God’s Commitment to Abraham: Themes from Genesis with R.C. Sproul

I've said on several occasions that if I were put in prison solitary confinement and was allowed to have one book at my disposal the book that I would want would be what book The Bible the word of God I wouldn't be looking for entertainment I would be looking for Truth for something that would sustain me in that kind of a deprived human situation but I've also said that if I were in solitary confinement in a prison and could only have one book of the book one book of the Bible the book that I would want

to have would be the book of Hebrews the reason being that Hebrews recapitulates the whole of the Old Testament and brings it home into the central focus of Christ it has such a magnificent christology there so that all of all all of the substance of the Old Testament and of the New Testament uh are is woven together into that book of Hebrews so that if I had one book of the Bible That's the book I would want but if somebody would say to me okay if you could only have one chapter of the Bible what

chapter would you want to have with you in solitary confinement and my answer has always been if I had to choose one chapter of all of the Bible the chapter I would choose is chapter 15 of Genesis which is the chapter we're going to be looking at today so I preface my exposition of this text with that uh statement of my own uh favoritism toward it let's listen to what the Bible says in the 15th chapter of Genesis after these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying fear not Abram

I am thy shield and thy exceedingly great reward imagine being in solitary confinement imagine the fear and and you're there and all of a sudden God comes to you and says Don't Be Afraid Mike or George or you know John don't be afraid for I am with you and I will will be your Shield I'm going to protect you and I will be your exceedingly great reward well Abraham wasn't in solitary confinement but he may as well been he had been removed from everything that was precious to him he had to get up out of

the land of his fathers all of those things that represented human security were thrown away by Abraham as he left his home his family his friends his POS possessions and went out not knowing where he was going and there was a sense in which he was experiencing Solitude aloneness and God Appears to him and said don't be afraid for I will be your shield and I will be your exceedingly great reward now Abraham in a sense challenges this he's human like we are huh he says and Abram said Lord God what will you give me

saying I go childless and the steward of my house is this elaser of Damascus there is such a thing in the Christian world as false comfort you know job's friends job is an abject misery and his friends come along and want to give him a theology lesson on the relationship between sin and S offering small Comfort they are to job and you've had that experience where people want to minimize your pain guys that are in prison it's it's like James says this guy says to a Hungry Man be be filled but doesn't give him any

food a lot of good that does this is the way Abraham's responding to God he said wait a minute you tell me you're going to be my exceedingly great reward what can you possibly give me that'll make up for what I've lost I saw a man on television 60 Minutes or one of those programs last week who had been falsely convicted of a crime and he was put into prison I forget how long five or seven years out of his life until finally they caught a man a rapist who was guilty of multiple offenses and

confessed to the crimes that this man was sent to prison for and so everybody comes to the man and they say what I'm sorry and maybe we give you some compensation we'll give you some money and he says that's great but who's going to give me back seven years of my life this is what Abraham's saying great reward God don't you know that the only thing I've ever wanted out of this life with any passion is a son an heir somebody to carry on the family name somebody that would handle my my home my property

my possessions my cattle you're going to give me a great reward what are you going to give me seeing that I go childless did you get the drift here so what can you possibly reward me with that will compensate for the loss of that he said behold to me thou Hast given no seed and lo one born in my house is my Heir that is this servant eleazer from Damascus he's going to inherit everything he's not bone of my bone and Blood of My Blood he's a guy went out and hired and behold the word

of the Lord came unto him saying this that is this servant from Damascus shall not be your Heir but he that comes forth out of your own bows shall be your Heir and then he brought him forth abroad and he said look now toward of heaven and tell the Stars if you're able to number them and he said unto them unto him so shall thy seed be he says Abraham come here takes him outside on a story night and he said you see the stars up there count them 1 2 3 four 5 six count

them you're not just going to have one child one descendant but your descendants will be as the stars of the sky verse six we read Abraham's response now let me back up a second Abraham had complained that the thing he wanted most he wasn't going to get God comes to him now and says you're going to get what you want the most and you're going to get it in Spades one coming out of your own bows will be your ear you're going to have a son Abraham and then of you going to have a son

but you're going to have descendants that you will never be able to number how do you like that now is that kind of difficult to believe God's talking to this old man is gone all his time no kids and now God's telling him he's going to be the father of a great nation what what does the next verse say and Abraham believed God and it was counted or reckoned to him for righteousness there's the gospel in the Old Testament in fact it's the line that Paul goes back to in the Book of Romans when he

is trying to explain to the Roman Christians what justification by faith is all about he said it it's I'll tell you what it's about what does it mean to be saved what does it mean to be redeemed what does it mean to be saved by faith I'll tell you what it means it's Abraham who believed God and I want to write that down it's not that he believed in God he believed God that's what faith is all about that's what saving faith is I talked to people in college remember we ask them and I say

do you believe in Jesus I say yeah sure do you believe there's a God yeah big deal the devil knows that James tells us huh it's one thing to believe intellectually that there is a God that all that qualifies you to be is a demon James tells us it's another thing to believe God that is to put your trust in what God says that's what justifying faith is all about and it comes to believing in the promise God promises Abraham something that's staggering and Abraham says hey I believe you God if you say I'm going

to be the father of a great nation if you say I'm going to have a son I'm going to have a son I believe you and I'm going to live on the basis of that trust and the next part of the verse and God counted it to Abraham as righteousness Abraham wasn't righteous but he had faith in the promise that God made one of those descendants was the bright and Morning Star one of those that would come from that line of Abraham was Jesus and we were told in the New Testament if we believe in

Jesus in the sense in trusting him it is also counted to us for righteousness that's how we enter the kingdom of God that's what it means to be a Christian to believe Christ to put your trust in Christ and then God said to him I am the Lord that brought you out of the ER of the caldes to give you this land to inherit it and now Abraham says Lord God how shall I know that I'll inherit it I believe it's like Peter huh I believe what help thou mine unbelief I believe when I hear

you say it God but five minutes later I Stumble I struggle I'm not sure because I'm assaulted by all kinds of doubts that come in I look around when you're here telling me that I'm going to have a son and I'm going to inherit this land that's incredible I believe you but then as soon as I take my eyes off you and I look out here and I see all of that land and all the obstacles there's no way I can believe it how am I going to know for sure is there any way I

can be absolutely certain that what you said will come to pass now remember that that's the question that Genesis 15 is concerned to answer how can I know for sure how would your life changed how would your life be changed right now if you knew for sure that everything Jesus says in the New Testament is true how would your life change if you knew for sure that you were going to live forever and that death was merely a transition from this realm to the kingdom of heaven I mean would that make it difference in your

life if there were absolutely no doubts I don't think when somebody jumped out at you from a corner in the darkness and said boo I don't think you'd even jump anymore I wouldn't but see our faith is always mixed with unbelief a lack of trust a lack of certainty about what God has promised and Abraham's no different he said how can I know for sure and God said okay you want to know for sure now here's my favorite part of this chapter okay he said take me a heer of three years old a she goat

of three years old a ram of three years old a turtle dove and a young pigeon sounds like a witch doctor making up some kind of magic potent you know with lizards on and trails you know and the eye of a fly or something like that and mix them all up and I'm going to I'm going to mix you a brew that'll convince you forever he said now here's what you want you want to know okay Abraham I want you to go shopping get me a heer three years old not four years old not two

years old not two and a half years old three-year-old heer okay Abraham said okay check three-year-old heer she goat not a he goat a she goat three years old a ram of three years old a turtle dove and a young pigeon everyone says if that's what you want I'll go get it and so Lo Abraham took him all these things and divided them in the midst and he laid each piece one against the other but the birds divided he not Abraham goes out and he gets the heer he gets the she goat he gets the

ram he gets these things and he brings them back and what's he do he chops them in half this is a bloody mess it's like a butcher shop he drops them Cuts them in half and then he sticks them like end to end over against each other it now really is starting to look like some kind of totemic Right In A Primitive tribe isn't it and when the fouls came down upon the carcasses Abraham drove them away he's got this bloody mess and what does it do instead of bringing the angels from Heaven it brings

the buzzards right the buzzards come down start pecking away and his at his cow so Abraham's there shwing away these birds so that he can keep everything to do exactly what God told him to do says all right did that now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and loow a horror of great Darkness fell upon him and then God said unto Abraham know of assurity that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and Shall Serve them and shall afflict them 400 years what's this

Abraham says how can I know that I'm going to be the father of a great nation have all these descendants and God says you want him to be certain I'll tell you what you can be sure of this horrible darkness comes upon you and I'll tell you what you can know for sure Abraham first of all here's what you can know for sure first you can know for sure that you and your seed or your seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs they're going to be Exiles okay and you will

be servants and slaves in that land and your people that you're going to be the father of shall be afflicted for 400 years what do you expect Abraham to say well in that case I don't want any kids that what you would say God said you want to be sure here's what you can be sure of you follow me you trust me you believe me I'm going to give you descendant and they're going to suffer for 400 years but that Nation whom they Shall Serve will I judge and where do you say it Abraham when

you see the mightiest Army in all the world come against your people who are going to be helpless and I'm going to drown a whole Army of them in the Red Sea that nation that they're going to be serving I will judge and afterwards your people will come out with great substance did that happen by the way did it happen did God fulfill his promise huh you bet your necky did and you will go to your fathers in peace and you shall be buried in a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall

come hither again for the iniquity of the amorites is not yet full now if I am in the jail cell solitary confinement in the hole and I can only have one verse not not just the book not just the book of the book not just chapter one verse here's the verse I want to hold in my hand Genesis 1517 now listen to this the most exciting verse in all of the Bible you know it by heart you don't even have to look at it don't you can you recite it without looking at it no but

I'm going to learn it you're going to learn it today okay so all right listen listen to this 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 the pieces there it is guys there it is huh you get discourage the next time you're back there and you don't know whether to trust God or not you pick it up that book and you read the 15th chapter of Genesis verse 17 and it'll make you jump up in the air and

click your heels and you'll start running around your solitary confinement cell until the guards come saying that guy has lost his cookie he's going crazy because you're going to have Genesis 15:17 it came to pass you know the go J was going to come to you and say what are you so excited about he said listen to this hey the sun went down it was dark and behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp pass between those people and he gonna look at you and say what have you freaked out so what huh what's the

big deal here's the big deal the next verse tips it off in that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham do you know how much of your life revolves around covenants every time you buy something where you sign a contract you're entering into a covenant when you have a contract for your job you're entering into a covenant when you get married okay you enter into a holy sacred formal official Covenant and what is a covenant it's an agreement based upon promises and the covenants in the Old Testament we call the Bible the Old Covenant

or the New Covenant in the ancient world a covenant the word for Covenant in Hebrew is the word berit which means literally a cutting they didn't do it by signing documents on a piece of paper they didn't sign a covenant they didn't write a covenant they didn't dictate a covenant they cut a covenant the word covenant barit means as I said a cutting and so in the ancient world when two people entered into a very solemn and serious covenantal agreement they signed it and sealed it with a right of cutting what do you think circumcision

is It's The Sign of the Covenant and what does it symbolize it has a double symbolism circumcision has a double symbolism The Cutting of the foreskin of the flesh says I am taking you and cutting you apart from the rest of mankind and making you I'm cutting you out of the herd if you will my special people so that through you all the nations of the world will be blessed it's a mark of sanctification of being set apart and consecrated for a holy task that's the positive side but there's also a negative side to the

cutting and it is this the Jew is saying oh God if I don't keep the terms of this Covenant if I don't keep your law may I be cut off from you and from your benefits just as I have cut off the foreskin of My Flesh see that's what the right is all about and so when the Covenant is made God says to Abraham go get those animals and cut them up right because we're going to cut ourselves a covenant now what happens after these animals are are spread out there on the ground and they're

all cut up I said just go back to my favorite verse it came to pass when the sun went down it was dark Behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between these people these pieces what is the smoking furnace and the burning lamp it's God the favorite sophony which is a visible expression of the invisible visible God in the Old Testament is that God manifests himself to the naked eye how pillar of cloud Pillar of Fire Burning Bush moving torch Abraham is seeing God move between the pieces and what is God saying with

this right God is saying by this dramatic action of moving through the pieces Abraham you want to know for sure if I'm going to keep my promise you want to know if I'm going to keep this Covenant that I have made with you I'll pass myself through those pieces because in doing that here's what I'm saying that Abraham if I don't keep my promise may I be cut in Sunder just like these animals are ripped apart now let me ask you this is it possible for God to be be cut in half God is indivisible

God is immutable God is eternal the power of being resides within himself he is indestructible and yet here God says if I break my promise let me be destroyed you ever make a promise to somebody and saywell how I know you going to keep a promise and you say cross my heart and hope to die sck a needle in my eye or let's shake on it or put it in writing the author of Hebrews looks back at this and says because God could swear by no greater he swore by himself you know when I swear

I say do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth not the truth so help you God I swear by God or you know in the Old Testament they swear by the heavens or they sore by this or I swear by my mother's grave or I swear by by uh uh Franco Harris or whatever we swear by things that we consider significant sacred but God can't swear by the mountain or swear by the Earth or swear by Crush of heart he swears by himself so what's the point the point dear friends is this that

God has staked his being on This Promise his deity is on the line the very essence of his makeup as God is put on the line to Abraham saying God or Abraham if I don't keep my word to you I cease being God so what does that just apply to Abraham the whole relationship by which we are related to God today is by Covenant that same oath that God swears to Abraham he has sworn to you and so when your faith fails and you're alone and you wonder whether it's worth it hanging in there remember

the god that you serve and the radical degree to which he has gone to take an oath for his promise that's what it comes down to in life who you believe are you going to trust God with your life what Joshua say choose this day whom you will serve as for me in my house we will serve the Lord because he has promised and I'm going to trust that promise forever that