALL of them lay the foundation for Jesus’ coming, and his fulfillment of this covenant between God and our spiritual forefather, Abraham.

This was God’s plan all along, even then.

Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

WE are the nations that are blessed because of the covenant that God made with Abraham. Because he chose to step down and intervene in our sinful world.

He didn’t abandon us. He had a plan from the very beginning to save us.

Abraham matters to us, because it is he who God poured out his extravagant grace upon, and Abraham who responded in faith that led to salvation.

Millions since have followed his example, placing their faith in a gracious God that offers salvation to all those that have faith.

So yes; this matters to us. We are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. The gospel that was preached to him by God himself, of righteousness not through works by by faith, is the same one that Jesus came to preach, and the same one we preach today.

Paul discusses this exact topic in , which we touched on earlier. I want to read this to you, because God addressed this topic for us specifically, and I want you to hear his full council on it. In , Paul uses the language we’ve all heard about how we are justified by faith and faith alone, not by works of righteousness. Then, in he drives his point home by showing that this isn’t just true now, but it’s ALWAYS been true, just like it was true for Abraham.

It’s so important that we see the Old Testament, and passages like this one, not as nice stories that are good to know, but as crucial parts of God’s plan to saving mankind.

What amazing grace that God chose Abraham and entered into a covenant with him.

That he offered him salvation he never could have earned.

And what amazing grace that he offers the same to us.

This is the story of the entire Bible. A holy God reconciling with a rebellious people through his gracious and sacrificial love.

What joy stories like this should bring those of us who just like Abraham have been made righteous. Had our sins forgiven. Been saved by our loving God.

As we continue with the life of Abraham in the coming weeks, remember this;

This isn’t his story, this isn’t an Israelite story, its OUR story. It’s the story of how God saved us.

-Thank you for stepping down into our sinful world to save us; to grant us righteousness that we never could have earned.

-Thank you for being faithful to us no matter what; for not letting us get in the way of our relationship with you, for loving us unconditionally.

-Help us to trust you fully; to recognize our narrow perspective, and trust your plans for our life instead of our own.

many thought that God’s promises had failed.

Genesis 15

Intro

Chapter 15

Salvation Has not Changed

God’s Plans are Bigger Than Ours

God is Patient & Merciful

Why the OT Matters

Why Abraham Matters

Conclusion

Prayer