We're going to begin our worship this morning singing to God's praise in Psalm 105 and sing psalms.
! This is page 138 in the Blue Book.
The tune will be Centennial.
We're going to sing from the beginning through to verse 11.
So four stanzas.
Give thanks to the Lord God and call on his name.
His wonderful deeds to the nations proclaim.
Sing praises to him and his exploits record that all those who seek him rejoice in the Lord.
It's good for us to come with joy into the presence of our God and worship today.
So let's sing with joy to his name.
We'll stand to sing if we're able.
Give thanks to the Lord God.
Let all those who seek him rejoice in the Lord.
You've chosen one's look to the Lord and his might.
Seek help of his face and his wonders beside.
His miracles too and his judgments divine.
You children of Mepra and Jacob's own life.
The Lord is our God and he rules all the earth.
Remembering his covenant the word he set forth.
He vowed for the ages to come to make good.
His promise to Abraham to rise and renew.
To Jacob is sovereign.
He was made sure.
With Israel his command would always endure.
To you I will give us your portion to stand.
The country of Canaan.
The beautiful land.
Let's bow our heads in prayer to God.
God and our Father in heaven.
We come before you this morning with these words of praise on our lips.
That we have today so much to give thanks for.
Because of your goodness and your grace towards sinners like us.
We want to thank you today for your covenant.
You are the one who has entered into an agreement.
First and foremostly within the Trinity.
Between the Father and the Son.
A covenant before the foundation of the world.
Where our Lord and our Savior Jesus agreed to come into this world.
In the fullness of time.
And to bear the sin and reproach of his people.
Let me thank you that in the fullness of time he did indeed come.
And come into this world that was full of sin and rebellion against him.
A world that would ultimately reject him.
And yet out of your great love.
He fulfilled the terms of that covenant.
And so our peace and our security was made sure.
So we thank you today for the fact that we worship a covenant keeping God.
We worship a God who has established a plan of salvation.
Who has fulfilled all that is necessary for us today.
To know the security of that salvation in its fullness.
And so we are therefore today free to come and worship you like this.
We are today free to look with hope on the future.
To know that your purposes will be unfolded in their fullness.
That there is the promise of a new heavens and a new earth.
And that in the midst of all of the sorrow and travail of this world.
There is much that we can look forward to.
And so we pray that today we would meet with this living God.
That we would meet with the covenant keeping God.
That we would today rejoice in our salvation.
And that we would have a confidence given to us.
An assurance of the completeness of the work of Jesus.
And that our faith in him would deepen and strengthen.
And so receive our worship this day.
Receive our confession of sin.
Forgive us our sins.
And bless us with your own presence.
And we ask this for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
So boys and girls.
Over the last few months when I've been here preaching.
I have been sharing with you some of the exploits from our house.
Because it's getting done up just now.
And today I bring you a box.
This box is, if those of you who are electricians will understand some of the jargon that's written on the side of this box.
This says it's a two gang double pole switched socket dual earth.
If you're an electrician, you will know what that means.
If you're not an electrician, it will suffice for you to know it had a plug in it.
And that plug is now mounted on the wall in one of the rooms in our house.
I don't even know which room this woman into.
Because there's about 50 of them.
I don't know.
There's loads and loads and loads of these.
Maybe that's something you could do this afternoon when you go home, boys and girls.
You could go home and you could count how many plugs are in your house.
That would be an exciting thing to do.
Our house has got more plugs in it now than it used to have.
And the reason today that I know that our house has more plugs is not only that I can go around and count them.
But because I also found sitting in my kitchen this week this box.
And unless my electrician is messing us around, I was fairly confident that he hadn't left a full box to go out to the recycling.
I was pretty sure it was in fact an empty box.
And if I open the box, I can show you inside it.
It is an empty box.
And an empty box is a good thing when you're employing someone to do some work for you.
Because that means they've done the job.
And so you can be really glad when you find an empty box.
Now, in the Bible, there is a story, a very important story, about an empty box.
And it was after Jesus had been crucified.
So you remember Jesus went to the cross and he died in our place.
And at the cross, he took our sin and our guilt for all of the bad things that we do.
He took all of that on himself and he paid the price to satisfy divine justice.
To satisfy God's just punishment for our sins.
Jesus paid that price.
And then he died.
And after he died, a man called Joseph of Arimathea came and asked for the body of Jesus.
And he took the body of Jesus and put the body of Jesus in a tomb, in a garden.
And then they rolled a big stone over the front of the tomb.
So that was on Friday night.
And on Sunday morning, Mary and some other women went to the tomb to find if they could anoint the body of Jesus with spices, anointments and things that they used to do when they buried someone.
And they found that the stone had been rolled away and that inside the tomb, there was no body.
Think of it like this.
The tomb was an empty box.
And they were confused.
They were thinking, why is this an empty tomb?
Why is it an empty box?
Now, what did I just tell you?
What does an empty box tell you?
An empty box tells you the work has been done.
And on that first Sunday, when they went to the empty tomb of Jesus and they found the tomb empty like that.
What that says to them and what it should say to us today and what it's going to say forevermore is the work is done.
Jesus died.
And then he rose again from the dead because the father was pleased with all the work that he had done.
The work is finished.
And that's why today we can trust in Jesus completely for salvation.
There's nothing else that we need to do.
There's no extra work that we need to do.
Sometimes we say to ourselves, well, God will love me if I'm just a little bit better.
If we were going to add anything to the finished work of Jesus, that would be like saying the box isn't really empty.
There's a little bit more inside the box that we have to do.
But actually the box is empty because all of the work is complete and done.
And so today we can trust Jesus because he has done all of the work for us.
We're going to say the Lord's Prayer just now.
And then after we've done that, we'll sing again.
So let's bow our heads in prayer to God.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.
We're going to sing again to God's praise.
This time from Psalm 2027.
Again, in Sing Psalms, page 31 in the Blue Book.
The tune is Jackson.
We're going to sing from the beginning through to the second half of verse 4.
So 5 stands as to God's praise.
The Lord's my Savior and my light.
The Lord's the stronghold of my life.
Why should I be afraid?
Again, we'll stand to sing to God's praise.
The Lord's my Savior and my light.
The Lord's my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior and my Savior?
When people do hurt, threaten me to take my life away.
My adversaries and my foes will stumble in that face.
Though an army hands me in, my heart will feel no dread.
Though one against me should arise, I will lift up my hand.
One thing I'll plead before the Lord, and this I'll seek always.
That I may come within God's arms and dwell there all my days.
But from the beauty of the Lord, I constantly make it.
And in his arms may seek to know direction in his ways.
Please pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray, if you pray,
After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.
Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.
But Abraham said, Lord God, what will you give me?
For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
And Abraham said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and no member of my house will be my heir.
Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, This man shall not be your heir.
Your very own son shall be your heir.
And he brought him outside and said, Look towards heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.
Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.
But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?
He said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.
And he brought him all these, and cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other.
But he did not cut the birds in half.
And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram.
And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs,
and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterwards they shall come out with great possessions.
As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace.
You shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation,
for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
To your offspring I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Amen.
Again, this is God's word to us.
Let's once again bow our heads in prayer to God.
Our Heavenly Father, we come before you today.
We give you praise and thanks for the great privilege that we enjoy today gathering for worship like this.
How good it is for us to come into the presence of our God, to give you thanks for your goodness to us,
for us to gather on the first day of the week in particular, remembering the resurrection of our Savior Jesus.
We thank you that he has indeed defeated death.
We thank you that the work of salvation is indeed complete, that all that is necessary to satisfy your justice over our sinfulness and our iniquity has been fully met,
that the price has been paid in full.
And today we can have that confidence to therefore draw near to you, knowing that your wrath has abated against sinners like us,
because Jesus has borne the curse.
We thank you today for the fact that Jesus is not merely in the grave and not even merely risen to life, but that he has ascended up to heaven.
That today he is seated at your right hand.
And from there he continues to rule over all things until one day we know he will return to judge the living and the dead.
And so, Father, we seek today to give you due homage and praise because of the work of salvation,
and because as well that Jesus reigns, that Jesus is Lord over all things this day.
And, Lord, we have to confess the mystery of that, because as we worship you today,
each one of us will know in our own different ways, in our own different experiences,
the strangeness of your providence.
There are, O Lord, so many times when the things that happen to us in our lives,
the things that happen to us day by day, week by week, are a real mystery.
We don't understand why so much suffering is sometimes allowed to continue.
We wonder at why pain endures.
And we are left, Lord, so often uncertain about what the real plan is.
We often feel like Abraham did.
In that passage that we've read today.
And we thank you that we can rest in the knowledge that you have a purpose in all things.
That you are working out that purpose in its fullness.
And that one day we will see the mystery of that marvelous interweaving of all of the events of our lives,
woven together into your glorious pattern.
And so we pray, Father, that you would give us faith.
Simply enable us, Lord, to trust in you when things from our perspective seem to be so difficult.
We ask and pray for those, therefore, who are going through times of profound sorrow at this moment.
We pray for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones.
Those who are anxious over the health of loved ones.
Perhaps even the health of those who are near to death.
May you minister to them into these trying times, your own grace and your love and compassion.
May they know and experience the mercy of the living God,
whose promise to them is that he will never leave them nor forsake them.
We thank you for that experience that is so often shared by your people.
That when we feel our own strength has failed and where there is no hope for us,
that we find that underneath are the everlasting arms of God.
And that you continue to lift us up and to carry us through hard and difficult experiences.
We pray, therefore, for that strength today.
Not for a strength merely to endure,
but for us to know the strength of God that enables us to thrive in the midst of great turmoil and sorrow.
We want to pray, Father, for the congregation today and all of its different needs.
We pray especially for Calamurto as he ministers to us.
We ask and pray your blessing on him and his family.
We pray for the vacancy in the congregation.
We pray that you would raise up a pastor who will minister in this place
and lead the congregation in the study of your word and in the pastoral care that needs to be exercised.
We pray for the eldership of the church,
that you would give them wisdom and understanding in the roles that they exercise.
Lord, we know that in this day pastoral care is such a challenge
because the problems that are in the world
so often press into the lives of your people as well.
And we ask, Father, therefore, for wisdom and grace
in how pastoral care is exercised,
that it will be done so, Lord, full of gentleness and care and love
in the way in which Jesus cared for his people.
We thank you that you do not abandon us when it comes to pastoral ministry.
We thank you that we have the Holy Spirit to help.
And we do pray, Father, for the working and the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of this church.
We pray, Father, that day by day, week by week,
we would be more aware, in fact, of that,
that we would see the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives
overflowing in the lives of each and every one of us,
and that we would know and experience a deepening love and care and compassion,
that we would see patience and endurance increase,
that we would see tenderness grow in the way in which we deal with one another,
Father, that you would make us a congregation of men and women who love one another
as Christ loved us.
We pray, Father, therefore, for humility to possess us.
We pray, Father, that our lives would be characterized by that overflow of grace,
and that we would know your hand and your work upon us.
We want to pray today, Father, for the wider church on the island and across our nation.
We pray, Father, for the vacancies in the church.
We thank you, Father, for ministries beginning at the moment.
We lift up and pray, Father, for those who are undertaking studies
and preparing for ministry in our seminary.
We pray for the staff there.
We ask and pray your blessing on the training
of those who will go out into the work of the vineyard of the gospel.
We pray, Father, that you would continue to raise up others
who will serve in different capacities and ministries
throughout the life of the church.
We pray for the health of the church in our land.
We pray, Father, for healthy gospel churches to spring up
and to be encouraged across our nation,
for the light that shines in the darkness,
to shine more brightly across our land,
not because we are great, but because our gospel,
the gospel that we herald and proclaim,
the good news that we have is a wonderful message
and that it does make a difference in the lives of men and women.
And so, Father, bless us with an evangelistic zeal.
Bless us with a desire to make Jesus known.
And so across our nation this day,
whatever the gospel has been preached,
may you add fruit and multiply the blessing
of the preaching of the word.
Father, just as we long for that blessing in our own nation,
we pray for the nations of the world.
Lord, our news, Lord, just now is full of dire warnings
and calamities that are happening in different places,
concerns that people have about the movement of the nations
and the hearts of rulers.
We thank you that you are the one who establishes all things.
And we pray that in the midst of strange times
that you would give us a resilience in the church.
Help us to see the seasons for what they are,
the unfolding of the great plan of the fullness of time,
and to remember that Jesus is the one,
the Lamb who is slain, standing in the midst of the throne,
who alone is worthy to unravel the scroll of history.
We thank you that Jesus rules,
even over the crises that we see in the nations.
We thank you that Jesus rules over the uncertainties of war,
the uncertainties of regimes that are violent and iniquitous,
that Jesus rules over all of this.
And therefore, we pray for the resilience to endure in these days,
not only for ourselves, but for our brothers and sisters
who face far more difficult circumstances than we can imagine.
May they shine brightly for Christ,
and may the radiance of Jesus be reflected in the faces of your children,
especially those who languish in prison,
who are facing persecution and violence
for gathering in Jesus' name this day.
Because in all places,
the triumph of the resurrection is worthy to be proclaimed,
the triumph of the cross over sin,
and the good news that salvation is for us,
may, Lord, our persecutors discover this message for themselves.
May men and women everywhere taste and see that God is good,
and may your blessing flow.
And so be with us, we pray this day,
as we continue to worship you,
and as we reflect on your word.
Bless us in the truth.
Strengthen us in your service,
and uphold us by your Holy Spirit.
And we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
We're going to sing once again to God's praise
in Psalm 23 in the Scottish Psalter.
This is page 229 in the Blue Psalm book,
the tune of St. Columba.
James was pointing out to me this morning, actually,
Psalm 23 appears three times in the bulletin sheet today.
We have the Scottish Psalter version this morning.
We'll be singing the St. Psalms version tonight,
and it's also part of the memory verse.
That's in the bulletin as well.
So the Lord must be speaking to someone from these verses today.
It's good to remember these words, then.
The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me down to lie in pastures green.
He leadeth me the quiet waters by.
We'll stand and sing the whole of the psalm to God's praise.
The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me down to lie in pastures green.
He leadeth me the quiet waters by.
And so the love restore again.
And leadeth me the quiet voyque.
Oh, I thought it just not will, yet will I fear the hell.
For thou art with me and thy watch, and stop me comfort still.
My table that has furnished it, in presence of my foes,
my hand the dust with oil anoint, and my cup of gold.
Goodness and mercy on my life shall surely follow me.
And in your sight forevermore, my dwelling place shall be.
Amen.
Well, as we turn back to that passage in Genesis 15,
let's just bow our heads in prayer to God.
Heavenly Father, as we come just now to your word in the Bible,
we pray for your blessing today.
We need, Lord, your Holy Spirit working in our hearts.
Otherwise, everything that we do today is just words.
It's just meaningless in its ultimate import,
because without the Spirit to open up our hearts,
and without the Spirit to direct us to see what is most important,
and to help us to understand,
then all of this will be meaningless to us.
And so we do pray today, Father, for that work of the Spirit amongst us.
We thank you that what we're reading today is
truly one of the most important verses and scriptures and passages
in the whole of your word.
And we thank you that it's a passage today that if we understand it,
we'll see clearly what binds together the Old and the New Testament.
We'll see what it is that really the whole of your revelation is about.
And so we ask and pray today that we would see clearly Jesus in these verses,
that we would see clearly what it is that Jesus has done,
and that we would be blessed to be like Abraham,
believing God and have been counted to us as righteousness.
We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
So as we kind of begin today looking at this chapter,
I think it's worth kind of just remembering the context
in which all of this takes place.
Abraham has been called by God from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans.
He has moved from there and has been on this journey towards the Promised Land.
And having arrived in the Promised Land,
God has been giving him more and more promises.
There's been assurances that have come to him
that Abraham's descendants would inherit all of the land in which he is going.
However, there is a problem.
And the problem is simply this.
Abraham has no child who will inherit.
And so in his thinking at this particular point,
he's entering into the thinking of the ancient Near East,
which was common in his day,
which was that if the lord of the household had no heir to inherit,
then the inheritance passes to the chief steward.
And the chief steward would then hold this in trust
and perpetuate the legacy of his master.
And so this is before there's any sign of Ishmael or anything else.
Abraham is literally thinking,
this man, Eliezer of Damascus,
is the one who will inherit everything that he has received.
All of his flocks, yes.
All of his tents and earthly possessions, yes.
But also, crucially, will Eliezer of Damascus be the one to inherit the promise of God?
And that's the big question.
This hope of salvation,
is Eliezer of Damascus going to carry it on?
Is Eliezer of Damascus a man who loves the Lord?
And these are the things that are occupying or preoccupying Abraham's mind.
And so it's into this that God,
this picture of doubt and uncertainty,
that God intervenes,
clarifying his promises
and giving Abraham something to hold on to.
And as we'll see,
a covenant is really important
in that sense of what Abraham can latch on to
and trust in.
It's also a passage where we have one of the key verses in the Bible.
Verse 6,
Abraham believed the Lord
and he counted it to him as righteousness.
He believed the Lord
and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Abraham wasn't considered righteous by God
because of his good works.
He was considered righteous by God
because of his faith.
He believed, he trusted in God.
And these verses are reiterated in the New Testament
as crucial to understanding what we continue to believe today.
that our salvation,
our hope,
our hope of being counted as righteous
and saved by a merciful God
is rooted not in our obedience,
not in our goodness,
not in our general ability to keep God's law,
but rather in our trusting in his promise.
And the promise that we have
is essentially the same promise that Abraham has.
A promise that God will give him a future.
A promise that God will persevere with him and his descendants.
And that promise,
as we'll see,
is found in its fulfillment in the person of Jesus.
And so therefore,
for us today,
the same holds true.
If we believe and trust in Jesus,
then that will be counted to us as righteousness.
That is where salvation is to be found,
believing in Jesus Christ.
And so I would urge you all today,
just from the outset,
to understand this passage in that light.
God is making promises to us.
God is offering to provide for us.
And God offers us a sure and certain pledge.
And the response is not to therefore say,
I must be good enough to be worthy of God's promise
and to earn God's provision
and to receive God's pledge.
The right response is to say,
I believe him.
I will trust in him alone.
So that's our points today.
Firstly, that God promises.
The passage starts with God
reiterating his promise to Abraham.
These wonderful words,
Fear not, Abraham.
I am your shield.
Your reward shall be very great.
God takes Abraham outside
and invites him to see the stars of the heavens
and says,
Your offspring shall be numbered
in the same innumerable way.
As you look back through the pages of the Bible
up to this point,
there's not many.
You can go home and read
from Genesis 1 to Genesis 15 this afternoon.
It'll take you about 20 minutes maybe.
Not even that.
But as you read through these chapters,
you'll see that
God is giving promises repeatedly.
The first of these is right after the fall.
As Adam and Eve
are being cast out of the garden
and as the judgment of God
is announced over them,
there's a promise given there
that the seed of the woman
will bruise the head of the serpent
and that in the process
the serpent will bruise his heel.
And that's the beginning of the promise
of an offspring
one day coming
who will triumph over
the entry of sin into the world,
who will deal with sin and brokenness.
We know that's found ultimately
in the person of Jesus.
Then again, after the flood,
again when terrible destruction
has been wrought,
Noah is given another promise.
And the promise that's given to Noah
is that God will never again
destroy the world in a deluge,
that the seasons will remain until the end.
And that there's some kind of hint
of a cost to this promise
because the Lord puts a bow in the heavens.
And it's said that the idea there
of the rainbow is not merely
that there's this multicolored sign
in the heavens,
but that it's an actual bow
pointed heavenward.
The arrow that it shoots
piercing the heart of God himself.
Again, the idea there
of the promised one
being in some way wounded
in the process of salvation.
Long after all of these things
are given,
God's promises are ultimately fulfilled
because the seed of the woman
did arrive.
And because the promised one
did come and bear the cost
in himself.
And you see it in the life
and ministry of Jesus.
That cost is born.
The person who does come,
he comes in the fullness of time
to deliver on the promise of God.
And it's fascinating to do it
if you go through the life of Jesus
and you look and you see
all of the occasions
in which his life and his ministry
leading up ultimately to his death
and to his resurrection.
All of these things fulfill
promises established
in the Old Testament.
He comes to deliver
the promise of forgiveness.
He comes to deliver
the promise of eternal life
to his people.
Remember these precious words
in John 14,
I am going to prepare
a place for you.
The promise is not merely
of a physical place
in this world
for Abraham and his descendants,
but it's of an eternal dwelling place
for God's people
to be with him.
An eternal home.
An eternal rest
that we're looking forward to.
The promise,
ultimately,
as well,
of justice.
I mean,
we look upon a world
which is full of injustice.
And there's all sorts
of attempts
to exert justice
in the world.
And yet,
these attempts
are so often flawed
and inadequate.
But one day,
when Jesus comes,
justice will be done
in full.
All wrongs
will be righted.
The guilty
will indeed
carry the penalty
for their sin.
And for us
who are in Christ,
we should remember
what that means.
Jesus has borne
the penalty
for our sin.
Justice
has been done
for our wrongdoing.
His heel
was indeed bruised.
The arrow
of God's
wrath
was directed
towards
Jesus
to bear
the penalty
of our sin.
And just as God
had made
promises to Abraham
and says to him,
I will fulfill
these things,
God today continues
to make promises
to us.
The same promise
extends to us today.
Fear not,
I am your shield.
Your reward
shall be very great.
God's promise
to his people,
the offer
of the gospel
today that comes
to all of us
is the same.
God is promising
protection
and incredibly
good things.
And that promise
comes into
the sorrow
of our lives
right now.
It comes into
the sorrow
of a world
marred
by death
and suffering.
and it invites
us to put
our faith
in a God
who puts
his promise
over against
that weight
of suffering
in our experience.
And who says
there are good
things
that lie
in store.
There is a hope
given to his
people.
And the condition
on this
is one of faith.
faith.
Because just
like the promise
came to Abraham,
the same promise
comes to us
and says,
fear not.
I've been
thinking about
this in the
face of
difficult
circumstances
and
the invitation
there is to
have faith.
That's what
Abraham is
invited to do.
He's invited
to trust
God
rather than
fear the
future.
fear.
And that's
the same
for us.
As our
God is
speaking to
us today,
as our
God is
inviting us
to continue
trusting him
today,
the invitation
is just
the same.
He says
to us,
fear not
because my
promise
is of
myself
and I
am
greater
than
any of
the
things
you
fear.
I wonder
today if
that's
true of
us.
Do we
fear?
What
things might
we fear?
I suppose
like Abraham,
the fear
was that
there might
be no
legacy,
nothing to
carry on.
Sometimes
that's true
in the
church.
We might
be fearful
about what
the future
looks like,
especially
when we
see the
church
nationally
and perhaps
locally
declining.
We see
congregations
shrinking.
We wonder
what's the
future going
to be like
for the
church.
perhaps you
fear
personal
things.
You fear
for your
kids
or you
fear for
your own
future.
Perhaps you
fear for
your parents'
health.
Perhaps you
fear for
your own
health or
the health
of your
loved ones.
And into
all of
these fears,
God is
saying to
us the
same thing
as he
was saying
to Abraham.
Fear not,
I am
your shield.
The
invitation to
us is to
trust him
who is
greater than
these fears,
to relinquish
our uncertainty,
to relinquish
our doubts,
to give them
all to him
and to
believe in
him,
to trust
in his
sufficiency.
God is
a God
who is
making
promises.
But he
is also
secondly a
God who
is providing.
This
passage, it
tells us about
God as a
provider.
God tells
Abraham that
it is true
not only of
the past,
but that God
is going to
continue to
provide for
him in the
future.
So you
look at the
way God
speaks to
him.
And this
is really
interesting because
this is the
way covenants
in the
ancient world
were formed.
God, the
overlord, the
mighty one, the
powerful one,
would come and
say, this is
how I
deserve to
be setting
the terms of
our relationship
because I
have already
done things.
And I want
you to see
the things
that I have
already done
in order for
you to trust
me going
forward.
So God
comes to
Abraham and
says,
Abraham, I
am the
Lord your
God that
has taken
you out
of the
Chaldeans.
And what
I was saying
to Abraham
is simply
this.
You can
look back,
Abraham, on
what's already
happened in
your life.
You can
look back over
recent years
and you can
see the
journey you've
been on and
how I have
been with
you through
all of this.
Now, again,
if you go
back and you
read the last
few chapters
in Genesis
before this,
you'll see
all of the
ways in which
God has
really been
helping Abraham.
God has
really blessed
him.
Abraham has
become
powerful,
so powerful
in fact,
that nations
around about
look to
Abraham for
help.
When an
invader comes
and carries
away the
people of
some of the
cities around
about,
Abraham is
the one who
goes to
rescue them.
I mean,
Abraham's that
successful and
God has
blessed him and
enriched him and
strengthened him.
And so
Abraham, as he
looks on his
past, he's
able to say,
well, God
hasn't let me
down thus
far.
And so
if God has
been with
me this
far, he's
not going
to let me
down in
the future.
I know
his character.
I know
he's dependable.
I know
I can trust
him.
And God
is saying,
I am
providing for
you.
I've brought
you here.
Look back.
I will take
you forward.
Therefore,
look ahead.
Abraham's
whole life
has been
characterized
by this.
God has
provided for
him.
And if you
go down to
verse 14,
you see that
God says,
I'm going to
do that in
the future
for your
offspring.
The
exodus is
actually
prophesied
in verse
14 and
15.
the
children of
Israel are
going to
go down
into another
land.
They're going
to be
enslaved
there.
And for
four generations,
that will be
their experience.
But at the
end of it,
they will
come out
into a
place of
freedom and
huge enrichment.
And that's
exactly what
happened in
Exodus.
The Israelites
left Egypt.
They plundered
the Egyptians.
Such was the
Egyptians'
desire to
get rid of
them in
haste.
God has
provided.
God will
provide.
God has
begun to
provide for
his people.
He's going
to keep
doing that.
And the
invitation to
us today is
just the
same.
The invitation
to us today is
to look back
over our
lives, to
look at all
of the awful
things that we
have already
come through.
And if you're
a Christian,
it's a
healthy thing
to do, to
look back
over your
life, not
with rose
tinted
spectacles as
we are
sometimes wanted
to do, but
rather with
honesty.
And to
see all of
the times
that God
in his
grace has
delivered us
from absolute
disaster.
All of the
times that
God has
lifted us,
our feet,
out of the
mighty clay,
and set us
on a rock.
All of the
times in our
experience where
our foolishness
and where
our sin
has warranted
nothing but
failure and
misery and
disaster upon
us, and
yet God
has been
gracious and
delivered us
from all of
these things.
And that's
what God
does in his
grace.
God in his
grace delivers
us from the
worst of our
own failings,
let alone the
failings that
might have been
visited upon
us by other
people vindictive
and vicious
or anything
else.
God delivers,
and God
has provided,
and God
has strengthened,
and God
has been with
us and
helped us
and presenced
himself amongst
us.
He's blessed
us.
And so we
can look
forward.
God will
deliver, that
God will
help, that
God will
provide, because
he is a God
who provides.
And so when
God calls us
to have faith,
when he calls
us to start
following him
and trusting
in him, he's
not just asking
us to do that
with a vague
sense of some
sort of cloudy
purpose that
we have no
idea how it's
going to work
out.
He asks us
to trust
someone who
proves himself,
who demonstrates
himself to be a
God who is
worthy of
trust.
And Abraham,
we're told in
this passage,
Abraham believed
God, and it
was counted to
him as
righteousness.
Salvation
comes from
learning to
trust in
God.
So there's a
God who
promises, a
God who
provides.
There's also
in this
passage a
God who
pledges.
And that's
when the
passage takes
for us a
really weird
turn.
Because in
the middle
of the
passage, God
gives Abraham
a very specific
instruction.
Bring a
three-year-old
heifer, a
three-year-old
female goat,
and a
three-year-old
ram, and a
turtle dove,
and a young
pigeon.
And split
them.
And so
Abraham takes
some kind of
instrument and
cuts the
animals in
half, slaughters
them and
cuts them in
half.
And he
puts one
half over
here and
one half
over there,
and then
keeps the
birds away
from them,
the vultures
and the
birds of
prey that
will come
and scavenge
the meat
from these
things,
until he
falls asleep.
And in
his sleep,
the Lord
comes to
him, and
this profound
vision that
he has of
God's
promise and
God's
provision.
And to
us, that
looks completely
alien.
It looks
really strange.
But to
Abraham, it
was entirely
normal.
Because all
over the
ancient Near
East, this
is what you
did when
you were
signing a
treaty between
an overlord
and this
vassal.
The overlord
would come
along and
say, I
am giving
you promises
of things I
will do.
Here is the
story of
what I have
done in
order to
deserve to
be in this
position of
authority over
you to
dictate these
terms.
I will
provide for
you.
I will
provide
security.
Normally, it's
because I've
already beaten
your army.
My military
force is
greater than
yours.
but I've
already
demonstrated my
power.
Now, we're
going to cut
some animals
in half and
we're going to
make an
agreement.
What we're
going to say
is, if we
break the
terms of
our agreement,
may the
same thing
happen to
us.
As you
walk between
the animals
that have
been cut
in half,
the terms
of the
covenant
are, if
I break
my loyalty
to you,
both the
overlord
breaking his
loyalty to
us and
us breaking
our loyalty
to him,
rebelling
against him,
the terms
are, the
same thing
will happen
to us.
We deserve
to be
cut in
half.
And that's
a really
solemn
thing.
This is
like a
blood bond
that has
been instituted.
You're
saying we
will be
loyal upon
pain of
death.
And so
Abraham is
expecting a
covenant
agreement
that he
recognizes,
a legally
binding
framework
to be
signed
between
him and
God.
But he
falls asleep.
And I
think that's
where the
thick darkness
kind of comes
into this.
It's
an evidence
almost of
Abraham's
distress.
He expects
he has to
be a party
to this.
But how
can he?
Because he's
lying unconscious
on the
ground.
And then
something
miraculous
happens.
There's
two entities
appear.
There's
this
smoking pot
and there's
this fiery
flaming torch.
And we
have to
understand that
both of
these are
somehow
God.
One of
them maybe
represents
Abraham or
acts on
Abraham's
behalf.
and one
of them
acts on
God's
behalf.
But neither
of them
are actually
Abraham.
Abraham
doesn't walk
between the
slain animals
and say,
well, if I
break the
terms of my
loyalty to
you, O
God, then
may the
same thing
happen to
me.
No, God
himself somehow
walks between
the slain
animals.
And God
himself says
on his
behalf, may
the same
thing happen
to me if I
break my
loyalty to
you, Abraham.
Abraham, but
equally, a
divine presence
is there who
says, I
will take the
consequences of
Abraham's sin,
Abraham's
rebellion,
Abraham's
inability to
keep faith.
And Abraham
does.
I mean, you
go on reading
the next few
chapters in the
book of Genesis,
you see Abraham
can't keep
faith.
He thinks,
well, I still
don't have a
son, my
wife's getting
too old,
I'll maybe
have an affair
with one of
my servants
and her
child will
become my
heir.
And then
they go down
to Egypt and
he tries to
pass off his
wife as a
sister.
I mean, Abraham
is not
righteous.
He doesn't
manage to
keep perfect
righteous loyalty
towards God.
He is a
sinner and a
failure.
But the
covenant that
God has
entered into
with him
doesn't depend
on Abraham
keeping the
terms of the
covenant.
It depends on
this other
divine figure.
this other
divine figure
who comes
and passes
between the
slain animals
and who
says,
if my
people
fail to
keep the
terms of
the covenant,
if my
people are
unable to
live
righteously
enough,
I will
bear the
consequences.
And this
is none
other than
God the
Son.
Acting
as our
representative,
as Abraham's
representative,
and going
between the
slain animals
and saying,
I will
take the
consequences
of their
sin upon
myself.
death.
And you
jump forward
to the
cross
where
Jesus
is torn
asunder
practically.
I don't
want to go
into it,
but that's
what crucifixion
really does.
It shreds
with the
terms of the
damage that it
does to your
ribcage.
It tears
your ribs
apart.
heart.
He's
pierced.
He's
nailed to
the tree.
He
experiences
not only
the physical
turmoil of
this,
but at the
cross he
experiences
the wrath
of God
upon sin.
That God's
justice
is meted
out on the
person of
Jesus,
hung on
the tree
for our
sin.
because he
agreed to
be our
representative in
this covenant
between God
and man.
In this
covenant between
God and
Abraham,
which is the
same covenant
that we come
into in the
New Testament.
And that's
why today we
can trust the
promise of
God.
Because the
promise of
God to us
doesn't depend
on our
obedience,
it depends
on the
obedience of
Jesus.
And as
long as
Jesus is
obedient,
as long as
Jesus bore
the price of
our failure
on the
cross,
then God
will not
forsake
us.
It's
finished.
The work
of salvation
is now
an empty
box,
because it's
done.
It was
done figuratively
here for
Abraham,
and Abraham
believed God
and it
was counted
to him as
righteousness.
It was
ultimately done
at the
cross,
and today
we're invited
to the same
faith,
to believe in
God,
to say,
yes,
Jesus has
done it
all for
me.
My salvation
is secure
in him.
My future
and my hope
is promised
in him.
All of my
needs will be
met in
him.
It's all
of Jesus.
Jesus,
because he
went to
the cross
to fulfill
the promise
of Genesis
15,
that the
terms of
our sin
being dealt
with
would be
him torn
apart.
And so
today,
we are
invited
to trust,
to trust
in these
words,
fear not,
I am
your shield,
your reward
shall be
very great.
Will you
not believe
in him?
let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father,
we want
today to
come to
you seeking
encouragement
to have
faith like
Abraham.
We know,
Lord,
you are the
one who
gives great
promises.
As we look
back in our
lives,
we can see
ample evidence
of your
provision.
You have
not forsaken
us thus
far,
and you
never will.
And ultimately,
we thank you
that you've
made that
through the
promise and
the pledge
of Jesus.
That before
the world
existed,
he agreed
to come
and die
for his
people.
That in
the fullness
of time,
he did.
And we see
many examples
of that being
carried out
in promise
form throughout
the Old
Testament.
And ultimately,
the climax
of that was
at the cross.
And so we
thank you today
for our
Saviour
Jesus.
We thank you
for what
he has
done.
And help
us today to
be assured
of that
truth,
that the
work is
finished,
that salvation
is entirely
done,
entirely
accomplished,
and we can
trust in
him alone.
Bless us
with that
kind of
faith.
We ask
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.
We're going
to sing
in conclusion
just now
in
Psalm
150.
This is in
Sing Psalms,
page 195.
The theme
of the
Old Testament
is that
ultimately the
climax of
creation will
be the
praise of
all resounding
to the
glory of
God.
And Psalm
150 is
really all
about this.
It's about
the all
encompassing
praise of
the whole
of creation
gathering in
together.
It begins
in the
temple,
but it
seems almost
to spread
out from
there with
all things
rejoicing and
crying out
hallelujah,
praise the
Lord.
God's
salvation in
Christ is
complete.
And all
shall praise
the Lord.
So we're
going to
stand and
sing the
whole of
this psalm
to God's
praise.
Praise God
and his
holy temple.
Praise the
Lord in
heavens high.
Praise him
for his
acts of
power.
Praise him
for his
majesty.
We'll
stand to
sing to
God's
praise.
praise him
for his
praise him
for his
acts of
power.
Praise the
Lord in
heaven's
high.
Praise him
for his
acts of
power.
Praise him
for his
majesty.
praise him
with the
sounding
trumpet.
Praise him
with the
harp and
lute.
Praise him
and
dancing.
Praise him
with the
strings
and
flute.
praise him
with the
clash of
cymbals.
Without
cymbals,
praise
the
Lord.
Praise him
everything
that's
breathing.
Hallelujah.
Praise the
Lord.
Praise the
Lord.
voy
Thank you.