HOPE IN OUR COVENANT KEEPING GOD Genesis 15:1-20
I. OUR STRUGGLE WITH FEAR Genesis 15:1-3
A. GOD PROTECTS US WITH HIS WORD TO OVERCOME OUR FEAR 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.
B. FEAR PERSISTS WHEN WE SEEK OTHER SOLUTIONS OUTSIDE OF GOD S PROMISE 2 But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?
C. FEAR PERSISTS WHEN WE ARE TOO IMPATIENT FOR GOD S PROVISION 3 And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.
D. FEAR SUBSIDES WHEN WE REST IN GOD S PROVISION AND PROMISE 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir. 5 And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
II. GOD S PROMISE OF PROVISION Genesis 15:7-21
A. REMEMBERING THE COVENANT KEEPING GOD 7 And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. Parallel: God led Abraham out of Ur to the land God led Moses and Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land
B. RATIFYING THE COVENANT WITH GOD 8 But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? 9 He said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
C. REASSURING WITH PROPHECIES AND PROMISES 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
D. REAFFIRMING THE COVENANT 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
D. REAFFIRMING THE COVENANT To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT Genesis 17:1-4 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly. 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT An eternal, unconditional covenant made between God and Abraham in which God committed Himself to bless Abraham and to give his descendants a land, a posterity, and spiritual blessings. Paul Benware, Understanding End Times Prophecy: A Comprehensive Approach, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1995, p. 321
GOD WILL GIVE ISRAEL A PROMISED LAND Genesis 12:7 To your descendants I will give this land. Genesis 13:15 1 or all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. Genesis 13:17 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you. Genesis 17:8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
GOD WILL BLESS ABRAHAM PERSONALLY Abraham Will Be A Father Of Many Nations (Gen 12:2; 17:4) Abraham Will Be Blessed (Gen 12:2; 22:15-17) Abraham Will Be Materially Fruitful (Gen 17:6) Abraham s Name Will Be Great (Gen 12:2) Abraham Will Replace His Original Name Abram (Gen 17:5) Sarah Will Replace Her Original Name Sarai (Gen 17:15) Abraham Will Have A Son (Isaac) Through Sarah Who Will Be The Possessor Of God s Covenant (Gen 15:1-4; 17:19-21)
GOD WILL MAKE ABRAHAM S DESCENDANTS A GREAT NATION Abraham Will Have Multiple Descendants (Gen 22:17) Abraham s Descendants Will Form Several Nations (Gen 17:4-6) Abraham s Descendants Will Be Royal (Gen 17:6) Abraham s Descendants Are Included In This Covenant (Gen 17:7) Abraham s Descendants Will Be Recipients Of The Promised Land As An Everlasting Possession Abraham s Descendants Will Have An Eternal Relationship With God (Gen 17:8) Abraham s Descendants Will Undergo Egyptian Bondage And Be Delivered Victoriously (Gen 15:13-14)
GOD REAFFIRMED AND REPEATED THIS COVENANT AT LEAST EIGHT TIMES Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:1-21; 17:1-21; 22:15-18; 26:2-5,24; 28:13-17; 35:10-12
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT WILL BE FULFILLED A. The Abrahamic Covenant Is An Everlasting Covenant Genesis 13:15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. Genesis 17:7-8 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT WAS PARTIALLY FULFILLED IN CHRIST BEING THE SOURCE OF UNIVERSAL BLESSING Luke 1:54-55 54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever Acts 3:25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
GALATIANS 3:6-9 6 just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
GALATIANS 3:15-18 15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to your Seed, who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT WILL BE COMPLETELY FULFILLED WHEN ISRAEL POSSESSES THE PROMISED LAND FOREVER Romans 11 1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.
CONCLUSION The Abrahamic Covenant includes the blessing of a Savior for us! God is in control of our future, our family and our finances. Don t fear!