In the sermon titled 'Yahweh Cuts A Covenant With Abram,' David Green explores Genesis Chapter 15, where God makes a significant covenant with Abram. Green highlights the importance of Abram's faith, noting that it was counted as righteousness, establishing a foundational biblical principle of salvation by faith rather than works. The sermon discusses the covenant ceremony involving the splitting of animals, a traditional practice signifying the seriousness of the agreement. Green emphasizes that this covenant was unilateral, with God alone passing between the pieces, underscoring His commitment and grace. The sermon also delves into the promises made to Abram regarding his descendants and the land, relating these to the future fulfillment in Israel's history and the ultimate coming of Christ. Green asserts the significance of biblical authority, especially in interpreting Genesis, and the importance of understanding God's communication with humans versus animals. He concludes by noting that while Abram was a man of great faith, he also had moments of doubt, which will be discussed in future sermons.

Thank you for tuning in and we're in Genesis chapter 15 this evening. Genesis chapter 15. As you all know we've been in the Psalms the last few weeks on Tuesday night and that was that was planned I had said that we would go from Genesis to Psalms and just kind of go back and forth some on Tuesday evening and the And the other day Josiah actually Josiah says to me he said he said daddy are you going to go back to Genesis? Or are you done with Genesis? And I appreciated the question because it means that he's been paying attention.

He remembered that we were in Genesis before and that sort of thing and I also appreciate it because Genesis is important and so we'll come back to Genesis and We'll also go back to Psalm some to just kind of mix it up a little bit week to week and that sort of thing. But tonight we're in Genesis chapter 15 where we left off last time we were in the book. So Genesis chapter 15 beginning verse 1 and we're going to take the entire chapter this evening and Just take a look at what the Lord has for us in this chapter. So Genesis chapter 15, I'll go ahead and read the entire chapter here, beginning verse one. After these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision saying, do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you, your reward shall be very great.

And Abram said, oh Lord Yahweh, what will you give me as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Since you have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir. Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, This one will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Now look toward the heavens and number the stars, if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your seed be.

Then he believed in Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it. And he said, O Lord at Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it? So he said to him, bring me a three-year-old heifer, the three-year-old female goat, the three-year-old ram, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. Then he brought all of these to him and split them into parts down the middle, made each part opposite the other, but he did not split apart the birds.

Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abram drove them away. Now it happened that when the Sun was going down a deep slink fell upon Abram. Behold, terror, great darkness fell upon him. Then God said to Abram, know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. They will be enslaved and mistreated for hundred years, but I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the emirate is not yet complete. Now it happened that the sun had set and it was very dark. Behold there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.

On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram saying, to your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kinite and the Kinizite, the kadmonite, the hittite and the parasite and the rifium and the hemorrhite and the caninite and the gergisite and the jebusite. So reads the infallible, the inerrant, the all-sufficient Word of the As we come to this point in Genesis, The Bible is not a history book, but I'm reminded that everywhere that it touches on history, it is accurate. And it gives us history that you'll find nowhere else. And like I've said before, I'll say it again, good and godly Christians may disagree on things like the age of the earth and things like that. Proper interpretation of Genesis may be issues where we disagree on things with other Christians.

And that may not be a gospel issue, but it is a biblical authority issue. And so when we're studying these things and you talk to people about these things that are found in Genesis. Biblical authority issues are important, because if we can't trust God here in Genesis, what else can we not trust him on? It is indeed a very slippery slope. We've been through a lot in the book of Genesis and Our text begins with the word of Yahweh coming to Abram Now this does set man apart from the animals, doesn't it?

Communication of man is much higher and different than that of animals. The way we communicate with each other, and indeed the way we communicate with Yahweh, our God, our Creator, our Savior, and the way God communicates with us. It's way different than the way it is in the animal kingdom. Here we find him communicating with Abram in a vision. He didn't do this with the fish.

He doesn't do this with the dragons, not even with the monkeys or the chimpanzees. But with Abram, he communicates with him directly. Even now, in our day, He doesn't communicate with man and visions, but he has given to us his word, the Bible. And we have in a very neat form, 66 books that have been translated in nearly every language known to man. It's available for us, But no elephant or alligator, no cattle, none of the animals have a copy of the Bible in their language, because God has not communicated with them in the way that he has with man.

And even if someone were to figure out, hey let's get a Bible for the animals, they wouldn't be able to read it. They wouldn't be able to understand it. They wouldn't be able to comprehend it, you see. And so, and so there is a difference between mankind and the animal kind. This is something that we must always keep before us and before the young people and before all people.

That there is a difference between man and animals. Sadly, in our world it's something that is not taught very often, but it is truth nonetheless. The occasion of this vision to Abram was just after, and you'll have to think really hard because it's been a few weeks since we've been there, but Chapter 15 does say after these things. So there was something important that happened. And chapter 14 was about Melchizedek.

And so if you remember back in our study before, this was After all of the excitement of the battle and the victory Abram had with the experience with Melchizedek even and all of those things, no doubt, a great high spiritually speaking, physically speaking that Abram experienced in all of that. Now everybody has gone their separate ways and Abram finds himself alone maybe some heaviness begins to set in as he thinks about and considers his own life. And in this vision, the word of Yahweh comes to Abram and says, Do not fear Abram. Do not fear. This is the same voice that had appeared to Adam.

Remember Adam was afraid in the garden and went and hid but Abram, Abram is told to fear not. The voice of God either brings men to fear or for great courage. And we find that this was great courage for Abram. For he says, I am a shield to you your reward shall be very great indeed several thousand years later Jesus was on the earth and look at what he said there in in John chapter 8 verses 56, 57, and 58. It says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it Was glad so the Jews said to him you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham?

Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple." The Jews recognized here in this text, they recognized this claim that Jesus was saying, hey Jesus says I am Yahweh and Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. I believe that That day is where we're at in Genesis chapter 15. The truth is, even though the Jews in John chapter eight, they couldn't figure out what he was talking about, but Abraham, Abram had seen Jesus when he first identified himself to Abraham as the self-existing God, the one who was able and willing to supply every need that Abram had in time and eternity.

As he said to him, do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you, your reward shall be very great. What a great comfort that was to him. And he goes on, he says in verse 2, Abram said, Oh Lord Yahweh, what will you give me as I go on? Being childless in the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, since you have given no seed to me, behold one born in my house is my heir.

So we see what's on Abram's mind. He's had these promises but yet there's no child yet. Verse 4, then behold the word of Yahweh came to him saying this one will not be your heir but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. Brought him outside and said, now look toward the heavens, number the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your seed be.

Then he believed in Yahweh and counted, and he counted it to him as righteousness. He said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it. So remember, this is not a dream, this is a vision. And Abram was awake and the vision continued all day and on into the night. And as Abram expressed his concern to Yahweh, to God, This concern being that he had no seed.

We're reminded in this text that we too ought to freely bring our concerns to God. And his great concern was this. Abram was concerned that at this point in his life, if he and his wife were to die, all his house would go to his steward, Ilyasar, and not even to one of his own people. All of his relation, all of his relatives were gone. Lot had gone another direction.

He had done, Abram had done moved away from all of his relatives. But once again, Yahweh, the Lord God, renews his promise. Abram will have a child. Earlier he said in Genesis 13 verse 16 that Abram's seed would be as the dust of the earth, but now in verse 5, he says that they will be as the stars of the sky. Josiah, have you ever tried to number the stars of the sky?

You think you could do it? What about the dust of the earth? Think you could number the dust of the earth? No. Think that'd be a lot of people?

So here's Abram, no child yet. And God says, your seed will be as the stars of the skies, the dust of the earth. From a human standpoint, that's pretty hard to believe, being that he had no children yet. Not only that, but that they would possess a land. But even though he had no physical proof of it yet, even though Abram had no child yet, his wife was not pregnant yet, There was nothing physical that he could grab hold of and say, yes, this all makes sense.

Humanly speaking, it was hard to believe, and it didn't make any sense. The Bible tells us in this text, in verse 6, then he believed in Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And here, in this text, in Genesis chapter 15, We find the great principle of true salvation set forth for the first time. That is, that it's not by works. It's not by works that men attain or manifest righteousness, but by faith alone.

The Apostle Paul quoted these words as an illustration of faith over and against works. If you'll remember, over in Romans chapter 5, you can go over there with me, Romans chapter 4 rather. Romans chapter 4, beginning of verse 1, What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. If we skip on down to verse 9 it says, Therefore is the blessing on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised. Also for we say faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. On down to verse 22 he quotes it again, therefore it was also counted to him as righteousness. And so And so we find him pulling from this Old Testament text, using it as an illustration of faith over and against works.

Same thing in Galatians chapter 3. Verse 6, Just as Abraham believed God, and was counted to him as righteousness, so know that those who are of faith, those are sons of Abraham. And so we see how that, how that this was a great picture of or an illustration of principle principle of true salvation. There was no physical work that was done by Abraham there. Abraham there.

There was nothing physical that Abraham could grab hold of in any of this. No work that he did. And that's the way it is with salvation. There was nothing whereby Abraham could boast. In fact, as we continue on in the story of Abraham, we'll find Abraham was an old man.

Abraham was an old man. Sarah was old. Past the years of childbirth, It's not like they had a dozen kids. Yahweh comes to them and says, you know what, I'm gonna bless you with descendants like the sands of the sea and the dust of the earth. Abraham could have thumped his chest and said, well, it's good, I've been working really hard on this.

Nothing like that. You see, the hero in the story is God. And of course, of course as we, as we see, all this leads up to Christ, who is the ultimate seed of Abraham. But we also see that there's other promises given. So the hero of the story is Jesus.

The center of the story is Jesus. Abraham had nothing by which he could glory in in any of this. And as we go on, we see that there were promises given. Seen that would be like the stars of the sky. Not only that, but in this, in verse seven, Yahweh says to Abram, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it." There's a lot of other people in the land And who is Abraham compared to so many people?

So We got all sorts of things going on here in this text. So Abram's got questions too. Verses 8 through 11 of Genesis chapter 15. And he said, Oh Lord Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it? So he said to him, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

Then he brought all these to him and split them into parts down the middle, laid each part opposite the other, but he did not split apart the birds. The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses. Abram drove them away. Now some things begin to happen in this text that if we're not careful we'll read over it and not understand what's going on. But all of this is significant.

So the question is given, how may I know that I will possess it? It's a valid question. How may I know that I'll possess it? Some say the question was accusation at the delay of God, but I don't believe that. I believe it had more to do with the genuine request for more information.

It's okay to ask questions, even to ask questions of God. Even in this side of the cross, on this side of the biblical canon, it's okay to ask questions as you're reading the Bible and as you're studying, to ask questions. I believe that's a good way to learn and grow. We don't want to accuse God of anything, but we do want to ask questions. And in response to this question, Yahweh affirms his covenant with Abram in a great ceremony.

Some animals are brought forth as Yahweh commands Abram to bring forth a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And Abram is obedient to this. And each one of these animals was cut in two. It's significant. There's a reason why that this was done.

You see in the old days, in ancient times, the sign of covenants also often involved the cutting of animals into two pieces so that the pledging parties could walk between them. And so you'd have the heifer, you'd have the the goat, you'd have whatever it was, and the ram they would be cut in two, and they'd be torn apart, and then the pledging parties would walk between them, affirming that the same should happen to them if they broke the covenant. You see, they took this very seriously. Now, instruction is given. Abram brought these to him and split them into parts down the middle.

They were each part opposite the other, but he did not split apart the birds. Now, so the animals are split except for the birds and we're told that birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abram drove them away. All of God's Word is significant. We're given details here for a purpose. So Abram split these animals apart, and birds of prey came.

Now, we're familiar with birds of prey, we got turkey vultures, and we got eagles, and we got all sorts of things here. They see a dead animal and they like to come down on it, but they don't come down on the dead animal right away. The dead animal is laying there for a little bit before the birds of prey come. This tells me that there was a passage of time before before anything's done. So Yahweh God, the Lord, gives Abram these directions.

He cuts the animals in half and then there's some time that passes. During the rest of the day, the sun begins to go down. Abram has asked a question, how will I know about this land that I'll possess it? Lord Yahweh says gather these animals up, they're split in half, and Abram waits for further instruction. But nothing happens.

Many hours pass. The sun begins to go down. He didn't get his answer right away. And you and I, we also don't get answers right away either when we ask questions. Furthermore, This delay here possibly symbolized the fact that although God's covenant would be sure, its accomplishment would take time.

He's promised him that he'll have seen as the stars of the sky, as the dust of the earth, that there'll be possession of the land, but it's not going to happen right away, Abram. There's a passage of time. And indeed, Abram himself would have to wait many years for the promised seed. And even then it would be many long centuries before the seed would become a great nation and possess the promised land and many millennia before the ultimate fulfillment would take place with all nations being blessed through Jesus Christ. During the wait, Abram had to drive off the birds of prey that tried to devour the carcasses.

This experience may be symbolized the attempts of Satan to thwart the plans of God. As you read here of the prophecies that are given in this promise that's given to Abram. We know that Satan is hard at work to try to thwart the plans of God, and even still it's hard at work to try to destroy the plan of God. But there is a need for alertness, not only with Abram, but with all believers. Understand something.

God is not in heaven hoping that we'll do our then we'll do our part to drive off the birds of prey, as it were, the enemies of the faith, the satanic influences of this world to make sure that the plan of God will take place. God's plan will happen no matter what, but also understand God's people have responsibilities. And so we are to be alert, we are to be doing what we can as we're in this battle. Just like Abram was responsible to drive away the birds of prey here. Let's read further.

Verses 12 through 21. Verses 12 through 21. Now it happened. When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. Then God said to Abram, Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and they will be enslaved and mistreated for hundred years.

But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go down, You shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the emirate is not yet complete. Now it happened that the sun had set and it was very dark.

And behold there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram saying to your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the river Euphrates the Kenite the Kenazite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephiam and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Gurgisite and the in the refium, in the emirite, in the Canaanite, in the Gyrgiosite, in the Jebusite. So the vision that Abram is seeing, it takes a new turn. As darkness of the evening descended where he was at. Abram fell into a deep sleep.

In fact the Bible says, and behold terror and great darkness fell upon him. This shows that he was in a very deep sleep and how utterly helpless he really was. There was nothing that he could do even if he wanted to. He was out, cold, in a very deep sleep. You see, it had to You see, it had to be this way.

Any other covenant, both parties would have walked between the cut animals, but this covenant was different. This covenant did not involve any promise on Abram's part. You see, this is all of God, Yahweh. Abram would not walk through the pieces as a pledge on his part. We're often told that the Old Testament is all law and the New Testament is all grace, but I submit to you today that there is much grace to be found in the Old Testament as well.

He always says that they will be in an alien land for 400 years. You who are Bible students, you've read ahead before, you know what happens. They do find themselves enslaved in Egypt. Enslaved in Egypt. In fact that 400 years is later is a round number and later seemed to be exactly 430 years.

If you go to Exodus chapter 12, Exodus chapter 12 and verse 40, Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. And it happened at the end of the 430 years to the very day that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt. So this was told to Abram that this is how it would be. It was indicated to be equivalent to four generations, perhaps since men were still living to be around 100 years old, as a general rule at the time. Now, Galatians chapter 3 in verse 17 indicates that maybe there's a different way to look at the 400 years and this is another possibility but still does not discount what the Lord Yahweh is telling Abram here.

Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. In verse 17. What I'm saying is this, the law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God so as And so the math there, the 430 years according to Paul, would be from the time the covenant was given to Abram until the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. If this is the intended meaning, then the actual sojourn in Egypt itself would only be approximately 215 years, taking the entry of Abram into Canaan as the effective date of God's covenant promise. Either way, either way we know what he's talking about when he says what he says here to Abram.

Abram wouldn't have known until, wouldn't have known all the details that we know because we've we've read and studied Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and so on and so forth but but Lord Yahweh he was But Lord Yahweh, He was giving Abram some details there. Verse 16 of our text, He says, then in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the emirate is not yet complete. So the reason for the delay according to this is the iniquity of the emirate is not yet complete. It's kind of interesting there. Just as God delayed the judgment of the flood for 120 years, so here he waits 400 years.

It's kind of a different perspective than what you think about sometimes, but the reality is that God does give room for repentance. In fact, 2nd Peter chapter 3 and verse 9 says God is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. It's there in the Scriptures. And it's here in Genesis 15, in verse 16 Space is given there Because of the am right Versus 17 and 18 Find this again something that we would pass over. I know I did a lot of times as I read this.

But it's key to understanding what's happening here. It says, Now it happened, the sun had set and it was very dark. Behold there appeared a smoking oven, a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram saying to your seed I've given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the river Euphrates. So when it was dark, there appears smoking oven in a flaming torch.

This represented the presence of Yahweh God in the covenantal relation with Abram as he alone passed through the two parts of the sacrifice, these animals that have been cut in two. I cannot stress enough that it was God alone who passed through, not Abraham, denoting an unconditional promise on God's part. On that day Yahweh cut a covenant. I love that translation here, that he cut a covenant. The Hebrew is kareth, brith, and while most translations will say things like made a covenant, which is accurate enough, but the phrase cut a covenant is a more literal rendering.

This is what the translators of the LSB have to say about it. They wrote, In the ancient Near East, covenants were ratified by the two respective parties cutting animals in two and then together walking between the bloody severed halves. The significance of this practice is that each party is essentially saying that they may likewise be cut in two if they break their side of the covenant. The difference here is that Yahweh, presumably pictured in the oven and torch, passed between the animal pieces alone while Abram was in a deep sleep. This established a unilateral covenant which Yahweh alone was responsible to keep.

By God's grace, there was nothing Abram needed to do to keep the covenant in effect, nor was there anything he could do to jeopardize it." End quote. To your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. The covenant had already been given, but now it's expounded. The land which God will give Abram to his seed from the Nile to the Euphrates, this land promise. It was a land that was then occupied by the Canaanites, represented by these ten tribes that are named here.

For a brief time under Solomon, possibly again under Jeroboam, The children of Israel ruled all this territory. You can read about that in 1 Kings 8 and 2 Kings 14. This was for a brief time though. It was token of the final and permanent possession that they will have in the future. But mark well, these are specific promises, boundaries given.

Some say that because of disobedience Israel has lost any claim to that land and I know there's a lot of controversy about this sort of thing. Most recently, most recently It was brought up by our ambassador and that sort of thing. There was a lot of discussion about it. There's no condition given to this and in fact there's a reaffirmation of this promise during days of peril. Go with me to Jeremiah chapter 16.

Jeremiah chapter 16. I'm going to get to context here. Let's start with verse 10. Let's start with verse 10. Now when you tell these people all these words, they will say to you, for what reason has Yahweh declared all this great calamity against us?

What is our iniquity, or what is our sin, which we have committed against Yahweh our God? Then you are to say to them, it is because your fathers have forsaken me, because there's Yahweh. And of what? After other gods and served them and worshiped them, but me they have forsaken, have not kept my law. You too have done evil even more than your fathers, for behold you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart without listening to me.

So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor." Sounds very much like modern Israel doesn't it? Very much like what's going on with the most modern Jewish people. But notice what he says here in verse 14, therefore behold days are coming declares Yahweh. We will no longer be said as Yahweh lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but as Yahweh lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had banished them, for I will return them to their own land which I gave to their fathers." So even in the midst of their rebellion, even in the midst of their evilness and their disobedience.

The promise was not forever nullified then, and it is not nullified now. When do I believe that that's going to take place? Well, I've got an idea, you know, When Ambassador Huckabee brought it up on the occasion of Tucker Carlson asking about it, caused a lot of stir amongst the nations in the Middle East. I've got an idea that it will probably happen after the tribulation period, more on into the into the thousand-year reign of Christ, when they'll have the full promise of the land from the river Euphrates all the way to the Nile. That's what I believe will happen.

But I do not believe that these things have been nullified. They have partial possession of the land now. It's kind of interesting when you think about it. The little piece of land that they've got is about the size of New Jersey. And those people have caused such a stir.

People get so upset at the Jewish people, Israel. They have for centuries. Why? I believe a big part of it is because God's plan here. One day they will have full possession of the land and indeed Jesus Christ will rule and reign here on this earth not from London, England, not from Washington DC, not from New York City, from Jerusalem.

That is coming. That is coming. Going all the way back, we read of this great covenant that Yahweh God made with Abraham. Well I trust this has been a blessing to you and Lord willing once we get back into Genesis, I don't know that we'll be back in it next week, but in a couple weeks we'll get back in there and we'll look at Sarai, Abram's wife, and some of the things that took place. Abram was a great man of faith, however, we'll see that even along the way There were times that he did have some doubt and he did have, do some things along the way that he shouldn't have done.

But we'll look at that literally next time. So thank you guys Josiah for asking me about Genesis.