The life and faith of Abraham. Part 5 – Faith and righteousness. Genesis 15:1-21.

I wonder when you last experienced a wow

moment.

When did you last look at something and

think, "Wow." And And that sense of awe

come off in your in your mind.

Maybe you thought, "Wow." when you

looked at

the skill of of an artist. Maybe you

heard beautiful music or or saw a

painting or a sculpture and thought,

"Wow. What skill went into that? How

Look how that was crafted. Look at the

Look at the detail."

Perhaps you've looked up at the sky and

thought, "Wow. What an amazing sight

that is." Maybe it's a painted sunset

and the sun's reflecting just on the

clouds and you just think, "How

beautiful is that?"

Or maybe this week it was the a power of

a a thunderstorm like we had on on

Monday evening. Um where we where you

looked up and thought, "Wow.

Look at the power. Look at the Look at

the Look at the dramatics." Or or maybe

like our cats you were hiding inside.

But um

maybe like Abraham or Abram as he is

still called in Genesis 15.

You've looked up at the night sky and

you've seen the stars and you've

realized how vast it is and how small

you are. And you thought, "Wow. Isn't

Isn't God great? Isn't this universe

that he's created vast?

How is he mindful of someone like me

who's only only maybe four to six foot

tall? Some of us are taller. Maybe we

should say seven foot.

It It It

tall in a universe that is that's that's

that's light years and light years

across?"

Maybe you've looked up at the stars and

tried to count them.

Um there are about um

from from what from what I've read there

are about 9,100

individual stars that you can view with

a with a with a with a naked eye from

from Earth, uh depending on where you

are, of course. Um

you will see a roughly half of those at

any one time because of you can't see

you can't see the whole night sky.

Um

but this is actually only a small

fraction of the stars that there are.

Um there are there are hundreds of

billions of stars just in our galaxy.

And what you what we can see from Earth

with just our just our eyes without

without the aid of a telescope or

binoculars is actually um

I have to read the zeros here. 0.000002%

of the stars in the Milky Way.

When you look up and you see the stars,

you're only seeing a fraction of of

what's there.

And unlike us when we look up at the

stars, even though that can be a moment

of wow,

Abraham when Abraham looked up at the

stars, it was even greater because when

we look up, we see the stars, but

Abraham was having a conversation with

the Lord. The one who made the stars was

showing his handywork to Abraham as he

spoke.

What an amazing thing that is to think

about. The one who made them was

speaking to the one who's looking at

them.

Well, let's dive into this conversation

between the Lord and Abraham.

Um so, I've got Oh, by the way, this is

a this is a picture. Um this is supposed

to be all the stars that you could see

potentially with an with a naked eye

looking up. I'm not sure whereabouts

this is taken. I think it's northern

hemisphere, but this is um this is a a

picture of the stars.

So,

first the fir- our first point today is

fear not.

This conversation between the Lord and

Abraham happens um

happens after

after a a high point in Abraham's

journey. We've been talking about

Abraham's journey in this series in the

life of Abraham. And we and I think this

has come up in in every sermon that

we've heard so far, um whether it's been

Matt or or Richard and now me speaking

about it. We've been talking about

Abram's journey of faith.

And he's had highs.

He's been He's followed the Lord. He's

left his homeland. He's gone out.

Um he's humbly um allowed Lot to take

the best of the land.

Uh he's

called upon the Lord at various times in

his journey.

But he's also had lows, hasn't he?

Remember he went to He went to He went

down to Egypt. Um he put his wife Sarai

in harm's way to save his own skin.

Well, this conversation happens at what

we would probably say is a high point in

Abram's journey of faith.

We um if you were here last week, we um

we heard about

a high point. Um he Abram won a great

battle, didn't he? He uh he's gone and

he defeated all of these uh all of these

kings. He'd rescued Lot. He'd rescued

all of the prisoners who were taken.

Um and come back victorious.

And not only that, um but he has um

he had he he'd met this man Melchizedek,

the priest of priest of God, and he's uh

and he'd been blessed by Melchizedek,

and he's given he's given uh an offering

uh of of the spoils to to Melchizedek.

Abram seems to be on the up, doesn't he?

He seems to be on a high. He seems that

it seems maybe nothing can stop him.

He's the He's the force to be reckoned

with in the land.

And yet, the Lord comes and speaks to

him, and he says something perhaps we

don't expect him to say at this point.

He starts with, "Fear not, Abram."

Now, of all the times that you think

Abram might have might have been

fearful,

I don't think I would have thought this

would be one of them. I wouldn't have

thought this would be a time that Abram

would be needing the Lord to come to him

and say, "Fear not."

But, that's what he says.

You know, this is the first time

in the Bible where the Lord says,

"Fear not."

He'll go on to say it many times

throughout the Bible, but this is the

first time.

You know, the Lord knows us, doesn't he?

He knows exactly where our hearts are.

He knows exactly what we are feeling at

any given time.

And he knows what we need.

Sometimes, when we just come through a

spiritual high point or a spiritual

victory in our Christian walk,

we're not necessarily filled with

confidence.

Sometimes,

it can be fear that fills us.

What's going to happen next?

What happens if I mess up now? What

happens if things don't work out the way

I'm thinking?

Abram's been in the land for a number of

years,

and he's had these victories,

and yet there was one thing really

missing, and this thing was eating at

him.

He was getting older. We think he was

probably about somewhere between 80 and

85 at this point,

and he still had not had a son. And this

thing was eating at him because the Lord

had promised him that he would have an

inheritance. The Lord had promised him

that his family was going to was going

to grow, and he was going to have

descendants,

but yet he didn't have one descendant.

Perhaps Abram was wondering at this

point,

"Was it a mistake?

Should I have left my homeland? Should I

have started wandering around in the

wilderness following the Lord? Should I

have come to the land of Canaan?

Was it worth it?

Would I have just been better off

staying where I was?

Would life have been easier and more

simple? I mean, we wouldn't have had all

these battles. I wouldn't have had

conflict in my family between Lot and

myself.

When the Lord comes to him and says,

"Abram,

do you not fear?

I am your shield and your reward shall

be very great." He gives him two reasons

not to fear. One, "I will be your

shield." And secondly, "Your reward will

be very great."

You notice when the Lord says, "I will

be your shield."

He's not saying he's going to send

something to protect Abraham.

He's not saying he's going to give

Abraham Abraham a shield. But he himself

will be the shield.

The Lord himself is going to is going to

be protect Abraham in his journey.

Why? Why is this important? Because it's

personal to the Lord. His people are

personal to him. He is going to put

himself between Abraham and his enemies

and between Abraham and between and his

fears.

Like a like a tanky soldier, he puts

himself in the way of the enemy's blows

to protect his comrades. The Lord's

going to stand in. He's going to stand

there and he's going to be Abraham's

shield.

And that is what our Lord is going to is

going to be

We read Psalm 3 at the start of the

service where the Lord himself is a

shield to David.

When do we need the Lord to be our

shield?

Do you feel like you don't need a shield

today?

Well,

if you're a Christian, you need the Lord

to be your shield.

We are under We are under attack. Paul

says it it it in Ephesians chapter 6,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

"We do not wrestle against flesh and

blood, but against rulers, authorities,

cosmic powers over this present

darkness, against spiritual forces of

evil in the heavenly places. The

Christian life is a battle.

There are

there are spiritual forces against us if

we are seeking to follow the Lords.

We need a shield. We need the Lord to

stand between us and those who would do

us harm, those who would try and pull us

pull us down in our Christian life, who

would try and turn us away from the

Lord, those who would discourage us in

our walk.

We need the Lord to be our shield.

And he's going to be Abraham's shield

here.

But not only a shield, that's not the

only thing the Lord promises to hear,

but he also says, "Your reward will be

great." The Lord Abra- The Lord is going

to give Abraham a great rewards.

Uh and we're going to come to that in in

in a minute, but he's going to

ultimately give him a heritage, the

heritage that he's fearing, the one the

thing that he's he's worried about not

having. He's going to have

a son.

He will not have followed the Lord in

vain. It won't be in vain. This journey

that he's gone on will not be in vain.

The Lord's met with him and he's dealing

with Abraham's fears one by one.

Do you know that? Do you know something

of that when you follow the Lord that

sometimes he sometimes he leads us

places where we will be fearful?

But if we if we come and listen to what

he is saying, if we come and read his

promises in his word,

he deals with our fears. He says, "Look

to me.

I will be your shield. I'll be the one

who's I've one You are not following me

in vain. You are not running in vain.

This Christian life is worth it."

What does the Lord do to build up? He's

not doesn't just use words. What does he

use

after this? Well, he gives Abraham two

signs.

Um

and we'll get we'll dig into that, but

what follows after that verse that we've

just been looking at, verse one, is

a conversation, amazingly a conversation

between God and Abram. So far we've

we've read about it in in Abram's life.

We we've read about the Lord speaks to

Abram, and then Abram obeys. But in this

chapter, we have a conversation. There's

a back and a forth. There's the

The Lord speaks, and then Abram speaks.

Why why do we have this recorded?

Because the Lord he has delight in

hearing what Abram has to say.

The Lord initiates the conversation, and

he knows Abram's needs, he knows his

fears,

but yet

he lets Abra- Abram speak to him.

He has delight to hear what he's going

to say.

And what does Abram say in verse two? "O

Lord God, what will you give me? For I

continue childless, and the heir of my

house is Eliezer of Damascus."

And then he repeats almost the same the

same thing again

in verse three. "Behold, you have given

me no offspring, and a member of my

household will be my heir."

Abram's pouring out his heart to the

Lord.

I wonder if there was a gap between

verse two and verse three.

Maybe Abram Maybe maybe Abram was was

pausing and thinking.

Maybe he was crying.

This is This is something that mattered

so deeply to him.

And he repeats it again.

What use is the reward

when I'm childless? Whatever you give

me, Lord, will pass to a servant born in

my house. And that was the tradition in

in the Near East at that time. Um if if

someone dies without children, that

whoever was the chief amongst their

their um their household, whether that

was a servant or someone else, would um

receive the inheritance.

But the Lord assures Abram that he will

have his own son, and this will be his

reward in verse

4. This man, Eliezer of Damascus, will

not be your heir. Your very own son

shall be your heir.

And then the Lord gives Abram a sign,

doesn't he? The stars in heaven. He

brought him outside and said, "Look

toward heaven and number the stars if

you are able to number them."

So Abram goes goes outside and he looks

up at the stars and he and and and he's

and he's awed by them. That's like just

like just like we are.

Um I mean he he probably wouldn't be

suffering the effects of light pollution

as we do if we went outside on a clear

night in in Trowbridge. We're not going

to see as many stars. Um but Abram went

out and he looked up and and he saw all

these stars. And the Lord says, "So

shall your offspring be."

Not just one son, not just a small

number, a vast vast number of people are

going to come from your line.

And he gives him a sign.

Why does the Lord give him this sign?

Well,

the Lord gives signs because

we need reminding, don't we?

We when the Lord gives us a promise as

he gives to Abram here,

we are quick to forget the promises.

Um especially if we have to wait a long

time

um for them or we can't see them

straight away.

So the Lord gives Abram a sign.

He's probably got another

10 or 15 years to go until his son Isaac

is going to be born at this point.

And each time Abram went outside at

night and looked up and saw the stars,

he's going to be reminded of the Lord's

promise to him.

Even though he's not received the

promised son and he has to wait, the

stars would remind him of the promise

the Lord had made and his faith would be

strengthened and he would be assured

that the Lord is going to do this thing,

even though he has to wait.

You know, the Lord gives us similar

signs to help us strengthen our faith.

We don't look up at the stars and and

and think God's promised me X, Y and Z

through looking at the stars, but the

Lord's still giving us signs to help us

strengthen be strengthened in our faith

in the promises that he's given.

Hope and I were had the privilege of

going to a baptism last Sunday and

baptism

is a sign

of what's happening in somebody's heart.

It's a sign that somebody

has as has repented of their sin and put

their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and

their sin has been washed away.

They become a new creation in Christ.

Something has changed on the inside that

you can't see, but baptism is a sign

that you can see on the outside that

reminds you something has changed on the

inside.

We have communion here about every 2

weeks

and communion is a sign, isn't it? When

we come together and we have the bread

and we have the wine,

it's a sign that we have fellowship with

our Lord Jesus Christ, that we're united

together with him. That when he died on

the cross, he died on our behalf and

when he rose,

it he's he's it's it's the it's the

first fruits, it's the promise that we

are going to rise again and as we eat

together and as we remember him,

we are remembering that one day we are

going to be with him.

It's a sign, isn't it? It's something to

remind us of something that's not yet

fulfilled. One day we will be with him.

To make it a bit wider, each Christian

is themselves a sign. When you can see

the work of the Lord working in

somebody's heart, when you can see

things changing, maybe dramatically,

maybe very slowly over time,

it's a sign that God is at work in the

life

um and the lives of people, in lives of

men and women and boys and girls,

changing them.

He's able to work in the lives of

people, bringing them into his kingdom

and transforming them into the likeness

of his son.

These signs help us remember

the things that we can't see and the

things that are yet to come. When we see

them, we're encouraged.

So, what happens

after after Abraham receives a sign in

verse in verse six?

We read,

"He, Abraham, believed the Lord, and he,

the Lord, counted it to him as

righteousness."

And this is such a key verse in here, in

this passage.

He, Abraham, believed the Lord. What

does it mean when it says Abraham

believed the Lord? Well,

it means he took him at his word,

doesn't it? It means that when the Lord

said, "You're going to have a son,"

Abraham said, "I believe you."

And it stands in stark contrast, doesn't

it, to

the account that we have not very many

uh pages earlier in the

um right back in Genesis chapter three.

There we read about

sin entering the world,

um Adam and Eve were in the Garden of

Eden, the serpent comes and he says to

Eve, "Did God say?"

And she believed

the serpent, the creature, over the

creator, over the Lord.

Didn't believe what the Lord had said.

And Adam, he followed in he followed in

her footsteps.

But here

is a reversal of that, isn't it?

The Lord says it, and Abraham believes.

And what happens in verse six?

Abraham believed God, and the Lord

counted it to him as righteousness.

Now, we're not going to we we it's as as

as so much in this verse, we're only

going to start taking the taking the

first layer wrapping off, I think, this

morning. But we're not to think that

this was the moment when Abraham was

was justified, when when things changed

for for Abraham, when his sin was dealt

with. But

we we've read at this point of

Abraham's life, we've we've read about

Abraham believing God, we've read about

him following the Lord,

doing what the Lord's told him to do.

We've read read about him perhaps going

away from the Lord,

not acting very wisely. So, he's he's

had this sort of whole spectrum of his

life so far. But at this point,

Abra- Abraham is believing the Lord when

he's given the promise, and when he sees

the sign of the stars in heaven.

What are we to make of this?

Well, I think here Abraham has already

believed God.

And as he is

as he is seeing in heaven the sign of

the stars, and he's looking up, his

faith is strengthened.

He's assured in of his standing before

the Lord.

And the the Lord

has is is calling him righteous despite

all of his many many failings.

When we make use of the signs the Lord

has given us. We were talking about

signs a few minutes ago. When we make

use of the signs the Lord has given us,

our faith is strengthened, isn't it? And

we receive assurance.

When we come together and we have

communion, if we use that time to recall

and that sign to recall our savior's

dying for us,

our being united to him,

and to remember that he's coming back.

It strengthens our faith, doesn't it? It

strengthens

us and it assures us of God's promises.

And that's what's happening here.

Abraham believed God and something

extraordinary happens.

The Lord counts Abraham's belief as

righteousness to him.

A small sentence with a big impact.

Righteousness means

being morally correct or upright in

one's actions.

But Abraham wasn't always morally

correct, was he?

Was he always upright in his actions?

Uh I think Sarai would disagree with

him, wouldn't she? Um for one, uh when

when when he uh lied about her being his

wife and and she ended up being taken

into Pharaoh's court and all that all of

that all of that sorry uh

uh sorry story that we that we heard

about a couple of chapters ago.

No, Abraham wasn't always

righteous in his own dealings, in his

own thoughts, and in his own actions.

But God declares Abraham is righteous.

How can he do that? What does he mean?

Paul gives a a a

a a commentary on this very passage in

Romans chapter 4. I'll read a small a

Romans 4 · chapter mention

short section, but really the whole of

Romans 4 is really thinking

about this passage um from from Genesis

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15.

In Romans chapter 4, I'll put it up on

Romans 4 · chapter mention

the screen for you. Romans chapter 4 and

Romans 4 · chapter mention

verse um 20 to 24, um

I'll just read it cuz I can't say it any

better.

No belief made him and that is Abraham

wait waiver concerning the promise of

God, but he grew strong in his faith as

he gave glory to God.

Fully convinced that God was able to do

what he had promised.

That is why his faith was counted to him

as righteousness.

But the words it was counted to him were

not written for his sake alone, but for

ours also. It will be counted to us who

believe in him who raised from the dead

Jesus our Lord.

What's Paul saying in Romans chapter 4?

Romans 4 · chapter mention

He's saying Abraham was fully convinced

that God was able to do what he has

promised. And his faith was counted to

him as righteousness.

Righteousness was given to Abraham.

Not earned. Abraham was not righteous

because of what he'd done. He was not

righteous because his good outweighs his

bad. He was righteous because the Lord

God said, "Abraham is righteous. I

assign righteousness to Abraham. He is

mine.

And despite his failings, he is

righteous. When I look on him, I see

good."

Paul takes this and applies it in that

verse that we just got up on the screen.

When we

repent and believe in Jesus' death and

resurrection, God also counts us as

righteous.

Not for anything we've done, not because

our good outweighs our bad, not because

we've lived a good life or we're going

to live a good life from this point on

or the Lord sees some potential in us.

No, simply because we believed in the

Lord Jesus Christ. It's just like

Abraham believed the promise. We believe

the promise that God has given that

whoever believes on the Lord Jesus

Christ shall not perish, but have

everlasting life.

What an amazing truth that is.

What an amazing truth that God can just

make us

righteous. He can change our standing

before him.

I wonder if Abram thought for the rest

of his life looking up at the stars,

the Lord the Lord declared I was

righteous. On that night when I was

stood somewhere in the in the wilderness

or in the land of Canaan just out in

camp, I looked up at the stars and the

Lord said to me, "Abram, you are

righteous."

And he gave him a promise.

He remembered that night. He remembered

um he remembered the the promises that

he received and the covenant that we're

going to read about in a minute. He

remembered these things.

And he reflected on them. And these

would have been such an encouragement to

his soul.

If you're a Christian, do you reflect on

the promises that you've read in the

Lord's words? Do you reflect on those

promises and those times when

the word spoke to you? When you read

God's word and it hit you so hard

because you knew this is the truth.

Do you ever think on that and be

encouraged in your heart?

Coming back to this idea of communion

which I talked about a couple of times

already, one of the main reasons to have

communion together regularly is to

reflect on what the Lord has done,

express our gratitude to him

as our savior and recommit ourselves to

him as our Lord. It's that point when

we're reflecting on what he's done and

that builds our faith. That encourages

our faith.

Well, I said there'd be two signs and

we've only talked about one sign. What's

the second sign?

Well,

straight after this section in verse

seven,

we have almost the same pattern again.

The Lord gives Abram a promise this time

in verse seven.

I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur

of the Chaldeans to give you this land

to possess.

And straight away Abraham says,

"O Lord God, how am I to know that I

will possess it?" We got the same

pattern again.

The Lord gives Abraham a promise, and

Abraham says,

"But Lord,

I can't see the promise. How am I going

to know that this is going to happen?"

And again, the Lord gives him another

sign. The sign this time is a sign of a

covenant.

And that's our last point this morning,

which is

a one-sided covenant. A one-sided

covenant.

God makes a covenant with Abraham as a

sign.

A formal, binding agreement between

himself and Abraham.

Now, we live in a world where we have

covenants today. Um we might call them

covenants, we might call them we might

call them contracts.

Um they are a big business today.

Lawyers make billions each year

producing contracts and covenants

between different people and different

companies and different organizations.

Why are these contracts made? Well,

because they bring certainty, don't

they?

Normally, they bring certainty when

people find it difficult to trust each

other. Um and they need to know that

this person's going to do what they

said. And if they don't, there's going

to be some consequence.

Isn't it staggering here that the Lord

God chooses to bind himself in a

covenant, in a contract, with Abraham.

Abraham was asking for certainty in

verse 8. How can I know that I'm going

to possess the land, he says. And God

takes seriously his needs for certainty.

God takes seriously the need that we

have for certainty. He doesn't just ask

us to believe with a with a blind faith.

He uh he he takes seriously the need

that we have for

for assurance, for knowing that what he

said will come to pass. And here, he

does this by making a promise with

Abram.

We we Today we would make a covenant

normally between two parties,

um and it might be for a variety of

things. It might be for

um buying and selling a house. And

normally a solicitor has to draw up the

contract. Um it might be full of

impenetrable legalities that you don't

understand, but you have to sign it

anyway, otherwise you're never going to

get to sell your house or buy your

house.

And

you sign it.

And you read all of it. It's quite scary

because there's all these conditions in

there that you have to fulfill. And you

think, "How will I ever How I I hope I

don't have to fulfill some of these

conditions cuz they sound quite scary,

and I don't really know what some of

them even mean." And well, maybe maybe

you do. Maybe it's just me. But

there there are conditions, aren't

there, in in in in any contracts? You

have to keep your side of the bargain.

And if you don't, there will be

penalties. That might be that you get

that that there'll be something imposed

on you. Uh you might have to pay a fine.

Uh you might have something taken away

that you would otherwise have. There are

conditions, and there are penalties for

not keeping it.

And they're normally written on a bit of

paper, like you said, in very small very

small print, and there's space for you

to sign at the bottom.

In Abram's time, one way of making a

covenant was not with a piece of paper

with lots and lots of tiny writing on,

but one way of doing it was

what we have described here in this in

this chapter. And it sounds a bit

gruesome, but this is this was the this

was the practice of the time.

Someone would take an animal, or in this

case multiple animals, and they would

divide the animal They killed the

animal, and they divided it in two. And

the two people who were making the who

were making the covenant would walk

together through the carcass of the dead

animal. Does anyone fancy doing that?

No, I don't fancy it either, but that

was the that was the practice of of of

the day. And the picture was really

clear. The picture was this.

You're saying I'm going to keep my side

of the bargain, otherwise I'm going to

end up like one of these animals.

So, it was pretty clear the picture. It

was saying I'm promising on my life that

I will fulfill my promise.

And you normally the two people doing it

as I said, they would walk through

together, both of them together.

In this picture here, we have

in verse 17,

do you have do you have the animals cut

in two?

Abraham well,

he's falling asleep. We'll talk come

back to that.

And we have a smoking fire pot uh or

fire and a flaming torch passing between

these pieces.

This is the Lord. This is God giving a

sign to Abraham saying, I'm making a

covenant. But where's Abraham?

He's asleep. He's not He's not part of

it. In fact, he is is like he fell

asleep before the signing ceremony even

began. He's not involved in it.

The Lord alone passed through the

pieces. And this is really really

significant. This covenant that the

Lord's making with Abraham to give him

the land to fulfill his promises this

promise

was guaranteed by the Lord

regardless of what Abraham did. It was

unconditional.

It was one-sided. Abraham's descendants

were guaranteed to inherit the land, and

he was going to have descendants because

you can't inherit the land without

having the descendants.

And Abraham

doesn't have any conditions to fulfill

here.

It was a one-sided covenant or a

unilateral covenant.

Abraham had to do nothing except say,

"Yes,

I'm Abraham.

This promise applies to me."

You know what? We have such covenants in

our in our in our um society now.

A single-sided covenant. Um

if you've ever

um

if you've ever been a recipient of of of

of of anything in somebody's will, that

is a single-sided covenant. The The

person who made the will formally

committed to leave something, um whether

it's money or property or something

else, to named relatives and or or our

friends, and they don't have to do

anything except say, "Yes, I'm that

person. This promise applies to me."

They The promise is one-sided, and the

Lord makes this promise, he's going to

keep it. It's not conditional on

anything that Abraham does.

When Jesus met with his disciples in the

upper room before his last meal, before

he was going to be arrested and

crucified, he took this cup of wine, and

he said, "This cup is poured out for

you, and is the new covenant in my

blood."

In this new covenant

Jesus is making with his disciples, this

new promise,

which we remember in communion, he was

promising for them to be part of his

kingdom. He says to them, "I assign to

you, as my father assigned to you, a

kingdom." That's the promise. "And you

may eat and drink at my table in my

kingdom."

Were there conditions?

No. This was an unconditional covenant.

There was nothing the disciples had to

do beyond believing what Jesus was

telling them.

So, the question is, have you believed

what the Lord has promised to you? Have

you believed what the Lord Jesus Christ

says? That he says

that he that that he has died, and that

he has risen

again for you and that one day you will

be with him.

Have you accepted that promise? Are you

like like Abraham, it's a one-way

covenant. All you have to do is say

"Yes, Lord.

I believe.

I believe you. I believe what you have

said."

And one day you'll be with him in his

kingdom.

We've looked at Abraham's journey of

faith today, how the Lord brought him

out from a place of fear to a place of

faith.

And how his faith was strengthened by

the signs that God has given.

And that how God made that unconditional

promise

to him.

Where I don't know where each one of you

are on your journey of faith. We're all

we're all in a in a in different places.

But have you believed the Lord's

promises? When you read the Bible, does

it apply to you? Do you know something

of the reality of this in your life?

I pray that we would each find more

strength

um and be assured of what the Lord has

promised as we read his word, as we

think upon it, and as we talk about him

uh later. Let's just pray and then we're

going to close with a couple of hymns.

Father, we thank you for the promises

that you've made in your words. Great

and precious they are that you've you've

you've just given them to us, Lord, and

Lord, you don't have to make these

promises. You don't have to have bound

yourself by any promise like you bound

yourself by promise to Abraham.

But yet, Lord, you choose to. You choose

to do that. So, you give us assurance

in our faith, to give us certainty, to

give us

things that we can we can rely upon and

and things that can strengthen us so

that we're not just

leaping into the dark. We are

we are We are trusting in the things

that you've said, and we're trusting in

your past faithfulness, and we're

trusting in the things that you've given

us to remind us of your faithfulness.

Lord, if we don't If we've never trusted

you before, Lord,

Lord, would you Would you prompt us

that this is so important that we do

trust

you, that we come to you.

We turn away from sin.

We turn away from all the things that um

that that you don't like, all the

unrighteousness, all the things that go

take us away from you and your perfect

character and your perfect truth.

And that we come to you and say, "Lord,

I have nothing, but you promise that the

one who comes to you, you will not send

away."

Lord, help us to to to cling onto the

promises like this that you have made

and to praise you for it.

In Jesus' name, amen.

We're going to sing a couple of hymns um

as we come to the end of our service

here.

Greater is thy faithfulness. Uh and then

the second hymn, uh

Christus Victor.

Please stand as the band begin to play.