God help us all, O Lord, to be gentle and kind as we all are.
Things that are not here, things that are not worth,
forever my song.
I will listen to you, listen to my three.
Jesus, greatest one, is the one who will come to Thee.
I am responsible to the Savior, the innocent and strong.
He is the truth, for He is the justice.
We have the words of God.
God will place Him to make things so glad for me.
Jesus, greatest one, is the one who will come to Thee.
I am responsible to the Savior, the innocent and strong.
Each day, we want to spend, for He is the living will.
I will listen to you, listen to my three.
Jesus, greatest one, is the one who will come to Thee.
I am responsible to the Savior, the innocent and strong.
Jesus can make the path way home.
He will follow some Jesus where they were born.
Oh, may we learn, dark mountains deep in the shore.
For the Lord, the Savior, has found His heavenly love in you.
The words of Jesus can make the path way home.
He will follow some Jesus where they were born.
If they leave the temple, we preach in the Lord.
For in the time when all is through, we come home.
The words of Jesus can make the path way home.
He will follow some Jesus where they were born.
Then, at last, when He sees us all turning around,
He will bless some Jesus at His home.
The words of Jesus can make the path way home.
He will follow some Jesus where they were born.
The words of Jesus can make the path way home.
In Genesis chapter 15, a very well-known passage,
and this is the story in which we see a couple things take place.
One being Abraham's salvation. This is something people asked me about
a couple weeks ago simply because of the fact that you see leading up to this chapter
a couple times where Abraham calls on the Lord. However, the Bible is explicitly clear
that this is the moment, this is the time, this is the story, this is the things
the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a voice, excuse me, in a vision saying,
Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?
And the steward of mine house is this Eliezer of Damascus.
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou is given no seed, and lo, thou is my heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels
is being made to Abram repeatedly by the Lord,
that his seed is going to inherit this land that he's journeying in.
And Abram, obviously, he's getting older, his wife is older,
beyond their natural childbearing years, and he's saying,
How in the world am I going to father a child? Where is this heir?
And obviously he's having a little bit of a dialogue with the Lord here,
and the Lord's reassuring him. And he says there in verse 5,
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars that thou shalt be able to number them.
And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
So he's saying, You see all these stars, Abram?
That's what your seed is going to be like.
There's going to be so many people that come forth from you
that you won't even be able to number them.
They'll be like the sands on the seashore.
And notice verse 6, and it says that he, Abram, believed in the Lord,
and he, meaning the Lord, counted it to him for righteousness.
So the Lord counted it to Abram for righteousness.
What is it that he counted to him that he believed on the Lord?
He believed the promise of God. He believed what God had spoken to him.
So obviously this is a great picture of faith,
because that's what it takes to be saved is faith.
Now obviously Abram did step out in faith.
Abram was following the Lord, but we don't know all the inner dialogue,
all the inner turmoil that's taking place within Abram.
Obviously in the scripture a lot of times you're not getting a lot of the
inward monologue that's taking place in a person, in different characters.
It's all usually very third person.
You don't really get a first person point of view from the scripture.
So we can't just assume that the first time that Abram called upon the Lord,
he was doing so in faith.
Or that it was something that he wasn't just doing maybe out of an act of obedience,
because he thought that's what he's supposed to.
We don't really know, but what we do know is what the Bible just clearly
and explicitly says here that Abram believed the Lord,
and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness.
So it's a great thing when you just have crystal clear verses in the Bible
that just tell you exactly what the answer is, and that's the answer.
Everything else we just have to work around that.
We have to take this into consideration.
If we don't understand the previous portions where he's building altars
and calling upon the name of the Lord, we just have to think that through.
We have to reconcile that with this chapter and with this verse.
Just to back this up, go to Romans 4.
Very famous. A lot of folks know this.
Romans 4 where the New Testament again verifies that this is the moment of Abram's salvation.
It says there in verse 1,
What shall we say then, that Abram our father, as pertaining the flesh, hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture?
Paul is referring back to what we just read in Genesis 15.
What sayeth the scripture? Verse 3.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward, were not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
That's why Abraham is a great picture of salvation by grace through faith
because he's simply believing the word that the Lord had spoken.
Then he's just trusting God, believing in the promise or the covenant of God.
It's given to him.
Now it's true that Abram had previously called.
We saw this in Genesis 12, where the Lord appears unto him,
and he says unto thy seed, Will I give this land?
And he builds an altar who appeared unto him, and he removed from thence,
and when he went east of Bethel, he built an altar there,
and he called upon the name of the Lord.
And again in chapter 13, Abram when he went up out of Egypt,
he goes back to Bethel where he had been at the beginning,
where he had made that altar, and there Abram again calls upon the name of the Lord.
So he does this twice leading up to chapter 15,
but chapter 15 just makes it very clear that that's when Abram got saved.
It wasn't when these other instances were, yes, he even called upon the Lord.
Because just ask yourself, is calling upon the name of the Lord what saves you?
It isn't.
Now what saves you is faith.
Don't misunderstand me because I know there's a whole sect of people out there
that I want to say, well, you don't need to call upon the name of the Lord.
I don't want to start going down that road tonight,
but here's the thing.
If you call upon the name of the Lord and you don't have faith, are you saved?
No.
But if you have faith, and this is what I've always believed,
is that if you truly had faith in God, you will call upon the name of the Lord.
It's just going to happen.
It's just one foot follows the other.
It's a natural progression.
However, it's very possible to call upon the name of the Lord and not have faith.
In fact, you see it take place all around the world.
In fact, you see it in a religion called Catholicism.
The Catholics, they're calling upon Mary.
They're calling upon the Lord.
They're calling on everybody they can.
I mean, they've got the patron saint of this and the patron saint of that.
They're praying to these bones, those bones.
I mean, they're just praying to everybody and anybody they can, including Jesus.
And they're calling him Lord.
Now, if you would, go to Matthew 7.
Matthew 7 will remind us of something.
Many false religions call upon the name of the Lord and aren't saved.
So it's very possible that Abram, in those instances where he called upon the name of the Lord,
was just expressing his religious nature.
I don't know.
He was just kind of just doing what he thought was best.
Maybe he had good intentions.
He was just being religious.
He knows he's being led of this God that's called him out of nowhere, right?
But it's not until Genesis 15 where he's just saying, you know, I just trust God.
I'm putting all my faith in what he has said, okay?
Which is a great picture of salvation.
And God decided that that faith was going to be counted to Abram for righteousness.
He said, hey, the faith that you just put in me, in my promise that I'm making to you,
that's your righteousness, right?
The faith that he had in God.
Look at Matthew 7, verse 21.
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Right?
He didn't say, not everyone that saith unto me, who are you, who are you?
They're calling him by his name, Lord, Lord.
They're calling upon the name of the Lord.
They're people that have done things in the name of the Lord, okay?
But they are not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
And what is the will of the Father?
That everyone would seeeth the Son, would believe on him, and have everlasting life.
That's the will of God.
That we would see the Son and that we would believe on him.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name,
in thy name have cast out devils, in thy name have done many wonderful works.
And that I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart ye from me,
that ye that work iniquity.
You know, and those are not necessarily evil, you know,
those works aren't necessarily evil in and of themselves, right?
Casting out devils, prophesying, preaching, doing many wonderful works.
You know, people do a lot of good things in the name of the Lord,
but God says that they are workers of iniquity
because they use those works as a badge of honor
or a token of righteousness in order to earn their way into heaven.
You know, they want to get into heaven through those works.
You know, but we're not saved by our works,
but rather by his mercy he saved us, okay?
All our righteousnesses are his filthy rags.
These are great things to do, but they're not going to save you.
So there's a lot of people today that are doing these exact things.
A lot of people out there doing a lot of wonderful works
in the name of the Lord for the work's sake
in order to try to merit their way into heaven, okay?
Abram had even previously obeyed God.
He'd done what God had told him.
Now, are there a lot of religious people out there today
that are trying to obey the Bible?
Absolutely, right?
That's what people will tell you.
Oh, you know, you got to keep the commandments.
You know, you got to be a good person.
You got to do what the Bible says, right?
And the gospel goes right over their head, right?
You talk to people all the time.
Why are you going to heaven?
Well, I've never committed adultery.
I've never murdered anybody.
I don't steal. I don't lie.
You know, and those things, you know, probably very well could be true.
The lying when I'm kind of, I don't know, whatever.
Yeah, right. But anyway, I think you just told a lie, buddy, right?
Well, let's give it to them.
Let's say they did all those things.
Never told a lie. Never stole a thing.
You know, not committing adultery and killing anybody
isn't really anything you should go around patting yourself on the back over.
You know, but I guess, you know, if that's what you think is going to get you there.
But what are they doing when they say that?
What are they telling us?
I'm obeying the Bible.
I'm obeying the commandments, right?
I'm obeying God.
Now, Abram, it says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8,
So Abram has been acting in obedience, right?
He's stepping out. He's obeying God.
He's doing what God tells him.
But you know what?
All those works, all those altars, all that calling upon the name of the Lord,
all that obedience means nothing without faith.
You know, it's a great picture, really, when you think about it,
when you consider these few chapters in, you know, recording Abram's life,
it's a great picture of what it takes to be saved.
Great. I'm glad you obeyed.
I'm glad you want to go out and follow God and do what he tells you.
I'm glad you're willing to sacrifice and build an altar.
I'm glad you're even willing to pray and call upon the name of the Lord.
But if you don't have faith, you're not saved.
God's not going to count any of those things to you for righteousness.
Because all those righteousnesses are his filthy rags.
You know, people believe in the commandments,
and they do their best to obey them, don't they?
But Abram, you know, had to express faith in God, in God's calling.
The calling, and if you would go to Romans chapter number 10,
I know we all know it, must be coupled with faith, right?
Or the obedience, rather.
Or the calling upon the name of the Lord.
That must be coupled with faith.
It can't stand on its own.
That's what I see with Abram.
Romans chapter 10 verse 9,
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.
So what saves you?
Both.
Does faith save you, or does calling upon the name of the Lord save you?
Well, they both do, right?
But you can't have one without the other.
You've got to have the faith, and you've got to call upon the name of the Lord.
And if you're just calling upon the name of the Lord,
if you're just going through some rote prayer,
if you're just, you know, working through the beads,
you know, and saying your Catholic prayers or whatever,
you're just chanting and you're just doing some repetitious prayer,
some vain repetition, that's not going to,
I don't care how long you pray for.
Without faith, it's not going to save you.
You have to call upon the name of the Lord out of a heart that believes, right?
That's why it says there, if thou shalt believe in thine heart,
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,
and thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
Why? For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So that's the first thing that we see here in Genesis chapter 15,
is Abram's salvation.
And I understand where people come from, where it can be kind of confusing,
when you're seeing Abram call upon the Lord in chapters 12 and 13
leading up to this, but we have to reconcile those events,
what the Bible is just telling us Abram did,
with the explicit, clear statement that scripture is making,
that he believed God and he, the Lord, counted it to him,
Abram, for righteousness.
And then that's reiterated in Romans chapter number four.
And I believe that's how we make that reconciliation between those two things,
that might at first seem like they're opposing one another.
Really when you boil it down and you think about it,
it's actually a great picture of what a lot of people are doing,
even to this day.
It's a lot of people just, you know,
they're going through chapters 12 and 13 of their own life,
where maybe they're doing some great things,
and building some altars, and even calling upon the name of the Lord,
but they don't have faith.
Now the other thing I want to look at in this chapter,
is not only Abram's salvation, but Abram's sacrifice.
If you look at Genesis chapter number 15, look at verse seven.
And he said unto him,
I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,
to give thee this land to inherit it.
And he said,
Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
And he said unto him,
Take me and 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.
And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst,
and laid each piece one against another,
and the birds divided he not.
Excuse me, but the birds he divided he not.
So get the picture,
he's taking these several different animals,
the heifer, the goat, so on and so forth,
and he's laying them one against the other,
meaning he's cleaving them asunder,
he's chopping them up, right?
And he's laying them one against the other,
he's spreading the sacrifice out before God.
That's why it says the birds divided he not, okay?
And then he says in verse 12,
or excuse me, verse 11,
and this is an interesting detail, okay?
And I think this is just worthy of a whole sermon right here.
And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses,
Abram drove them away, right?
So Abram's getting, he's gotten saved, right?
He's called upon the name of the Lord,
but now God's commanding him to make a sacrifice, right?
And he makes the sacrifice,
and after he's made the sacrifice,
these birds begin to come down upon the carcasses,
as they are wont to do, right?
Some, you know, some bird sees some flesh
starting to rot on the side of the road,
it's gonna go have a meal, right?
That's basically what's going on here.
They wanna go get their belly full,
they wanna go start picking on that.
But Abram has to drive them away off the sacrifice,
and notice that takes, that's goat,
that's not like a, one time that's a protracted,
you know, reoccurring thing that keeps happening.
He keeps having to drive these birds,
constantly shoo them off, right?
Because it says in verse 12,
and when the sun was going down,
so it kinda gives us this picture
that, you know, he did this during the day,
and then all day long,
he's having to shoo these birds off the sacrifice.
And to me, that's a great picture
of the Christian life, okay?
You know, we are living in the day,
the night cometh when no man can work, right?
And our Christian lives should be a life of sacrifice, right?
We get saved, we call upon the name of the Lord,
we believe on God,
it's counted us for righteousness,
and now God asks of us to make a sacrifice,
to lay this sacrifice out before him,
and that, you know, that's something that's also protracted.
You're not just gonna, you know, one time,
you know, make a decision for, you know,
to do this or do that,
I mean, your whole life is a sacrifice, okay?
I should add, you keep something,
in Romans, if you wanna go back there,
go to Romans chapter number 12, okay?
Your whole life is a sacrifice,
and guess what?
The prince of the power of the air, right,
the fowl, you know,
the power of the air, right, the fowls of the air,
wanna come down and land on your sacrifice
and help themself to it.
You know, they want what you're offering to God for themselves.
You know, the devil wants the devotion that belongs to God for himself.
He wants the time that belongs to God for himself.
He wants your love and affection,
your attention, all the things that are rightfully God's,
he wants that for himself.
You know, he can never take away your salvation,
but he can get your heart.
You know, God's got your soul once you're saved forever,
but who has your heart tonight?
You know, is the sacrifice that you're laying out,
are you being careful to keep the birds off the sacrifice?
Or are we getting a little worn out in the Christian life?
You know, I'm tired of shooing the birds off,
let's just let the world kind of creep in
and land on these birds,
and let's just put up with, you know, a few birds over here,
a few birds over there,
some fowl kind of taking that portion of the meat for itself.
You know, I know that's God, that God deserves that,
but I'm just, you know, my arms are tired, whatever.
I'm tired of, you know, trying to mortify the members of my flesh.
I'm tired of putting down the old man.
I'm tired of making, I'm tired of trying to keep this sacrifice unto God.
You know, this is what happens in a lot of people's Christian lives,
if we're not on guard.
You know, we can just start going through the motions
and things, you know, that we would never dream
of allowing in our lives, we'd just let them right back in.
And then there they are,
on top of the sacrifice in our lives,
a life, a sacrifice that is rightfully God's, completely.
You make a sacrifice,
it's not over when you're done butchering the animal, right?
That's the picture there.
It's a continual process
where you're constantly having to make your life that sacrifice unto God.
But here's the thing, you know, if you make that sacrifice,
something great happens, right?
You have reassurance that God is with you, right?
Because what started all this?
What caused him to do this?
Abram asked, whereby shall I know
that this shall all be mine, that my seed shall inherit all this?
How do I know that this is in fact the case?
That one born of mine, I will have an heir of my own
come and inherit after me.
How shall, how do I know that, right?
God said make a sacrifice.
And look, if we'll make a sacrifice, if we'll sacrifice some things,
if we'll give up some things, if we'll devote some things to God,
you know, God will, his presence will be there.
Because that's exactly what happens in the story.
He makes a sacrifice,
he keeps the birds off, the sun falls,
and horror of great darkness comes upon him,
and that lantern begins to pass.
God's presence shows up, and he's given a vision, right?
God's presence is with him.
So, you know, the same is true for us.
If we're willing to sacrifice, we can have the assurance
that God is with us.
Now, I don't expect any burning lamp to come into your,
you know, what you're making some prayer at night or something like that.
You're living like a sacrifice.
I don't think it's going to happen quite as literally as this.
You know, I'll do without the horror of great darkness falling upon me either.
But, you know, we can still have the assurance of knowing that God is with us.
You know, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8,
the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
You know, that's not something that you can, you know, quantify.
That's not something you can show on paper.
How do you know you're a child of God?
I mean, I can show you the promises of God,
but how do you know that in your heart
when the Spirit is with you?
But how do you know that in your heart
when the Spirit bears witness with your spirit?
That's a very real thing.
No one can even begin to start to talk me out of my salvation.
It's impossible.
It can't happen.
Because I have the witness of the Spirit.
I don't care how much shade they try to cast on the word of God.
I don't just, you know,
I don't just believe that this Bible is true.
I know the Bible is true.
Because I have the witness of the Spirit.
But how do you get that?
Sacrifice.
You make the sacrifice.
You live for God.
You don't quit.
You keep going.
You wave the birds off, right?
You keep the fowls out as best you can.
But here's the thing.
What if we don't do that?
You know, what if Abraham just let the birds go to town?
Say, you know what? Go ahead.
You know, I did my part.
You know, I cut him up.
You know, it's up to God now to do his part.
You know, what if that was his attitude?
Well, you might end up, you know, quenching the Spirit.
What if that was what we did?
Well, I got saved, you know, and
I got started in the Christian life.
But then, you know,
you know, I kind of quit on some things.
You know, maybe
I started trying going to church three times a week.
But, you know,
then I just didn't feel like it anymore.
But then I got busy.
You know, but then, you know,
I started going to church on Sundays.
But then, you know,
I got jobs.
I got to go do work.
I got overtime to get in.
Well, get in line for that.
We all got more work we could go do.
But, you know, what if we don't do that?
You know, I tried that soul winning thing.
You know, I made that sacrifice,
but I did that for a while.
But then I let the fowl of laziness creep in
and land on that and start picking at it.
I let the fowl, the bird of discouragement,
come in there and, you know,
and talk me out of doing that.
I got distracted by other things
that I'd rather do with my weekend.
You know, and look,
I'm not saying to give your whole weekend
a soul winning.
But like an hour on a Saturday,
an hour on a Sunday,
an hour during the midweek
to just go out and preach the gospel to somebody?
To take the unsearchable riches of Christ
to a lost, dying world?
I think it's a big ask.
You know, but people,
they start out doing it
and they go, eh, whatever.
And they just let the fowls of this world,
the cares of this life,
just chew that sacrifice up.
And if we let it get bad enough,
I mean, there'll be nothing left.
And then why would God show up?
Why would God want to make sure
that his presence is known?
You're not sacrificing anything.
You're not,
if we're not presenting ourselves to him,
why is he gonna show up
and accept the sacrifice?
There's nothing there.
The world got it all.
Your flesh got it all.
Why should I show up?
You know, that's why the Bible says
to quench not the Spirit
and to not grieve the Holy Spirit.
That means that's possible.
You know, and he might not show up.
We won't have that assurance
that God is with us.
This is why backslidden people
often doubt their salvation.
A lot of times people reach out to us.
Other people have come to me
in years past.
They're just really doubting their salvation
and you don't have to pry.
A lot of times people just
tell you what's going on.
And then they just start listing
all the sin they're into,
all the things they're not doing
that they should be doing,
and all the things they are doing
that they shouldn't be doing,
and it's just like, well, you know,
obviously you don't have the assurance of salvation
because the Holy Spirit's not giving it to you
because you're grieving
and you're quenching the Spirit,
and yeah, you know,
that's why you don't have the assurance
of the Spirit bearing witness with your spirit
that you are the Son of God.
He's not showing up.
There's no sacrifice.
Look at Romans chapter 12, verse 11.
Excuse me, verse one.
I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies
as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable God
which is your reasonable service,
and be not conformed in this present world,
but you be transformed
in the perfect will of God.
You know, what is the sacrifice
we make today?
Don't read chapter 15 of Genesis
and go get a heifer and a goat
of three years old
with a couple of birds.
I heard deacons sermon.
I'm going to make that sacrifice.
Your neighbors will think you're weird, okay?
They're going to think,
what a waste, you know?
Some good carne asada right there,
and you're just out there
letting it spoil in the sun.
It's you.
It's your time. It's your energy.
It's your passions.
It's what you have to offer
with your abilities.
That's what you sacrifice to God now.
We don't kill an animal.
We don't make a literal sacrifice.
We present our bodies
a living sacrifice.
Let me point that out too,
a living one, all right?
I'm not saying go home
and lay yourself out either, okay?
But we present our bodies,
a living sacrifice.
Our lives are a life of sacrifice.
Your life, your energy, your efforts,
what you can accomplish
in this world for Christ,
that's what you do.
That's your sacrifice.
Instead of a literal animal,
it's what you can do serving God.
And the more we sacrifice,
the more we'll give you to God,
I believe the more he's willing
to show up and bless us
and be with us.
And I don't want to spend,
I just love the Bible.
I mean, it's just this one little detail.
The fowls of the air came
and he had to drive them away.
I'm like, why is that in there?
Why do we need to know that?
He could have just said
he made the sacrifice
and the lamp showed up.
But no, it tells us that Abram had,
during the day after he made that sacrifice,
had to keep those fowls off.
We need to endeavor
to do the same thing, okay?
So we've seen Abram's salvation.
He's bought with the price.
You're the temple of God.
Now let's look lastly at Abram's seed
because this is an important part
of this chapter.
Look at Genesis 15, verse 13.
And he said to Abram,
Know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land
that is not theirs,
and shall serve them,
and they shall afflict them four hundred years.
And also that nation whom they shall serve
will I judge,
of Israel going down into Egypt
and being in bondage
and then being delivered
by the hand of Moses, okay?
He says in verse 15,
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace
and shall be buried in a good old age,
but in the fourth generation
there should come hither again,
for the iniquities of the Amorites
is not yet full.
And it came to pass that when the sun went down
and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp
and there's no point
but that's part, it kind of ties in there.
He makes that sacrifice,
God speaks with him,
his presence is there,
that lamp shows up, right?
And he's given this vision.
He says in verse 18,
In the same day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram saying unto thy seed
will I give this land
and from the river Egypt
and unto the great river,
the river Euphrates,
and then he gives the list
and the seed would go down into Egypt
for 400 years, okay?
And some people will get a little confused
because elsewhere,
we're referring back to this,
it's stated as 430 years,
so we have to kind of figure that out.
Again, we have to reconcile that.
If you would, go to Genesis chapter,
we'll go to Genesis chapter number,
we'll just stay where,
no, go to Genesis 46.
We'll hurry through this point.
Genesis 46.
Now, the Bible does say again
in Exodus 12 verse 40
that the sojourning of the children of Israel
who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years, right?
Now God said in Genesis 15 where we were
that God should afflict them,
Abram's seed, 400 years.
And then you see it happening
in Exodus 12 for 430 years.
So there's this difference of 30 years there, okay?
And obviously, that's because
when they went down in Egypt,
they were not immediately afflicted.
If you remember when they went down,
Joseph was the number two in command, right?
He had saved Egypt
because God had given the ability
to interpret those dreams of Pharaoh.
He told them what to do
for the seven years of plenty,
the seven years of famine,
and he literally saved everybody, right?
He saved a nation from starving.
Many other nations came and bought from him.
He saved the land of Pharaoh,
and in fact, when Joseph finally
reveals himself to his brethren
and they go up and get his father
and brings him down,
Pharaoh says to him,
take the best of the land, right?
And they give him all the land of Goshen,
right, because they had cattle, right?
So he's bringing them down.
They're being well-intreated.
They're being treated very well, okay?
So obviously, there's a timeframe
that they came down
and they were not evil-intreated.
They were not immediately put into bondage, right?
But if you remember the story,
it says after Joseph's death,
there rose up another Pharaoh
who knew not Joseph, right?
And that, some point after that,
that's when we start to see
them being afflicted with hard bondage, right?
So that's an important detail.
That's why it says
they shall be afflicted 400 years.
That's how long they're going to be afflicted,
not how long they're necessarily
going to be afflicted, right?
And then when you get to Genesis 12,
which is where they're coming after the Passover,
where they're coming out of the land,
it's been 430.
That's why it says 430,
because that's how long
they've actually been there.
So, you know, I really,
I feel like this is something
that's been kind of covered at length
lately in other sermons,
but I don't want to go too long on this.
But if you're there in,
I should have had to go to Galatians
verse 16.
Now to Abram and his seed
were the promises made.
He saith not unto seeds of many,
but unto seeds as of one,
and to thy seed which is Christ.
And this I say that the covenant
which was confirmed before
of God in Christ,
the law, excuse me,
which was 430 years after,
cannot disannul that it should
make the promise of none effect.
Okay, so again,
it says the law which was 430 years
after, right?
After what?
After the covenant was confirmed
before of God in Christ, okay?
Now, that covenant does not start,
excuse me, rather,
let me say this,
the covenant was before 430 years.
The covenant was what we just read, right?
That your seed shall be oppressed
and there'll be strangers
in a strange land,
but that I will deliver them
and that they will go and inhabit
the Amorites and so on and so forth.
That's the covenant that he's talking about.
And sometimes we get confused
because we think Abraham,
people just get so confused
because of dispensationalism.
They think there's only seven covenants
that God ever made with man, right?
There's the Adamic covenant,
the Noahic covenant,
the Abrahamic covenant,
the Davidic covenant.
God made many covenants
and many promises
to different people and nations
and the only reason for them
is that your people are going to
go into a strange land
and be oppressed 400 years.
They're going to be, you know,
evil and treated, right?
That's the covenant, okay?
But that's not when the clock
starts ticking on that 430 years, okay?
Because if you read Galatians carefully,
again, it says in verse 17,
And this I say,
that the covenant that was
confirmed before of God in Christ,
the law which was 430 years after,
cannot be decimaled.
So the covenant
was confirmed before of God.
So it was confirmed 430 years
before the law,
before Mount Sinai.
Everyone following me?
Okay.
The covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ
was confirmed 430 years
before the law,
before Mount Sinai.
Everyone following me?
Okay.
Confirmed before of God in Christ, right?
Making a covenant and confirming
a covenant are two different things, right?
If I make you a promise,
it's not confirmed until
I deliver on it, right?
I can make promises all day,
but it's not confirmed,
it's not assured,
it's not settled, right?
You confirm something when it's done,
when it's approved,
when it's manifested, okay?
So the covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ,
430 years after,
cannot disannul, right?
So the covenant was confirmed
and then 430 years later,
the law could not disannul that covenant, okay?
There's more going on in Galatians,
but I'm just trying to get you
the timeline here, right?
That it should make the promise
of none effect.
So what is the covenant that was made?
Genesis 15.
That Abram and his,
that his seed would be a stranger
in a land that's not theirs,
that's the covenant that's made, right?
That covenant was confirmed
when in Genesis 46,
if you want to go there very quickly,
okay?
Because again,
the covenant was given,
this promise to Abram was given
well more than 430 years
before the law, okay?
It's confirmed and then 430 years later,
that is when the law is given, okay?
When they're coming out of Egypt.
So when was the covenant confirmed, right?
That's what Galatians is referring to,
not the giving of that promise,
but the confirmation of it.
I hope that everyone's getting that
because as trivial and as,
you know, that might seem,
that's actually a really important point, okay?
That's really something we should understand
because people get all kinds of things wrong
because they don't understand
just that language, I guess,
and they get,
they'll get the time that they spent
in Egypt wrong, okay?
And I get Galatians 3,
it's not, you know, it's wordy,
you got to kind of break it down
and really think about what it's saying,
grammatically even.
But look at Genesis chapter 46 verse 1
and we'll see when the covenant was confirmed, right?
Because that's what Galatians is talking about
is that when was that confirmed?
When was this covenant not given
Genesis chapter 46 verse 1,
and Israel took his journey
with all that he had, right?
And came to Beersheba
and offered sacrifices on the God of Isaac
and God spake unto Israel
the visions of the night and said,
Jacob, Jacob, and he said,
here am I, and he said,
I am God, the God of thy fathers.
Fear not to go down into Egypt
for they I will make of thee a great nation.
I will go down with thee into Egypt
and I will surely bring thee up
and Joseph shall put his hands upon thine eyes
and Jacob rose up from Beersheba
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob
with their father and their little ones
and their wives in the wagons
which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
So that's when this is confirmed, right?
When literally Jacob, Israel,
is on his way into Egypt.
That's when the clock starts ticking
and, you know, we have 30 years
when they first show up approximately
where they're not being oppressed.
The other Pharaoh rises that knew not Joseph.
Their lives are made bitter with hard bondage
and 400 years after that,
a total of 430 years,
you have the law being given.
So that's how that ties in with the Galatians, okay?
So let me just wrap up with one more point here.
They are 400, that Abram,
because some people will say, no, no, no,
the clock actually started ticking with Abram.
When Abram journeyed down into Egypt,
where we just read in Genesis 12,
that that just does not line up at all.
The math alone does not line up, okay?
And I'll just make this one point
because this has been preached
six ways to Sunday recently,
up one side and down the other.
I know Pastor, you know,
took Kent Hovind to task on this, okay?
And he did.
And Kent Hovind is dead wrong about this.
And there's not, look, and let me just,
that's kind of like a springboard
for a whole other sermon right there.
There's nothing wrong with being wrong,
but there's a lot wrong with being wrong
and not being willing to admit it
and insisting that you're not wrong
when the facts are just staring you in the face.
When people can just show you black and white,
plain as the nose on your face,
you're wrong and you go, I'm not wrong.
That's called being stubborn and ignorant
and that's just sin, in my opinion.
I mean, just imagine if you grew up like that.
Like if you were shown as a child, okay,
we're going to start learning addition,
one plus one equals two.
No, it doesn't.
Well, no, look, one, one, that's two.
No, that's three.
No, it's two, look.
It's three.
Not going to get very far, are you?
You might as well, you know,
find another line of academia to go into
because math ain't going to work out for you
if you can't admit that one plus one
is two and not three, right?
You say it's a silly example,
but that's exactly how people are sometimes.
That's how we all are from time to time in our lives.
Oh, no, I'm not the one that's wrong.
You're wrong.
It's like, well, no, here's scripture.
Here's some more scripture.
Here's a whole more scripture.
Here's all that being thoroughly explained.
Nope, nope.
I am not listening to this.
That's what people do.
People do that with the preaching of the word of God.
People do that with facts
because they just don't want to believe it, okay?
You know, that's what I've noticed
is that, you know, that's when people
get really mad at the preaching.
It's not when I'm wrong.
It's when they're wrong and they know it.
You know, it's like,
we were just talking about this the other day.
Someone was telling the story
about how they showed up late for work.
I was thinking about this on the way over.
They showed up like 15, 20 minutes late for work
and got an attitude.
They were mad that they were late
and they had an attitude.
Then later in the day, the boss was like,
oh, are you still mad at me because you were late?
Right?
You know, it's such a perfect picture
of how people can be.
You know, the pastor, the preacher gets up
and just tells you facts,
just lays it out there,
and it's just plain that you're wrong.
You're not right, you know?
It's like they get mad at the preacher.
You know, you show them where they should be in church.
They should be soul-witting.
They should be reading their Bibles.
They should be doing all these.
He gets up and he preaches a sermon
about how your marriage is not good
and how to fix your marriage.
It's just like you're clearly wrong
and they get mad at the preacher
as if that's going to fix anything.
You know, get mad at me all you want.
Go ahead.
I'm going to be fine.
You know?
And it's not that I like getting up
and making people mad,
but it's that, you know, it's not fun.
It's not something I enjoy.
But what good would I,
what good of a pastor would I be
if I didn't get up
and tell people what they needed to hear?
You know, why don't we just all
go to some other church where they'll
never tell us what we want to hear?
We could throw a rock and find it.
Wouldn't be that hard.
And they'll only tell us the things
that will never upset anybody.
I don't know how I got off on that,
but I did somehow, right?
Abram, Kent Hovind, right?
Because he starts running the clock
when Abram went down to Egypt.
It makes no sense at all.
Especially, and this is my coup de guerre here,
verse 14 of where we are
in Genesis chapter number 15.
God's speaking to him and he says,
let's just back up to verse 13,
and he said to Abraham,
And know of surety that thy seed
shall serve them, and that they
shall afflict them four hundred years,
and also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge,
and afterward they shall go out
with great substance.
That nation shall judge them,
and they shall go out with great substance.
This group of people is going to go out
and they shall go out with great substance.
Didn't say and you, right?
He's making a real clear distinction
between the people that are going
to go down and be oppressed
in that land are not him.
It's obvious, right?
Like if someone came to me after the service
and said, hey, we don't have to serve,
I said, well, I'm taking them out
for ice cream.
Does that sound like you're invited?
It doesn't, does it?
Right?
What are you doing after the service?
Oh, I'm taking them to Sonoran Delights, right?
And then you wouldn't say,
oh, we're going to Sonoran,
you know, I'm included in that.
It's like, no, you're not, right?
So, but you can't,
you're not the people that go down this happens to.
It's not you.
That's when the clock starts ticking.
Look, that's just what's in the passage
that just further makes that point, okay?
And I don't want to,
I don't want to beat this dead horse anymore,
but you know, we are in Genesis 15 tonight
and it has been something
that's come up of late.
So I thought I'd throw my,
my two cents in as well.
So there, that's my two cents.
But lest you leave thinking on that note
that I'm just, you know,
going against Kent Hovind,
let's not forget everything else we've seen
that's great in this chapter tonight, right?
Abram's salvation, right?
That's very crystal clear.
Hey, it's faith.
Yes, calling upon the Lord,
but faith is what has to be there.
And when a person has sincere, real faith,
they will call upon the naval Lord.
Why would you not pray to somebody you believe exists?
Right?
You're just never going to talk to God.
You're never going to say something to him
for saving me, salvation, nothing.
You're just not.
I believe in God.
I believe all the gospel.
I'm just never going to talk to God about,
okay, all right.
But more importantly,
think about the sacrifice that came after.
I believe that's something
that would be more applicable to us today
here in this group.
You know, when you think about
are we letting the fowls land on what's God's?
Are we letting the world
take its share of what will actually,
excuse me, take what belongs to God for itself?
And, you know, that's something we should be thinking about.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you
for the salvation you've given to us
through Christ, through faith, Lord.
And Lord, thank you for the fellowship
that we can have.
It's available to us in the Spirit.
And Lord, I pray it has helped us to know that
fellowship with you,
that we would be willing to present our bodies,
that living sacrifice.
And Lord, even when it's difficult,
Lord, when the fowls do come,
when we do want to let the world in,
when we do want to let the devil
just go ahead and take whatever he wants,
Lord, help us to understand that
that's the time we need to get up
and shoo him away,
and to make sure that what is yours
stays yours.
And Lord, we pray that you would just bless us
as we go in Jesus' name, Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we are dismissed this evening.
All right.
Wait.
Let's do it.
Bring it, please.
All right.
This time, you might not want to stop.
Hey!
You're bleeding.
Don't approach.
Hey!
Please perspective yourself.
All right.
Keep on going.
All right.
Okay.
All right.
Singing the arms of the free and the home of the brave.
Wherever we are, we are free.
Yes, we'll gather round the river,
and we will follow in the stormy river.
Gather with the slaves of the free,
and we will follow in the stormy river.
Singing the arms of the free and the home of the brave.
Music