Study the Word

Pastor Thom Keller: What does God want from you? To believe in the one he has sent. What's going to get you in heaven? Because you believe in the one that he has sent. What's going to cause you to go to hell? Because you did not believe in the one he has sent.

What about my works? Oh, they're good. They'll bring blessings. And disobedience brings problems. How many don't know that? We all know that. But as far as your relationship with God, you have a relationship with God because you believe in the one he has sent.

Announcer: God has given us many promises in his word, but maybe like the man we'll hear about today on Study the Word, you have some doubts. How can I be sure the Lord is going to keep his promises? Well, God has always been faithful in the past and he will continue to be in the present and future. Here's Pastor Thom Keller in Genesis chapter 15 in part two of "By Faith Abraham Believed".

Pastor Thom Keller: What I think should be very encouraging to all of us is what happened next because in the very next verse, as the very next discourse with God, Abram doubts the promise God had just made him. In verse eight, it says this, but Abram replied to a Sovereign Lord, "How can I be sure that I will actually possess it?"

Abram doubts. Can you relate to that? Can you relate to doubting? Listen, a question. Is it better to have no doubts in God's promises than to doubt? Of course. It's better to have no doubts than to doubt. We all get that. But if you think about it, once saved, are God's promises true only if you believe them to be true, or are they true even if you don't believe them to be true?

Your unbelief doesn't affect God's promises. He doesn't break his promises if you don't believe them. They remain true. They are true even if you doubt them, and you will discover that they are true if you just keep walking after God. Even in doubt, if you keep walking toward the Lord, you will walk into his promised blessings.

The Israelites in the wilderness are a great example. They questioned God's ability to provide for them over and over, and even though they were stubborn and disobedient, they continued walking into God's blessings, his provisions, the manna, the water day after day simply because they continued to walk even though they doubted.

Now, had they gone back to Egypt, the promised blessings would have ended. The manna would have stopped flowing. But they did not go back. Instead, they kept walking, and even in doubt, God's promises and miracles continued to unfold before them. What a faithful God we serve.

Then the rest of chapter 15 is a very solemn ceremony affecting eternity that God enters into in order to answer Abram's question he asks in verse eight. In verse eight, Abram replied, "Oh Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?" As we read these next verses, remember this is what God is addressing. How can I be sure? How can I be sure you're going to keep this promise?

In response, this is what God says, verse nine. 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." 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.

Now, this form of covenant that they're entering into was common in Babylon where Abram had come from. So although this cutting of these animals is strange to us, Abram would have been very familiar with this. In fact, in most ancient languages, men are said to cut or strike a covenant because this covenant involved either the cutting of victims in two or by striking them dead.

By the way, this is where we get our phrase "to cut a deal." To cut a deal, to strike a deal is from this ancient covenant practice. God tells Abram to bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram plus a turtledove and a pigeon. And so Abram gets them and kills them, and in verse 10, it says he cuts the heifer, goat, and ram down the middle in half, and he laid the halves side by side with a walkway, if you will, between the halves of the animals.

Then Abram sits and waits, only to have to chase vultures away. But as nighttime settles in, it says that Abram falls into a deep sleep, and as he sleeps, he has a terrifying vision of terror and horror. Now, most believe that this terror and horror was because God showed Abram the suffering and misery his future descendants would endure while in bondage in Egypt. You'll be seeing that in a couple verses, and that may be; we're not told specifically.

In response to this terrifying vision, God says this in verse 13. And 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. After four generations, your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction."

400 years. There's some controversy in this because in Exodus 12, it says 430 years. The difference is that the 400 years here starts counting at the birth of the seed of the promised born, Isaac, which was 400 years exactly. And if you think about it, Moses wrote Genesis, and so that was all in account as he wrote it.

In verse 14, it says, "I will punish the nation that enslaves them." And God did punish Egypt with the 10 plagues culminating in the death of the eldest son. And he says, "But in the end, they will leave Egypt with great wealth." And they really did. Exodus 12:36 says the Lord had made the Egyptians friendly toward the people of Israel and they gave them whatever they asked for. In this way, they carried away the wealth of the Egyptians when they left Egypt.

But as far as Abram, he says in verse 15, "But you will die at a ripe old age." And he sure did. He died at the age of 175, 90 years from our chapter this morning. That rascal had six more sons after Sarah died at the age of 137. And after four generations, verse 16 says, after 400 years, meaning because generations for Abram and those earlier had lived much longer than those after.

Verse 17 is very significant to us as believers. After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses, between the halves of the carcasses. Now, get the picture. Abram is away from this scene asleep, and he wakes to see this scene. A smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of these animals.

Throughout the Old Testament, smoke and fire are symbols of God's presence. But something Abraham knew, something was mishandled with the way this covenant was done. You see, what should have happened is that both parties to the agreement, Abraham and God, should have walked side by side down between these slain animals with both parties saying something like, "So shall be done to me if I do not keep my part of the agreement."

That was part of this Babylonian covenant. When they walked between those animals, they would say so shall be done to me, like I'll be cut in half, I agree to be killed if I do not keep my part of this agreement. Both parties said the same thing. But in this case, there were not two parties. There was only one. Only God walked between the animals cut in half. Abram was off to the side observing.

And so, as God walked through, and remember, this is a Trinity, three in one, as God walked through, in my mind's eye, I picture God and the pre-incarnate Christ and the Holy Spirit walking between these slain animals. And in my mind's eye, I hear Jesus Christ saying to God the Father, "So likewise shall be done to me. I will forfeit my life. I will voluntarily give up my life if either party, either God or Abram, breaks this covenant."

If the Godhead breaks the promise, I will give up my life. But if Abram or any of Abram's descendants who likewise are declared righteous because of their belief in me, if they break the covenant, I will give up my life for them, rather them give up their own lives. And that's exactly what Jesus did, didn't he? The perfect sacrificial lamb gave up his life because we were under sin's curse.

You know, it's interesting as I thought about this, I just thought about this after the second service. You know, Abram was not included in this covenant. God walked through it by himself. Abram wasn't even a partner, and he wasn't a participant. He just saw what God did for him.

I've often said the same thing is true at the cross. The cross is such a holy place, such a holy event that it doesn't even seem we have... it's almost sacrilege for us to be present at the cross. Why? Because we had nothing to do with it.

It was an agreement that Jesus knew had to happen, a willingness on his part before his Father to say, "I will give my life for the salvation of these people." What would we have added if we were at the cross? What did we bring to that? Nothing. It was all their understanding of what had to happen. Jesus had to give his life so we could be redeemed. And it's so sacred we almost have to stand at a distance just watching in awe.

Just like this scene. Abram stood at a distance watching in awe. Why? This contract's not right. There's only one walking. Why am I not a part of this contract? Because God made the promise in both sides. If either one breaks it, I will die. And that's what he did.

You know, what's really cool too, this isn't in my notes, but this is really cool. In the Old Testament, when people sinned, their sacrifice of animals covered over their sins, but it did not take them away. It just covered them over until Jesus would die on the cross. Then his atonement covered the Old Testament saints as well. And so the point is, Abraham himself, he was counted righteous in the end. His sin was atoned for finally only when Jesus died on the cross. An amazing, an amazing scene. The perfect sacrificial lamb gave his life because we were under sin's curse and could do nothing about it.

Then the story concludes with these additional promises, verse 18 to 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, Mennonites..."

Oh, you caught it. Good, good, good. No Mennonites. "...and Jebusites." So how does today's lesson apply to me? Well, the first application is very timely with current events, verse 18. So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, to the Jews, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River."

I believe this is a reason why nearly all conservative Jews and many evangelical Christians are not in favor of a two-state solution, if you can put that map up, because Israel would be giving up land that it was granted by God in Genesis 15. So to give Palestine any of that land, they would be betraying the land that they were promised. I suspect, I suspect that in the coming days, this issue is going to become a fierce debate between Jews and Christians and Arabs and leaders of nations around the world. Just watch. I'm wrong about a lot. I suspect this is coming.

The second application, and this is huge, comes from verse six. And Abram believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Paul makes the jump from this story to us in Romans four, verse one and three. Abraham was humanly speaking the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way.

For the scriptures tell us, Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. Same chapter, verse 13. Clearly, God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

Then a few verses later, verse 23. It says, "And when God counted him, Abram, as righteous, it wasn't just for Abram's benefit." Here Paul makes the jump to us. It was recorded for our benefit too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. And just like Abraham, in fact exactly like Abraham, this is where your relationship with God begins and ends, by believing, simply by believing.

John 6:28, religious leaders came to God and Jesus and said, "What must we do to do the works of God?" They wanted a to-do list. What are the non-negotiables that I have to do to get to heaven? What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

What does God want from you? To believe in the one he has sent. What's going to get you in heaven? Because you believe in the one that he has sent. What's going to cause you to go to hell? Because you did not believe in the one he has sent. What about my works? Oh, they're good. They'll bring blessings. And disobedience brings problems. How many don't know that? We all know that. But as far as your relationship with God, you have a relationship with God because you believe in the one he has sent.

In John 16:9, we read this: "The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me." People say, "I thought my sin is all the things I do wrong." No, no, well, that is sin. But that's not what sends you to hell. What sends you to hell is a refusal to believe in the one that he sent, to put your faith and trust in Christ.

The proof that you deserve hell will be the list of charges that will be brought against you. But when you come to believe in Jesus, that list is all taken away. Remember, there's not a charge to be brought against you. That's gone, doesn't exist. You believe in the one he has sent.

If you have never accepted Jesus as your savior, there is only one single barrier between you and coming into a favored relationship with God and knowing you can have an eternity in heaven. Just one barrier: unbelief. And the barrier, as I said, is not your sin because you and I will continue to sin both before and after we come to a relationship with God.

But faith is believing that you, like Abraham, are counted as, seen as, assured by God to be righteous simply on account of your choosing to believe. And with that belief, Jesus promises you a peace that is beyond human understanding, a peace which this world can neither give nor take away.

When we were in 9th and 9th, the old Calvary church over at the Elks building, there was a woman who used to go to church there. She's now with the Lord. Her name was Augustina Spohnenberg. She was a little babushka from Bulgaria, and she was about this tall, and she walked like this, kind of like a linebacker. You know what I'm talking about.

In the sanctuary there, on Monday nights, we'd had Bible study, and it was a semicircle with chairs like this forming a semicircle, and I would be in the middle. And when I would talk about that you're going to get to heaven one day simply because you believe, not works, just by believing, Augustina would get up out of her chair and she'd come up to me, right up to me, put her finger in my face, and say, "You're wrong. You're wrong. You have to do good deeds to get to heaven."

I would just laugh and say, "Augustina, I don't... that's not really how it works." And so anytime I'd get into that, she'd come up with her finger in my face. I was inviting it every time I got into the subject. She finally died, and I said to my wife, "I know Augustina's in heaven saying, 'Well, he made it. He was right. He was right,' because she's there."

We have that confidence, right? And so this is something that has to be non-negotiable. If you want to have a closer relationship with the Lord, you want to have a close, intimate relationship with the Lord, it only comes one way really. It comes by being confident that there is nothing standing between you and the Lord, that he loves you perfectly every single day no matter how much you messed up the day before. He loves you with a perfect love.

There is such a genius in that because again, the day that you need him the most are the days when you've messed up. And if Satan can convince you that he's turned away from you because of your sin, what do you do with that? You just run and hide again because he's turned away from me. No, no, he will never turn away from you. His love will never ebb and flow, rise and fall. It is consistent every single day.

He is crazy about you every single day, no matter how you behaved yesterday. Consequences to that, of course, but not one of them is his love for you or his commitment to you. Never, never, never, never. So does it make sense?

You know, I've said this before, if my wife were to feel that I don't love her as much as I used to because of something she did wrong—she burned the French fries or she didn't do this or that, she wrecked the car—if Satan could convince her that, think what that does to the relationship. Now, her perception is wrong. I don't feel differently toward her because of it. But because she thinks I do, she kind of stays away from me. She's not confident in the love that I have for her. It negatively affects our relationship.

You get that? It would work that way. It's exactly the same thing with God. And that's why the relationship with him has to be simply by believing, because if works entered into it at all, we would constantly be pulling away from him saying, "I know you're mad at me today because of yesterday," and that breaks the relationship just like it would with my wife. He will never, ever turn away from you, never.

Listen, we're going to close in a prayer, and it's going to be a prayer to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And I want to do something a little different today if we can. I'd like to ask everyone who's ever prayed that prayer before to pray it again this morning out loud as a confirmation of that prayer many years ago. But more than that, I would like those that are praying it for the very first time to hear the number of people that are in the family of God in this group. Does it make sense? So their voice is not alone, but they hear the volume of voices that are affirming this prayer.

So let's pray. Let's close our eyes in prayer and just repeat after me. Father God, I admit that I've sinned. I have made many mistakes. But I believe that you died for me and rose on the third day and now are seated by God the Father making intercession for us. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for saving me. Now help me to live a life that honors you. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hey, listen, if you just prayed that for the first time, welcome to the family of God. It is a great family. And although you're still going to sin and make mistakes, you're going to find that once you pray that prayer, there's something inside of you that now wants to do the right thing. And that little tickle will keep reminding you, you want to give this up, I want to stop doing this because this is not for your well-being. He won't beat you over the head, but you will feel that little prompting. And it's a wonderful beginning to a new life.

Announcer: Well, listening friend, if you just prayed along with Pastor Thom Keller to receive Christ, we'd love to know. You'll find our contact information on our website at CCLEB.com. And welcome to the family of God. We look forward to hearing from you.

This is Study the Word, and today we covered a good portion of Genesis chapter 15 in a message we've titled "By Faith Abraham Believed". Hear it again at CCLEB.com under our Genesis archives. Again, CCLEB.com. Or visit our YouTube page. Subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon and you can watch our services live or on demand.

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