FAITH IN THE FIRE

INTRODUCTION

What do we do with our doubts?

It’s important that we understand the Abrahamic covenant.

Galatians 3:6–14 NLT

6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. 10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:29 NLT

29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

Vss. 1-8 Abrahams Doubts and Fears

Genesis 15:1–3 NLT

1 Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” 2 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. 3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”

Abraham says, thanks, but he is full of doubts and fears. He reminds God of the facts that he feels bring God’s promises into question.

God, I’ve got doubts about you and your promise.

Genesis 15:4–8 NLT

4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” 6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. 7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” 8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”

Notice how quickly Abraham has more questions. But the questions are different, first he had doubts about God; now he has doubts about himself. Ok, God, I now know you, but I also know me. I can be a real dumpster fire from time to time.

I remember a sign I saw in store many years ago; Browsers welcome; buyers adored.

Well, Doubters welcome,

believers adored.

Notice a couple of things about God’s response; one, He is not offended by Abrahams weakness. Two, He gives him further assurance. Three, He does not allow him to accommodate his doubt.

Open minded is not necessarily a virtue.

VSS 15:9-21 Comfort and Assurance of God

Genesis 15:9–10 NLT

9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.

“Cutting Covenant” was a long practiced tradition in ancient society. God put the covenant in a context that Abraham could understand.

The sacrifice was cut with both halves forming an aisle, and the covenant maker would pass between the halves, during which passage he would make a vow along with a reward for compliance, and a curse for breaking that vow.

Genesis 15:11 NLT

11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

Vultures, often represent the demonic attempting to subvert the covenant by playing upon dead flesh.

Genesis 15:12 NLT

12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.

A great sense of terror, dread. Example, if you’re afraid of heights, it’s not that you think the heights hold malice against you, it’s the sudden revelation that if you respond wrongly to the heights, that you suffer the effects of gravity and cause yourself great harm.

Genesis 15:13–16 NLT

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”

God gives Abram more revelation of His plans, and further assurance that these things will come to pass.

Genesis 15:17 NLT

17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.

It was customary in ancient, and especially Feudal societies, for Kings and conquerors to make covenants with vassals or with the conquered. Only the lesser part passed between the sacrifices, not the King.

Abram expected that he would be the only one walking through the sacrifices.

Our King walked through the sacrifices, and prepaid the penalty for our disobedience.

Genesis 15:18–19 NLT

18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— 19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

God made a covenant with Abram.

God said, may the my body be torn, may I, who cannot die, die. May I be cut off from life.

Fast forward to the cross:

Matthew 27:45–46 AMP

45 Now from the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (three o’clock). 46 And about the ninth hour (three o’clock) Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?—that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]?

Galatians 3:13–14 NLT

13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

No other religion compares to true Christianity. All others proport to teach you how to find God and make peace with Him via your actions. Christianity is God searching you out and making a peace with you on His terms, His actions, and at His expense.

As a young believer, I remember thinking, ok, I’m in Christ, but a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. God showed me a vision of a single link of chain, and I was not connected to, but inside of it.

It’s not simply who we are in Christ, it’s whose we are. We can rest in the God who made covenant with us, in His nature, in His character.

We must trust Him, this thing called faith is relational, not simply legal. We must believe that He is working all things to our good as Romans 8:28 tells us. By the way, if all things were going to be good, why would someone need to work them? We have a promise that everything is going to be all right, not that we can define all right, not that we can control the process.

In the end, at some point, it comes down to trust in Him that is called faith and counted for righteousness.