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well good evening everyone welcome back to free Grace Baptist Church uh just a reminder or not a reminder a uh an announcement it is our Lord's Supper service this evening I forgot to announce that this uh this morning I apologize but it is our uh Lord's Supper service this evening so we will be observing that following the preaching tonight well if you can uh turn in your Bibles with me to Isaiah 53 uh and in fact Isaiah 52 beginning in verse 13 our call to worship will be a reading of Isaiah 53 but uh beginning in 5213 Isaiah 5213 the word of God behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high just as many were astonished at you so his Vis was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men men so shall he sprinkle many nations Kings shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard they shall consider who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he has no form or cless and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken Smitten by God and Afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth he was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people he was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had not done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he has put him to grief when you make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities therefore I will divide him a portion with the Great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors amen well let's stand together and sing 120 in your larger Himel that's hymn 120 to the tune of 04 a th000 tongues to sing let's Stand Together 207 okay sorry go ahead 207 a familiar tune that is correct yes of the worldy CHR GL to glory in the please be seated let us pray Heavenly Father we Rejoice that a second time we can gather in this place to worship you uh we thank you that we have again this Liberty to gather and to worship Father Son and Holy Spirit and we would ask again that you would attend our time that You' be among us that you would bless us with the presence of our God that uh we would uh Lord God worship you in spirit and in truth each and every time your Saints gather we uh require that aid from on high to have our souls arise unto High thoughts of our God and to rejoice in our savior the Lord Jesus Christ and we do pray for that now we thank you again that we can gather in this place in Freedom unmolested by the outside world we thank you that we can have full Bibles in our hands we thank you for these privileges and we pray that we would not count these evening evenings of small things but that it would be counted as each and every one of your Saints a high and heavy honor to gather in this place we do pray that you'd help us to worship you a right we pray Lord God that the Lord Christ would be exalted this evening upon the Praises of his people we thank you that we can also Gather in this special way to observe the Lord's supper and we thank you for that ordinance and we rejoice in the fact that we get to remember our Savior by this act of worship and we do pray that you'd help us when we do get to that time that you would prepare our hearts that we might rejoice in the Forgiveness of sins that we might rejoice in the shed blood of our savior the Lord Jesus Christ and we do pray that you would be Father Son and Holy Spirit the recipient of all honor and all praise as we gather together for worship we do pray again that you would bless your Afflicted you bless your Saints struggling with physical things do lift them up and strengthen them help them Lord in the midst of their suffering we do pray Lord God for for uh any and all unable to join us who are traveling or for whatever reason Lord do watch over them protect them strengthen them Lord and uh return them to us safely we do pray Lord God again that you'd be with those in Chains around the world or those who suffer persecution around the world for the gospel's sake we do pray that you would be near to them even now Lord God as we pray we do ask that you would strengthen each and every one of your uh oppressed Saints each and every one of your uh struggling uh persecuted children we do just pray that you be near to them be to them their God of All Comfort might they know in the midst of their opposition and in the midst of the the tyranny of their enemies might they know the grace and the strength the mercy and the love of God and might they by your grace and For Your Glory lay hold of the hope of their calling without wavering we do Pray Again Lord that you be with those who rule over us those governments of the Nations that you would attend to those who who do rule that you would uh cause them to rule in righteousness and cast down those who would sanction wickedness and cause them to stumble like drunken men Lord God and raise up those who would seek to exercise proper law in the land and keep your people prayerful and keep us a prayerful uh a body of Christians in this place we do pray Lord God that you would also by your spirit unify Us in the gospel of our savior the Lord Jesus Christ and might we in this church be marked by a Unity around those things that are to be most surely believed by the people of God and might You Keep Us Faithful in this place where you have put us we do ask Lord God that you would now be with us as we worship again that you would be worshiped and that you would be worshiped rightly and biblically in this place by your people gathered we do pray that you would strengthen Pastor Butler again as he brings the word now this second time we would ask that you would help him we ask that you would strengthen him in this pulpit and that once again that having gathered in this place Saints would be edified the Sinners would be saved and that all this would be done to the praise of your grace we rejoice in the gospel of our savior the Lord Jesus Christ and might he be honored might he uh his Praises Be Sung and might his riches and his excellencies be owned by a multitude tonight and we pray in the name of our savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen let's stand again and sing this time in your red Trinity Salter we'll stand and sing psalm 130 let's stand and sing Psalm 130 together to me my voice and my for my soul the My Hope Is my theous and he shall from all please turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 15 Genesis chapter 15 I'll begin reading in verse one after these things the word of the Lord came to ABR in a vision saying do not be afraid Abram I am your Shield your exceedingly great reward for Abra or but Abram said Lord God what will you give me seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus then Abram said look you have given me no Offspring indeed one born in my house is my Heir and behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your Heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your Heir then he brought him outside and said look now toward heaven and count the Stars if you are able to number them and he said to him so shall your descendants be and he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness then he said to him I am the Lord who brought you out of er of the calans to give you this land to inherit it and he said Lord God how shall I know that I will inherit it so he said to him bring me a three-year-old heer a three-year-old female goat a three-year-old Ram a turtle dove and a young pigeon then he brought all these to him and cut them in two down the middle and placed each piece opposite the other but he did not cut the birds into two and when the vultures came down on the carcasses Abram drove them away now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon on Abram and behold horror and great Darkness fell upon him then he said to Abram know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them 400 years and also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterward they shall come out with great possessions now as for you you shall go to your fathers in peace you shall be buried at a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall return here for the iniquity of the amorites is not yet complete and it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark that behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the Great River the river Euphrates the kenites the kenites the Cadman ites the Hittites the perizzites the reame the amorites the Canaanites the girgashites and the jebusites amen let us pray father we thank you again for this sabbath day we thank you for the rest that we have in our lord Jesus and we thank you for this one day out of the week that points us forward to that Eternal rest that Heavenly rest the Apostle says there remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God and how we thank you for the the Redemptive work of our Lord Jesus how we thank you for the Forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness and how we thank you most high that you have promised that we will know glorification that we will enter into the presence of God Almighty we will see the Lord Jesus Christ and we will indeed dwell and reign with him forever and ever May these things encourage our hearts and tonight God as we reflect again on our Lord's death on our behalf may we be drawn to worship to praise to adore and to glorify our great and Sovereign Lord we ask that you would forgive us for all of our sins and all of our unrighteousness we ask that you would cleanse Us in the blood of the Lord Jesus and our God we pray that the Holy Spirit would be at work in our minds and in our hearts and may we receive much benefit from this consideration of your dealings with Abram and we pray these things through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well the call of Abram occurs in Genesis 12 it is the response to Babel in the in Genesis 11 remember the people of the earth gathered together they made a tower they wanted to make a great name for themselves they wanted to exalt themselves into the heavens and then of course CH 12 verse one God calls Abram out of her of the calans and he calls him to not only leave his country his family and his father's house but he then promises that he will give him a seed he will give him land he will give him blessing so when we come to Genesis 15 we are in that context or in that narrative God had promised certain things to Abram he reaffirms those promises here in Genesis chapter 15 and then Abram asks for a sign Abram asks for confirmation and instead of God dealing with him in a in a hostile way saying how in the world could you ever ask me for a sign God gives him a sign God gives him this Covenant God shows him by virtue of this passing through the animals that the Lord God's word is good and that the promises made to Abraham will come to pass so I want to look at this section under two considerations first the promise to Abram or Abraham we'll call him either Abram or Abraham I'm just used to him being Abraham I know he's Abram here so forgive me if I call him Abraham but it's the promise to Abraham in verses 1-6 and then secondly his request for a sign in verses 7-17 but note verse 15 uh verse one in chapter 15 after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying do not be afraid Abram if we trace this out through the Bible you will see so many times in so many contexts in so many places and in so many ways God Comforts his people God calls his people to fear not God calls his people to trust in him to find their their their stability and their security and their safety and their dwelling in the Lord God most high so this is the particular command given to him do not be afraid Abram and then he supplies the reason in the remainder of verse one he says I am your Shield your exceedingly great reward this is a good reason for us not to fear God is our Shield now in chapter 14 Abram successfully navigated through a particular military challenge and God had protected him God had delivered him God had already demonstrated that he was in fact his shield he is the Divine protector he is The Sovereign Lord that comes to the aid of his people he is the reason why they do not fall in battle he is the reason why they can press on he is the reason why the devil in this world and our own remaining flesh will never ultimately destroy us or devastate us because God the Lord is our Shield but he not only says I am your Shield he says your exceedingly great reward at the end of chapter 14 after this successful military campaign the king of Sodom wants to give to Abraham much possession and Abraham denies that or Abram rejects that notice in verse 23 of chapter 14 that I will take nothing from a thread to a Sandal strap and that I will not take anything that is yours lest you should say I have made Abram Rich except only what the young men of Eden and the portion of the men who went with me Anor eshal and mamry let them take their por so he rejects the world's offer of worldly goods and yet God says I am your exceedingly great reward whatever we may lack whatever we may go without whatever we may be devoid of in this lower World nevertheless Yahweh is our exceedingly great reward and the author could have just said our great reward couldn't he but he's not just a great reward he is our exceedingly great reward you may have nothing in terms of this world's Goods you may not have a lot of friends you may not have a lot of Earthly Comforts but if God the Lord is on your side you have an exceedingly great reward we sing with the HW writer riches I heed not nor man's empty praise thou mine inheritance now and always thou and thou only first in my heart High King Of Heaven my treasure Thou Art so Abram is being led by God along the way and God in his grace and in his Mercy comes to him to comfort him and to call him to not be afraid and the reason why Abram is not to be afraid is because God is his shield God is his protector God is indeed the Horn of his salvation and as well God himself is his exceedingly great reward I like to think that as we come to the supper these would be encouragements and these would be helps to us our Lord is the one who calls us to fear not to trust in him and to realize that he is our divine protector and he himself is our great reward now note Abram's complaint in verse 2 and 3 Abram said Lord God what will you give me seeing I go childless so I've already mentioned in chapters 12 and 13 the Lord promised him a great number of descendants Abram's not a foolish man he's not a dim bull he realizes that if he's going to have a great number of descendants he first needs to have one descendant and this is his complaint or this is the expression of his concern in verse two Lord God what will you give me seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus then Abram said look you have given me no Offspring indeed one born in my house is my Heir isn't Abraham typical of the way that we operate we want these assurances we want these signs God gives promises and he tells us certain things and we want to see it right now right away well God's time frame is not our time frame God gives the answer in his own or according to his own will and according to his own plan and what Abraham suggests here is that his servant this one in his house this Eleazar be counted his descendant or be counted as Heir as far as Abraham is concerned at this point it does not look good that he is going to birth children that he and Sarah are going to have children later on he's going to ask that Ishmael he will suggest that Ishmael in chapter 17 at verse 18 that he would be the son of promise but the Lord God is firm in his resolution God said I will give you a descendant from your own family from your own seed you will have many descendants and essentially what God is telling him along the way is you need to wait you need to be patient you need to realize and understand that I have my plans and my purposes and I'm not going to bring them to fruition just because you're on a shaky Foundation trust in me saith the Lord now notice in verse four God reaffirms or restates this Pro promise and behold the word of Yahweh came to him saying this one shall not be your Heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your air again this duplicates or replicates what he said in Genesis 12: 13 and then he confirms this or illustrates this with a promise he's already made in Chapter 13 notice in verse 5 then he brought him outside and said look now toward heaven and count the Stars if you are able to number them and he said to him so shall your descendants be this is why many of us have great hope for the power of the Christian Gospel we believe that the promise made to Abraham is realized in his seed the Lord Jesus Christ according to Galatians 3:16 and that in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him all the families of the earth will be blessed and that men from every tribe and tongue and people and Nation will be called out of Darkness into Marvelous Light so as Abram looks up into the sky and he sees these scars God says these are more numerous or your descendants are going to be more numerous than the stars of the sky you've all seen the Stars there's a lot of them up there you would be there for a long time trying to count them trying to identify how many are in just one small section and yet God says to him Abram when you're doubting or you're lacking or you're wondering or wandering in your faith you need to trust in the sure word of the living and the true God and that brings us to this declaration concerning Abram's Faith verse six he believed in Yahweh and he accounted it to him for righteousness I feel like we we we treat that passage a lot we speak concerning the doctrine of justification a lot justification is an act of God's free Grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone you'll know that the Apostle Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 he quotes it in the Book of Romans he quotes it again in the book of Galatians James quotes this Genesis 15:6 as well in James 2 it is the text that launched the Protestant Reformation the prophet abach basically alludes to it or imitates it in abach 24 the just shall live by faith you see that Abraham believed God I don't think we're supposed to conclude that it was only at this point did he believe God he believed God along the way and this is an affirmation or confirmation or a declaration of the way in which or by which God received him unto himself Gil says he believed in the promise of God that he should have a seed and a very numerous one he believed that the Messiah would spring from his seed he believed him in him as his Savior and Redeemer he believed in him for righteousness and he believed in his righteousness as justifying him before God and if you doubt that interpretation or comment by John Gil turn The Book of Romans chapter 4 because that's exactly what the Apostle says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him or it was reckoned unto him for righteousness it wasn't because of Abram's works it wasn't because of Abram's accomplishments it wasn't because Abram was a great guy you know what Abram was before he came out of her the calans he was an idolator in fact for confirmation of that turn to Joshua CH 24 I think we have this conception in our mind that The Godly men of scripture were always The Godly men of scripture and that's simply not the case in Joshua 24 what you have is a covenant ratification ceremony at shakam a covenant ratification ceremony at shakam and Joshua traces God's history and his dealings with the nation of Israel and notice in 241 then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to shakam and called for the Elders of Israel for their heads for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God and Joshua said to all the people thus says the Lord God of Israel your fathers including Tara the father of Abraham and the father of nahor dwelt on the other side of the river in old times and they served other gods I guarantee you that as terara the father of Abraham was serving other gods he had Abraham in toe Abraham was an idol idolor when he lived in her of the caldan Abraham was opposed to Yahweh Abraham was resistant of the truth of God's word God calls him out by his Sovereign Grace in answer to the to the situation that was Babel and the Lord God gives him that mercy and that kindness and that justifying Grace and it is received by faith alone so Abraham believed in the Lord and He the Lord accounted it to him for right so that's the promise you see the Promise is reaffirmed it is confirmed it is stated again you will not be childless Abraham and the chapter ends on the with the promise of land so land and children or land and Seed now let's look secondly at the request for a sign verses 7 to1 17 then he said I am the Lord who brought you out of the out of Earth of the calans to give you this land to inherit it I just read from Joshua 24 and he does essentially the same thing he rehearses the history this was commonplace in covenants in the ancient near Eastern World there was a preamble where the Sovereign would remind the people what he had done for them in terms of Deliverance and it was based on that reality that they owed Fidelity faithfulness to The Sovereign you'll see the same convention used in Exodus 22 and in Deuteronomy 56 how did the Ten Commandments begin the first commandment you shall have no other gods before me follows a preamble a historical statement of yahweh's power in delivering the nation from their bondage I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt I brought you out of the land of bondage so The Sovereign traces his historical dealings with them The Sovereign reminds them of his gracious Deliverance of them and it is based on that reality that they owe faithfulness to him and response to his Covenant and the Lord God I think in some sense is shadowing or foreshadowing what will come in the Sinai Covenant does the same thing here with Abraham what we ought to expect in what follows is official covenantal language and that is precisely what we find here so he said I I am the Lord who brought you out of the out of her of the calans to give you this land to inherit it now notice Abraham's question this is where I want to slow down Abraham says to the Lord Lord God how shall I know that I will inherit it how shall I know that I will inherit it again the fact that God enters into this formal Covenant with Abram demonstrates God's kindness demonstrates God's goodness when we read the Book of Judges in Judges chapter 6 and Gideon is called to go and destroy the midianites aren't we a bit bit perplexed or a bit puzzled that Gideon would actually question Yahweh and say please provide for me a sign I mean we're almost CH uh uh chanting or or speaking to Gideon you don't want to do that he is Yahweh he he's always faithful he he tells the truth you you don't need to doubt him but Gideon nevertheless says Lord I'm going to I'm going to put this fleece out and here's what I want you to do in order to confirm the fact that that I'm to go and fight these midianites so what is going God do does he upbraid him does he rebuke him does he reprove him does he say how dare you ever ask me no he answers and then Gideon does what he asks again now we're saying Gideon you just got a sign the Lord confirmed it the Lord answered the Lord has made good his promise don't be presumptuous marching back into his presence and saying can you please do it again but at this time just a little bit different so I know that I'm supposed to go and battle midianites isn't it amazing that Yahweh just answers I don't think we reflect on that we don't ponder that how good our God is we don't understand the implications of Psalm 103 when David says concerning Yahweh that as a as a father pies his son so the Lord pies his children and that God knows our frame he knows that we're but dust and Abram's having that sort of a dust moment at this particular point he says how shall I know that I will inherit it you have said in chapters 12 and 13 and again here in chapter 15 that I'm going to have descendants that all the nations in the Earth are going to be blessed because of me Lord please give me a sign is what he is crying out for in this particular context now notice specifically how God answers him see sometimes people think of Covenant and covenant theology is that really he AC academic stuff that you know a handful of the guys in the church actually care about you should care about covenant theology I remember hearing a sermon by Pastor Dale Ralph Davis on this particular text and the title of the Ser uh sermon was how do you spell relief Co n n t how do you spell relief Covenant it is Covenant that God brings to confirm to Abraham these promises concerning land and Seed Abram says how shall I know that you're going to make good and God says because of Covenant when God swears by himself he can swear by no other thing nothing higher and when he makes this affirmation and when he confirms it in this particular ratification ceremony Abraham will have the confidence necessary to walk in a stable and secure manner so God most high Answers by way of Covenant notice in verse 9 this is the response again I I I I'm just amazed Abram says how shall I know that I will inherit it God doesn't say because I said so do you ever do that with your kids why do I have to do this because I said so if you'd never have then you know I guess my wife and me were different than the rest of you cuz I'm sure I said that a lot because I said so we know that when The Sovereign says something in a particular house that means the subjects must comply you're not going to get a sign you're not going to get confirmation you're not going to get a ceremony you're not going to get ratification the The Sovereign in this home has spoken and you need to tow the line it amazes me the way that God in his kindness in his condescension in his good goodness in his mercy and in his love nevertheless condescends to come and deal with his struggling children there's nothing new Under the Sun when you read from Genesis to Revelation you see the mercies of a covenant God displayed very richly r large for the people of God to find their comfort and their joy in but note this ceremony in verse 9 so God said to him bring me a three-year-old heer a three-year-old female goat a three-year-old Ram a tled of in in a young pigeon notice he doesn't ask for a donkey he doesn't ask for a dog he doesn't ask for a cat all of these animals are going to be the ones utilized in the levitical system all of these animals point forward or foreshadow at least what is going to happen in terms of the sacrificial system this is symbolic this is something we ought to note and to highlight but God says to bring these animals to him and then in verse 10 he brought all these to him and cut them in two down the middle and placed each piece opposite the other but he did not cut the birds in two so this was a ratification Ceremony this was a particular means whereby a covenant was made in fact the atmology of the word cut a covenant or make a covenant comes from this idea of cutting a covenant and probably refers to this particular Ceremony this cutting of the animals and putting them on either side so that there's a pathway for the Covenant to walk through and we'll see the symbol uh the symbolism of that as we move along but note what verse 11 says and when the vultures came down on the carcasses Abram drove them away reminds us of that dear woman ritah at giba when she saw her sons hung for the sin or for the crime of Saul she's driving away the birds ritah and probably what is foreshadowed here knew what Deuteronomy 28:26 said your carcass shall be for a food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and no one shall frighten them away this was a sign of Covenant cursing when the vultures when the the the the the birds of prey came to Devour the the the the particular person or the animals involved but notice verse 12 says now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold horror and great Darkness fell upon him I don't think it's horror like he was afraid of you know monsters or ghosts or rabbits or spiders not rabbits I don't know anybody that's afraid of rabbits but it's probably awe probably awe inspiring it's probably reverence he's in the presence of the holy God who is covenanting with his servant to verify and affirm and confirm that he will receive land and he will receive seed so this Darkness falls upon him then God says to Abram know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them 400 years again God's time frame you see Abraham it's not going to happen tomorrow it's not going to be the case that you get the answers to your prayers today there's going to be a 400-year period where your people go into bondage a 400-year period where your people are slaves in Egypt a 400-year period where they will be afflicted and then in verse 14 he says says and also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterward they shall come out with great possessions now as for you you shall go to your fathers in peace you shall be buried at a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall return here what's here it's the land of promise they're presently in Canaan they are in that place that God has promised to them that there this will be the land these will be the people and this will be the blessings that they receive so he tells them about this 400 year period he assures them they're going to come out of bondage for Abraham he is going to die and rest in peace but the nation is going to Ser uh make it the nation is going to go forward Abraham's seed will be blessed in the land and they will know fruitfulness and joy and happiness and all the promises of the Covenant you see the stipulations or the terms rather of the Covenant are being highlighted and reminded to by God to Abram in this instance now what is the significance that we find in this particular ceremony note verse 17 it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark that behold there appeared a smoking oven and a oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying now the significance here I I'm sure you've heard me rehearse this before and I want to rehearse it tonight and then make a particular New Covenant application and then we'll close and move into the the ordinance of the supper but this whole situation is riddled with or loaded with symbolism it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark that behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that pass between those pieces when the covenantor walked between those pieces what they were essentially saying by this activity is that if we break this Covenant May what happened to these animals happen to us you've all heard the word benediction that's a good word you probably don't hear the word malediction a whole lot malediction is a bad word I don't mean you know a four-letter word it's a word of curse when the Jews in Matthew 27 say let his blood be upon us and our children that is a maledictory oath they are calling Down The Curse Of God upon their head and the Lord God visits that in ad70 when the abomination of desolation takes place malediction is to call God's covenant faithfulness down upon us when we break his Covenant and to bring the curses of the Covenant to Bear John Gil explains the situation it being usual in making covenants for the covenantor to pass between the parts of a creature slain signifying that should they break the covenant made they deserve to be cut aunder as that creature was you feel the impact here do you see what's happening here the Lord God is walking between these pieces and taking to himself this malediction oh Palmer Robertson in his helpful book Christ of the covenants says by dividing animals and passing between the pieces participants in a covenant pledge themselves to life and death these actions established an oath of self- malediction if they should break the commitment involved in the Covenant they were asking that their own bodies be torn In Pieces Just as the animals had been divided ceremonially we we do that when we swear we affirm we swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God do you know what the converse of that is if I lie then may the judgment and wrath and fury of God be upon me I mean it never enters into the mind of person who who purer themselves in court that they may be found or unfound by the court but God the Lord will hold them culpable for their swearing he says in the case of the abrahamic Covenant God the Creator binds himself to Man the creature by a solemn Blood Oath the almighty chooses to commit himself to the Fulfillment of promises spoken to Abraham by this Divine commitment Abraham's doubts are to be expelled God has solemnly promised and has sealed that promise with a self- maledictory oath the realization of the Divine word is assured you see Abraham says how shall I know that this is going to happen God says bring me the pieces cut them in pieces put them to uh put them on either side of each other and the covenantor walk through the middle signifying that if they break that Covenant then may what happen to these animals fall upon us the Prophet Jeremiah refers to this in Jeremiah 34:18 and I will give the men who have transgressed my Covenant who have performed the words of the Covenant which they made before me when they cut the calf into two and passed between the parts of it so you see the symbolism does everybody tra uh track at this point you understand what's happening the covenantor walking between the animals are taking a self- maledictory oath if we renig if we break if we violate if we break this Covenant then may that destruction befall us now what is absolutely significant about this particular passage is that in chapter uh 15 verse 17 it's God Alone that passes through it is not Abraham alongside of God it is not the two of them together as the covenantor but it's God covenanting to make sure that the promise of land and the promise of seed will come to fulfillment and realization God takes the curse of the Covenant upon himself if he fails to make Adam uh Abraham a great nation with a great seed Gil says only God passed between the pieces not Abram this Covenant being as others God's God makes with men one only on only on one side God in covenanting with men promises and gives something unto them but men give nothing to him but receive from him so you see the significance in this particular section ABR says Lord how shall I know how can I understand how will I be confirmed that I will inherit it and God orchestrates this Covenant ceremony and it's God Alone who walks through the pieces this whole idea of a of a smoking oven and a burning torch you'll see that later in the narrative in in Exodus God is represented as as Gil says it's an emblem of the Divine being it's an emblem of the shakina glory and the Majesty of God when this this fire and this this this smoke passed through those animals it was God it was Yahweh it was the Lord most high not physically not in terms of uh uh he has a body or he you know he is the the smoking torch it's a it's a theophany it's a manifestation of God but it's a Divine or it's an emblem of the Divine being but the significance of it is is that he traverses it on his own he takes takes to himself the obligations of this Covenant he takes to himself the reality that if it is broken if it is reneged upon if it is the case that this does not happen May what happened to those animals happen to God Almighty the chapter ends with a reminder of what Abram will inherit in terms of land the geographical verse 18b the ethnological verses 19 to 21 and I believe this is all ological notice in Romans 413 for just a moment Romans 4:13 there was a time when Abram was told to look North look South look East and look West it wasn't just Israel that Abram saw according to Romans 4 4:13 the land promised given to the seed of Abram wasn't simply the confines of Israel but notice in Romans 4:13 specifically what Paul says for the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith and to remind everybody who his seed was Galatians 3:16 Galatians 3:16 now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he does not say and to seeds as of many but as of one and to your seed who is Christ so this land promise that we see beginning in chapter 15 is expanded in the New Covenant era to include Every Nation every tribe every tongue every people this is why the Lord Christ in the Great Commission says go therefore and Make Disciples of all the nations baptizing them and teaching them because the Lord God Almighty had given him this and so Abram ends chapter 15 with this affir sworn by God signified in this Blood co uh bloody Covenant that the Lord would make good on the seed promise and on the land promise so in conclusion I want to just consider a few things and then we'll we'll close in the first place the faith of Abraham we ought not to just jump out of 156 as I said we treat it often because we talk about justification a lot but the righteousness of God was imputed to Abraham it was received by Faith Abram wasn't a great guy I mean I'm certain on a sure on a certain level he was a great guy but he wasn't great enough in terms of his obedience to the Lord's law to to find his acceptance with God it was imputed Faith was the instrument by which he appropriated this Abram walked by faith in the Lord God most high Abram walked by faith in the Lord Christ just as we do the object of Abram's Faith was indeed the Lord Jesus we considered this on Wednesday night when we looked at the hope of Old Testament Believers there's this idea that the Old Testament Believers looked forward to the promised one with this sort of nebulous or undefined reality but we saw in Genesis 3:15 they knew their redeemer would be a man they knew their redeemer would be born of a Woman They Knew their redeemer would accomplish Victory through suffering they knew their redeemer would accomplish uh Victory through even death itself they knew these certainties and they looked forward to this blessed reality and Abram was no different he had the promises of God in Genesis chter 3 he had the promise of God in Genesis 12 he had the promise of God here in Genesis CH 15 this is why when we get to Genesis CH 22 Abraham can assure Isaac that the Lord will provide a a ram for the offering this is what Abraham saw he didn't have an undefine nebulous personage in the future he looked forward to the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus says As Much when he says Abram rejoiced to see my day and was glad this is the reality the Old Testament scriptures Genesis 15 included testify of Christ they preach to us the glory of Jesus it's all about him and we ought to find him in these things and it ought to warm our heart hearts and encourage us as well we see not only the faith of Abraham but we see the faithfulness of God the faithfulness of God look at what he undertakes In this passage he goes between the animals swearing to himself the reality that this Covenant will come to pass and even taking to himself the curse involved if it should not Robertson again says by this action God promises the Lord Lord assumes to himself the full responsibility for seeing that every promise of the Covenant shall be realized God takes care of it isn't that what encourage us encourages Us in this new covenant setting you know why we're going to go to heaven it's not because we're great guys and girls it's because we serve the Covenant keeper the Lord Jesus Christ you've got to connect this passage to something that Paul indicates in Galatians CH 3 here Yahweh the divine presence walks between the animals the significance is simply this if I break Covenant May the curse of God come upon me that's what happened to Jesus our covenant keeper because we fail miserably because our suffering and our death and our punishment would not atone for and would not uh propitiate the wrath of God Christ became a curse it's what Paul says in Galatians chter 3 specifically verses 13 and 14 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us don't miss the backdrop God says as he moves through these pieces if I renig then may the curse come upon me now of course God didn't renig but Jesus Christ undertakes on our behalf we reneged we broke we were unrighteous we sinned against God God says have no other gods before me we multiply him uh multiply them before him we are like Israel of old we go a whoring from God God says you're not supposed to be idolators you're not supposed to be you know Image Makers and worshippers of those things that is precisely what we do Calvin was right when he said the heart of man isn't an idol Factory the Lord God says you're not supposed to take my name in vain what do we do we blaspheme his name we misuse the holy name of God in Jesus and if we don't do so verbally we do so by our actions as the prophet said to David by this act by the act of adultery and murder you have given cause to the enemies of Christ to to reproach or to blaspheme his name God says we're supposed to Sabbath we're supposed to rest we're supposed to take a day and cease from our worldly activities and enjoy him have you ever considered the reality that people think God is a harsh Taskmaster people think that Christianity is a system of rules and it's burdensome yeah God commands us to rest God commands us to cease from those things that we do all throughout the week and he calls us to find our rest our comfort our contentedness our blessing our sanctification and our joy in him I mean what a miserable Command right absolutely not it's a glorious command but we break it I mean even as Christians who subscribe to the second London Confession of 1689 how's our Sabbath keeping what about the fifth commandment you kids you're told to honor your father and your mother you're told to obey your parents and the Lord all of us whether child or adult are told to be subject to the governing authorities not to be insubordinate not to be Lawless not to be wretched but to render Evangelical obedience to the fifth word we are told not to murder and to say well I haven't actually gone out and gunned anybody down in the street I'm doing okay the Apostle John says if we hate our brother in our heart we're just like Cain who murdered Abel what about that seventh word well you know I've actually not committed the physical act of adultery well have you ever looked upon a woman or a man to lust in your heart Jesus says if so then you have broken the Commandment the eighth word we're told not to steal we're not to be Thieves we're not to take property we're not to wrongfully appropriate other people's stuff have we all satisfactorily obeyed that what about the ninth word we're supposed to be men and women who tell the truth we're supposed to be careful and precise we're not supposed to be Liars we're certainly not supposed to be slanderers or gossips all of that scuff flows from the ninth commandment when you gossip or when you slander or when you give an answer when you don't know the situation you are violating the law of God most high and more often than not that's the sort of stuff that causes churches to have disunity and a lack of peace it typically isn't that Pastor Porter or myself are going to come up and preach that Jesus is a creature I'm not suggesting that could never happen and I am saying that if it ever does take us out of this Pulpit quicker than we can say what are you doing that should never be it is Gossip it is slander it is a violation of the ninth word that more often than not reeks havoc in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and just for instance let's just assume that we've done 1- nine successfully let's just suppose that we're like that Rich Young Ruler when Jesus preaches the law to him and then the Young Ruler says all these things I have kept from my youth Jesus levels the playing field by saying go sell everything you have give it to the poor and follow me that is not another way of Salvation Jesus is not prescribing Works righteousness to that man he continues in his application of God's law to show that wretch how sinful he really was he had much possessions it was the 10th word it was the Thou shalt not covet that found its Mark in this young young man's heart you see we have broken them all we have violated them all we covenanted with God we walked through the pieces we said with Israel all that the Lord says we shall do but we didn't so we have a covenant mediator we have a covenant shity we have one that passed through the animals successfully righteously never reneging never breaking never violating always faithful to every jot and turt of the law the father commanded but because he loves us because he's in Covenant with us because we have that Union with us he became the curse for us he was hung on that tree he was punished by the Majesty of God most high he stood in our place we deserve the lot of those animals we deserve to be ripped apart we deserve to be desecrated we deserve those vultures to pick our carcass es to Pieces we deserve every piece of Wrath and curse that Deuteronomy 28 uh uh uh communicates to break a covenant breaking Sinners but our lord Jesus passed through our lord Jesus Took on on himself The Punishment Due for our sins so what we find in Genesis 15 typifies what we find to be actually the practice in the New Covenant our lord Jesus bore the shame our lord Jesus bore the Suffering The death the cross the ignominy all of that in terms of his compliance with almighty God to redeem us from our sins so next time you read Genesis 15 and you see that that that that that smoking oven and that burning torch passing between those pieces Think Jesus think of the punishment that was due to us but our blessed Christ took it think of Galatians 3 think of the reality that Christ has become a curse for for us the Apostle goes on for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that The Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith Brethren praise God if you along with Abraham believe in the Lord and it's accounted or credited or reckon to you as righteousness as you eat this bread as you drink this cup rejoice in the goodness and in the mercies of our covenant God rejoice in the goodness and in the mercies of the fact that our blessed substitute went in our place to the cross to bear what we deserved we passed through those animals we reneged we broke but our our blessed Christ Our shity took our place and took the punishment due to us well let us pray father we thank you for your word and we thank you for this Covenant ceremony that we find in Genesis 15 we thank you for the the realization in our Lord Jesus Christ we know that he was without sin but you made him sin or to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him how we thank you that all of these things come to fruition and realization and and and development and Exposition and and application in our New Covenant and the fact that Christ has done all that was prophesied concerning him I ask that you would just bless our time now continue with us and as we eat as we drink may we do so in remembrance of that one Who Bore the death that we deserved Who Bore the punishment that we deserved and may these things produce in us joy Thanksgiving and worship and praise and we ask through Christ Our Lord amen you can turn to 1 Corinthians 11 as we observe the Lord's Supper we'll read from a portion of First Corinthians 11 Paul's rehearsal of the institution of the Lord's supper and of course some indictments for the church there regarding their conduct at the Lord's Supper 1 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 17 and we'll skip past 23 to 26 as we will read that when we uh take of the bread and we take of the cup but let's uh pick up reading here 1 Corinthians 11- 17 now in giving these instructions I do not praise you since you come together not for the better but for the worse for first of all when you come together as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it for there must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you therefore when you come to together in one place it is not to eat the Lord's Supper for in eating each one takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and another is drunk what do you not have houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing what shall I say to you shall I Praise You In This I do not Praise You Now skipping to verse 27 therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not Discerning the Lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world therefore my brethren when you come together to eat wait for one another but if anyone is hungry let him eat at home lest you come together for judgment and the rest I will set in order when I come amen well just a just a few comments here we may not have the same issue the same practical issue as the the Corinthian Church here but are we coming together when we observe the Lord's Supper for the better uh the Lord's Supper is not simply some sort of received human tradition it is a tradition yes but it is a tradition instituted by Christ himself the only lawgiver to be observed in his churches until the end of the world and in instituting it we have a blessed ordinance where we get to what we get to remember the Lord Jesus till he comes again isn't that beautiful we get to remember remember the Lord's Supper is delivered to to us as those who are prone to forget as SP virgin in a sermon said something along these lines he said rehearsing the shed blood of the Savior contemplating Christ Jesus shedding his blood upon calvary's tree he said oh had I eloquence I would bestow a tongue upon every drop of blood that is there that our hearts might rise up in Mutiny against our cold coldness and our Langer and that it we be lifted to a burning remembrance of Christ these were not engaging in the Lord's Supper but were feeding themselves and getting drunk to the point where the Lord's Supper was no longer the Lord's Supper it was a sinful mess of things this is a an ordinance this is a Sacrament where we remember the Lord Jesus Christ where we proclaim the gospel this living symbol of the Gospel this is an ordinance where we are strengthened in our faith and so when you take tonight when you take of this bread and you take of this cup you're not partaking in a Human Institution you're partaking in a divinely ordained gained ordinance whereby we remember the Savior proclaim the richness of his glorious Grace and we are nourished by our God in our faith what we are doing again is when we take of the bread and we take of the cup we're taking of those elements and those elements alone we're eating bread and we're drinking wine there is no magical change when we do rightfully consecrate these things that is simply set them apart from a common to a holy use nothing changes to the bread and nothing Chang es to the wine these are living symbols that God has given us to point to the broken body of our savior the shed blood of our savior as we remember and as we are strengthened um remember that this is an ordinance for Christians alone if you're here tonight and you're not a Christian you are not to take this is an ordinance given to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are living and walking in newness of Life which brings us to the point one of of the points here in 27-33 to 34 is that if you're a Christian but you're living in unrepentant sin you're not to take if you're harboring sin you're unrepentant and you're not uh being uh brought to that place uh where you have the joy of your salvation returned to you but you are again harboring unrepentant sin you're not to take but remember the Triune God is a god of forgiveness and a god of Mercy the remedy to be returned unto partaking in the Lord supper is not a journey of discovering yourself uh hiking up a mountain with things mounted upon your back until you've atoned for your transgressions it's to find forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ to fly to the Savior to that Fountain opened up for sin and uncleanness and immediately find forgiveness in the king of kings and Lord of lords when the wine comes around a reminder that the juice is in the outer ring um the wine is inside so if you would like to take take juice the juice is in uh the outer ring well we'll read the portion of the institution of the Lord's Supper as the elements come around if I could have uh the brothers come up to pass out the bread you can turn in your hym books as the bread is being passed out we're going to sing hymn number four40 you can remain seated and we'll sing four together inal praise the glor found all of CH in verse 23 of 1 Corinthians 11 Paul rehearsing the institution of the Lord's Supper on the night in which our Lord was betrayed writes these words for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had we'll close by standing and singing A Hymn 690 and your Himel we stand and sing that together that's 690 Jesus made all all to be my own Jesus all sing sing he my and now may the God of Peace who brought up our lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen Heavenly Father we pray that you would now go with us we Rejoice having worshiped on this Lord Lord's Day Sabbath having been met by our God in the worship Services we thank you for this and we pray that you would now go with us into this week might we not uh might we not stop remembering Jesus as we go into this week but we pray that you would help us each and every day to arise in the morning dwelling upon the riches and excellencies of Christ and to rest our heads in the evening the same we do pray that you'd help us by your grace and For Your Glory to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our calling by grace we pray that you would go with us now help us and might we look forward to the next Lord's day when we might come together all the same rejoicing in Father Son and Holy Spirit and we pray in the name of our savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen well please be seated we'll have a brief time of prayer when the piano is finished you're free to leave