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Well, if you would turn in your 
Bibles to Genesis chapter 15, as we consider the Abrahamic 
covenant this evening, this is just an overview. There are certainly 
many more things that we could say concerning the various covenants 
we've already looked at and God willing, the ones we'll look 
at in the future. Remember, there is one covenant 
of redemption between the persons of the triune God to save his 
people from their sins. And that covenant of redemption 
is fleshed out in history through the covenant of grace. And there's 
various historical covenants that express that covenant of 
grace. We've already seen the Adamic 
covenant, the common covenant of commencement, not the covenant 
of words. prior to the fall, but after 
the fall, God makes a covenant arrangement with Adam and Eve. He gives the promise of a coming 
seed, the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the seed 
of the serpent. And then we saw last time the 
Noahic covenant, the covenant of preservation. It is a redemptive 
covenant in nature. It provides the context wherein 
special grace can be preached and believed on in order for 
salvation. In that Noahic covenant, God 
puts things in place to make sure that mankind can live and 
flourish and be protected so that the Redeemer Christ could 
come and save His people from their sins. Thirdly, is the Abrahamic 
covenant or the covenant of promise that will look at this evening. 
The fourth is the mosaic covenant or the covenant of law. Fifth, 
is the Davidic covenant or the covenant of kingdom. And then 
the sixth and final is the new covenant or the covenant of consummation. And each one of these covenants 
have a specific head that is addressed. In this instance, 
of course, it is Abraham and we'll read in Genesis fifteen 
at verse one. After these things, the word 
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, 
Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly 
great reward. But Abram said, Lord God, what 
will you give me, seeing I go childless and the heir of my 
house is Eliezer 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 the Calvians 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 heifer, 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 
in 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 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 four 
hundred 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 Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given 
this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the 
river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the 
Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Amen. Cam, can I ask you to pray? Father, we thank you again for 
gathering us in this place for worship, for doing your work 
to preach the Lord God to us. We pray again for the ministry 
of the Holy Spirit in lifting up, encouraging, and strengthening 
our faith, those that are yours, Father, for convicting sinners 
that outstand, and saving them unto the grace of your glory. 
Amen. As I said, these are overview 
sermons. A lot more could be said. I've 
recommended O. Palmer Robertson's book The Christ 
of the Covenants from a Reformed Baptist perspective. A good study 
on the covenants of grace are the covenants. The historical 
covenants is Gregory Nichols. He's a pastor in a church in 
Grand Rapids, and I believe we might actually have his tapes. 
in the not his tapes, but tapes of messages that he did on the 
subject of God's covenant. I think there's quite a few very 
in-depth, very detailed. So this is more just a sort of 
a sketch, getting the main ideas, the main gist and seeing how 
these things relate to one another. If you remember in the covenant 
with Noah, we saw a particularity out of the entirety of the earth. 
One man found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and that was Noah. 
Noah wasn't more righteous. Noah wasn't a better performer. 
Noah wasn't a lawful man. But Noah found grace in the eyes 
of the Lord. That precedes any statement concerning 
righteousness that Noah engaged in. He was a godly man. He was 
a righteous man. But that's not why he was saved. 
He was saved by grace. And then that righteousness or 
then that faithfulness was fleshed Well, we see particularity again 
in the call of Abraham. What God is doing now is focusing 
on a particular nation. Remember that Israel was to function 
as a nation to bless the other nations that was their role, 
according to Deuteronomy 4, the function that ultimately they 
failed in, and Christ came to fulfill it as the supreme example 
or supreme fulfillment of what Israel was supposed to be. But 
we see the covenant of God here particularized, and what Waltke 
says is that the election and call of Abraham begins a new 
divine initiative, the forming of a new nation to bless the 
nations. A nation, however, entails the 
new motive of a land. They needed a land, and that's 
one of the reasons or one of the blessings or promises that 
God gives to Abraham. The land was very central. The 
land was very important so that the land could hold the people 
to whom Jesus would ultimately come. And then, from there, launch 
his universal plan to save the nations. Not every man, not every 
boy and every girl, but men from every tribe, tongue, people, 
and nation. As Waltke said, the holy nation 
needs sanctified space and sustenance. So much of this promise to Abraham 
is in the form of blessing, seed, and land. Blessing, seed, and 
land. Those are the promises God makes 
to Abram in this particular section. Now, in Genesis 12, we find Abram 
called out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Joshua 24 tells us that Abram's 
father, Terah, worshipped other gods. So we are not to suppose 
that Terah was an idolater, but his son Abram was a faithful, 
godly, 1689-toting, young Reformed Baptist. Abraham was an idolater 
too. As his father, so was he. Again, the divine initiative 
and the graciousness of God is seen in Genesis 12, when the 
Lord tells Abram to leave from his country, to depart from his 
family. He's not rewarding him because 
he's good. but he's delivering him because 
God is good and he is showing for his grace and his mercy and 
his kindness. Now, while the language of covenant 
is not used in Genesis 12, it is certainly there in seed form 
here in Genesis 15. The covenant is inaugurated or 
ratified with Abraham, and that's what we're going to focus on 
this evening. Genesis 17 gets into the sign of the Abrahamic 
Covenant, which is circumcision, which we will not get into this 
evening. We're just going to focus our 
attention here. Just by way of reminder, a covenant 
in its most basic definition is an agreement between two or 
more persons. Palmer Robertson describes a 
covenant or defines it as a covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly 
administered. God, of course, is the sovereign 
administrator of these historical covenants that that serve the 
covenant of grace. It is a sovereign administration 
of blessing and cursing, and in each instance we find various 
elements. Parties, in this instance God 
and Abraham, we find stipulations, we find promise, and we find 
threat. And this particular passage, 
as I hope you'll see this evening, is very instructive. Not so much 
about Abraham, but about Abraham's God. It's instructive to show 
us how gracious and how kind and how wonderful our Lord is 
when we get to verse seventeen. I hope that you will in a new 
way appreciate just what God in his gospel is doing for needy 
sinners. We'll look at two sections this 
evening, the introduction of the setting versus one to six, 
and then the covenant ceremony with Abraham in verses seven 
to seventeen. But notice, first of all, by 
way of introduction or setting, there is the comfort of God found 
in chapter fifteen, verse one. After these things, the word 
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. What are these things? Well, Abram's just been involved 
in a military military campaign. Remember, certain kings abducted 
his nephew lot. So, Abram takes his 318 household 
servants, puts arms in their hands, and they go to get Lot 
back. And so, Abram here is victorious. It's this time when Melchizedek 
comes to him, when Abram pays tithes to Melchizedek. They enjoy 
bread and wine together, which seems to have sacramental overtones. And so, after these things, the 
word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. saying, Do not be 
afraid, Abram. God had called Abram to himself 
in Chapter 12. I love what William Dumbrell. 
There's an R in there. It's not William Dumbell. It's 
William Dumbrell. He's a professor of theology 
in Australia. He has a great statement concerning 
the call of Abraham. He says that in the call of Abram, 
we are dealing with the divine reply to the human disaster of 
Genesis 3 to 11. That is very significant, very 
important that you keep that in mind. In the call of Abram, 
we are dealing with the divine reply to the human disaster of 
Genesis 3 to 11. Genesis 3 to 11 covers man in 
sin, man in depravity, man trying to make a name for himself. Well, 
interestingly, God says he will make a name out of Abraham. He 
will make his name great. So, in the call of Abraham, God's 
design to bless the families and the nations of the earth 
begins to take root in history. And so, God tells him, do not 
be afraid. He then goes on to say, I am 
your shield. Blessed statement. It wasn't 
the 318 armed men, ultimately, that procured success for Abraham 
on this military campaign. It was the Lord God Most High. 
The horse is prepared for the day of battle, to be sure, but 
victory of deliverance is of the Lord. We mustn't ever forget 
that we must never forget that if God is with us, who can be 
against us? And contrary, if God is against 
us, who can be for us? So the Lord is shield. The Lord is his divine protection, 
but he doesn't stop there. He says, I am your shield, your 
exceedingly great reward. Not a beautiful statement. I 
hope you think of the gospel. I hope you think of Jesus Christ 
in those terms. Christ is our exceedingly great 
reward. I love the hand beat on my vision 
says riches. I need 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. That's 
how we're to view our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says to you believe 
he is precious. Christ is altogether lovely. He is chief among ten thousand. We ought to see him as our exceedingly 
great reward. The most blessed thing about 
heaven isn't the pearly gates. It isn't the streets paved with 
gold. It isn't all the jewels and all 
the rubies and all the adornment. The chief blessing about heaven 
is that Jesus Christ is there. He is the glory of Emmanuel's 
land. And as you trace through the 
Bible, you see that emphasis over and over again. Blaise Pascal 
said the God of the Christians is not a God who is simply the 
author of mathematical truths or of the order of the elements. That is the view of the heathen 
and Epicureans. But the God of Abraham, the God 
of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of 
love and of comfort. A God who fills the soul and 
heart of those whom he possesses. That is a great description of 
our God. A God who is a God of love and 
of comfort, a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom 
he possesses. Isn't that capture? Doesn't that 
capture something of what God is saying here to Abraham? He's 
saying, I am your exceedingly great reward. Do not be afraid. I will protect you. I am your 
portion. I am your everything. Abraham, 
your life is to be lived in terms of God. Your life is to be conducted 
in terms of God. Ligonier magazine, the magazine 
of R.C. Sproul. There's a section in 
the back that's called Coram Dale, and that means in the presence 
of God. That's how we are to live. Coram 
Dale, in the presence of God, 24-7. He is our shield. He is our exceedingly great reward. And people will know if He is 
our exceedingly great reward by the way that we conduct ourselves. It's not difficult to determine 
what really matters to someone. I mean, if someone wears a Canucks 
hat and they have a Canucks shirt and their cars have Canucks pennants 
all around it, it's not difficult for you to imagine that this 
is a Canucks fan. I mean, you don't have to scratch 
your head and say, hey, I wonder if this guy likes the Florence. 
No, he likes the Canucks. It's evident. It's obvious in 
the same manner with a Christian. It shouldn't puzzle people. It 
shouldn't cause them to scratch their heads. Oh, you're really 
a Christian. You love Jesus. I would have 
never known that. What an insult! If somebody would 
ever say to you, I would have never guessed you were a Christian. 
In my whole life, I would have never figured that out. You got 
problems. It's not obvious that God is 
your exceedingly great reward. When you see Paul or you hear 
Paul in Philippians 121 say for me to live as Christ and to die 
as gain, you know he's telling the truth because of everything 
else that he writes and everything that he had done in his life. 
He was beaten. He was stoned. He was shipwrecked. 
He was out in the deep. He was just chased by everybody 
and everyone. Why, for the excellence of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, people will know if God 
is indeed are exceedingly great reward versus two and three. Abraham complains. Abraham had 
a maturing faith. He was not a perfect man. He 
was not without sin. Notice in chapter 15, two and 
three, but Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing 
I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. 
Abraham's getting older. God's made a promise that there'll 
be many descendants that come from him. So far, nothing so 
far. There's been no issue so far. 
There has been no. See, he's starting to get a bit 
antsy. And he's even thinking that perhaps 
it must be Eliezer, his household servant, in whom the promise 
of God will be fulfilled. God, of course, says no. Later 
on in Chapter 17, Abraham is going to offer up Ishmael. Tell 
me, Ishmael is the son of promise. Tell me, Ishmael is the one in 
whom the blessing of God will come. And the Lord says, no, 
you will have a seed. And it would ultimately be Isaac 
in whom the promise would come. But at this particular instance, 
Abraham is is is asking. He's requesting and the notice 
in verses four and five. The Lord God reiterates his promise. Verse four. 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. This is a promise concerning 
Isaac, who would be the seed, who would be the son of promise. 
And it is again a reiteration of the promise God already made 
in chapter 13, beginning in verse 14. Look there for a moment, 
please. Chapter thirteen at verse fourteen and the Lord said to 
Abraham after a lot of separated from him. Lift your eyes now 
and look from the place where you are northward southward eastward 
and westward for all the land which you see I give to you and 
your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants 
as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the 
dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 
Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for 
I give it to you." So God reiterates, God says again what he plans 
to do in Abraham. And then we see the response 
of Abraham in verse 6. He was not operating from a place 
of unbelief. He wanted more promise. He wanted 
more word. He wanted more encouragement. 
But the writer tells us Moses tells us under the inspiration 
of the spirit that he believed in the Lord and that he counted 
it to him for righteousness. This is a foundational statement 
in biblical theology. This is, of course, that place 
to which Paul turns in Romans chapter four, when he is underscoring 
the fact that we're saved not by words, but by grace through 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where James comes when 
he is showing forth Abraham and Rahab ultimately as examples 
of biblical living faith. If the face of Helen of Troy 
launched a thousand ships, this declaration concerning Abraham 
set the definition of biblical religion. This is crucial. You cannot mistake this. Every 
departure from this statement ends in a worse righteousness 
or a law-based method of seeking to attain favor with God. And 
the Bible will not have that. There is only one way of salvation. It is gracious, it is through 
faith, it is through Jesus Christ the Lord. That's whom Abraham 
is looking to, not some undefined Messiah. He is operating based 
on the promise of Genesis 3.15. He is operating based on the 
word of the Lord himself that there would be a seed of the 
woman who would crush the head of the seed of the serpent. As 
Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and 
he was glad. So, Abraham believed in the Lord, 
and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Now, that brings 
us to consider the covenant ceremony. Notice in verse 7 and 8, there 
is a preamble. Scholars have recognized that 
the covenant arrangements are the ceremonies that we find in 
the Bible. A lot of the ancient Near Eastern 
nations did the very same types of things, and there are certain 
patterns that they follow. While we don't put too much emphasis 
on those ancient Near Eastern law treaties, nevertheless, it 
is instructive that this was the way men functioned in terms 
of their king and in terms of arrangement. But if you notice 
there in verse seven, there is a deliverance formula, and I 
believe this foreshadows the covenant made at Sinai. Notice 
in verse seven, then he said to him, I am the Lord who brought 
you out of her of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit 
it. This is exactly what God says at Sinai. I am the Lord 
who brought you out of the house of Egypt. There is a declaration 
of God's faithfulness in the past to provide the stability 
for living in the present and to engage in future endeavors 
for the Lord. Christians ought to learn this 
lesson. Well, we look to the past for 
stability in the present and so that we will walk in faith 
in the future. And of course, our past is the 
deliverance enacted by God. through Calvary's cross and the 
bloodshedding of our Lord Jesus Christ. So God announces, I am 
Jehovah. I brought you out of Ur of the 
Chaldeans and I have given you this land to inherit it. And 
so then we find the instructions are specifically Abraham asks, 
Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it? And what follows 
is the divine response to that. It's beautiful. It's blessed. It's most wonderful. I know it 
seems a bit barbaric to us because there's so much blood in the 
division of animals and all those sorts of things. But the symbolism, 
the meaning, the impact of this statement or of this ceremony 
hopefully will affect us in a positive and in a God glorifying way. 
So God gives him instructions. Bring animals. Verse nine. He 
said to him, bring me a three year old heifer, a three year 
old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a 
young pigeon. The animals are then prepared. 
What does Abraham do but cut them in half? And he puts some 
on one side and he puts some, or he halves them and puts it 
such that there is a pathway between these animals. Notice 
that he then shoes away or drives away the vultures that come down 
on the carcasses in verse 11. This is highly symbolic as well. 
Some say this would be, you know, this is representative of the 
Egyptians and the enemies of God coming upon the people and 
the Lord driving them away. I actually think it underscores 
the fact that the one who would break the covenant would be liable 
to the curse of these vultures coming upon them. When you go 
to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 28, and then you go through 
the rest of the Bible, a covenantal curse is not only death, but 
it is that your dead body will be eaten by vultures. Again, 
that doesn't sound very happy. And wow, we went and heard tonight 
about how if we curse God, he's going to eat us with vultures. 
But that's what the curse of God entailed. If you broke the 
covenant, You not only died, but then vultures would come 
and eat your body. You've got to feel the impact. 
Then you'll appreciate the ceremony. You've got to understand what's 
in view here. And then you'll appreciate the 
enactment of this ritual or rite. Your carcasses shall be food 
for all the birds of the air and the beast of the earth and 
no one shall frighten them away. Deuteronomy 28 and verse 26. That was an announcement to Israel. 
Should they violate God's covenant? This would be their portion of 
life. And again, when you trace through the Bible, notably even 
the book of Revelation, there's two suppers mentioned in the 
book of Revelation, chapter 19. We only ever really think about 
the marriage supper of the lamb. We only ever think about the 
positive aspect of that marriage supper of the lamb and how we 
will get to participate because God is good and Jesus has died 
and he has included us in his in his redemptive plan. But chapter 
19 ends with another supper and it is a supper of judgment wherein 
God brings down the beast and the false prophet and ultimately 
the birds of prey eat their flesh. It is a covenantal curse that 
God pronounces upon his enemy. So Abraham's shooing away or 
driving away these vultures is very significant here. Notice 
this brings us to the promise we noted in a covenant. There 
are promises given and this is what happens in verse twelve. 
Now, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram 
and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. He's 
receiving this via or by vision. Then he said to Abram, no, 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. 
He is announcing very specifically his plan with Israel. They would 
go into captivity or they would go into bondage. They would be 
in Egypt for a period of 400 years, but then God would bring 
them out. You know, this morning I mentioned 
this. Oftentimes we want things right now. You know, if we got 
to wait 40 minutes, we're very impatient. We got to wait 40 
days. We're just irate. We got to wait 
four years. We're just going to we're going 
to cash it in and say, forget about it. But Abraham is receiving 
a promise here that would not come to fruition for 400 years 
later, that he himself would never even participate in. Moses, 
the man of God, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is writing these 
things. He himself would not enter in 
to taste of this covenantal promise. Remember, he got as far as Pisgah. 
He was able to look upon the promised land, but he was not 
able to enter in. The reason why is because he 
rejected or he mistook and misapplied the word of the Lord. So God 
forbade him from entering into that possession. So God is announcing 
his program through Abraham. Notice in verse 14 and also the 
nation whom they serve. I will judge afterward. They 
shall come out with great possessions. Isn't that what we read in Exodus 
after the death of the firstborn? What was the response of Egypt? 
Get out, take our gold, take our silver and get out. We don't 
want you here anymore. I mean, if all those other plagues 
didn't underscore the lesson, the death of the firstborn did. 
Numbers 33 is perhaps one of the most chilling statements 
as the new King James renders it. It talks about the people 
of Israel walking out of Egypt with all boldness while the Egyptians 
were burying their firstborn whom the Lord God had killed. I can't even imagine such a thing, 
burying my child whom the Lord God had killed, because I'm part 
of a rebellious and covenantally unfaithful nation who has rejected 
the Lord God most high. So what God through Abram says 
here is played out in the remainder of the Pentateuch of the first 
five books of Moses. Now notice in verse 15. 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. I think Amorites just summarizes 
all of the inhabitants of Canaan. And now that brings us to consider 
the formal inauguration of the covenant. Notice in verse seventeen, 
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 through those or passed between those pieces. The smoke 
and fire are symbolic of God, the presence of God. You get 
to the book of Exodus, especially at Sinai. How does God come? He comes in this in this display 
of smoke. and fire, a pillar of fire and 
cloud, envelops the people of God to display that He is present 
with them. Do not miss this, brethren. Abraham 
does not pass between these animals. This is a unilateral covenant. This is not Abraham's participation. This is God alone marching between 
these halved animals. This is where it gets really 
good. God most high is promising that if he is unfaithful, if 
he breaks covenant, if he reneges, if he does not carry out what 
he has promised, then may what happened to those animals happen 
to God himself. That's the symbolism of the right. That's what it's all about. Jehovah alone passed between 
these pieces. Jehovah alone walked in between 
these animals. Listen to Robertson. He says, 
by dividing animals and passing between the pieces, participants 
in a covenant pledge themselves to life and death. Again, this 
was not unique only to Israel. This was not only something that 
happened in the first five books of Moses. There are ancient Near 
Eastern Hittite treaties, other law documents, that this was 
a practiced procedure. This was a ceremony that was 
conducted via kings and via subjects in those particular arrangements. Not only the king walked through 
the pieces, but the subject did as well. He goes on to say these 
actions established an oath of self malediction and just tell 
you what the word malediction is. Sometimes people have come 
to our church and they say, you don't give a benediction. Sometimes 
we do. That's a good word at the very 
end of a service. When the pastor, the man leading 
the service, pronounces a benediction, a good word. Malediction is the 
exact opposite. It's a bad word. Benediction 
is a good word. Malediction is a bad word. So 
when they speak of a self-maledictory oath, That means when we swear 
on a covenant, we are invoking the curse of God if we should 
come up short, if we break covenant. So this is what Palmer Robertson 
says. 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 have been divided ceremonially. It was a played-out ritual, it 
was an enactment of the whole situation. 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 is solemnly promised and 
is sealed that promise with a self maledictory of the realization 
of the divine word is assured to go back for just a moment. Abraham says, how am I going 
to know that this is true? How am I going to be assured 
that what you have said will come to pass? That's why God 
says get the animals, split them in half, separate them, and then 
God alone walks between the myths of these animals. God alone states 
his name, states his reputation, his character, his very being 
on this covenant of promise that he made with Abraham. This is 
good news for us, not just for this, you know, pious Jew living 
back in this particular time frame. This is good news for 
us because, as Paul says in Galatians 3, if we believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, we are Abraham's seed. We are inheritors. We are benefit, benefiters of 
all that God has promised in the scripture. Bruce Waltke on 
this ceremony says once the animal was killed, the one making the 
covenant could expect the same fate as the animal if he broke 
covenant. The sacrifice is thus an enactment 
of the oath. Beautiful ceremony. Don't miss 
this. It's kind of odd when you read 
this. The sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. 
Behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. God makes a promise. 
Abraham wakes up, or in this vision he sees, maybe he's rubbing 
his eyes, and he sees this torch and this smoke going between 
the pieces. Abraham knew all too well what God was saying. 
God was promising, God was swearing, God was confirming his promise 
made to Abraham that if he should fail, if he should be disobedient, 
if he should not live up to the terms of the covenant, then what 
had happened to this heifer, what had happened to these turtledoves, 
what had happened to these animals would happen to God himself. 
He was taking a self-maledictory oath. We get to the new covenant, 
we see the very same sort of thing when Jesus institutes the 
new covenant in what? In his own blood. This is what 
leads old Palmer Robertson to say a covenant is a bond in blood, 
sovereignly administered. That is borne out when we study 
these passages. That is precisely what Jesus 
Christ does. He swears an oath, he confirms 
a promise, and it does ultimately cost his own blood in order to 
ratify it. Praise God that he is so faithful. Praise God that he is so merciful. 
The last portion, verses 18 to 21, God tells him specifically 
concerning the boundaries of the land. First, geographically, 
verse 18, then ethnologically or into people groups, verses 
19 to 21. But the New Testament picks up 
on the typology or the typological. It's a beautiful statement I 
already read in chapter chapter 13 at verse 14. What did God say. Lift your eyes 
now and look from the place where you are northward southward eastward 
and westward. You know what Abraham saw. He 
saw the world. He saw Chilliwack. He saw Canada. He saw the U.S. Some might say 
no he didn't see the U.S. That's an accursed place. He 
saw every tribe. He saw every tongue. He saw every 
people and he saw every nation. See, while in Abraham's time 
the promise was localized and God was carving out a place, 
a sacred space for sustenance and for life for the chosen peoples 
in whom the promise would ultimately come, Paul takes this and expands 
it. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 
4, 13, that this promise was made to Abraham that he would 
be heir not of simply Palestine or Canaan, but he would be the 
heir of the world. Well, how is Abraham the heir of the world? 
It's through his seed. That's another very important 
thing in the book of in these promises and in these covenants 
to identify the seed again locally historically the seed ultimately 
from Abraham would be Isaac and then it would be Jacob and then 
it would be Joseph of course. But the seed ultimately to whom 
they were referring was the same seed referred to in Genesis 3 
15 whom Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 3 is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the heir of the 
world. Jesus Christ is the seed of Abraham. Jesus Christ is the surety of 
a better covenant. Jesus Christ is the one in whom 
all the promises of God are. Yay. And a man. All of those 
historical covenants find their fulfillment in the new covenant, 
which is headed up by our Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfills all 
that God gave him to do. I believe we learn three things 
from this, and then we close. The first is to appreciate the 
covenant of promise. Again, Bruce Waltke makes this 
observation. He says the hope of Abraham and 
of the nations for salvation depends on God fulfilling his 
promise to give a son. Doesn't it? I mean, in this instance, 
the promise of the son was Isaac. Ultimately, to bless the nations, 
the son is Jesus Christ. Both sons were born miraculously. Of course, Jesus, the virgin 
birth, that sort of thing just doesn't happen unless the Holy 
Spirit comes upon a woman. But so was Isaac. What does Paul 
tell us? Abraham and Sarah were no spring 
chickens, brethren. They were as good as dead. That's 
why Abraham laughed in Genesis 17 or Sarah laughs, because God 
says you're going to have a child. This just doesn't happen. When 
I go down to the store and I see other 90 year old women, I don't 
see them pregnant. When I go out to the field and 
I see 100 year old men, I don't see them as being expectant fathers. They don't pass out. It's a boy 
or it's a girl cigars at age 100. That just doesn't happen. Isaac's birth was miraculous. Furthermore, what does the book 
of Hebrews tell us concerning Abraham's willingness to go sacrifice 
Isaac? Remember, in Genesis 22, God 
says, Take your son, your only son. Oh, wait a minute. Didn't you have Ishmael, your 
only son, the son of your love, just like Jesus is to the father. 
Take him and sacrifice him. What does Abraham do? He obeys. He doesn't argue. He doesn't 
complain. He doesn't whine. He doesn't snivel. He doesn't 
try to barter. He doesn't try to say, no, God, 
it just can't be this way. He beautifully takes Isaac. He 
has Isaac carry the very wood up to the place, Mount Moriah, 
the site where the temple would be built. Please don't miss these 
things, brethren. You're going to miss a lot of 
Bible. You don't think. I mean, Genesis 22, Mount Moriah, 
that's where Solomon would build the temple, where sacrifice would 
be, would flourish. So, Abraham dutifully takes Isaac, 
they go up on Mount Moriah, Abraham takes the knife, he's going to 
drive it into his son. The angel of the Lord comes, 
stays his hand. Praise God that he didn't stay 
his own hand and that the sword did plunge into our Lord Jesus 
or we would not have the forgiveness of sins. But in the book of Hebrews, 
in chapter 11, it tells us that Abraham believed that God was 
able to raise the dead. So what Isaac was symbolically, 
Christ was really he was born of a virgin. He was ultimately 
crucified and he was risen from the dead. So all of these things 
have great significance and are expounded for us in the pages 
of the New Testament. Just one place that I want to 
go to as we look at this covenant of promise and how we have become 
benefactors of it in Galatians chapter three. Galatians, chapter 
three, verse thirteen, it says Christ has redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, having become a curse for us for it is written 
curse. It 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 and then dropping down to verse twenty six. For 
you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as 
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. 
There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. 
For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, 
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. We are benefactors of this ceremony 
that was enacted by God in Genesis 15, when he told this patriarch 
to split some animals. And then the Lord God, through 
the fire or the torch in the smoke, went through those animals, 
bidding that he would be destroyed if he was not faithful to this 
oath. I said one place, one more place. 
Hebrews six. Hebrews chapter six. Beautiful 
statement concerning God's power and glory. Hebrews, Chapter six, 
this brings us from the covenant of promise to secondly, consider 
the indefectibility of the covenant. Indefectibility simply means 
this, not subject to failure or decay. Wouldn't you like to 
have indefectible teeth? I certainly would not subject 
to failure or decay. Wouldn't it be great to have 
indefectible teeth or have an indefectible car, have an indefectible 
house? You know what? Those are all 
defectable. We do, however, have an indefectible God. I love that 
statement. I found it in Ralph Davis and 
one of his commentaries on the former prophets. The indefectibility. It is not subject to failure 
or decay. Notice the statement in Hebrews 
13, 6, beginning in verse 13. For when God made a promise to 
Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by 
himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless you and multiplying. 
I will multiply you. And so after you patiently endured, 
he obtained the promise for men, indeed, swear by the greater 
and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 
Thus, God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs 
of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by 
an oath that by two immutable or unchangeable things in which 
it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation 
who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. If you are ever feeling down 
or low or bad or whatever, go to Genesis 15, 17. Watch God 
walk through those pieces. Consider how much the Savior 
really does love you that he would take a self maledictory 
oath. that he would ultimately enact that self-malediction and 
go to the cross in order to secure the salvation of all those whom 
the father had given him. Genesis 15 is rich in comfort 
for the Christian. The indefectibility of God's 
covenant is something we ought to reflect on. It is not subject 
to decay. It is not subject to change. 
It is not subject to being reneged upon by our God. He is faithful. He has promised. And he will indeed see us through 
to the very end. This is what underlies what Paul 
says in Romans chapter eight. Moreover, whom he foreknew, he 
predestined. Those he predestined, he called. Who he called, he 
justified. Who he justifies, he glorifies. Why? Because he 
made a promise to do so. And he's not like us. He doesn't 
promise something, then take it back. He's not a... he's not 
like man in that regard. And we need to understand that 
about God. And then finally, just something about Abraham. 
Well, I don't believe he's the star of Genesis 15. I truly believe 
God is the one who we are to be observing there in Genesis 
15. Abraham does teach us something that statement concerning. He 
believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. 
Later on in Romans four, Paul will tell us that righteousness 
is an imputed act. It's not that we've become better. 
It's that God has imputed Jesus' righteousness to us. That's important. We need a perfect righteousness 
in order to get to heaven. We cannot perform. We cannot 
make. We cannot concoct. We cannot 
obey enough. We must have the righteousness 
of Christ imputed unto us. Secondly, the gift of faith was 
an instrument. It's not like God said, oh, you 
have faith, therefore I'm going to justify it. That's not the 
way the text is to be read. God graciously gave him faith. It is the instrument. It is the 
means. It is that which connects Abraham, 
if you will, to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ who justifies. It is Christ's righteousness 
that we must have. And again, the object of faith 
was Jesus. Abraham saw Jesus day, not some 
undefined Messiah. Abraham sought through the promise 
of God and Abraham sought in the offering of Isaac. What was 
another lesson underscored when Abraham was told not to sacrifice 
or when Isaac says, where's the lamp? What does Abraham say? I'm messing up the names here. 
What does Abraham tell Isaac? The Lord will provide. The Lord 
will provide faith in all of that. And after Abraham, Abraham 
spared Isaac, what do they see but a lamb caught in the thicket. 
And that's because they're offering, which points ultimately to the 
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. D.A. Carson 
said, Jesus identifies the ultimate fulfillment of all Abraham's 
hopes and joys with his own person and work. So, there's a lot to 
be gleaned there in Genesis 15. I fear we've only touched the 
surface. Compare Genesis 12 and Genesis 17, and then Paul's explanation 
and commentary on everything Abraham in the New Testament. 
Truly begin to understand God's grace, God's mercy, God's kindness, 
and the indefectibility of God's covenant. Let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for the Word of God, and we thank you for the 
promises of God, which are yea and amen. in our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to value and to prize 
these things. Help us to understand the Scriptures 
and help us to find the comfort that they afford to us. And I 
pray that you would go with us now, that you would watch over 
each of your people, that you would protect us, that you would 
be our shield, that you would be our exceedingly great reward, 
and that we would live like you are our exceedingly great reward. 
We just pray, God, that you would go and bless those, again, who 
are ill. We just think of the various 
children that have been sick for so long, and we commit them 
to you and to the word of your grace. And we pray that these 
things would not spread, but that they would be stopped and 
that the children would be healthy and able to serve you. And we 
pray in Jesus' name. Amen.