Genesis 15 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to line on line our weekly study of the Bible one verse at a time our journey has taken us partway through the book of Genesis so far we have examined creation the flood and now we are learning about the establishment of the Hebrew nation Abram and his company have traveled from Chaldea to Egypt and now is back in the land of Canaan God has promised to make of him a great nation and in tonight's lesson chapter 15 Abram is reminded of that promise so let's get started line on line Heavenly Father thank you for your family your children and this what we call our family here at Calvary and the deep and abiding hunger to know your word and it's just so impressive to me to find a group of people that has a desire not just to know what the New Testament says but what the entire book declares what you have said in your word from the beginning in this book of beginnings the book of Genesis so Lord as we uncover this great chapter chapter 15 tonight as that becomes the scope of our consideration we do pray that your Holy Spirit would override the vessel and would anoint that which is spoken and especially as it is heard by your people I pray you'd also give us ears to hear to put it in New Testament terms ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church to us in Jesus name Amen well every single thing in every single person has a beginning save one person and that is God Himself who has no beginning and no end who is eternal but everything has a beginning and origin in the book of Genesis the book of origins we have seen the origin the beginning of the creation of the universe we've seen the beginning the origin of mankind the origin of marriage the origin of sin in the Garden of Eden we've then seen God's origin of salvation how he immediately went to work with his plan known to him from the beginning of the world to bring a savior into the world who would in the words of Genesis crush the head of the serpent now to do that it was in God's plan to begin a nation and we have the origin of the nation of Israel that's really in this scope of our consideration in Genesis chapter 15 really in the life of Abram Abram a pagan worshiper who lived in Iraq or of the Cal D's called by God to leave his hometown and go to a land the land of Canaan inhabited by Canaanites chiefly the Amma writes he was called to go there when he obeyed God's command an invitation to come and be blessed in that land it began what we call the patriarchal era or the patriarchal stage of history from around 20 165 BC to 1804 BC is this patriarchal stage where we look at Abram who became Abraham his son Isaac Jacob and the twelve tribes as they began that's the patriarchal era so we are finding the beginning of the nation of Israel that's important to God's plan because they will become the receptacle for the Messiah the Jewish Messiah who fulfills Scripture to come and be the savior of the world all of that is found in Genesis and that's what we're in covering as we do a chapter by chapter tonight where chapter 15 of the book of Genesis now in chapter 14 we saw that Abram began a very heroic rescue operation you see there were these these four kings who went to war with five kings four kings in the north they formed a coalition now when I say Kings from the patriarchal era they were really like mayors mayors of a city they controlled a town they were the king of the town but they would form coalition's and become Nations for Kings from the lineage of ham against five Kings from the lineage of scheme' so we have the ham i'ts versus the shemites and it's different than the Hatfields versus the McCoys this was an area the four kings dominated and had for twelve years these five kings semitic kings paying money tax money tribute money to these four kings under the headship of one guy named kid or lay omer in the 13th year of that taxation agreement the five kings revolted against the four which caused the four under the leadership of ketterle omer to come and take seeds of those five and boy did they clean house they took spoils of war with them they rounded up people hostages and they took them captive caught in the crossfire of this international conflict was the nephew of abram named lot he gets taken as part of that the captives he's a refugee a Pio w so what does Abram do in a unprecedented and tremendously courageous effort he takes 318 army men they're really servants in his household he gives them weapons and he says we're going to war boy and he raids the coalition of the four kings at nighttime and in an unprecedented victory is able to win the battle take back the spoils including lot and let the captives go free when returning from that battle he meets with an unusual King the king of Salem called milk is a deck remember him he's the monarch of Salem the mysterious monarch named Melchizedek if you want to remember him that way he's the king of Salem when Abraham meets Melchizedek milk is a that gives him bread and wine and Abram pays tithes to Melchizedek gives him money honouring him if you will worshipping him in the very least Nilka Zedeck is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ some believe it is actually the Lord Jesus Christ as a theophany pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament I'll let you argue that and debate that or take whatever position you want so he meets Melchizedek the Magnificent monarch of Salem but he also meets another King and this is where we left off and this is all-important to chapter 15 verse 1 the second monarch is king birra of Sodom now i'm really thrilled to be going through this because just yesterday i was on the phone to one of our fellow church members who is right now excavating biblical Sodom dr. Stephen Collins and he's now in his fifth season uncovering that city the city of Sodom where King Barrow was so Abram meets the king of righteousness that's what Melchizedek means and let's call Berra the king of rottenness he's the king of Sodom so the king of Salem and the king of Sodom are men the king of Sodom that corrupt city corrupted says before the Lord King Bera offered to give to Abram a sum of money sort of as a reward a Thanksgiving reward for fighting the battle letting his people come back to Sodom and and bringing back the spoils of war Abram declines the reward I don't want it I don't even want a token I don't want anybody to say that Abram was made rich by somebody else so he refuses the reward and that's all important to the first verse of chapter 15 after these things oh and by the way if you were wondering we're not going to make it through chapter 16 because if I don't say that you might get worried around the end of chapter 15 thinking I know skip and he might just plow through 16 but I won't do that this is too important a chapter to go fast in after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision and notice what he said do not be afraid Abram I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward now beautiful I refused the reward of man I don't want anybody to say that you made Abram rich God says don't be afraid I am your protection I am your exceedingly great reward why did God begin by the phrase don't be afraid well I think it's pretty easy to answer that it's probably because Abram was afraid so you don't walk up this I'm going to go now don't be afraid unless you sense that they are fearful now so far in Genesis I have told you every time we come to a first mention of something I tell you the first time it's mentioned here is the very first mention of a familiar biblical phrase do not be afraid or fear not you'll find it about 70 plus times in the Bible this is the very first time we find it do not be afraid or fear not well it begs the question what would Abram have to be afraid of let me give you a few suggestions number one you notice that it says God spoke to him in a vision have you noticed that so often in the Bible when an angel appears or the angel of the Lord appears or the Lord appears himself or there's some kind of a vision that people get fearful they see an angel and they freaked out and so the angel has to immediately say now don't be afraid because they're scared stiff don't be afraid when Daniel had the vision in chapter 10 of that book of the angel giving him messages of the future he said I grew weak and my face took on a deathly pale he just became so fearful when John in Revelation chapter 1 gets a vision of the glorified Lord that beautiful picture of the Risen the resurrected the resplendent Christ it says when I saw him I fell on my feet as a dead man it was just too much and I suppose that to get a vision from God where you're hearing his voice and seeing something would be a fearful experience so number one it could it could be that that he saw the vision and he was afraid and seeing that it was unusual it was noteworthy and so God just begins by saying hang loose buddy don't be afraid there's a second reason that he could have been afraid at this point number two he had just been victorious in a battle he had been very courageous and I have talked to lots of people who have been in battle who have been able to muster up a certain amount of courage even when against the the worst kinds of odds only after the victory to be afraid and in deep depression it's interesting it seems like at the needed time the courage and strength is there but afterwards when there's a moment to let down and rest the person becomes fearful depressed psychologists call it post-traumatic stress and it's even found in the Bible sometimes Elijah who was able to draw sides and a contest against the prophets of bail and asteroth you remember in first Kings 18 afterwards when Jezebel chases him down into the desert he is depressed and he's just sort of hangs out under a broom tree and says okay I just want to die now boy how different from the Elijah we saw in Mount Carmel the warrior of God but afterwards depressed it could be that the battle just took a tremendous toll on Abram and now he's in the doldrums he's depressed so the Lord is comforting him don't be afraid here's the third possibility and I lean toward this Abram at this point exhibited the fear of man the Bible says the fear of man brings a snare he just victoriously fought a coalition of four powerful kings who had been able to subdue five cities for 12 years and when those five cities rebelled the four kings were able to completely wipe out in terms of power strength and battle five kings now Abram with 318 men was victorious but perhaps he's thinking what if ketterle Omer decides to retaliate like he did when those five kings refused to pay tribute to him what if he comes back I only have 318 I know the Lord was with me I know I was victorious but I may not be the next time could be all over also he had just been with birra the king of sodom who wanted to give him some spoils war he refused the spoils of war refused to take the money and in so doing was refusing a possible future alliance that he could have a shield the old writers used to call it the shield of that city to protect Abram in case he was ever attacked again he just basically said I don't need your protection thus the Lord said I am your shield I'm your protection and I am your exceedingly great reward so that is probably what is going on he's just afraid of retaliation and what might happen because of the things that have already happened now you should know something about fear and you probably already do it is one of the most destructive emotions that you can ever manifest destructive it can paralyze you something else about fear it's irrational isn't it it defies your logic and your reason you'll look at a situation you go okay wait a minute I can look at this logically and you work your way through it and reason your way through it but sometimes the emotion can eclipse the logic and you're just afraid it's irrational University of Wisconsin put out an interesting study some years back saying that 40% of the things we are afraid of will never happen that we live a portion of our lives as servants to the emotion of fear over things that will never ever happen it's irrational so for whatever reason he's afraid the Lord gives him a beautiful promise do not be afraid that's the commandment I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward but Abraham said Lord God what will you give me I just want you to follow and notice this conversation Abram don't be afraid man I'm your protection I'm your reward what are you gonna give me seeing that I go childless in the air of my house as Eliezer of Damascus look you have given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is not my heir and behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir but one will come from your own body shall be your heir the chapter begins with Abram in fear he's in panic mode how does God deal with his panic follow it carefully God gives him a promise he's panicked so God gives them a promise don't be afraid I'm your shield you're exceedingly great reward how does Abram respond to God's promise with the perplexity so we go from panic to promise - now perplexity what are you gonna give me I don't have any children and he mentions this guy Eliezer I'll get to that in a minute now this is very important and this is understandable because if you'll just follow me go back with me to chapter 12 most of us just have to turn one page chapter 12 verse 2 God says to Abram I will make you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing what to be a nation you have to have what kids this guy has no kids he didn't even have a kid a child and God makes his beautiful promise you know you know you're gonna have a nation will come out of you we follow that further down to verse 7 the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants plural I give this land and there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him again descendents are mentioned children offspring many of them go to chapter 13 verse 14 and the Lord said to Abram after lot had separated from him lift up your eyes now and look at the place where you are nor toward southward eastward westward for all the land which you see I give to you and to your descendants forever and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if a man could number the dust of the earth then your descendants could also be numbered all of these are wonderful glorious gracious promises but so far that's all they are promises there's no children God where's the kids these are really cool promises thanks for being my shield of my reward I don't have any kids yet and by the way the clock is ticking put yourself in Abram sandals when God called him in Chapter 12 when he left him harren he was 75 years young in chapter 16 we're told he is 86 years old so in chapter 15 the chapter were presently at he's probably around 85 years old it's been 10 years I was old then I'm still old in fact I'm older where's the kids these are beautiful promises but there's no children and then he points he goes the only heir that I have is Eliezer of Damascus now this is interesting who did Abram take with him because his brother had died lot so in effect Abram adopted lot as his own raising him now he's raised by now and he's out on his own but according to the law of that era and that geography lot would have become the heir of Abram he doesn't mention lot he mentions a guy named Eliezer of Damascus now here's a thought that you might find interesting that some of the commentators bring up Damascus was known as the commerce capital of the world at the time of Abram and it is thought that Eliezer of Damascus was a man in charge of one of those houses of Commerce or Bank house so that to say the phrase Eliezer of Damascus is like saying in our vernacular Bank of America Wells Fargo Bank of the West so he might be simply saying this look Lord these are great promises and I love your words and the vision is really cool and I'm really appreciative for all of the wealth that I have and all this land do you promise but what good does it do to have the wealth and the land and the promise without the kids and when I die the banks going to get it anyway Eliezer of Damascus it might all go to them because of the tie-in it could refer to that possibly what will you give me he asks and verse three I love this I love loved love how this flows then Abram said look you have given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir and behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir okay so the chapter begins in panic fear right he's fearful Abraham's fearful the fear the panic is met with a promise of God Abram hears the promise of God and offers a perplexity to God okay cool but I don't have any children now how does God deal with his perplexity with a promise not an explanation this is beautiful God didn't say okay look dude this is why it's taken so long okay this is why I'm waiting you know now I'm gonna explain to you what I'm doing and why this has just taken years and years and years and here's the explanation here's the reason God gives no reasons God gives no explanation God gives another promise you know why when we're really down and out you can't live on explanations what you really need are promises that's what gives you hope I want to give you an example I will never forget the afternoon I came home from church came to my house to find that my young son who had been playing on top of a wall fell down and cut his tongue almost in half with his teeth so he's leaned over a bowl the bowl is filled with blood and Linda looks at me and says do you think he's gonna have to go to the hospital Nathan's eyes are looking at me when she asks a question he's going he dad to not want to go and I said absolutely he needs to go so we take him to the hospital the doctor took one look at him and do you think the doctor looked at Nathan and said no Nathan let me explain to you what has happened that anterior dorsal surface has been incised damaging and bringing trauma to the lingual nerve and the paresthesia that you feel is do you think he did that he didn't give him an explanation or a reason he gave him a promise he said Nate look at me a few stitches that's all and you'll be fine in two weeks that's what he needed that's what we live off of non explanations promises here's the perplexity God answers it with a promise now something about this promise it's sort of the same promise but a little bit different it's exactly the same only different let me explain he repeats the promise basically he takes the same promise and he repeats it to him again this shows me that God is loving and patient he's not harsh with Abram he didn't go Abram you idiot you doofus I mean how many times I have to tell you this I can't believe it here goes again he's very patient with him to repeat the same promise he has been telling him for 10 years he repeats the promise that's gracious have it haven't we come across a promise that we've forgotten and God is gracious enough to remind us of that we read in the word go oh yeah remember that I got okay Lord I got it and we walk out and the very next day we've forgotten it and then we might in a week read something else and it's that same promise but a little bit different oh yeah I'm reminded of that several years ago when I was in college I was running out of money I was unable to buy groceries but I did have a little bit of groceries in the cabinet Hamburger Helper is what I lived on in those days because it was easy and I could cook a pot of Hamburger Helper and it would last all week or two weeks you know I I'd cook it and and then I'd eat a little bit and leave it on the stove and come back to it the next day and heat it up and and eat a little more and keep it on the stove tin foil and then come back and it lasts me a week or two but I'd run out of Hamburger Helper and one time in particular when I ran out of everything no money no Hamburger Helper I had peanut butter that's what I had peanut butter and a little bread and so I made peanut butter sandwiches and then I I rationed it down to just a slice of bread with peanut butter and jelly on top of that and then the bread ran out and so it was spoonfuls of peanut butter by the way only Skippy peanut butter I'm just kidding so just peanut butter all the while I'm reading the Bible reading the Bible reading the Bible getting really worried getting really worried getting really we're reading the Bible getting worried one day I go to the mailbox it was just after tax season and my IRS check came in the mail and when I saw the check from the IRS I jumped up and I just you know shouted like halle-loo in the neighborhood probably thought this guy's nuts but I was so excited the IRS came through and you know I had been listening to a Bible study tape and reading the word and and something came to my mind well now wait a minute how do you know that that check is really good and I'm thinking we mean really good it's from the government it's it's a government check it's got to be good government checks can't be bad and it was like the Lord said boy when you read the promise in my word last week that I would take care of you you didn't jump up and down and get all excited one cheque from the IRS and you're all excited because you believed their promise what about my promise busted man busted but God is gracious to repeat the promise second thing God does is clarify the promise he clarifies it says no Abram okay listen carefully you're gonna have in your own body God says from your own body a child is gonna come it's like God comes down to his level and says Abram let me tell you a little bit about the birds and the bees this is how children work they're not like heirs in a banking situation or in a servant situation from your own body this air is going to come so God repeats the promise God clarifies the promise the third thing notice God expands on the promise verse five he brought him outside and he said look now toward heaven and count the Stars if you are able to number them and he said to him so shall your descendants be God takes him out in a clear Middle Eastern night before there were great cities and before there were great electrical displays that are in our cities so that you don't have light pollution those were the days you could look up in the sky and you could be anywhere almost and see this brilliant display and probably it was the time of month where either it was a waning or a waxing crescent of the moon so the moon was dimmed the stars were shouting in their brightness and he goes no check that out just look out it's gonna be like you're kids you won't be able to number them I'm gonna suggest that you do the same when you are feeling down and out and forsaken by God and you haven't seen God's promises just take a little drive get out of the city go to the mountains or out toward the west side and just stop the car and look up and realize dad did that the one that I am trusting in the one that I am placing my faith in did that and sometimes it's the up look that gives you the better outlook as you realize what God can do I love studying and considering the universe I always have because when Abraham looked up in that sky he saw only a very tiny minut portion of the galaxy that we call the Milky Way galaxy it's where we live it's our home the Milky Way it's our address in the universe and it's just one of billions of universes but we live in the Milky Way but the Milky Way galaxy is by our standards quite large it's ten thousand light-years by a hundred thousand light-years in dimension relatively flat but ten thousand by a hundred thousand light-years that means light traveling at 186,000 miles per second it will take a hundred thousand years for it to get from this end to that end of one galaxy where we live just one if you could travel at the speed of light just just think of this for a moment you could travel at 186,000 miles per second you could circle the earth seven and a half times in one second you could sail past the moon in one and a half seconds if you wanted to go all the way to Venus it'd only take you two minutes and 18 seconds to get there you keep going four minutes and thirty seconds you'll sail past mercury seven and a half minutes you'll reach the Sun but if you want to go from one end of your galaxy to the other it will take you a hundred thousand years going 186,000 miles per second and Isaiah 40 talks about God as if to say how big is your God Isaiah said that God can measure the universe with his fingers the span of a hand God looks at the Milky Way galaxy we go hundred thousand light-years and God says oh wait wait wait wait what should go a hundred thousand light-years you haven't even gotten out of the yard yet because I have billions and billions of other galaxies and yet God looks down at all the galaxies goes it's only about that big to me so every now and then it's good just to get perspective because we get so narrowly focused and to look up and go WOW God did that God can handle my situation so he expands on the promise he clarifies the promise and he repeats the promise verse six key verse so he Abram so he believed in the Lord and he the Lord God accounted it to him Abram for righteousness once again read that verse it is one of the key verses in all the Bible in fact Circle it underline it memorize it at least memorize that I won't tell you to write in your Bible but why not and he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness now the word believed is in the Hebrew a main in the same root I mean I'm in God made a promise and it's like Abraham said amen right on I believe that now this is so important because there is a result that comes from Abraham just listening to God's promise after he repeats it clarifies it expands it and he just goes okay I believe that promise I believe it because the result is God allows that small act of faith to be counted to Abram as righteousness now I'm making a big deal out of this you know why the New Testament makes a huge deal out of this in Romans chapter 4 in Galatians chapter 3 and in James chapter 2 those three places this story in this verse is highlighted as the pivotal verse to explain the major doctrine that if you're a Christian you hold too dearly justification by faith that we're not saved by good works we're not saved by keeping rituals we're not saved by belonging to some Christian organization we are saved made right with God purely by believing God like Abram who believed before the law of Moses was in existence who believed before circumcision was in existence who certainly believed before there was baptism or churches or any of that he just believed now that's so important you got to look at just one of those passages you ready one of those passages turn to Romans chapter 4 what Paul is doing is answering a question here's the question how was Abraham the father of faith he is called the father of those who believe how was Abraham justified saved made right with God was it by his works was it by keeping the law was it by being a religious person was it by trying hard and being sincere because once we find the answer to that question we'll be able to answer the second question how are we made right with God how are we saved by the keeping of the law by knowing all the law or has it come by faith so he begins what then shall we say verse 1 chapter 4 of Romans that Abraham our Father has found according to the flesh for if Abraham was justified by works then he has something to boast about but not before God for what does the scripture say abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness not to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly his faith is accounted for righteousness you know most people think that we're saved most people think that salvation is sort of like putting a frog in a pan full of milk here's that poor frog in the milk and the milk is slippery and he can't get out of the pan because the sides are too high so he's struggling and paddling and paddling but if he paddles long enough he turns that into butter and by his hard work over a long period of time the Frog will be able to get on top of a hardened surface the butter now and jump out that's how people think we're saved and so what Paul is saying because it is what happened to Abram is that's not what happened he just simply said amen I believe that I really in my heart believed that promise and God said that's all that I will require to make you right with me to give you a relationship with me its justification by faith not by works lest anyone should boast you know how boring heaven would be if Abram or anybody else got there by working hard and being zealous and being religious how boring heaven would be you'd have to listen to that for billions of years well you know when I was and I used to and then this happened and then I and say you know what those conversations are like on earth kamancheh in heaven no we're all gonna go I'm here by His grace he did this that man with the five wounds that's I'm here there's only two basic religions in the world there's only two every belief system can be divided into one of two systems I don't care how many cults I don't care how many different religions and different expressions in different books it can all be divided into two separate categories one is the religion of human achievement I do I work I practice I pray the second category is the salvation by divine accomplishment that's this Jesus did it all on the cross paid the debt we could never pay and he says do you believe that do you from your heart in your heart believe which means to adhere to commit to but it begins by saying yes I believe are you willing to do that because if so I will take all of what Jesus did and I will apply it to your account by the way the word accounted in in in Romans for luggage somaye it's a banking term it means to put something to the credit side of your ledger okay so look at your life this way here's a picture of your life you've got to kick columns one is the debit side one a credit side on the debit side it's our sins our sins our sins and it fills it all up our sins our sins our sin we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God on the credit side on your own what do you have to put there that will balance out all of the sin you know a lot of people say church sincerity good works rituals and God will say I'm sorry you can pour all sorts of stuff into that category and it won't balance out the debt side the debit side is too great you can never buy your own cancel out the debt so what God says I got the solution I am willing to count all of the sins ever committed by every person and I know what they are and I am willing to declare that ever anyone and everyone can be made right with God by putting what my son did to their account and all they have to do is believe that that's the one God sent believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead and they will be saved so Paul really makes a big deal out of this in Romans 4 and in Galatians chapter 3 and also James will mention it in chapter 2 but I need to get back to Genesis if I'm going to finish one chapter tonight so he believed in the Lord and he the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness so just remember this this is way before the law of Moses this is way before he could circumcise his children he hadn't done any good works he didn't do any ritual all he did is go I believe that to us it would sound crazy I'm gonna have a child but I believe that God said you're right with me you're righteous with me verse 7 and then he said to him I am the Lord who brought you out of or of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it question why in the middle of a dialogue is God introducing himself in a normal conversation this would seem out of place if I'm talking to you and and and we've already had introduction and I've talked to you for years and we're talking one day over lunch and I go my name is skip and you go what what did you just have like a stroke why an introduction they know each other well this is important you're gonna find this a lot in the Bible you're gonna find that in normal conversations after introductions have taken place that God will just sort of say now I am the lord who did this and will do that it's called the auto charisma of God if you want a theological term for that the auto charisma or the self proclamation of God any time God wants to underscore a point it's like me grabbing your face and go look me in the eyes now right now I want to tell you who I am and what I can do for you that's what God is doing it's the auto correct the self Proclamation I want you to know Abram who I am who's talking to you and what I'm able to do and that's what he does here in verse 7 and verse 8 he said Lord God how shall I know that I will inherit it okay now right about now you're thinking I don't get Abram I don't get this dude God makes a promise to him he goes well I don't have any kids and then and then God makes all these promises and goes well how will I know so you're thinking this is not the man of faith well let me complicate it even a little further I'm gonna just sort of stack the deck against me before I answer that do you remember the father of John the Baptist in the New Testament his name was Zacharias he was in the temple he was the guy who would burn incense at the altar of incense and it was his turn to do so he goes in and he sees the angel of the Lord it's Gabriel he doesn't know it yet standing there kind of hanging out at the ultras he's gonna light incense and he's afraid and the angel says don't be afraid and he says your wife Elizabeth he's gonna have a child and you're gonna name him John and he's gonna bring joy to your household and he's gonna go before the Messiah and the power of the Lord and turned the hearts of the fathers to the children and children to the fathers and he listens to this and he has an apparition and Zacharias goes how do I know that this is really gonna happen the angel says okay you want to sign to you you won't be able to talk for nine months until your son is born now I don't know what life was like in the household of Zacharias and Elizabeth their conversations but I do know that statistically women do outnumber men when it comes to their words so now he can't even answer anything back and he would go home and he'd be listening to Elizabeth like no no what happened and what did you say and write that out for me and you know this would happen today in so nine months go by because the angel said you didn't believe me you doubted me so you're thinking out so what's the difference between what happened was Zacharias in the temple to Gabriel who got like punished for it and and Abraham who says how will I know this is gonna happen this was not unbelief or Abram it was not unbelief you know why cuz we're told so in verse six he believed God and God countered it to him for righteousness so it's not an act of unbelief he is simply looking for pragmatic solutions because ten different Canaanite nations amirite set cetera have settled in the land of canaan it is outnumbered how is this gonna happen how am i going to take over a land that is already occupied by all of these people groups that's that's the question but he believed okay I know I'm gonna have a baby I know it's gonna come from my own body I believe that the hots it's all gonna work in this land with his nation and all of these nations so here's the answer verse nine he said bring a three-year-old heifer a three-year-old female goat three year old Ram a Turtledove and a young pigeon and he brought all these to him and cut them in two down the middle and placed each piece opposite the other but he did not cut the birds - now I'm gonna warn you what you're about to read sounds like it comes out of the twilight zone it's in the Bible it is a weird story and I write read this and I picture Rod Serling in the background you know picture if you will bloody carcasses slain in the desert an aged man looks on he has just entered the twilight zone that's what I'm picturing the system it's like well what is this all about here's a hint at what's going on I'll kind of give you the goods before we read it it's called a covenant a bit eat in Hebrew if you look ahead in verse 18 and the same day the Lord made a covenant a pact and agreement a Testament is another word and in those days well let's read it and you'll see what they did in those days and when the vultures came down verse 11 on the carcasses Abram drove them away when the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold horror and a great darkness fell upon him and he said to Abram know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them for hundred years and also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterward they will come out with great possessions now as for you you shall go to your fathers in peace you shall be buried at a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall return here for the iniquity of the amur rights is not yet complete and it came to pass when the Sun went down and it was dark the behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces today if you and I want to make a contract we might shake hands in agreement we might sign a document in a court of law you might have to put your hand on a Bible and say I swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth in those days they cut animals into and put them in a path in a road and the people walked between them the people making a covenant walked between the carcasses of animals and because there was shedding of blood it was more Solomon oath and as the two parties walked between the pieces of the dead carcasses of animals they would state the terms of the contract they would say them out loud why the dead animals as if to say if you are I either break our end of the bargain may that happen to us may that happen to us let me read a portion of an ancient Hittite covenant from around the same period of time they took in this covenant sinews or tendons of an animal and salt and threw it into a pan of hot fire and here's what they said and I quote just as these sinews split into fragments on the hearth whoever breaks these oaths shows disrespect to the king let these oaths seize him and let him split into fragments like the sinews and so they would do that after cutting the animals into that's how covenants were made in ancient Canaanite Hittite days and so the animals were cut and by the way some people think that the idea at a ceremony you know when you cut the ribbon that is in front of something you take a scissors you cut the ribbon comes from the cutting of the Covenant from way back when anyway he does it Abram cuts the animals but he waits a long time seemingly it's early in the morning you got to get a cow and you got to kill a cow and you got to cut a cow in half and lay one half of the cow here one half of the cow there you know holy cow it took a long time so they did that and and then you had to take a three-year-old a ram a male sheep who has never been gilded you would take these animals it took some time to dress them and cut them so he presumably did it early in the morning and then he waited and he waited waited and the Sun got hotter and the carcasses started to stink and decomposed and birds start to come down that's what the story says so Abram now has to get up and shoo the birds away and he's like looking at his his um sundial on his wrist and he's going man I've been waiting a long time how come God didn't telling me anything I'm waiting where's God he told me to do this where's God and he waited and he waited until it got dark and he's falling asleep and he's falling under this depression and dread again and finally God shows up when it's dark and he's exhausted question why did God wait so long after giving him a command to cut the animals why did God wait so long to show up here's the answer I believe to make Abraham so exhausted that he was unable to participate in the Covenant he had to watch it so he's watching as this burning torch just starts drifting between these bloody carcasses going whoa I thought the vision was heavy this is really heavy and a smoking oven a fire pot to smoke coming out of it and a burning torch they're just sort of hovering and moving but all of that was symbolic of the presence of God a burning torch was always a symbol of God's presence the cherubim that guarded the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword the children of Israel were directed by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire by night all of these are symbols of the presence of God God waited for Abram to be so exhausted that he couldn't participate and here's why God was making a unilateral covenant a promise of the land not contingent upon Abram keeping or doing anything at all God was saying I'm gonna bless you I'm gonna make your name great and now God is saying I'm giving you a land and it's not a bilateral covenant where you keep your term and I keep my term it's a unilateral covenant it's my promise and I'm declaring and so that Abram wouldn't be able to participate in this bit eat he's just exhausted and God does it all it's hard to wait on God you know it's true you hate waiting on him you you all we all have in our minds a timetable when we think this would be the perfect time for God to do something and God you've discover has his own timetable and we don't like it and sometimes he will let it drag on and on and on till we're just so exhausted and then God does something and you go well I never could have done that on my own well that's the lesson you need to learn now I worked my way into a corner I worked my way into a problem with this one because if we have a covenant that is an unconditional covenant here's the problem in a few books when God has promised them and promised them and promised Abraham Isaac Jacob the twelve tribes the land called the land of Israel God makes another covenant the Covenant of the law of Moses in which God says if you obey me you can stay here if you disobey me I'm kicking you out does one covenant cancel the other covenant how can you own the land unconditionally but occupy the land conditionally that's the big problem and I'd love to answer that but it's 8:30 so that was a setup for next week we're not able to even finish the chapter except to read the rest of it and just pick up on a few thoughts as we tie in the next chapter on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river the river Euphrates the Kenites the kena sites the Cadman heights the Hittites the parasites the termites just making sure that you're following along the ref I aim the amorite the Canaanites the girgashites the Jebusites and the turn out the lights' all these i'ts are are there and and we'll pick up on this as we get into chapter 16 next time let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your wonderful promises and I I again I am so thankful for a body of believers that so loves truth that they want to go deep they don't want just a few Psalms and a couple of Sermon on the Mount passages but they want all of the Word of God the full counsel of God you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you lord as we take these truths and for some of us we've known them for others of us it's new material for others we're just plowing up that ground again and reaffirming these things thank you for your promises and your patience with us in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 15,078

Rating: 4.89011 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Genesis, Sermon

Id: Hqp2qOkyXwo

Length: 58min 33sec (3513 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018