The Old Testament as a Story of God’s Relentless Love | Rev. Michael Fredericks

As we are approaching Easter,

it's time to start really focusing our

attention as a church on Jesus and the

events of that weekend.

But in our series that we are on, what

Christians believe, we haven't even left

the book of Genesis yet.

So this morning, believe it or not, we

are going to cover the entire rest of

the Old Testament in one sermon. So, I

hope that you brought a blanket and a

pillow and a snack.

All right. Got a couple of chairs here

that I'm going to use to help illustrate

uh the message this morning.

And uh this is uh not this is I'm this

is not an original idea to me. I've seen

this illustration used before. I have

adapted it. Um but I think that this is

going to help us uh frame what we're

talking about today. So, let me start by

saying this. I got a loose screw here.

So, hopefully this chair doesn't fall

apart on us. Um, although this chair

represents people, so it's okay if it

falls apart. This one represents God.

So, this one needs to stay together.

Okay. So, this chair represents God.

This chair represents people. Now, let

me say a little bit about how we

typically, a lot of us typically

understand sort of the story of God and

humanity. So we have in the beginning

God

uh creates the heavens and the earth and

he creates people in his image. Uh and

we've already talked a lot about that in

previous messages. And so God and people

are living in this garden of Eden, this

face toface reality. God intended us to

have fellowship with him for eternity.

This was his will. This is all good,

wonderful. God and man together. But of

course there's a problem and that is

that man sins.

And so in our sin we reject God. We say

we want to go our own way. We in essence

turn our backs on God. Say we want to go

this way. And so what we typically or a

lot of us maybe and certainly kind of

how I kind of have understood God in

these scenarios when I was growing up um

was that well when we sin like that, God

is so holy and he cannot look upon our

sin. He is too holy for that. And so God

in a way turns his back on us. And we

have this break in the relationship

between God and man. And the solution to

that is on us to repent of our sins and

turn back to God with our tail between

our legs and ask his forgiveness and his

mercy. And then God in his mercy and

grace turns his face back towards us and

relationship is restored. Okay. So

that's one way of sort of framing the

gospel story. Um, but there's another

way of framing it which I don't know if

it's better. I mean, it's just

different. It's a different way of of

thinking about it and that's what I

really want to talk about today. So we

have we'll start again. So in the

beginning, God creates the heavens and

the earth and he creates people in his

image designed for fellowship with him

forever. And we are put in this garden

and the idea is that we will live in

perfect harmony with God forever. But of

course people commit sins and turn their

backs on God and say we want to do it

our own way Lord. So then the question

is what happens next? What is God's

response to man's sin? Is it that he

then turns his back on us? I want to say

that maybe we need to rethink that.

Maybe what actually happens in that

scenario is not that God then turns his

back on us, but that God then pursues

man

>> and he himself initiates the restoration

of the relationship.

Doesn't mean that we have no role to

play. It doesn't mean we shouldn't

repent of our sins and ask forgiveness,

but that God is the one who takes the

first step. God pursues. Man sins and

God pursues.

>> Amen.

And this is what I see happening all

throughout the Old Testament.

The whole story of God's people

generation after generation. They they

turn away from God and he pursues them

again.

Sometimes we think about the God of the

Old Testament and we don't like the God

of the Old Testament. I hope that today

that you will see that the God of the

Old Testament is the same God who is

Jesus. And the love of God is as fully

on display in the old as it is in the

new.

So why would God do that? Why would God

pursue us even though we sin? Why

wouldn't God just say, "Okay, you don't

want me then the heck with all of you

and I'll just destroy you all." Why

would he then say, "No, no, I love you

and I'm going to pursue you." Because he

in his very nature is love. We've talked

about that, too, when we talked about

the trinity. God is three. God is

community. He is love in his very

nature. He can't help but love and

pursue us.

The core of his very being is love. The

word that's used in the Old Testament,

the Hebrew word for love, that the love

of God is

in the New Testament, the sort of

equivalent is the word agape, which is

the Greek word for love. One of the

Greek words for love.

Is translated as steadfast love. It's

the deepest kind of love. It's

unconditional

love.

And uh author Jerry Brashier's

says this about hessed. He said, "Hed in

essence summarizes the entire history of

God's covenantal relationship with

Israel. Hessed is God's loving kindness.

The consistent, ever faithful,

relentless,

constantly pursuing,

lavish, extravagant,

unrestrained,

oneway love of God.

God is

constantly pursuing

>> with this unrestrained

reckless kind of love for us.

Hassid

of of 2004

was my summer of love. I've talked about

that before. This was the summer that

Julia and I met and fell in love.

summer of 2004. And that summer started

with me actually um pursuing a different

girl.

And uh she was a friend of mine. She

actually had a boyfriend, believe it or

not. Scandalous. But I didn't like her

boyfriend. I thought she should be

dating me instead. And so we would we

would go to church together and uh me

and my and my friend who I was pursuing,

we would share a hembook together and

and sing the songs together, sit up

front and everyone was watching us

going, "Oh, I wonder if they're going to

end up together." And uh and Julia also

was watching and uh she was watching

from the other side of the church. She

had just started coming to our church

with her her brother who was who

attended our church. And uh and I hadn't

really noticed her at all. Um, but she

had noticed me. She had her eye on me.

Um, and uh, so when that uh, attempt at

a relationship with this other person

didn't work out, thankfully didn't work

out. It wasn't meant to be. Um, then uh,

she was like, "Okay, now is my chance."

And so she asked her brother, this was

her first move, she asked her brother,

uh, to uh to reach out to me and and

kind of get my attention uh, with

regards to his sister. So he did. He

said, "Hey, uh, Michael, have you

noticed my sister, uh, Julia, who's been

coming to our church?" And, and I didn't

really think anything of it. Oh, no, no,

maybe I'll get a chance to meet her

sometime. And kind of brush it off.

Didn't I was not clueing in as to what

was happening. Um, but she didn't give

up. And so, that summer I was working at

the drive-in movie theater down in the

valley, and it was pretty cool job,

actually, working at the drive-in

theater. And uh and so one night I was

working at the box office as people were

pulling up and uh this car pulls up and

it's Julia and her friends and uh and

her friends uh came to see the movie and

she came to see me which I didn't know.

Uh but again this I I was oblivious.

This pursuit continued. Um and I didn't

get she didn't get my attention

unfortunately. Um and uh but so then she

was working that summer at a Bible camp

and so she's like maybe I can get his

attention if if he comes up to this

Bible camp and so uh she actually called

me on the telephone. Remember those days

when we would call people on an old

physical phone and so she did that

somehow she got my number and she called

me and invited me to come up to do music

for a night at their camp because they

didn't have anyone to lead music. So I

said sure I can do that. So, I packed

put my guitar in my car and drove up to

Blomin Bible Camp and uh what's called

Truth for Youth Bible Camp at that time.

And uh and I had a little worship set

with the teens that were there at camp

and and uh everyone was uh worshiping

God and Julia was worshiping me. No, no,

that's not that's not true. That's

that's an exaggeration. But anyway, I

again I did she I didn't really notice

her. I didn't strike up a convers

anything. So, I'm leaving. I'm putting

my my my guitar in the trunk of my car

and getting ready to leave. And I think

Julia is thinking in her heart, this is

my last chance.

She's shaking her head. No. Um but she's

think this is my last shot. This is my

one last attempt. If I if if he gets in

that car and drives away, he's driving

out of my life forever.

And so what do I notice but in the

distance? this girl running across the

field. Do you have something to say?

>> Can Julia tell her?

>> She asked if Julia could tell her

version of the

>> This is my platform.

Anyway, so Julia's running across. It's

like slow motion, you know, and uh and

then she runs up to me and catching her

breath and says,

"Do she?" Then the first word she ever

said to me besides that phone call was,

"Do you know who I am?"

And I said, "Um, actually, no. I'm

sorry. I was so bad." Uh and uh and so

she introduced herself and then and then

from then on from that moment on it was

like okay I need to pay attention to

this girl. She finally got my attention.

Here's the point.

Um the point is that she kept up the

pursuit until I finally woke up and my

eyes were opened and I gave in. She just

wouldn't stop the pursuit of me.

I guess I'm worth it, you know.

Anyway, um but this is what God has been

doing. This is what God has been doing

with humanity for thousands of years.

We He pursues and maybe he gets our

attention, maybe he doesn't, but he

doesn't stop pursuing. He just keeps on

pursuing us. His pursuit of loving

relationship with us is expressed in the

Old Testament in the history of Israel

leading up to Jesus through a series of

covenants. And this is what we're going

to be talking about today. Uh part seven

of our series is covenant.

And I'm framing it

in the sense of covenants are a way that

God shows his pursuit of us.

Covenant is not something that we talk

about much to be honest. uh but in our

culture and our society but it is a huge

a huge thread running through our

Bibles.

Theologian DA Carson says the Old

Testament is a drama of unfolding

covenants.

A covenant is a is a usually formal

solemn and binding agreement. It's like

a contract but it's deeper than a

contract. It's more relational. It's not

just transactional.

It's a contract with a personal element.

It's like an ongoing partnership that

you're agreeing to. The only thing in

our culture we usually refer to as a

covenant is what?

>> Marriage, right? We talk about marriage

as a covenant or at least it's supposed

to be a covenant. Unfortunately, to

many, marriage is more like a contract,

but it is supposed to be a sacred

covenant.

Covenants have promises and obligations

that both sides are expected to keep.

Promises and obligations.

In the Bible, God makes covenants with

various people at various times. And

here's a chart that I've created here

that kind of outlines the the four uh

covenants of the Old Testament plus the

New Covenant. Some people would say that

there's as many as eight covenants in

the Bible, but I think that's a stretch.

There's really four that are are the

main four covenants, these moments that

God makes these agreements with people.

So, I just want to really focus on these

as a way to frame the entire Old

Testament. Okay? So, it starts the first

covenant that God makes with people is

with Noah. It's called the Noeic

covenant. We can read about that in

Genesis 9. And this is after the flood,

after God has destroyed the world and

and rescued just Noah and his family.

And uh and he makes a promise to Noah.

He says, "I will never destroy the world

by flood again." And that allows for

human race to flourish. This is the

nature of God's promise in the Noeic

covenant. And what is man's obligation?

Usually there's there's two both part

there's promises and obligations. But in

this case, in the Noic covenant, there's

no obligation for man. There's no I will

do that as long as No, none of that.

It's just a one-sided agreement promise

from God. Makes a covenant with Noah.

And the sign of that covenant, there's

usually a sign, something to signify it,

and the sign is the rainbow in the sky.

So that's the Noeic covenant. Then we

have in the story the Tower of Babel. Uh

and then after that, the main key plot

point in the story of the people of

Israel is the beginning of the nation of

Israel with a man named Abraham or Abram

uh starting in Genesis 12.

And God makes a covenant with this man.

He he calls him out of this foreign

country. And he says,"Abram,"

this is the Abrahamic covenant. He says,

"I'm going to give you I'm going to make

a promise to you. I'm going to give you

descendants. A great nation will come

from your bloodline and I'm going to

give you a land where you will live and

your people will live and dwell in the

land and I'm going to bless the whole

world through you. So, so people

descendants a land and a promise to

bless the whole world through him. This

is the promise of the Abrahamic

covenant. And what is man's obligation

in that? It's to be faithful to him.

And the sign of that is sacrifice and

circumcision.

That's the story of Abraham. Then we

have Abraham. He has a son, Isaac. It's

a long story. Uh and we're going to talk

a little bit more about Abraham's

covenant in a moment, but uh uh he has a

son, Isaac. Isaac has a son, Jacob. We

had a whole sermon series on the life of

Jacob. And then Jacob has 12 sons who

become the 12 tribes of Israel. And his

son Joseph uh ends up in Egypt. You may

recall that story as well with the coat

of many colors. He ends up in Egypt and

eventually the whole people of Israel

end up in Egypt because of famine in the

land. And so they're displaced from this

land that God had promised to them. And

then many years pass, centuries past and

and the people of uh the people of

Israel that are in Egypt become enslaved

to Pharaoh. And God raises up a new

person, Moses, uh to lead the people of

Israel out of Egypt. You recall that

story from the book of Exodus. And they

have this exodus from Egypt through the

wilderness through the parting of the

Red Sea. And then they're in the

wilderness for 40 years. And during that

time that the people of Israel are in

the wilderness on their way to the

promised land, the land that God had

promised to Abraham, uh God makes a new

another covenant with Moses. And this is

called the Mosaic covenant. Also

sometimes called the law. Right? This is

where Moses goes up onto Mount Si. He

comes down with the two tablets of the

Ten Commandments. But there's not just

the Ten Commandments. There's all kinds

of laws, 600 and some laws that make up

the law of the Mosaic covenant. And so

God promises the the the people of

Israel through the mediator Moses that

he will be their God. He will provide

for them. He will protect them. He will

bless their nation that they are going

to create. And their obligation in that

covenant is to keep the law, obey the

law that God commands.

And the sign of that covenant is the

Passover.

So then uh they're in the wilderness.

Moses dies and uh Joshua is his

successor to lead the nation and Joshua

leads the people of Israel into the

promised land. They capture the land uh

take it over and uh and begin to expand

as a nation. The nation is ruled by a

people called judges. There's a book in

that book of judges that tells that

story. It uh mostly doesn't go well. Uh

the people continually sin and God

raises up a new judge to to rule them

and lead them. Uh and so eventually the

people say, "We want a king. Every other

country has a king. Why can't we have a

king?" And God says, "I'm going to be

your king. Won't you just let trust me?"

And they say, "No, we want a king." So

God says, "Okay, fine. Fine, you

stubborn people." And he provides a king

for them, King Saul, who leads them. And

Saul is a pretty rotten king. It doesn't

work out. And so then God raises up a

new person to replace King Saul. And

this is a little shepherd boy named

David, the youngest of his brothers, the

David who goes on to kill Goliath with a

stone and a sling. You've heard that

story perhaps, David and Goliath. And so

David uh God makes a promise to him he

will become the king. So he does

eventually that's a long story too.

Again we're reading we're summarizing

the entire Old Testament here. Okay. So

we're we're kind of you know David does

this yada yada yada he becomes the king.

Um and uh and then at one point God

makes a covenant with David. He makes

this solemn agreement with King David

through David to the nation of Israel.

And the promise is this in the Davidic

covenant that God will establish a king

in the line of David forever. Forever.

And that is in essence a messianic

promise because the Jewish people

understood that the Messiah would come

in the line of David for the throne of

David.

And so this is the promise of God. And

so man's obligation in that covenant is

to worship him.

and that they build a temple for that

purpose and uh and the the sign is the

throne.

So then King David lives a long life. Uh

he's uh successful till he isn't till he

sins and messes up. Um but then his son

from this mess up is Solomon and Solomon

becomes the king. Solomon is not a great

king. He's is in some ways but he isn't

isn't in other ways. And uh then there's

a whole series of bad kings and

eventually the nation of Israel uh

divides into two. They become disunified

under these bad kings. And so the

northern tribes become known as the

nation of Israel and the southern two

tribes become known as the nation of

Judah. Israel in the north, Judah in the

south. Two separate divided countries.

Um and in this period of time there are

prophets that are raised up. And so when

you read in the Bible the books of

prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

Daniel, Hosea and all these books uh in

the Old Testament, these are the

prophets that are raised up in this time

and in the time that follows that. And

so what happens is the nation of Israel

becomes weaker and weaker as under bad

leadership and uh and under this

division. And the kingdoms of the north

are conquered by the Assyrian Empire and

the people of Israel go into exile. And

then the people of Judah hang on a

little bit longer, but then eventually

they're conquered by the Babylonian

Empire. And then they people of Judah go

into exile in Babylon. And so everything

has fallen apart. It's terrible. Um, and

this is seen as God's judgment on the

nation for their failure to keep the

covenant. They failed to keep the

covenant. So God lifts his blessing and

protection from them and they are

exiled. But eventually in God's mercy

again, he won't let them go. He just

keeps pursuing them. You know, some of

us long long before this would have

said, "Enough with these stubborn

people. I'm done. I'm going to pick a

new country or something, right? A new

people or I'm whatever." But God said,

"No, I'm not done with them. Yes, they

drive me crazy. Yes, they're annoying.

Yes, they keep disobeying me, but I'm

not going to stop pursuing them." And

so, in his mercy, he returns them to

Judah, and they start to rebuild. And

that's what the books of Ezra and

Nehemiah are about as they rebuild the

temple and rebuild the walls of the city

and enter back into a period of God's

blessing over them. Um that's known as

the second temple period as they rebuild

the temple.

Uh and that eventually leads us into the

time period just before the New

Testament uh when the Roman Empire

conquers the land and occupies it. And

uh and then a little baby is born. And

that's the beginning of the New

Testament. So there we go. There's the

entire Old Testament summarized in like

I don't know, seven or eight minutes.

Okay.

Did you get all that? Good. There's a

test at the end.

During this time of exile

uh when Israel was in foreign lands and

the people were experiencing the

consequence of not remaining faithful to

the covenant, God raised up this prophet

named Jeremiah.

Jeremiah

and Jeremiah declares God's promise of a

new covenant, a new covenant. And we can

read that in Jeremiah 31

which says this,

"Behold,

the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel and the house of Judah,

not like the covenant that I made with

their fathers on the day when I took

them by the hand to bring them out of

the land of Egypt.

my covenant that they broke,

though I was their husband, declares the

Lord. But this is the covenant that I

will make with the house of Israel after

those days, declares the Lord. I will

put my law within them, and I will write

it on their hearts, not on two tablets

of stone, but on their hearts. It'll be

a different kind of law.

Uh, I will put my law, and I will be

their God, and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his

neighbor and each his and each his

brother, saying, "Know the Lord, for

they shall know me from the least of

them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity, their

sins, and I will remember their sin no

more."

Wow. So God promises a new covenant.

Something new is coming. a new covenant

that makes it possible for the sin

problem that Hudson so eloquently spoke

about last Sunday. The sin problem to be

dealt with forever. This new covenant

will be different.

And the New Testament

tells us very clearly that Jesus Christ

has now established this new covenant.

>> He is the mediator of this new covenant.

Jeremiah's prophecy that we just read is

quoted directly in the New Testament

book of Hebrews.

And in the book of Hebrews chapter 8,

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

this is where it's quoted. Um, we're not

going to read it again, but just before

that quote, starting in verse 6, it says

this.

Uh as it is, Christ has obtained a

ministry that is as much more excellent

than the old as the covenant he mediates

is better since it is enacted on better

promises.

For if that first covenant had been

faultless, there would have been no

occasion to look for a second. And then

he goes on and quotes from Jeremiah.

Three quick notes about what we see in

these two verses. One, it's the first

time that the Mosaic covenant, that's

the covenant that the author of Hebrews

has in mind here. It's the first time

that the Mosaic covenant, the law is

called old.

It's called the old covenant.

Okay. Second thing to note, it

highlights that Jesus is the mediator.

It says the covenant that he mediates.

So, every covenant has a mediator. The

new covenant is mediated through Jesus.

He's the person through whom the promise

is given. The third thing to note is it

tells us that the first covenant, the

Mosaic covenant in this case, had

faults. It wasn't faultless. It had

faults. And the new is much more

excellent and better.

How is the new better? Well, we can read

it all through the pages of the New

Testament. The new is so much better.

The old demanded works, right? We had

obligations we had to keep in these

covenants with God. But the new in the

new, it's not based on our works. It's

based on God's work. The work has

already been completed. It demands only

faith.

In the old covenant, it required the

sacrifice of animals, the blood of

animals over and over again. But in the

new covenant, the blood of Christ covers

once and for all. In the old covenant,

we can't keep it. and it leads to and

therefore it leads to spiritual bondage

and death. But in the new covenant, it's

a free gift of grace that leads to

freedom and life.

So then in in back to Hebrews, he the

author here quotes Jeremiah 31. But then

listen to what it says in verse 13. In

speaking of a new covenant, he makes the

first one obsolete. And what is becoming

obsolete and growing old is ready to

vanish away.

So, not only has the new come, but it

the old is gone,

right? The old has been fulfilled. It's

completed. It's been wrapped up. That

story is over.

And not just speaking here about the

Mosaic covenant, but all of the

covenants of the Old Testament find

their completion in Christ.

Whitney Woolard says this, "God

preserved the world through Noah,

initiated redemption through Abraham,

established the nation of Israel through

Moses, promised an eternal shepherd king

through David, and then fulfilled all

his covenants through Jesus."

>> Amen.

>> So, that's an overview of the covenants.

You can see throughout is Israel's

history God pursuing them. Though they

turn their back on him, though they

break the covenant, though they don't

keep up their end of the bargain, God

nevertheless says, "Well, you know what?

I'm just going to hunt you down and I'm

going to make another covenant and we're

going to keep going." And then the

people break that one and say, "Ah, God,

we're going to go our own way." And God

says, "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET." And

he makes another covenant. And he keeps

going until finally he says, "You know

what? Let's make a new one al together.

>> This is God's hed love.

>> Yes.

>> So I think that's a really simple and

beautiful way to to summarize the meta

narrative of the entire Old Testament.

Now

you might think, well there, that's a

great way to end the sermon, right? It's

been about, you know, 20 minutes or

whatever. That's a good length for a

sermon. And most pastors would say,

good. That's a good we'll stop right

there. But I'm not like most pastors and

I always have more to say.

And uh and I just couldn't not share

this really cool thing about the

Abrahamic covenant specifically. So I do

want to zoom in for a few minutes on

Abram's covenant with God from Genesis

uh 15.

>> It's so good. What's wrong with that?

Noah Nova, come on.

Condemnation.

>> Oh no, it's good. You got to trust me on

this.

Okay, come with me on this. So, in Gen,

we first meet Abram. Abraham, known as

Abram at that point in Genesis 12. Here

is an artist's rendering based on the

photographs we have of Abraham from the

time.

Um, and so we first meet Abram in

Genesis 12. As I mentioned earlier, he

was uh he was in the land of Er. He was

a wealthy man with many herds, uh many

animals, a big household, lots of

servants, a wife.

Um and uh but one thing he lacks is a

child, an heir, someone to inherit all

of this stuff that he has. And he's old,

right? He's like 75 years old or

something at this point.

No offense to anyone who hears 75 or

older. Um,

but one day God in his sovereign grace

chooses Abram and calls him out of Er's

in modernday Iraq kind of Mesopotamia at

that time. God calls him out of Erd and

makes him this covenantal promise.

Right? As we said earlier, the promise

sort of has these three elements that I

will make you a great nation, meaning

you'll have great many descendants who

will come from your blood that will form

a great nation and uh and I will bless

you with land and I will bless the whole

world through you. So that's the initial

promise and Abram has faith and and

travels to this new land with his

household.

By the time we get to Genesis 15, about

10 years have passed in the story of

Abram, but still there's no child.

Still, they don't possess the land. He's

a nomadic. He's just living with his

people in this small place, moving from

place to place, but he doesn't have a

land that he would call is his his the

land for his people. Um and uh and so

he's sort of getting a little bit

curious as to God's timeline here,

right? It's been 10 years, Lord. Um I'm

only getting older at this point, 85 or

so now. Um and so he kind of cries out

to God and says, "God, can you give me a

sign? Is there something uh to hold on

to when my faith waivers that you will

indeed fulfill these promises to me?"

So God responds to Abram. And what did

God do? Well, it it's something to us

that seems sort of strange.

Uh, this is what it says. Genesis 15

Genesis 15:9

verse 9.

So God said to Abram, "Bring me a

hepher, that's a female cow, 3 years

old, a female goat, three years old, a

ram, 3 years old, a turtle dove, and a

young pigeon." Huh? What? weird. Let's

keep going. And so he Abram brought him

God all these things. And then what did

Abram do? He cut them in half

and laid each half over against the

other.

What? Um but he did not cut the birds in

half. Oh, that's nice. Nice for the

birds. Uh and when birds of prey came

down on the carcasses, Abram drove them

away. Okay, so yeah, bird birds were

coming. He's like, "Get away. Get away."

Okay. So, what the heck is going on

here?

Well,

I first heard this explained to me by

Peter Reid. You might remember him. He

was the pastor here many years ago. Um,

Peter Reid about 10 years ago. I was

with Peter at a weekend uh retreat that

our church was hosting and he was our

speaker and he spoke on this h about 10

years ago and he explained this to me

and wow, it's just amazing. Okay. So, in

our terminology in English, when we talk

about covenants, we say we're going to

make a covenant with someone, right?

We're going to make a covenant.

But in the Bible, it's not the word

isn't make a covenant. That's not the

verb that's used. The verb is cut.

We're going to cut a covenant. We're

going to cut a covenant. And that comes

from an ancient Neareastern practice. So

this was at the time and place when this

was written and was happening. Um where

you know like when we sign a contract or

we make an agreement with someone right

we like the way that we agree to that is

we both sign our names on a piece of

paper right well that's not how they did

it back then in that time and place what

they did to seal this covenant to make

this agreement formal and official and

binding is that they would take animals

and they would sacrifice these animals.

They would cut them in half and they

would take the two halves and spread

them apart. Split them apart and make

between the two halves of these animals

a path, a very bloody, gory, gross path.

This bloody path between the halves of

these animals.

And then the two parties that are in

this in this uh contract or covenant

would then together walk through this

bloody path. They would walk the bloody

path together. And the signal the

signification of that was if I don't

hold up my end of the covenant, if I

break my part of this agreement, may I

become like these animals? May I be torn

apart? May I be killed? May my blood and

guts be spilled out.

Wow. So that's very serious, very

solemn.

So

usually both parties walked that path.

Sometimes sometimes if it was if there

was an imbalance of power between the

two parties. Let's say a king of you

know Assyria or something was making a

covenant or a contract with some lesser

people. Uh sometimes the king himself

would not walk the path. Uh right.

Sounds like most politicians. They they

you know don't uh have to have

accountability. Um but uh uh sorry to

politician in the room. Sorry Bill,

deputy mayor of Turo. Um but uh uh but

the lesser party always walked the

bloody path. The lesser party always

said, "Okay, if I don't keep my end of

the bargain, may I be like these uh

animals that have been torn apart?"

Okay, so that's what was going on here.

That's why Abram Abram knew, right? When

God said, "Go get these animals. Go get

these animals." Abram knew what to do.

Oh, okay. We're cutting a covenant.

We're cutting a covenant. So, he cut up

these animals and made prepared the

bloody path.

Okay. So, what happens next? Verse 12.

As the sun was going down,

a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold,

dreadful and great darkness fell upon

him.

So, he's tired maybe from all that

sawing.

Um, or maybe maybe God actually made him

sleep. And we'll talk, you'll see why in

a second. I might say that. But in this

sleep, he has a great dread and a great

darkness. Whether that's a literal

darkness, we're not sure, but certainly

emotional, spiritual darkness. And dread

fell over Abram. Why do you think Abram

felt dread?

Because he's about to walk this bloody

path and commit to God that, hey God, if

I don't keep my end of the covenant,

which God commanded him to be faithful

to him, and then he said, if you're

faithful to me, I'll give you all this.

Abraham realizes, I'm about to make that

commitment and I know I'm a human and I

know I'm I mess up. and he's thinking,

there's no way. There's no way I'm going

to be able to remain faithful to God,

and I am going to become like these

animals. Who knows how long it'll take,

but at some point, God's going to split

me apart and spill my blood and guts

because I am not going to be able to

keep this covenant.

So, he's in this great dread.

Uh, let's go down to verse 17 for the

sake of time. Verse 17. When the sun had

gone down and it was dark, behold, a

smoking firepot and a flaming torch

passed between these pieces.

On that day, the Lord made a covenant

with Abram, saying, "To your offspring,

I give this land from the river of Egypt

to the great river, the river Euphrates,

the land of the Kenites, the Kennesites,

the Cadminites, the Hittites, the

Perizzites, the Rephim, the Amorites,

the Canaanites, the Gegosites, and the

Jebusites."

All right. Interestingly, by the way,

just a side note, the that promise of

all that land uh was fulfilled in the

time of King Solomon. There was a period

in Israel's history under Solomon when

they did have all of that land. So God

kept his promise.

Back to verse 17, though, because verse

17 here, the one I've bolded on the

screen, this is the most important verse

in this chapter and may actually be one

of the most important verses in the

entire Old Testament. And probably you

don't even know about this or don't have

it highlighted in your Bible. If you do

highlight things in your Bible, this is

a good one to highlight. This is so

important what happens here because

there's a twist in the story, something

you don't see coming, right? Because

you're expecting that both parties or at

least Abram because he's the certainly

the lesser party in this situation is

going to walk this bloody path and keep

make this seal this covenant with God.

But notice what happens. Who walks the

path? Well, it's this smoking fire pot

and flaming torch that appear somehow.

What is this? Well, that is very clearly

a manifestation of God,

>> right? God is throughout the Bible seen

as smoke and fire, right? When Moses

goes up on the mountain, it's smoke and

fire. When the people of Israel led

through the wilderness, it's a pillar of

cloud or smoke by day and fire by night.

So God reveals himself the day of

Pentecost, right? smoke and fire,

tongues as a fire. So these these are

manifestations theophanes of God. Okay?

And so what happens is God he puts Moses

or Abram Abram goes to sleep or even

maybe God puts him to sleep. So he can't

walk the path and God does it. God

manifests himself and walks the bloody

path in the form of these smoking

firepod and flaming torch.

>> And you know what? Abram never walks it.

Abram never walks the path.

Remember, usually both parties in a

covenant walk through the pieces, but at

the very least, the lesser party always

did. But in the book of Genesis 15,

something very unusual happens. God

passes through the pieces and Abram does

not.

He never walks the path. So God is

clearly saying to Abram, look, I will

keep my promise to you, right? I will

keep my promise. I'm going to walk the

path.

Uh but since Abram never does,

in a sense, God walks the covenant path

for both of them.

Maybe that's why there was two things

and they represent God that God was both

parties in this walk on the bloody path.

So, not only is what God is saying here,

I hope you get this. Not only is God

saying, "If I fail to keep my end of the

covenant, may I be like these animals."

That's what you're saying as you walk

this bloody path. But it's it's as if

God is also saying to Abraham, "If you

fail to keep your end of the covenant,

may I be like these animals.

If you fail to remain faithful to me, if

you turn your back on me, I will pay for

it. I will be the one who's killed.

It's as if he's saying,"Abram, I will

bless you and the whole world through

you, even if it means I will have to

die."

And then

centuries later,

darkness falls on the land again.

But this time, God himself

was the one being torn apart.

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The chastisement that brought us peace

was upon him.

At the last supper, just hours before

his death, Jesus took a loaf of bread

and he tore it into pieces, symbolically

representing the tearing of his body.

And he said, "This is my body broken for

you."

And he passed a cup of wine and he said,

"This blood is my blood poured out. This

is my blood poured out for many for the

forgiveness of sins." And he says, "This

cup that is poured out for you is the

new

>> covenant

in my blood."

>> Wow. Do you see?

This is the gospel. This is God's

love, right? That while we were yet

sinners,

while we were yet sinners, Christ died

for us. God pursued us even while we

were yet sinners. We should have died,

but Christ died for us. For God so loved

the world that he gave his only son that

whoever believes in him will not perish

but have eternal life. This is God

pursuing us. Do you see it?

All we like sheep have gone astray. The

Bible says in Isaiah, we've all wandered

off like sheep. We've wandered away. All

we like sheep have gone astray. We've

turned everyone to his own way. But the

Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us

all. He wouldn't stop pursuing us.

He bears all the penalty.

And we through simple faith like Abram

receive all the reward, all the

blessing, all the promise, even eternal

life.

>> Thank you, Lord.

Here's

the closing thought.

Let's bring this home now.

It says in the book of Romans.

It says, "Where sin abounds, where our

sin abounds, where we have much sin,

grace, the grace of God abounds

more abundantly."

Where sin abounds, grace abounds more

abundantly. All of us are sinners.

All of us are going to continually fail

to keep our promises to God. We're going

to continually break his laws. This is

the nature of humanity as we talked

about last week.

But God doesn't give up on us. We're

going to sing a song in a in a minute

called Reckless Love.

And that song says, "Oh, the

overwhelming, neverending, reckless love

of God. It chases me down."

Right? It fights till I'm found. No, I'm

not going to let you go.

It leaves the 99. What's that? What What

is that statement about? It's referring

to something that Jesus said where he

said, "Hey, you know, a shepherd who

loses a sheep. He's got a herd of a

hundred sheep, but one wanders off.

What's he going to do? Is he just going

to say, "Oh, well, I've lost one." No,

he's going to leave the 99. One wanders

off. We got a stray sheep. That's not

good. I'm going to leave the 99 sheep.

I'm going to hunt it down. I'm going to

find it. Right? He searches until it's

found. He said, "This is what the

kingdom of God is like." He says, "It's

like a woman who loses a coin."

and and that coin is so precious to her

that she won't stop searching until she

finds it. She won't stop searching until

she finds that coin or or a father whose

son wanders away into a life of sin. The

prodigal son and he says the father

welcomes the son back with open arms. He

chases he runs and greets him with open

arms.

This is the love of God. This is the

love of God. It fights till I'm found.

And the story of the whole Bible is the

story of humanity

is not the story of humanity searching

for God. It's God searching for us.

This is the story of the Old Testament

and the New. Every story you see person

after person who

wanders off, wanders away from God and

he won't let go. He won't stop looking

for them.

It's a beautiful, profound picture. As

the worship team comes,

God knew from the very beginning that we

would turn away. He knew we would break

every promise, that we would wander like

sheep and fail to keep his covenants.

And yet, he made them anyway.

In Genesis 15, God walked the bloody

path alone,

taking upon himself the curse of our

failure.

And centuries later, on a dark hill

outside Jerusalem, it came to pass.

Jesus Christ, the son of God, was

pierced for our transgressions and

crushed for our iniquities. and the

curse fell on him so the covenant

blessing could fall on us.

This is the gospel. We bring our sin,

our wandering, our broken faithfulness,

and Christ brings forgiveness, mercy,

and life.

>> Yes.

>> So, wherever you are this morning,

however far you feel from God, hear this

truth. The God of the universe is still

pursuing you with his steadfast,

relentless love.

Don't resist.

Receive the grace that he has already

paid for in full.

>> Amen.

>> Yeah. Next Sunday, we're going to look

specifically at the cross

and how did the death of Jesus on the

cross make it possible for us to be

saved. We look at theories of the

atonement.

I'm really looking forward to that. We

get we're going to get the whiteboard

back out, too. I know some of you like,

I really liked when you were doing the

whiteboard thing. Well, that'll be next

week. All right, let's