Genesis 15 Sermon Notes

Genesis 15:1-21

Sermon Notes

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Faith Like Abraham

July 1, 2018

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

         This passage has large ramifications for us today. The New Testament declares that all those who have faith like Abraham are children of Abraham. God’s promise to Abram was that he would have offspring from his own body. That offspring would be as the stars in number, a whole earth full of people.

         This people would fill up the land of Canaan. When Abram received this promise, he was already growing old as was his wife, Sarai. In earthly terms, the promise was looking unlikely. But, in fact, it was more than unlikely. God wanted it to be clear that in earthly terms, it was not only unlikely but impossible. That is why God delayed so long in bringing the promise to pass. It needed to be clear that Abraham and Sarah could not manufacture the blessing through earthly or manmade manipulation. They try to do this but God still works His Sovereign and miraculous will.

         Abram is an example of great faith.

But it was not a great faith of understanding or of particular actions. The greatness of his faith was quite simple. It is that simple faith that we are called to. Abraham believed God. He trusted that God could and would do that which He promised. We are told in the New Testament that Abraham did not wax cold in this belief. Even when his old body was as good as dead and that of his wife, he still believed God. That is the sort of faith we are called to.

         Abraham believed God for blessing, for a reward. God calls us to this as well. We are right to speak in terms of salvation. God will save us. But it is not merely heaven we are speaking of when we say God will save us. He will bless us. This blessing is real in this life. The Christian life is full of blessing. There is joy, hope, friends, provision. The Christian life is full of life. Now, it does not come without suffering. In fact, in the great passage in Romans that speaks of the blessing of righteousness for those who believe like Abraham, Paul immediately follows this up with a discussion of trials and tribulations.

         This blessing of reward, this being saved from our sins, troubles and enemies, is not mutually exclusive than existing in suffering and sorrow. The Christian does both. And we understand that this is the normal way for those who will live by faith. There is death and then resurrection. Abraham had to learn this. He learned this in his own body. He learned this again with Isaac.

         Of course, this all points to Jesus, as the Old Testament always does. When we learn that God’s promises are in Jesus, we have to learn that there is death first. Jesus dies and we die in Him but then God raises us to new life so that He can be our exceedingly great reward.

         Abraham eventually comes to learn this as I hope and pray that we will also come to learn. God blesses us mightily in this life with all sorts of tangible blessings, spouse, children, home, wisdom, honor, joy, hope. These things are real blessings for the Christian. But why do we have all of this? Because we are in Christ and He is in us. He, Himself, if our reward and all who have Him have all things.  This is what God tells Abraham and it is what He tells you.

         If you have him, you possess all things. If you possess the whole world and do not have Him, then you have nothing at all. 

EXEGESIS

After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I amthy shield, andthy exceeding great reward.

 After Abram defeats the kings and give tithes to Melchizedek, God appears to Abram (exalted father) and tells him not to be afraid. What was Abram afraid of? Of God? Or, of the fact that he was a great man and a great leader and he had no one to pass on an inheritance to?

God tells Abram that He is his shield and very great reward. 

Gen. 15:2  And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my houseisthis Eliezer of Damascus? ³And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 

It is clear that Abram’s fears were around this matter of a legacy. What did it matter to him if he did great things and had a great name if he could not pass on his legacy to his son?

We need to keep this in mind when we later think about both Ishmael and Isaac. Keep in mind what Abram says here and what God had said to him. God says that He is Abram’s very great reward. God is his legacy. But Abram wants a child. God does not scold him for this. It is God’s intent to make a Abram a great nation. In order to do this, it is important that Abram understand that God is the one who does this. In the course of this conversation with God, Abram comes to believe that very thing, that it is God who makes a man and Abram is willing to put his explicit trust in God.

⁴And, behold, the word of the Lordcameunto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 

The promise that Abram believes and is reckoned to him for righteousness is that he will have a son. God gives Abraham what he desires but on God’s terms, not Abraham’s.

⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 

Have you ever been up in the mountains fifty miles from the nearest little town and looked up into a clear sky? The number of the stars is stunning. This is what God showed Abram and told him his own children and children’s children would look like that. We might have a hard time believing such a promise even now. Families die out. But God promised that Abram’s family, descended from his own loins, would not die out.

God showed Abram the stars and that he would have a son who was born of him and that he would have offspring in number like the stars in the heavens. A number too high to count. 

⁶And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

What belief caused Abram to be counted as righteous? Did Abram believe God for salvation? Did He believe God for the forgiveness of sins? Did he accept God as Savior? Did he accept God as Lord?

Acts 16:30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Rom. 10:9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Ethiopian Eunuch

³⁷And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believethat Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Acts 16:31And they said, Believeon the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Rom. 3:22Even the righteousness of Godwhich isby faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Rom. 4 ¹⁰How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith whichhe had yetbeing uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: ¹²And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he hadbeingyetuncircumcised. ¹³For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, wasnot to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if they which are of the lawbeheirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: ¹⁵Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there isno transgression. ¹⁶Thereforeit isof faith, thatit might beby grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Rom. 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, evenGod, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. ¹⁸Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. ¹⁹And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 

²⁰He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; ²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ²²And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

This is it! He staggered not. He was fully persuaded that God could do what He said He would do. God therefore called Abram righteous.

Rom. 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; ²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believeon him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; ²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Why did this happen to Abram? For us. We believe that God raises the dead. Just look at Abram. Look at Sarah. Look at Jesus. Are you as good as dead when it comes to raising yourself up? Yes, so look to God. Trust in God.

Rom. 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not onlyso, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope: ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Peace with God and hope. And hope is not ashamed of our suffering or even of death because we believe God who raises the dead.

Rom. 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

A Conversation With God

Gen. 15:7  And he said unto him, I amthe Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 

God brought Abram out to give him a land of inheritance. Did God choose well? He chose a man and a woman to give them land and provide them with offspring. But this man and woman could have no child. Perhaps God should have chosen a more fertile couple?

⁸And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? ⁹And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. ¹⁰And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. ¹¹And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

God tells Abram to gather the animals of sacrifice, a cow, a goat, a sheep, a turtledove and a pigeon. These five animals later represent the acceptable animals of sacrifice. 

Abram prepares these animals for sacrifice and waits upon the Lord to devour them. He keeps the buzzards away from the carcases.

John Calvin says that Abram really did not understand why God told him to do this. He futher says, “Let us, therefore, learn meekly to embrace those helps which God offers for the confirmation of our faith; although they may not accord with our judgment, but rather may seem to be a mockery; until, at length, it shall become plain from the effect, that God was as far as possible from mocking us.”

I believe Calvin is correct here, not only in specific things the Lord calls us to but even in living out His inscrutable will. I have said before that we cannot do God’s divine calculus. We cannot count that high or cipher that well. God is His own interpreter. He is not mocking us. He is working His own glory, like a billion stars in the heavens. The key thing is to believe Him.

Gen. 15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a landthat isnot theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; ¹⁴And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ¹⁵And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 

Abram falls into a deep sleep, like the sleep of Adam when God removed his rib. Abram has a vision in his sleep. This prophecy is of the years that Israel will later spend in Egypt. God will deliver them and judge their enemies.

¹⁶But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amoritesisnot yet full.

Calvin gives a good explanation of this verse that we should take note of. He says that the land that God is giving to Abram is occupied by the Amorites. God will judge them but He is patient. He gives them ample time to come to their senses and repent of their sins. In the meantime, they continue in their sins. If they will not repent, eventually they fill up their iniquity and God will judge them. Until then, He is patient with them but His patience will eventually where out and there will be a day of reckoning.

Gen. 15:17  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 

¹⁸In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, ²⁰And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, ²¹And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The Lord made a covenant with Abram promising to give him the land where he was dwelling. 

A covenant is a solemn promise with blessings and cursing. The Lord is always faithful to fulfill His promise. Through the ages, even as the Israel was unfaithful, God still fulfilled this covenant promise to Abram.

EXHORTATION

The Expanded Promise

         The promise to Abram was two-fold, land and offspring.  The land was from the river to the sea. The offspring were to be as the stars in the sky and the sand of the sea. We are the heirs of Abraham all those who put their trust in the risen Lord Jesus.

         God is able to raise the dead.