Slide 1 … Today’s message is from Genesis 15 and gets us
closer to our Homecoming Theme of “Living in the Promise.” Today we read about God establishing a
covenant with Abram
Slide 2 … (1-3) Sometime 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.” 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. You have given me no descendants
of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” Slide 3 … (4-6) 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.”
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!” And
Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his
faith. Slide 4 … (7-9) 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.” But
Abram replied, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that I will actually
possess it?” 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.” Slide
5 … (10-12) 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. Some vultures swooped down to eat the
carcasses, but Abram chased them away. As
the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness
came down over him. Slide 6 … (13-15)
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. But I will punish the nation that
enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for
you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) Slide 7 … (16-17) After four
generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the
Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot
and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. Slide 8 … (18-21) 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
– the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Slide 9 … After the events of the previous chapters – after
Abram and Lot separate – after the wars between the two groups of kings – after
Abram went to battle and rescued Lot – after Abram met Melchizedek and gave him
a tithe – is where this chapter begins.
Slide 10 … The LORD, or more specifically, the Word of the
LORD – which we understand to be Jesus – came to Abram in a vision and spoke to
him. He told Abram to not be afraid,
that He would be his shield and protection; and that Abram’s reward would be
exceedingly great – perhaps land, perhaps wealth, perhaps the LORD Himself, or
maybe a combination or all.
Slide 11 … The Hebrew reads “After things these came the
word of the LORD unto Abram in a vision saying not Fear Abram I [am} your
shield to you reward great exceedingly.” … so, both translations of either The
LORD Himself being the reward or something else being Abram’s reward can be
understood.
Slide 12 … After the LORD says this, Abram responds. He is wandering why having blessings would
matter since he doesn’t have any children.
He is more or less complaining – and perhaps rightly so – that blessings
don’t matter if he doesn’t have someone to pass them along to or someone to share
them with. Abram laments that a servant
(possibly a slave) born into house would be his heir, but the LORD tells him
that this would not be the case. Abram
is told that he will have a son – but at this point he is not told when it
would happen (and that is something to put in the back of your mind for the
next chapter with Hagar).
Slide 13 … Apparently they were inside, during the night, at
this time because we read that they went outside; and Abram was told to look
into the sky. He was told to count the
stars, if he could, because that was how many descendants he would have. This is mentioned again in chapters 22 and
26.
Slide 14 … We are told that Abram believed the LORD and
because of this, the LORD counted Abram as righteous because of his faith. We also read about the faith of Abraham in
Hebrews 11:8-12 (and that was part of the sermon from a few weeks ago – the
same week that Shawn was baptized).
Slide 15 … The LORD continues speaking and reminds Abram of
who He is and what He had done. He tells
Abram that it was Him that brought Abram out of Ur – away from the pagan
cultures – to salvation – to a land that would be given to him. Abram, who believed the LORD when he was told
he would have a son, didn’t ask for proof, now asks for proof that he would
actually possess the land he was told about.
Slide 16 … The LORD is going to give Abram proof – some
confidence – that what he was told will come true. Abram was asked to bring five animals; a
3-year old heifer, a 3-year old female goat, a 3-year-old ram, a turtledove,
and a young pigeon.
Slide 17 … Abram obeyed, brought the animals to the LORD,
killed them, and cut the larger animals in half, but not the birds.
Slide 18 … He then chased off some vultures that tried to
swoop down, feed on the carcasses, and interfere with this ceremony – this
promise – this covenant. It has been
speculated if these vultures were literal or figurative. If actual vultures came down or if it is
symbolism for a spiritual attack from Satan or perhaps is Satan didn’t send the
vultures to interfere with the ceremony.
Slide 19 … Regardless, if they were literal or symbolic –
Abram drove them off – he did not allow them or Satan to interfere with his
commitment/love for God; and neither should we.
Slide 20 … In our own lives there are many “vultures” that
seek to interfere with our love and obedience to God, prayer, Bible Study,
serving, giving, fellowship, evangelism, and even coming to church.
Slide 21 … We do not need to make excuses for them, or
rationalize them, or ignore them, or think they are acceptable because others
don’t love God as much as they should, pray as much as they should, give as
much as they should, serve as much as they should, witness as much as they
should, invite people to church as often as they should, or even come to church
as often as they should …
Slide 22 … We simply need to drive off the vultures and obey
God 100% each and every day.
Slide 23 … These vultures must be driven off, not welcomed,
not friended, not tolerated, not accepted, and definitely not celebrated. Anything that comes between you and God needs
to be removed from your life. Anything
that takes God from the #1 position in your life needs to be removed.
Slide 24 …
Anything that causes you to not spend time each day in
prayer or prevents you from having a prayerful attitude needs to be removed
from your life.
Anything that causes you to not read or study Scripture each
day needs to be removed from your life.
Satan is going to attack you with lie after lie, so you need to have the
truth firmly planted in your heart and mind.
Anything that causes you to not witness, not share your
testimony, not fulfill the Great Commission needs to be removed from your
life.
Anything that causes you to not come to church or be a apart
of church needs to be removed from your life.
We each have gifts that we are to use to build up the church. We need to be here and to be together for
worship, fellowship, accountability, to give, to serve, and to build each other
up.
Anything that prevents us from living a life or anything
that causes us to sin or someone else to sin needs to be removed from our lives
as well.
Slide 25 … We may not immediately or easily see these
vultures, so we need to rely on each other for help; and pray to God for
guidance. These vultures may be
disguised as things we love or enjoy; and for each of us they could be different.
It could be work, recreation,
relaxation, entertainment, sports, or activities our families are involved
in. Regardless of what they are, they
may not be easily for us to part with, but we do have to ask ourselves if God
is more important or worth more than anything else. If God is more important, then it should be
easy to get rid of the item from your life.
If God is not more important, then you have an issue to work out with
Him.
Slide 26 … Why do people expect to spend an eternity with
God and His saints, if they refuse to spend any time with Him or His followers
now?
Slide 27 … Our Christian walk is summed up by what we
believe, practice, and teach.
Slide 28 … We, as believers, need to be mindful of the
following: God must be #1, and we need to pray, study Scripture, give, serve,
witness, evangelize, be a part of a local church, and endure faithfully by
living a holy life.
Slide 29 … We then read that as the sun was going down, Abram
fell into a deep sleep and a terrifying darkness came upon him. The LORD tells Abram that he can be sure of
what he has been told and that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign
land for 400 years.
Slide 30 … This foreign country was Egypt and we can read in
chapters 7-11 about the 10 Plagues that struck that country … water into blood
… frogs … lice … swarm of flies … diseased livestock … boils … storm of hail
and fire … locusts … darkness for 3 days … death of the firstborn. Exodus 13:35-36 tells us that the Egyptians
gave away silver and gold and anything the Israelites asked for – so they left
the country with great wealth.
Slide 31 … Abram was also told that he would pass away at an
old age and would die in peace, so personally he would have nothing to worry
about. Abram was told that after four
generations his descendants would return to the promised land once the sins of
the Amorites warranted destruction.
Slide 32 … The return of Abram’s descendants with Joshua
would coincide with God’s judgment on the Amorites in Canaan, once their sin
had reached full measure. This shows
that God will judge the wicked, whether immediately or in the future, or
both. God will not condone evil for long
– all evil will be punished.
Slide 33 … God prophesized that the Amorites would be
destroyed over 400 years before it happened.
Also, this verse shows that God doesn’t immediate wipe out all
sinners. This verse shows God’s love, mercy,
and patience with all sinners.
Slide 34 … This should sound familiar as it echoes 2nd
Peter 3:9 (NLT): The Lord isn’t really
being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but
wants everyone to repent.
Slide 35 … After the sun went down and darkness fell on
Abram, something really interested happened.
Before we get to this very interesting and important thing, I need to
point out that Abram could waited upwards of almost one day for this to happen.
Slide 36 … Earlier, we read that Abram was taken outside to
see the stars, which can only happen when it is dark. At the very least, it was before dawn, but
even then Abram would have had to wait at least 12 hours and he spent that time
driving off the vultures.
Slide 37 … We may have to wait awhile on God as well, but
that is no excuse to deny Him, or shirk our responsibilities to Him and our
church family.
Slide 38 … Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch
pass between the halves of the carcasses.
This established a covenant between the LORD and Abram. The LORD told Abram that He would give that
land to his descendants and described the boundaries of the land, and told
Abram the groups of people that occupied the land.
Slide 39 … We need to be aware of who walked among the
pieces of the animals and who did not; and what this ceremony represented. This was a common ceremony among the people
of the region during this time, so Abram would have been aware of this. When the animals were killed and cut in half
and the pieces laid across from each other, a pool of blood would have
gathered.
Slide 40 … The two parties involved would walk among the
pieces – the person or people that initiate the agreement would walk through
first and then the person or people that agree would walk through second. Both parties were signifying that if they did
not keep their end of the deal, that they would have what was done to the
animals, be done to them. It was a very
serious agreement and the parties involved were saying that they deserved to
die just like the animals if they broke the covenant.
Slide 41 … We read, however, that Abram did not walk through
the pieces – only the LORD walked through the pieces in the form of a smoking
firepot and a flaming torch – symbols that would later be used to represent the
LORD’s presence … smoke/clouds and fire.
Only the LORD walked through the blood – only the LORD would be held
accountable to what HE said. Since Abram
knew the significance of this ceremony, then he knew he could take the LORD at
His word and believe what He said would happen would come to pass.
Slide 42 … We know that the LORD is truth and that He keeps
His word. The LORD was telling Abram
that if He did not keep His word, then the outcome for breaking the covenant
ceremony would be applied to Him – but since the LORD cannot lie – cannot sin –
there wasn’t any danger of this happening.
Slide 43 … God established a covenant with Abram through
blood. This was not the only covenant
that God made and this was not the last covenant established through blood.
Slides 44-45 (The New Covenant) … 1st Corinthians
11:23-25 (on screen)