to give this land to you to possess it, and he said, oh, Lord God, how may I know that I may possess it? So he said to him, bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Then he brought all these things to him and cut them into and laid each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds. The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abraham drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and behold terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abraham, no for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years, but I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers and peace, and you will be buried at a good old age, and then in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. It came about when the sun set that it was very dark and behold, there appeared a smoking oven in a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying, to your descendants, I have given this land from the great river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, the keynites and the Kennesites and the Cadmenites and the Hittites and the Parasites and the Rephaeen and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Gurgishites and the Jebusites. Let me pray. Jesus said, pray simply now that you would come and that you would open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf so that we may hear your gospel and see it, and that you would come now and you would write your word upon our hearts. In your name we pray. Amen. Well if you're visiting on the middle of a series in Genesis, the life of Abraham, and last week I preached Genesis 15, 1 through 6. And last week that passage in Genesis 15, 1 through 6 is a crucial passage in all the Bible. Why? Because if you remember the background in Genesis 14, that's where Lot was kidnapped by the five kings of the valley and saw them and all this kind of stuff. And Abraham came in and he rescued Lot from these five big kings and he rescued the four little kings, the king of Sodom. And after that, remember the king of Sodom came and said, hey, you can have all of the money and all the spoils and I will take the people back to Sodom. And Abraham said, no, I won't take anything from you. And so he gave away all the reward. And so Abraham immediately after that event would have two worries going through his mind. One is I've made several enemies here. They live all around me and they now have to hate my guts because I've not only defeated them, but I've taken all their stuff. And on top of that he's given away all of the wealth that he got in that victory. So you see, he could have actually killed all those people and taken all the wealth and he could have lived a wealthy old man and become wealthy and lived a good old age. But he didn't. He gave it away and he said, why? Because I trust God. It's immediately in chapter 15, last week, God comes to him and he says, Abraham, do not fear. Why? Because I am your shield. I'm the one who protects you. And I am your reward. You'll be fine. And remember Abraham says, that's beautiful God. But what about the air? You can give me everything else. But if you don't give me the air that you promised me, I've got trouble. Why? Because the air would be the blessing to all nations. The air would be the one who would fix the problem of sin. And Abraham had a problem with sin just like you and I do. And God says, Abraham, trust me. I promise you that the air will come to take away your sin and it says that Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness. That all Abraham did was believe that what God promised and God credited it to him. He didn't work for it. He didn't do anything. He believed the gospel. He believed in the work of the air and God credited to him the work of the air as righteousness. So now, Abraham, in spite of all of the sin in his life, is credited and he is seen in the eyes of God as righteous as Jesus. And that's how it works with us. Right? You trust Jesus. And as soon as you trust Jesus, God proclaims that you are now righteous in his sight. Okay? And that answers one of the biggest problems that all humans have. And it's how do I have a right relationship with God? And you have a right relationship with God very simply by believing the promise that although you're a sinner that Jesus dies for your sins and if you trust him, God will proclaim you as righteous. Now, the second problem that humans have is related to the first. The first one is how do I become right with God? The second is how do I live right with God? Right? It's one thing to say, okay, I trusted Jesus and I trusted the fact that he's not going to let me go. But how do I know that he's going to finish the job? Right? That was Abram's problem. Obviously, he was thinking about that, right? Because God always initiates and God preempts him. So God's Abram thought, okay, good. I'm proclaimed as righteous. I'm going to have this air. But are you really going to finish the job? Because what was the finishing of the job? The finishing of the job in Abram's case was not only that he would give him an air, but that he would give him the land, that he would give him everything. And so God first it declares to him, you're as righteous as the air is. That would be Jesus. And so of course, Abram's got to be thinking, you know, what's going on? How is this going to be finished? And you know, God anticipates that. And that's the two big questions we're going to look at this morning are simply two or two points. And one is the question of assurance. What does it mean to be assured of salvation or assured of your relationship with God? And the second thing simply is what is the nature of that assurance? Okay, so let's look at that. If you have, again, at your text, I'm going to read first, verses 7 through 12. And verses 7 through 12, it says, and he said to him, God came to him. And so I'm the Lord who brought you out of ear of the call of the ends to give you this land to possess it. Actually, I'm going to stop there. So God appears to Abram. And he said something that should sound very familiar to you. How did the Ten Commandments start? I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And he says to Abram, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of ear of the call of the end in order to give you this land to possess it. And in a perfect universe, Abram, verse 8 would say this. And Abram said, cool, great, that's beautiful. But he doesn't. You see, what God has done is he's come to Abram and he has said, here's what I've done for you in the past. I delivered you out of ear of the call of these. And here's what I'm going to do for you in the future. I promise you that I'm going to give you this land to possess it. And yet Abram still has some issues, right? It's sort of like a last Sunday night on Halloween. Several people came over to our house to watch the great pumpkin Charlie Brown. But before we watched the great pumpkin, we watched the Prince of Egypt. And it was mostly adult sitting around with my children. And we watched the Prince of Egypt. And you know, the Prince of the Animation is wonderful. It's a great movie. It's relatively close to the biblical text. And it's wild because you think about how smug the Egyptians were in the movie. They were in the Bible as well. You know, the very smug, and then God sends this medley of plagues, if you will, right? The movie does a great job with this sort of medley where the frogs are coming up and the rivers turning the blood and naps are coming and boil. They're being attacked. And then the plague of the first born. Remember how creepy that is? Right? The spirit goes through people's houses and all you hear is a sort of the losing of the breath. And then Pharaoh finally says, you can leave. And so you have this great, you know, rejoicing, they're leaving Egypt, you know, the sort of Disney-esque dancing for joy and the animals and things. And then they look back and what happens? Pharaoh changed his mind and he's mad this time. So they look back and Pharaoh is pursuing them with his whole army and his chariots and they look ahead of them and it's a red sea. What are they going to do? And then all of a sudden, what happens? Schwamm, pillar of fire comes down and separates the Egyptians from them and then they look around and the red sea begins to part. You know, I don't know what it looks like in real life, but it's pretty cool in the movie, right? The whole thing just spouts up and you see the fish on the side, it's huge. And the Israelites walk through the red sea and they get to the other side and of course the Egyptians pursue and the water comes down over them and on the other side they again leap and jump for joy in the movie ends. Now it will be interesting if they, you know, what is part two of that movie going to be like? It's going to be pretty miserable why? Because the day after all that stuff happened, what did they do? They grumbled and complained. They were upset. They were miserable and they started to say, Moses, why did God bring us out here? Does he not care about us? Did he bring us out here to die? Does he not care if we have food and water all of these things? And we're sitting there watching the movie and some of us began to discuss, given what they had just seen, given their deliverance from Egypt and given what they had seen with this pillar of fire and given the fact that they had seen the red sea, you know, separated and they walked through, how in the world could they ever gout God's either willingness or ability to finish the job? Now the reason you and I, on one hand, we think that stupid on the other hand, we feel a little bit convicted by that why? Because you and I have the same problem, right? God comes to us and he promises he says, I've delivered you from your sin and I promise you I'm going to finish the job. And the question you have to ask if God has said that and someone has trusted Jesus, why then are Christians generally speaking oftentimes among the most miserable and secure people you ever met in your life? Why? You ever thought about that? I mean, if you're not a believer here today, my guess is if you're a person of integrity or thoughtful, you have looked at Christians and said, why are Christians so miserable all the time if the gospel is true? You see, that's a big question. You know why? The reason that we're so miserable, even though the gospel is true, that on one hand we trust Jesus and we say great, he's delivered us from our sins on the other hand, whether you're conscious of it or unconscious of it, the reason you and I are often miserable and insecure is we don't really believe the second part. We don't really believe that God is going to finish the job. And when you don't believe God is going to finish the job, where does that leave you? You've got to finish the job. And if you don't believe that God is going to give you affirmation and security, what does that leave you? That leaves you seeking affirmation and security, any place you can get it. You know, I remember the one of the most significant five minutes in my whole life was when I was a pastor in Atlanta and the music guy who's a gentle sweet soul called me out into the hall one day and he said, Tommy, can I talk to you for a second? I thought, I was sure about the hall and I thought he was going to say, what do you think of this hymn? You know, what do you think of this song? What do you think of this philosophical point? Is it time? I don't think you believe the God loves you. And you would think I would be surprised, but I was just speechless and I just stood there and he said, what are you thinking right now? And I said, you got me, you got me. You see, he said, Tommy, I don't think you believe the God loves you because you're so insecure. And if you're so boastful and you want people so much to affirm you, and he listed all of my whole life and you know what? He was right. How do you get it? And the reason I didn't get it is because I really, to be honest with you, at that point in my life, not only didn't I have a clue about the fact that God promised to finish the job, but I knew that theologically I didn't really believe it. And if you don't believe it, what do you do? You work and work and work and work and instead of getting better, what happens? You get worse, right? And then you go out to the Christian bookstore and what do you buy? Or you go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon and what do you buy? You buy books on how to be a Christian. Five principles to financial success. Five principles to a fair proof your marriage. And you hear sermons that give you principles about how to be a better person or a better Christian. And you know what your problem is not that you lack principles. The problem is a gospel problem. And then you read books and you hear sermons and they ask this question and you've heard me say it before, this question which is the most dreadful horrifying question that should be stricken from all human vocabulary and it is this, how committed are you to Jesus? Right? And we have accountability groups and we fit in our accountability groups and go, okay, how committed will you to Jesus this week? The reason that is a horrifying, horrible question is because you always will come up bad. You'll always come up a loser. It only ever leads to despair. Now what is the better question? What's the better question for your accountability groups? What's the better question that a pastor should ask from the front? The better question is this. How committed is Jesus to me? How committed is Jesus to you? Do you ask yourself that question when you're feeling miserable? How committed is Jesus to me? And you see that? That's the question that Abraham asks, right? Abram does not ask the question. God says, I'm going to give you this land to possess it. Abraham does not say, okay, what do I need to do? What do I need to do to make sure this happens? What do I need to do to be a good believer? God says, Abraham, I'm going to give you this land to possess it. You know what Abram says? How will I know? How will I know? How will I know that you're committed to me? And some says God is Abram is saying back to God, God, how committed are you to me? How committed are you, God, to making sure this promise happens? And you know, God's answer to him at first is actually very horrifying because you know God says to Abram, get me a heifer. Get me a heifer. Get me a female. Get me three female goats, three rams. You know all of these animals get them. Now why would that be horrifying? Because what God has just done with Abram is he has initiated a covenant. What God has done is he has just initiated a covenant with Abram. And it was so common. You notice he doesn't even have to give Abram instruction. Abram says, how am I going to know? God says, get the heifer. And that at that point what does Abram do? He goes and gets all these animals and he goes and gets them and he cuts them in half which would be a very gruesome nasty thing. That's the point. He cuts them in half and puts them aside from each other and what he would have done was laid out a gauntlet. There would be a gauntlet, a whole way of carnage if you will. And then what does it say happened to Abram? Verse 12. God tells Abram to lay out this thing because he's initiated a covenant with him. Verse 12 says this. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold terror and great darkness fell upon him. Why was Abram so afraid? Why was he wasn't even afraid? Why was there terror and great darkness upon Abram? It was because what happened during this covenant? You see what this covenant was. It's a very common thing called suzerain land covenant. So whatever you want to label it, it's a covenant. And what happens is you cut these animals in half and generally speaking there's a big king who has all the power and there's a small king, a vassal who has no power. And what the big king would do is the big king would say okay here's the contract for living in my land. Here's what it means for you to be my tenant. And so what the little king would do is the little king would have to walk through that hallway of carnage. And as he was walking through the carnage he would make what is called the self-maladictory oath. Remember we do Venadiction in church, maladiction is bad. You would have to make a self-maladictory oath and you know what the self-maladictory oath was? If I don't fulfill my part of the bargain may it be unto me as it is unto these animals.
So why is Abram now so horrified and afraid? Because who is the big king and who is the little king? God is the big king. Abram is the little king. And Abram had to have gone to bed that night going so this is what my insurance is. My insurance is I walk through the pieces and if I don't gut it out and make it happen that I'm going to what happens to those animals is going to happen to me. Right? And frankly that is what most Christians think of as assurance. If I do the right thing, if I walk through the line and I do everything the way I'm supposed to do it then I can be assured of my salvation. And Abram was horrified. Why? Because he didn't have what it took. He knew that. Abram was horrified and so he says there's terror and great darkness. And you know what? Abram is thinking the same thing that almost every world religion teaches. That you can be as assured of your salvation. You can be as assured of a right relationship with the deity and as much as you are obedient. And then as much as you walk through and it's all about what you do and you walking through the pieces and you doing everything. And that's why in my opinion most world religions are quite frightening. Christianity on the other hand is completely and utterly the opposite. You see the question of assurance is horrifying in some sense but the nature of assurance at least in the Christian faith is unbelievable. It's wonderful. Let's look at the nature of assurance in verses 13-15. Basically Abram cuts these. He falls asleep. It's terror and great darkness and then God comes again. And God says God said to Abram no for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land not theirs where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years but I will also judge the nation whom they serve. And afterward they will come out with many possessions and as for you you should go to your fathers and peace you'll be buried at a good old age and then in the fourth generation they will return here. What does God do? God comes to Abram in the midst of his horror and reiterates the promise which is basically this. Abram I'm going to finish the job. Remember what I promised you? I'm going to do it. And then Abram has this vision which is the most unbelievable thing in the world. What happens in verse 17? It says when it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven and flaming torch which passed between these pieces. And on that day the Lord made it covenant with Abram. You see what's happened here? Remember in Israel when Israel was delivered from Egypt how did God manifest himself? He manifested himself in a pillar of fire by night in a pillar of smoke by day. So Abram while he is sleeping he looks and he sees the pieces and while he is seeing what's happening the pillar of fire and smoke go through the pieces. Do you see what's happened? God the big king has gone through the pieces. Not the little king and not only does the big king go through the pieces by himself he doesn't even ask the little king to go through the pieces. And so you know what God has just done here for Abraham. God himself passes through the pieces and as God is passing through God says Abram may it be unto me like it is these animals if I do not fulfill my part of the bargain but there's something bigger here. God not only says may it be unto me if I don't fulfill my part of the bargain Abraham but may it be unto me if you don't fulfill your part of the bargain. God takes every bit of responsibility for the covenant unto himself. And you see that finds its culmination in the cross of Jesus. Why? Because when Jesus was on the cross and he screamed out Jesus that God the sun screams out to God the father my God my God why have you forsaken me. It wasn't because God turned his back on Jesus. You hear that often God did not turn his back on Jesus. God turned upon Jesus. God was not separated from Jesus. If he was separated that would be okay. What the problem was the reason that it was so horrifying and anguish is because God turned upon Jesus with every bit of his wrath and every bit of his anger and every bit of that malediction that was promised to Abraham regarding those animals. But at the cross what Jesus did is he not only walked through the pieces on our behalf but he bore the curse that was implied by those pieces. May it be unto me. Jesus did not deserve the cross. He didn't deserve to bear the curse but he did. Why? So that you and I could have the blessing. You see that's the nature of Christianity. Christianity God says I give you all the blessing and I take upon myself all of the curse. What do you have to do? You just gotta trust me. You have to trust me. It's what it means to live the Christian life. What it means to have assurance when you're wondering gosh I'm so sinful. Am I really a Christian? I'm so sinful. This God really loved me. What the gospel says is look at the cross. Remember Abram said how will I know and God says watch me and God does all the work. And so we ask how will I know? How will I know you're gonna finish the job and God says look at the cross because at the cross the job was finished. Remember the last thing Jesus said is finished. It's done. Not only being in right relationship with God but the end is finished as well. You remember I've used this a hundred times in sermons the greatest of all theological movies the greatest theological movie ever to come down the pike and you know what that is? Babe. Remember babe. Why do I tell you about the movie babe all the time because you forget about it all the time. Remember in the movie babe what happens? Babe is in as part of this being counting lottery gets the way to the pig and farmer hoggit comes and he picks babe up and what's the first thing farmer hoggit says to babe almost no one picks it up. The very first thing that farmer hoggit says to babe is this he picks him up and says that'll do pig and then what does babe do? He pees on farmer hoggit. He does a bad thing you see and when farmer hoggit says that'll do that's loaded why because that'll do is what shepherds say to their sheepdogs when they have completely finished the task under perfection. So a sheepdog would lead a flock into pastures and he would come back and the shepherd would say that'll do. And so you remember at the end of the movie babe has gotten himself into a position really not of his own doing because the sheep he can talk to sheep at least his own sheep and at the end of the movie he's like in the middle of the biggest sheep hurting contest of all times and he can't do it he doesn't know he doesn't have what it takes does he and then all the sudden Rex goes out and he gets the secret word and he comes back and tells the secret word to babe and it's because babe knew the secret word remember the secret word bar and you right that whole thing and babe goes and tells the secret word and he tells the secret word the sheep come into line and he wins the contest and what's the very last thing the farmer hoggit says to babe that'll do pig that'll do and you see the gospel says this the gospel says the god comes to you and he proclaims you if you trust Jesus he proclaims you righteous he says that'll do pig and at the end you don't have say to you that'll do pig that'll do and the only thing you have to know you got to know the secret word you know the secret word my daughter Flannery was here at ask her to yell at it's Jesus Jesus Jesus is the only thing that makes you acceptable to god but if you have him you are utterly and completely acceptable let me pray Jesus I thank you that you have seen fit to do all the work that you initiate and not only make us righteous but that you finish what you began and that it that we will someday come to the end of our lives and you will proclaim us righteous and you will say that'll do pig because of all the work not that we have done but because of all the work that you have done so we thank you for this and praise you and your name and your name