Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080622.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
D. Resting In An All-Sufficient God When His Calling Overwhelms Us
(Genesis 15:1-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

If we decide to live by faith in God and His Word, that choice often produces practical short-term costs, leading to added pressures on the stability of our life of faith.

Though I could give a host of illustrations on this matter from events in the lives of members of our church, due to the sensitive nature of such illustration, a discreet way to illustrate this truth is through alluding to an event that occurred in a believer's life decades ago in another state:

A Christian teen who was attending a biology class in a public high school was taking a test in that class when he came across a question that required him to give an answer that condoned the theory of evolution. However, he knew before God that evolution was an errant view, and he felt obliged not to consent to it as being true.

However, he wondered, "What can I do? If I answer the question like the teacher wants, I will be consenting to faith in evolution against my conscience! However, if I answer it according to the Biblical creationist view, the teacher will mark it wrong! However, I am supposed to do well in my academic efforts!"

Finally, he decided to answer the question like the teacher wanted him to answer it, but to add these words at the end of the answer: "I personally do not believe in the theory of evolution."

The teacher reacted by giving him an "F" for the whole test! Accordingly, the student found himself second-guessing his decision even to do what he did, and tempted to be frustrated in his Christian walk!



Accordingly, we may ask, "If LIVING by FAITH leads to ADDED PRESSURES, how do we HANDLE that PRESSURE?"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "The COST of TRUSTING God is often so HIGH, I don't know how to handle its resulting PRESSURE! Any suggestions?!"
  1. Due to his Genesis 14 acts of faith in God, Abram was left SUBJECT to a LAPSE in FAITH due to SPIRITUAL FATIGUE:
    1. Abram had heeded God's Genesis 12:1-3 call to be a blessing by freeing Lot from the city states (Gen. 14:1-2, 11-12, 14-16), but this act left him vulnerable to a retaliatory strike from these city states!
    2. Abram had refused to keep Sodom's spoils to avoid its evil king's dominance (Gen. 14:21-24), but this act had cost him material loss!
  2. God thus encouraged Abram on these issues to EDIFY his FAITH:
    1. In connection to the events of Genesis 14, God came to Abram in Genesis 15:1a,b to pledge to be Abram's Shield from the city states!
    2. God also pledged to be his Exceeding Great Reward, his Source of remuneration for material loss from refusing Sodom's spoils, 15:1a,c!
  3. Yet, these assurances surfaced a DEEPER fear Abram had on his INFERTILITY, one fueled by the FATIGUE of Genesis 14 (15:2-8):
    1. God had initially pledged to make of Abram a great nation and to give him and his seed possession of Canaan, Genesis 12:1-3 with 13:14-15.
    2. Yet, Abram was still childless and still lacked possession of the land, infertility issues that stressed him as a recent pagan! (Joshua 24:2)
    3. Abram's tension is seen in the wording of his Genesis 15:2 question:
      1. There is a strong word play on the term, "Damascus" (dammeseq) and the KJV phrase "steward of my house" ("one who will inherit" NIV; "heir of my house" ESV): the latter is lit. "son of possession", ben meseq in the Hebrew, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 55.
      2. Thus, Abram told God, "This Eleazar of dammeseq is my ben meseq," meaning he had thought and fretted about the whole issue!
    4. When God then pledged to be Abram's Shield and Exceeding Great Reward in Genesis 15:1, the fatigue of his faith from his Genesis 14 acts surfaced this DEEP, greater fear of INFERTILITY, so Abram expressed strong concern about it to God in Genesis 15:2 and 15:7-8!
  4. To STRENGTHEN Abram's FAITH in view of this BIGGER fear, God EXPLAINED His PLAN to HANDLE the whole matter, signaling Abram was to REST in God's SOVEREIGNTY about it:
    1. Regarding Abram's childlessness, God promised that opposite his fear that a foreigner would be his heir, God would give him a son from his body, and by that son, children as countless as the stars, Gen. 15:2-5!
    2. [Abram had believed God's promises since he first heeded Him in Ur, a fact implied in Genesis 15:6 in its use of the hiphil perfect form for "believed" (versus the qal imperfect with waw consecutive), B. D. B., Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., 1968, p. 52-53; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 55. Abram's faith by which God had already justified him is noted in this context as it fits the key Genesis 15:18-21 covenant.]
    3. Regarding Abram's possession of Canaan, God revealed his offspring would gain it after they had been oppressed (in Egypt) and after his own death! The Canaanites (via their main clan, the Amorites, Gen. 10:15-16) needed time in God's grace to repent, so Abram would possess the land in his resurrection in great victory over personal infertility! (Gen. 15:8-21). God wanted others in Canaan's cursed line [like Melchizedek in Genesis 14] to have opportunity to repent and be blessed even if it meant delaying His promises to Abram and his seed!
    4. The WAY this pledge was given shows God alone would fulfill it:
      1. Covenants were made by killing an animal and dividing its body, with the covenanters walking between the parts possibly to call for the fate of their herds to match the dead animal's fate if they did not keep their pledge, H. C. Leupold, Exp. of Gen., 1974, v. I, p. 480.
      2. God put Abram in a deep sleep so God alone would pass between the parts as a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, Gen. 15:12, 17.
      3. Thus, God alone promised to fulfill this covenant of the land, Gen. 15:9-21, 12, 17! (Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Gen. 15:17)
      4. God promised Abram's seed all of Canaan, naming each of the groups that his seed, Israel, was to supplant in Genesis 15:18-21.
      5. [The signs of God's presence in Genesis 15:17, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, are recalled in God's signs of His presence in Israel's later exodus as the cloud and pillar of fire (Ex. 13:21); thus, Israel was to use these signs as hope that the God Who had first given this pledge to father Abram would surely lead her out of Egypt, through the wilderness and into possessing all of Canaan!]
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ, Abram's God, for salvation to be justified like he was, John 8:56-58 with Rom. 4:3; John 3:16. (2) If facing fatigue in our walk of faith due to the costs involved, (a) may we voice these concerns to the Lord [in prayer] like Abram did, and (b) see God graciously, powerfully edify our faith!

Lesson: In facing the fatigue of his faith due to pressures rising from past acts of faith, Abram was shown by God that handling these pressures was GOD'S responsibility ALONE to address in His OWN all-sufficiency!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

The Lord illustrated this message in our Sunday evening service this past week:

A believer that night came to the service with photographs of what several men in our Church had done to help her that day after a tree had fallen and damaged her house the previous Saturday. She had approached me Sunday morning to say, "Pastor, I need my Church family's help!" We had announced the need from the pulpit, and, after the service, several men from our Church who have been involved in construction work arrived at her home to cut up the tree and give her advice! One man promised to give her a repair estimate that she could show to the home insurance agent to speed up the repair work!

I was encouraged not only by her relief, but also by the way the men had come to her aid last Sunday of all Sundays, for that had been Father's Day. That is the day when family men like them normally get to stay home and be honored by their wives and children! Instead, they had given that up to help this believer in her time of need!

I saw in this whole matter an illustration of what our Heavenly Father does for us. When the trees of life in life's trials of faith crash down around us, and we are helpless to address their damages, like this woman did in coming to me with the request that "I need my Church family's help!" we, too, can call out to God as did Abram for our faith to be edified by the Lord. Then, like these men did, our Heavenly Father edifies us, coming to our aid to encourage our faith. He "passes between the parts" to encourage us as He did the patriarch, Abram, and He "goes before us in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night" as He did the nation Israel in the wilderness to provide sustenance and hope in building up our faith in our time of need.



If pressed in the life of faith, may we call unto God for His help, and watch Him wonderfully, sovereignly encourage us!