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00:01 [Applause] [Music]
00:11 once again it's my joy and privilege to be sharing with you from the word of god after more than two months of movement
00:18 control order mco i trust all of you are keeping well and staying safe
00:23 i would much prefer to see all of you face to face physically in fact i'm trying very hard to picture all of you
00:29 seated in front of me because it's not easy for me to speak into the camera and i'm not very sure how to do this
00:36 throughout the mco peter and arnold have showed the bulk of the preaching and i was thinking since they have
00:42 become quite adept at delivering recorded sermons they should continue to do so
00:48 but this morning it's my turn to face the camera if anything this is a sign that our situation today is very different from
00:55 what we had barely three months ago we are living in truly extraordinary times
01:01 with this kovit 19 pandemic still raging near and far what is happening today is by far
01:08 unprecedented especially in terms of the sheer global scale of the crisis
01:14 on an individual level we have been forced to rethink many of the things that we have taken for granted
01:20 more crucially this new normal as they call it brings into sharp focus the larger questions of
01:26 life what do i live for what do i anchor my life upon
01:32 what are the really important things although most of us have not had a close brush with a virus
01:38 what he has done to us is that he has turned our life upside down the world and also our lives will never
01:45 be the same after this now extraordinary times call for extraordinary response
01:51 if you have not spent at least some time over the past few weeks to ponder over or to reflect upon the deeper matters of
01:58 life and faith then i would say that the pandemic has been wasted on you in any case this is precisely what we're
02:04 going to do this morning the intent of the sermon is to compel us or to propel us to re-examine the deeper issues of
02:12 life and faith in order to help us to take a fresh look at the very foundation
02:18 of our faith by providence our text today genesis chapter 15 actually offers us some deep
02:25 insights into the real questions that we should ask ourselves during this mco we are now in the midst of a wrong running
02:32 series on the book of genesis and this morning we have come to chapter 15
02:37 with the sermon title the nature of god's promises the passage itself is relatively short
02:43 only 21 verses long at the glance the text doesn't have any of the high dramas
02:48 that we see in other chapters of genesis it is mostly a conversation between god and abram at this point in the book
02:55 abraham was known as abram god changed his name to abraham later in chapter 17.
03:01 what we have here in chapter 15 is for most part an encounter between god and abram they were like going back and
03:07 forth but let me assure you what this chapter lacks in drama is more
03:13 than mixed up with profound theological insights in fact embedded in these verses is
03:18 theological dynamite so be ready for an intense theological right that will help
03:24 us understand god's nature more deeply by earth studying the way he make
03:29 covenants with those he called his own but first let us commit this time to the
03:35 lord in prayer shall we pray our father in heaven we realize that our minds are too finite
03:42 our faculty is too limited to understand you and your nature your ways and your
03:47 thoughts are higher much higher than ours but even so favor us by opening up the
03:53 text for us this morning so that we may gain deeper truths about you so that our lives may be turned upside
03:60 down so that you alone will be glorified for it is only when you are glorified
04:05 that our lives will be most satisfied and we ask this in jesus name amen
04:11 as i mentioned a minute ago our text today is mostly a dialogue between god and his men of faith abraham
04:18 although his name would later become abraham i shall just stick with abraham as it is the more familiar name to us
04:26 since the only two characters in this exchange i shall divide the sermon into two parts first we shall take a look at
04:32 abraham and consider what was going on in his mind in the second part we shall examine closely god's amazing response
04:39 to what abraham said and then we shall conclude with a pertinent application point
04:46 my wife and i have been members of the osc ss19 group a life group since its
04:51 inception in tony talk 2010 it's been 10 years and it's become such an integral part of
04:57 our lives this is our weekly zoo meeting on friday nights ever
05:03 since the mco began many years ago when things were more normal back then
05:10 we met to watch the 1971 movie fiddler on the roof which was three hours long
05:16 and so we watch it over two sittings if you haven't seen this before i highly
05:21 recommend it especially now that you are not going out much there is one scene in the movie
05:27 when the main character rep tevye suddenly asked his wife goldie this
05:32 million dollar question do you love me do you love me and she was taken
05:39 surprised and tried to avoid the question and when pressed further she started to
05:44 give all kinds of evasive answers it's not that she didn't love him there
05:50 is no question about her love for husband diaz was a rock solid marriage they had
05:55 been married 25 years and had five children five daughters in fact between them
06:00 the wife was deeply committed to the husband and vice versa and yet he popped this question
06:06 do you love me i did not ask my wife this question you never know what kind of answers you
06:12 might get but jokes aside we have been married 26 years and we have two kids between us
06:18 ours is not a perfect marriage but we do enjoy a stable and committed marital relationship
06:24 and yet there could be occasions for a question like do you love me perhaps in a subconscious quest for
06:31 reassurances we see something like this in the first half of our text abraham asked god are you really going
06:38 to carry out what you promised to do how can i be sure you're going to keep your promises now let's jump
06:44 into the text genesis 15 and take a closer look at what was happening
06:52 the text opens with god speaking to abraham do not be afraid abraham
06:59 i am your shield your very great reward the first two words after this tell us
07:05 that this is a continuation of what had happened in chapter 14. let's take a brief look at the events of
07:12 the preceding chapter in chapter 14 where four northern kings from mesopotamia who are in conflict
07:19 with five kings from the plains of river jordan bible scholars call this the war of the
07:25 nine kings four plus five nine well it turned out that the alliance of these four northern kings prevailed and
07:32 they defeated the five southern kings and in the process they took abraham's nephew lord captive
07:39 lord was living in the city of sodom and when this was reported to abraham he
07:44 quickly mastered a force of 318 trained servants and they went after the
07:50 northern armies the next thing abraham and his men emerged victorious and lord was rescued
07:58 this 17th century painting shows the northern armies in retreat and abraham's men in pursuit
08:06 the immediate question is how could a mere contingent of 318 men
08:11 overcome the combined strength of four armies well if you remember the story of gideon
08:17 in judges chapter 7 who assembled an army of 32 000 to fight the median
08:22 knights god said too many and had him reduce it to just 300
08:27 with god on your side you don't need so many soldiers now back to verse 1
08:34 why then was abraham afraid he had just defeated the northern armies
08:39 why the fear now at first he didn't want to get involved in the differences between the two
08:45 warring camps but because of his nephew he had to intervene now that he had made new enemies he was
08:52 afraid that they might assemble an even bigger army to come after him
08:57 and here in one of the most touching scenes in the bible the heavenly father came down to his
09:04 fearful child to comfort him do not be afraid i am your shield
09:11 the psalmist also wrote in psalm 28 the lord is my strength and my shield
09:17 verse 1 begins with the word of the lord came to abraham the word of the lord came to abraham and this is repeated in
09:24 verse 4 the word of the lord came to him it was god who approached abraham not
09:31 abraham going to god for help and this is worthy of note because in the whole book of genesis this is the
09:37 only time this was happening elsewhere in the old testament we often
09:43 come across this phrase the word of the lord came to so and so when god wanted to speak to his people through his
09:48 prophets the word of the lord came to samuel the word of the lord came to elijah
09:53 to isaiah to jeremiah and so on and here for the first time the word of the lord came to abraham
10:01 not for the purpose of transmitting his message but for the lord to assure him
10:06 during this corona virus crisis that has dragged on for months now you may be in a state of fear or anxiety
10:14 you may not necessarily be afraid of being infected with the virus although the dangers are still out there
10:20 but you may be anxious over the possibility of being laid off from your job i heard that a small number in our
10:26 congregation has been retrenched or you may be worried about the possibility of your business going under
10:32 how am i going to pay my stuff or you may find it hard to bear with the months of solitude and isolation
10:40 if you are in such a situation may genesis 15 1 speak to you
10:46 may the word of the lord come to you to assure you and to smooth your soul
10:51 may god comfort you with his words i am your shield now if you need help or simply someone
10:58 to someone to talk to please don't hesitate to call the folks at the talk to us ministry
11:05 now the last bit of verse 1 needs a little bit of explanation god also
11:11 assured abraham i am your very great reward why the assurance of reward now this is
11:16 because after his victory in chapter 14 abraham gave away all the spoils of war
11:22 all the goods that he had ceased from defeated armies he kept nothing for himself or his men except for some food
11:29 to feed his men god was saying to abraham don't fret about such things because i'm the one
11:36 who will be rewarding you now understand this that the greatest rewards in life come
11:43 not from human endeavors nor from earthly schemes but from what our heavenly father
11:49 graciously bestows now coming to the gist of the first part of the sermon
11:55 what was abraham's response to god's overture to him amazingly and perhaps also shockingly
12:02 he didn't say oh thank you lord for your promise to be my shield and my reward
12:07 instead his reply in verse 2 sovereign lord what can you give me
12:13 since i remain charles and the one who will inherit my estate is eliza of damascus
12:19 now eliza was abraham's servant and his designated heir since abraham had no son at this point
12:26 in genesis now to paraphrase what abraham was saying here
12:31 it was like telling god well i do appreciate what you're saying promising to be my shield and reward and
12:38 all that but please allow me to walk you back to your earlier promise
12:43 you see back in genesis 12 god told abraham to relocate from the land where he was born and raised in a
12:49 place called ur which is mentioned in verse 7 of our texts and to move west to the land of canaan
12:55 and abraham obeyed and this is what abraham what is what god promised him in genesis 12 2
13:03 i will make you into a great nation and i will bless you i will make your name great and you will be a blessing
13:10 after he had arrived at canaan god promised abraham again in verse 7 of chapter 12
13:17 to your offspring i will give this land so at the beginning of our text
13:24 abraham was like reminding god let's just put aside this new promise of shield and reward what about your
13:30 earlier promise that you will make me into a great nation that my offspring would possess this land
13:36 of course god remembered that promise because he himself repeated this in verse seven or vertex
13:44 i am the lord who brought you out of earth to give you this land to take possession
13:49 of it so abraham was showing some doubt look you have known you haven't
13:55 fulfilled the first promise and now another promise i'm still childless and i don't have a
14:00 son how are my offspring going to take possession of this land i have no choice but to designate my
14:06 servant eliza to be my heir verse 3 is a by the repeat of verse 2
14:13 and abram said you have given me no children so a servant in my household will be my heir
14:20 now maybe now many bible scholars find these two verses two and three to be rather baffling because
14:26 if you were to name a bible character who epitomizes faith it's abraham
14:31 the very name abraham is sitting on him with faith but here the giant of faith seemed to be
14:38 harboring some doubt he wasn't so sure if god would keep his promise
14:43 nothing has happened since the first promise what is more shocking is that he expressed doubt
14:49 not once but twice in our text after his first doubt was addressed by god in verses 4 and 5 which we shall
14:55 discuss further in the second part after god even repeated his promise in verse 7
15:00 abraham asked again in verse 8 sovereign lord how can i know
15:06 how can i know that i will gain possession of it in other words are you sure you will do
15:13 as you promised he was still not very convinced in a while we shall examine god's
15:19 response to his second expression of doubt here doubt from our so-called hero of faith
15:26 but the immediate lesson for us is that genuine faith allows room for doubts
15:31 just like in the filler on the roof tevye and his wife's rock solid 25 year old marriage allows for a question like
15:39 do you love me so also in our exercise of faith in god it's okay to ask god will you do as you
15:46 promise in fact if you have doubts about god and his promises it is healthy to express
15:52 them rather than to suppress them god doesn't demand a perfect faith from
15:58 us he doesn't press us for 100 faith what he asks of us is true faith
16:05 sincere faith or even simple faith as opposed to a faith that is fake or
16:10 phony or a faith that comes from a mouth rather than from the heart
16:15 god seeks the faith that is genuine which allows roon for doubt and he will see to he will say to it
16:22 that our faith will grow over time and that our faith in him will mature
16:28 to cite a hypothetical example it is actually also hypothetical because it has happened often in remote parts of
16:34 china now let's take an illiterate lonely person in a village in china she hears
16:40 the gospel she acknowledges that she's a sinner and she believes in the person of jesus who died for her sins and she
16:47 accepts the salvation that comes from god but she hasn't been told or shown the historical evidence for
16:54 jesus no one has yet explained to her that the bible is true the word of god citing to her all the proofs
17:01 and yet she believes and commits her life to jesus or you may call it beginning faith
17:07 but it comes with sincerity and authenticity and that is enough for god
17:12 this simple genuine faith jesus says in
17:18 matthew 17 that our faith can be as small as a mustard seed look how small it is
17:25 but a master seed can grow into a towering tree and in the process it is acceptable or
17:30 even natural for us to have episodes of doubt or doubts or questions and our father in heaven is the kind who
17:37 addresses these doubts after thomas expressed doubt jesus told him to touch the scars on his hands and
17:44 side in john 20 and thomas believed but jesus also remarked blessed are
17:50 those who have not seen and yet have believed which brings us to part two of today's
17:56 sermon the more interesting part is as we examine god's twofold response
18:02 to abraham but before that i wish to briefly touch on verse six
18:09 abraham believed the lord and he credited it to him as righteousness this verse is quoted three times by paul in
18:15 romans 4 and also in romans 3. in galatians 3.
18:21 this is intriguing because it is mentioned right between abraham's two expressions of doubt
18:27 in verse 2 and 3 and in verse 8 and some people see this as problematic
18:33 because very soon after this verse he again expressed doubt but this quest with what we have learned
18:38 so far that what god seeks is a genuine simple mastered seed faith which allows for
18:45 doubts and questions even after abraham was declared righteous because of his faith he let out his doubt again and
18:52 again god addressed it to be credited with something means to be given something that you didn't have
18:58 before if you credit 100 ringgit into my bank account it wasn't there before and now
19:03 it suddenly appears in the credit column when god credits righteousness to us it's not because of our righteous acts
19:10 if there are any but simply because of our faith even beginning faith
19:15 remember it was based on abraham's faith not anything that he did that god credited righteousness to him
19:24 let's move on to part 2 of the sermon and examine how god responded to
19:29 abraham's expressions of doubt twofold response as i have already mentioned our god is
19:36 one who addresses our doubts and answers our questions it may take a bit of time but he doesn't
19:41 want us to want to leave us hanging out to dry our doubts and questions may impede our
19:47 spiritual progress and god doesn't want that to happen how does god address our doubts on this
19:53 side of history well in a variety of ways often through his word as written in
19:58 scripture also through sunday sermons gamma classes
20:04 live group meetings where his word is being studied so make it a point to be part of a gama
20:10 group or a live group to get deeper into the world which is why i started by talking about
20:16 the ss19 live group now do you know there are nine gamma groups and 20 lives group life groups in
20:22 fbc that you can choose from please join a group stay connected
20:28 especially during this mco when we are all so isolated from each other
20:35 now let's see how god reacted when abraham said hey i'm still childless and you have promised me many descendants
20:42 in verse 5 and another touching scene from the bible you can almost imagine god putting his arm around abraham
20:48 as he brought him out into the open verse 5 he took him outside and said
20:55 look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can count them then he said to him so shall your offspring be
21:04 god was using the metaphor of the countless stars in the night sky to describe abraham's offspring
21:10 as a matter of fact this is the second time god was doing this there is a verse in chapter 13 verse 16
21:16 that reads almost the same as this verse in 13 16 god used the analogy of the dust of the
21:23 earth i will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if anyone could count the dust then your offspring could
21:30 be counted with two metaphors back to back god was like telling abraham i told you before
21:36 and i'm gonna tell you again my promise will come to pass and your descendants will be met very many now
21:43 when god says something twice you can be doubly sure that he will act upon what he says
21:49 now be that as it may let me make this lesson more practical for you
21:55 when doubts are brewing in your heart and questions sprouting in your mind here are a few steps you can take
22:01 a drawing from the first seven verses in our text number one
22:07 relay your doubts to god from verses two and three when abraham add his doubt
22:13 and also in verse 8 when he wavered for the second time god wants you to relay his doubts
22:20 your doubts to him he wants to hear them he won't scold you how dare you question me
22:25 instead it will gently reveal to you in his own ways and timing number two
22:31 receive the word of god from verse 4 when the word of the lord came to abraham
22:36 as elaborated earlier god often addresses your doubts through the pages of scripture so be a diligent and
22:43 serious student of the bible immerse yourself in the word of god
22:48 number three recapture the vision of god from verse five when god brought abraham
22:54 to see the night sky the stars up there are also a metaphor for us pointing us to the larger picture of
23:01 god's mighty and eternal plans hence broaden your vision of what god is
23:06 doing and be motivated number four review your journey thus far from verse
23:12 seven when god reminded ibrahim how he faithfully brought him out of earth into canaan
23:18 so trace your spiritual journey from the beginning and be reminded of god's faithfulness to
23:23 you all these years and lastly resolve to believe in god
23:29 from verse 6 where abraham believed and he was credited to him as righteousness
23:35 make a willful decision to believe belief is a decision a commitment not a
23:40 feeling and your doubts will slowly diminish that's how faith works
23:46 so remember the five steps you can take all starting with the same letters
23:52 relay receive recapture review and resolve
23:59 i bring you now to the second part of the second part of the sermon in the second part of the sermon we see
24:04 god's two full response to abraham we have just discussed his first response now lex examined his second response
24:11 from verse nine which is really the high point of the text the narrative is reaching a climax and
24:18 this is going to get interesting after abraham's second expression of dove in verse 8
24:23 god instructed him in verse 9 to bring five different types of animals
24:29 a hefer a goat a ram
24:35 all three years old plus a dove and a pigeon what is a hefer
24:40 a hefer is a cow but a cow that hasn't yet given birth to a calf in other words a young cow
24:47 what about the ram what is the ram a ram is the male sheep as opposed to a u-e-w-e which is a female sheep
24:55 so here god was being very specific a hefa or a young cow hence female but the
25:01 sheep must be male a ram and not a you but what about the goat
25:06 the gender was not specified here is a good example to show that when
25:11 you want to study the bible in depth it's good to read various translations because although in the niv the word
25:18 here the word you see as goat is in most other english translations the original hebrew word is translated
25:25 as she-goat so the goat has to be a female as for the reasons behind this
25:31 particular selection of animals and their respective gender i'm not too sure although we might be able to guess why
25:38 the three-year-old sheep must be a male to move on abraham did accordingly
25:44 and he brought the animals to god and in verse 10
25:49 he proceeded to cut the heather the she-goat and the ram into two
25:54 i believed each animal was cut lengthwise and not cross-sectionally and it started to arrange one half on
26:01 one side and the other half on the opposite side so there were two parallel rows of half carcasses three pieces on
26:09 each side no one knows why abraham didn't cut up the birds maybe because they were too small and
26:15 besides both were somewhat similar and so he plays the two dead birds facing each other within the two rows of
26:22 the larger animals what is this strange thing that abraham was doing
26:28 god didn't ask him to do that but just to bring the animals to him why this bizarre animal slaughter and
26:35 the careful arrangements of the creatures to shed light on this we need
26:40 to refer to this obscure verse in jeremiah 34 18 which reads
26:46 those who have violated the terms of the covenant they made before me god is
26:52 speaking here i would treat the i will treat like the calves they cut into
26:57 and then walk between its pieces the calf they cut into and walk between
27:03 its pieces here god was very angry with the israelites for their disobedience and he
27:09 threatened them with some kind of a punishment they had violated the terms of their covenant with god the exact nature of their rebellion
27:15 against god is a story for another time but this verse paints a picture of a very strange
27:22 covenant-making ritual common in the ancient world the way or the way the contract was
27:29 sealed in ancient biblical times what happened is that when two persons
27:34 wanted to come into an agreement a calf or some other animal was cut into
27:40 two and the two parties to the agreement would then walk between the pieces of the carcass
27:46 as if to say if i breach the terms of this contract if i break my promise under the terms of
27:52 this contract may i be cut down or cut up like this animal
27:58 any violation of the terms of the contract means that the offender would suffer terrible fate
28:03 like this the animal you see people in those days took their contracts very very seriously
28:11 the ritual involved was bloody with animal blood all over the place and it was taken solemnly as they walk
28:19 between the pieces of the dead animal i use the word strange or bizarre to
28:24 describe this because it's hard for us to understand this through our modern lands
28:30 today if you and i want to enter into a contract we type up a few sheets of paper
28:36 agree mutually to what's written inside sign on the dotted lines and then have it stem to make it a legal
28:43 document if you breach the terms of the contract i'll sue you in court and get a
28:48 court to compel you to pay up to compensate me for my loss it's all very civil even gentlemanly no
28:56 need to have you cut up and maybe that's why today contracts are sometimes not taken seriously
29:03 but not so in the days of abraham or jeremiah as a matter of fact whenever we see the
29:08 phrase to make a covenant in the english old testament the original hebrew verb
29:14 is to cut so the ancient hebrews would say to cut a covenant
29:19 not make a covenant which is where we get the idiom to cut a
29:25 deal have you wondered why we say to cut the deal it has its roots in the hebrew phrase to
29:32 cut a covenant which refers to cutting out the animals in the covenant ritual
29:38 coming back to verse 10 when god told abraham to bring the animals he knew exactly what to do
29:44 god didn't have to say oh you cut the animals into two like this oh and arrange the pieces like that
29:51 god knew that abraham knew that god wanted to cut the covenant with him he realized that he was about to sign a
29:58 contract with god and he proceeded to prepare for the covenant ritual he knew exactly what was
30:04 going on he didn't make a fuss he simply obeyed just as he obeyed when he uprooted
30:10 himself and his family from earth to canaan you know besides belief
30:16 obedience is the other big component or manifestation of faith and that's why
30:21 god credited it to him as righteousness in verse six and this is what it might have looked
30:27 like as abraham finished preparing for the covenant ritual a grotesque scene of dead animals
30:36 now while waiting for god to show up in verse 11 some birds of prey appeared to help
30:42 themselves to the carcasses and these were unclean birds as opposed to the dove and the pigeon
30:48 and the threatened to derail or disrupt the covenant ritual and so abraham had to chase them away
30:55 now the side lesson for us is that when we are in the covenant relationship with god we need to be watchful we need to be
31:02 vigilant the words of prayer here can be taken to symbolize satan and its attempts to destroy or damage our
31:10 relationship with god coming to the climax of the narrative
31:16 we see in the next verse that abraham fell into a deep sleep it was getting dark as the sun was
31:23 setting but then another darkness described as thick and dreadful
31:29 overwhelmed abraham and so it was a double darkness darkness of the night and another dreadful
31:36 darkness dreadful meaning it terrified abraham it was a frightening moment for him
31:43 why i suppose while waiting for god to show up for the covenant ritual
31:48 he thought about it what if he couldn't keep his end of the
31:54 deal he will surely be cut down this covenant ritual might not be such a
32:01 good idea least of all making a contract with god almighty himself
32:06 and as he thought about it he became desperate now what were the terms of the contract
32:12 that abraham was supposed to keep they are not stated in our text genesis 15
32:17 but later in chapter 17 when the covenant was reaffirmed the terms of the
32:22 contract became clear in summary on god's part he will make
32:27 abraham the father of many nations he will greatly increase his numbers he will be his god and the god of his
32:34 descendants and the whole land of canaan god will give as possession to him and his descendants
32:41 as for abraham's part god said to him i am god almighty
32:46 walk before me faithfully and be blameless this is chapter 17 verse 1.
32:52 now god would do for him and his descendants all the things he mentioned all they needed to do based on this
32:58 verse was to walk faithfully or to be faithful to god and to be blameless
33:04 to be blameless means to be free from wrongdoing by keeping god's commandments
33:10 but what if they failed to be faithful and be blameless
33:16 suddenly abraham began to feel dreadful and we who are on this side of history
33:22 know well from the pages of scripture that the israelites failed miserably time and again
33:29 before the actual ritual took place god provided provided abraham details of
33:34 how his descendants will come to possess the land of canaan from verses 13 to 16.
33:40 god gave him a glimpse into the future where the israelites will be oppressed in a foreign land but later will return
33:47 to claim the promised land now we will not go into this verses to 16 as it is a
33:52 separate account of the israelites exodus from egypt and their eventual entry into canaan
33:58 after these prophetic verses from god himself the covenant ritual was about to begin
34:07 suddenly in verse 17 a spectacular thing happened a smoking firepot
34:14 with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces some translations say a smoking furnace
34:22 or oven the fire pot here is really a kind of a portable oven it came with a blazing torch which is
34:29 also translated as fiery flame what is going on here god was supposed to show up for the
34:35 ritual but what is this smoking firepot with a fiery flame oh what do the smoke and fire symbolize
34:43 if you recall the exodus account as the israelites left egypt god's visible
34:48 presence was with them day and night in the form of a pillar of cloud which looked like smoke and a pillar of fire
34:55 exodus 13 21 by day the lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud and by night in the
35:02 pillar of fire the unmysticable conclusion is that the smoking pot with the firing flame was
35:10 the physical manifestation of god's holy presence at the scene
35:15 god appeared in all his glory and majesty some people call this shekinah glory
35:21 although the hebrew word shakira doesn't appear in the bible but shekinah means the awesome glory of god's divine
35:28 presence and perhaps this is the real reason why abraham was terrified
35:34 meeting god in all his consuming glory is a terrifying experience as what isaiah
35:40 found out in isaiah 6 face to face with god's holy presence
35:45 isaiah cried woe to me i'm ruined my my eyes have seen the king the lord
35:51 almighty and so god finally appeared on the scene
35:58 in person and in the rest of verse 17 he passed between the pieces of carcasses
36:04 that abraham had arranged and with this the covenant ritual was concluded the contract was sealed verse 18 on that
36:12 day the lord made a covenant with abraham so the ritual was over
36:20 at this point you may jump out of your seat and ask hey what about abraham didn't he also have to walk between the
36:27 pieces the astounding thing is this no abraham wasn't required to walk
36:33 between the cut up animals god alone did it but what does this mean wasn't both
36:40 parties supposed to do so to seal the covenant you see my fellow believers
36:46 god was in effect telling abraham if i fail to keep my end of the deal
36:52 let me be the one who gets caught up but if you violate the covenant
36:59 let me be also the one who gets caught up did you get it correctly you know
37:06 if i violate the covenant i get cut up if you violate the covenant
37:12 i'm the one who gets caught up wow what kind of a covenant is this
37:19 you're right there has never been no will there ever be a covenant like this
37:25 god in his foreknowledge knew that his people would not be able to live up to the terms of the covenant
37:32 hence the most profound thing about our text today is that on that fateful night
37:38 in genesis 15 god passed a death sentence on himself
37:44 listen god passed a death sentence on himself
37:49 when he vowed to pay the penalty on our behalf the death penalty that should be ours to
37:55 bear if you recall the double darkness we discussed earlier the darkness of the
38:01 night and another dreadful darkness that came over abraham well 2000 years after what happened in
38:08 this chapter another dreadful darkness enveloped a small hill
38:15 outside the walls of jerusalem in a place called calvary the sky turned dark
38:21 dreadfully dark when jesus who was with god himself was cut down
38:28 as he hung on the cross to die a gruesome death genesis 15 is a
38:34 foreshadow of the crucifixion when isaiah described the suffering and
38:40 death of jesus in isaiah 53 in verse 8 he wrote for he was cut off from the land of the
38:46 living for the transgression of my people he was punished if you understand genesis 15
38:52 then you can appreciate why isaiah used the phrase cut off the word cut here
38:58 is clearly covenant language in direct reference to what abraham did in verse 10 of our text when he cut up
39:05 the animals in conclusion
39:10 let me offer you some thoughts for application we started out with the title the nature of god's promises we set out
39:17 to learn about god's nature through the way he makes promises well what have we learned about god's
39:22 nature for one thing god keeps his promises no matter what even if it were to cost
39:29 him his own life he never fails to keep his end of the deal he is a faithful god
39:36 secondly god loves us so much that he was willing to suffer the fate that she has befallen us his love for us is so
39:43 deep so high so wide that he suffered and died on our behalf so that we might be safe
39:50 as isaiah wrote he was punished for our transgressions but what does all this mean to us in a
39:57 practical sense how should we respond now to answer this let me ask you a
40:02 somewhat difficult question after what jesus has done for us why are we still so reluctant
40:10 or hesitant to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to him what is holding us
40:15 back now to address this i bring you back to the early part of the sermon when we
40:20 discuss abraham's doubts when abraham expressed doubt twice in our text it sounded like he wasn't 100
40:28 sure if god would carry out what he promised to do he might have harbored some reservations whether god would really do what he said
40:34 he would or would still whether god could do what he said he would do
40:39 but i also described how a dreadful darkness overcame abraham while he fell into a deep sleep and he was terrified
40:46 possibly because he started having doubts about himself and his descendants what if he and his people could not live
40:52 up to the terms of the covenant and as we have seen violators of the covenant faced severe consequences
40:58 now what i'm trying to put across is that in our relationship with god we may also experience doubts
41:04 but these doubts actually have two facets on the surface it may look like a lack of confidence in god
41:10 but it also can be a case of us not being sure of ourselves
41:16 we may harbor reservations about god and his promises but they could actually be driven by reservations about ourselves
41:24 we are unsure about ourselves hey i may not be able to live up to this contract
41:31 i may not succeed in walking faithfully and blamelessly look i cannot commit myself 100 to these
41:38 i mean i can commit but not fully can't you see i have so many other commitments my career my business my my position my
41:46 children etc you cannot ask me to commit to jesus 100 i can't do it
41:54 if this is the way you think the way you reason then you have misunderstood the gospel
42:01 if i have not made it clear enough look god is not asking you to walk between the pieces of the cut-up animals he had
42:07 already done that all by himself and not only that he later allowed himself to be cut down
42:13 in your place because he loves you now do you believe that
42:19 if you believe so even with master seed faith god will credit it to you as
42:25 righteousness jesus has already paid the penalty for your inability to walk faithfully and
42:32 blamelessly do you genuinely believe that
42:38 and accept what he did for you this is the gospel
42:44 the question is not if you are able to commit to him the real question is whether you are
42:50 willing to commit to him if you are willing to take this first step of faith with all sincerity
42:57 god will provide you the strength and guidance for you to commit more and more to him
43:03 step by step if there is one lesson that we should have learned from the kovit 19 pandemic
43:10 it is the re-evaluation of the things we use to value or an overhaul of what we consider to be
43:17 important look the children still cannot go to school until recently the restaurants were not
43:23 allowed to open many businesses have suffered terribly some people have lost their jobs
43:30 even our church has been closed for a while and all is happening within the short span of two to three months
43:35 what we use to hold dear businesses jobs education food even church
43:41 all these earthly things are really very fleeting very uncertain
43:46 if you have not realized that during this mcu then you have learned very little
43:51 in the final analysis at the end of the day the most important thing in life
43:57 is our relationship with god whose promises to us are rock solid
44:03 and will never be shaken by any virus return to where we started
44:10 back to the scene from friday on the roof where tv asked his wife
44:16 do you love me god is asking you and me during this mco
44:22 do you love me do you love me
44:28 do you love me just as jesus asked peter three times in john 21
44:33 for it is written in deuteronomy 6 5
44:39 love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul
44:45 and with all your strength shall we close in prayer
44:50 or father in heaven to your question do you love me
44:55 many of us would have difficulty answering yes truthfully because we anchor our lives on so many
45:02 other fleeting things nevertheless accept our master seat faith
45:08 and cause it to grow bigger and bigger each day so that we may commit to you with all our heart soul and strength
45:16 as we consider in all the extent of your love for us from our text today
45:22 in jesus name we pray amen
