Keeping the Covenant

There's a proverb that many of us live by.

That's a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

You guys have heard of this.

And this 16th century proverb predates really the supposedly revolutionary findings of cognitive psychologists of today.

Like Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, they published their findings in a popular book called Thinking Fast and Slow.

And they talk about loss aversion.

People hate to lose things that they already have.

In fact, they would much rather give up the prospect of gaining $5 so that they never have to worry about losing the $5 they already have.

In fact, they say that loss is twice as effective a motivator as gain.

So the prospect of gaining $10 more is the same motivator for someone as the fear of losing the $5 that they already have.

So that proverb is actually quite accurate.

A bird in the hand, one bird is worth two in the bush.

And this partly explains why we have such a hard time living by faith.

Because we like to live by sight by what we already have in our hands, by what we already know and see around us.

And we like to keep things in the here and now.

And we don't want to live with faith, looking ahead to what God has for us in the future.

But in God's economy, he calls us to forsake everything to follow him.

We saw how God told Abraham to leave his country, his people, and his father's household to follow God to where he is calling him.

And in God's economy, what we gain is not just twice as good as what we leave behind.

It's infinitely better.

It's an everlasting possession, he says to Abraham.

And so from Abraham's example, we learn here that we are, as God's people, to keep God's covenant by believing in and living according to his promises.

That's the main idea of this passage.

And I'll talk about it in three points.

First is going to be covenant inaugurated, covenant started.

Second is going to be covenant transgressed, violated.

And then third is going to be covenant confirmed.

It's going to be chapters 15, 16, and 17.

So first, covenant inaugurated.

God begins his covenant with Abraham.

Verse 1 begins this way.

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.

Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield.

Your reward shall be very great.

So the phrase after these things is referring to what happened at the end of chapter 14.

What happened is that Abraham rescued his relative Lot and defeated the king's ally with Sher de Laomir.

And he did that successfully.

And as he came to King Melchizedek and King of Sodom, King of Sodom offered to be his patron, his benefactor.

I will bless you.

But Abraham, knowing that God had said he would be his benefactor, because God had promised Abraham, I will bless you, he refuses King of Sodom's offer.

So we don't know.

The narrative doesn't tell us what he felt afterward.

But the fact that God now appears to him after these things to comfort him and tell him not to fear suggests that maybe there was some trepidation on Abraham's part.

Or maybe he's feeling some regret for refusing the loot that the king of Sodom offered.

Or maybe he's feeling, oh, maybe I really should have taken him up on that offer.

It would be nice to have the king of Sodom to have my back.

But God comes to him and he says to him, fear not, Abraham.

I am your shield.

Your reward shall be great, very great.

And this reward, the word, refers to military bounty.

It's what you get as a reward for success in warfare.

So God's referring back to what happened.

And he is assuring Abraham, you made the right decision to looking to me and not to a king of Sodom.

And so God promises him great rewards.

But still, Abraham raises a concern in verses 2 to 3.

Oh, Lord God, what will you give me?

For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.

You could sense Abraham's exasperation in what he says.

He says, look, God, you promised me a great nation, but I don't have a single child.

What can you give me that will really be my great reward?

But God reassures him in verses 4 to 5.

This man shall not be your heir.

Your very own son shall be your heir.

Look toward heaven and number the stars.

If you are able to number them, so shall your offspring be.

His own son, a son literally from his own body will be his heir.

So this must mean that it will be through Sarai, because that's his only wife at this point.

And then verse 6 concludes this way.

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Abram believed the Lord, and God counted it to him as righteousness.

This is a really unusual way of putting that,

because usually righteousness in the Old Testament is something that people do.

Something that people have because of their righteous actions.

But here it says that what Abraham believed,

on account of what he believed, his faith, he was considered righteous.

He was counted as righteous.

And that's really significant, as we'll see later.

But this faith is foundational to our relationship with God.

We must first believe in order to have anything to do with God.

In fact, in Hebrews 11, which holds up Abram as an example of faith,

it says that without faith, it is impossible to please God,

for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists,

and that he rewards those who seek him.

And if you think about it for a moment, that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

I mean, if you don't believe that God exists,

and you don't believe that he rewards those who follow him,

I mean, then you're not going to live for him.

And you wouldn't want to, and you couldn't, even if you tried.

We have to believe.

And that's really at the root of all our struggles, all our sins,

really, that the absence of faith.

We give into greed,

because we don't really believe what God says in Acts 20, 35,

when he says,

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

We give into discontent,

because we don't really believe what God says in his word.

1 Timothy 6, 6,

Godliness with contentment is great gain,

for we brought nothing into the world,

and we cannot take anything out of the world.

Right?

We give into self-loathing and hatred,

because we don't really believe God's word,

when it says in Jeremiah 31, 3,

God says,

I have loved you with an everlasting love.

We give into guilt and self-condemnation,

because we don't really believe what God's word says in Romans 8, 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Right?

It's at the root of every sin,

every struggle we have.

We take things into our own hands.

We take control of our life situations,

instead of waiting on God,

entrusting ourselves to him,

because we don't believe God's word that says,

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55, 9.

Disobedience always stems from deficient faith.

And so here, it's that initial faith,

not Abram's subsequent righteousness,

that is counted to him as righteousness.

Because Abram has that initial faith in God,

to believe in his promises and live by it,

that's why Abram is counted here as righteous.

And this faith is what we are called as God's people to live by.

And so God assures Abram first of this promise of offspring,

saying that it's from your own body that my promise will be fulfilled,

your own heir.

And then God turns to the second part of the promise he made in Genesis 12,

which is land.

He wants to give Abram a people,

and then a place for the people to dwell.

And so he says in verse 7,

I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans

to give you this land to possess.

But once again, Abram has a concern.

Well, Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?

It's great that you're telling me this,

but I don't know if you can tell,

but there's a whole nation living here.

What do you mean?

How can I know that I will possess this?

And God says,

Bring me a heifer three years old,

a female goat three years old,

a ram three years old,

a turtle dove,

and a young pigeon.

And Abram brought him all these,

cut them in half,

and laid each half over against the other.

But he did not cut the birds in half.

And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses,

Abram drove them away.

Wow, what a strange response to Abram's request for confirmation, right?

He's saying,

How can I know that I will possess this land?

This is really a covenant ratifying oath.

It's an oath sign that God gives to Abram.

And the meaning is given in verses 12 to 16.

Follow along with me as we read it.

As the sun was going down,

a deep sleep fell on Abram.

And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

Then the Lord said to Abram,

Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners

in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there.

And they will be afflicted for 400 years.

But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve,

and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace.

And you shall be buried in a good old age.

And they shall come back here in the fourth generation.

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

So that ritual that God had Abram enact,

the sacrifices and the animals cut in half

and set over in parallel against each other.

So this is a picture really of what's going to happen

to his descendants.

So God foretells Israel's captivity in Egypt,

what's going to happen,

what we're going to see in the book of Exodus,

for 400 years.

And 400 is a round number.

It's representing the three generations

that will be in captivity.

And that seems to be why the animals that he picks

for the sacrifice are three years old,

to represent the three generations of captivity

that Israel's people will experience

at the hands of the foreigners.

Now, and so that's calculated from one generation,

which Genesis 6, 3 tells us 120 years.

So it's a round number.

Now, combine this with the fact

that all the animals are sacrificial animals.

They're all clean animals, not unclean animals.

Today, the animal seems to represent Israel,

the chosen people of God who are set apart,

who are clean.

And so they are the people,

and God then appears in this form.

And he appears in the form of a smoking fire pod,

like a smoking oven of sorts,

which is hard for us to imagine

because we don't have the same kind of oven,

and a flaming torch.

And it passes between the pieces of the cut-up animals.

And this is a theophany.

It's an appearance of God.

God, when he appears throughout the Old Testament,

he often appears in the form of smoke or fire, right?

So when he leaves Israel in the wilderness,

he leads them in the cloud,

pillar of cloud by day,

and then the pillar of fire by night.

And when he appears on Mount Sinai,

it says in Exodus 19, 18,

Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke

because the Lord had descended on it in fire.

So that picture, that ritual,

is telling Abraham, reassuring him,

that God is going to walk in their midst.

When Israel is in captivity

and suffering under foreign persecution,

God is going to be with them

and walking among them.

And that's the old sign that God,

and it's through that God makes a covenant with Abraham.

Just to explain,

since this is the first time this has come up,

the real covenant that's initiated, inaugurated,

the covenant is a legally binding relationship

between two parties.

And the Bible portrays God

as always making covenants with his people.

And a typical ancient Near Eastern covenant

was between a suzerain, a more powerful lord,

and a subject, a vassal.

And then, so the more powerful king

would basically promise

to protect this less powerful king, the vassal.

And then in return,

this less powerful king would be loyal to this king,

and pay him tribute and all such kind of things.

And so here, of course,

God is that suzerain king

making a covenant with Abraham,

assuring him about all these promises,

but it also comes with some obligations for Abraham.

Now, it won't happen right away, though,

if you caught that, right?

So it's going to be preceded by 400 years

of oppression in a foreign power.

And then his descendants will inherit the land.

So that's God's unusual providence,

as we see in our lives as well.

And that's helpful for us

when we feel like God's not answering our prayers,

or when we feel like in our lives

that we're suffering in a way that we shouldn't be.

Or it's because the reason that God gives

for this delay of fulfilling his promise to Israel

is really interesting.

Verse 16, chapter 15 says,

And they shall come back here in the fourth generation,

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

The Amorites, it stands for all the inhabitants of Canaan.

Basically, they're being used

to stand for all the inhabitants of Canaan.

And so what's going on then is

God's action in bringing Israel

and giving them the promised land

and helping them to conquer the promised land

is not just some arbitrary act of favor,

saying, well, I like these guys

and I don't like these guys,

so I'm going to bring Israel and give it to them.

No, it's also simultaneously

a divinely executed judgment

on the wicked nations.

So God's not just dealing with Israel.

He's also executing judgment

on the nations that deserve his punishment.

And so that's helpful

because it's a great illustration

of God's sovereignty at work in Abram's life.

And it's because often we won't understand

God's providence in our lives.

So for example, like Abram,

if we're in the middle of a 25-year period

of waiting for the child that God promised,

it's easy to doubt his promises.

Or if we're like Israel

in the 400-year captivity in Egypt

waiting for the promised land,

it's easy to question God's sovereignty,

whether he really can fulfill his promise or not.

But it's helpful for us to remember

that we don't see the whole picture.

Only God sees the whole picture.

So it's kind of like a picture mosaic.

If you've seen some big picture mosaics,

if you look up close

and are looking at just the several pictures

that are side by side,

you can't make sense of it.

It doesn't,

you don't see how those two pictures relate.

But when you take a step back

and you take in the whole picture mosaic,

then you see how those are all forming

one grand picture.

Only God sees that whole picture.

So as people who,

with their faces up against it,

only seeing a little bit here and there,

we can entrust ourselves to God

knowing that he is sovereign,

he is in control,

even when we do not understand

his providential leadings.

And so God establishes his covenant.

It's his covenant inaugurated.

But we soon see the covenant transgressed

in chapter 16.

Because keeping the faith,

of course,

is easier said than done.

And we see Abram and Sarai struggling

to do so in chapter 16.

And so it says in verses 1 to 3 of chapter 16,

follow along with me.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife,

had borne him no children.

She had a female Egyptian servant

whose name was Hagar.

And Sarai said to Abram,

Behold now,

the Lord has prevented me

from bearing children.

Go into my servant.

It may be that I shall obtain children by her.

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So after Abram had lived 10 years

in the land of Canaan,

Sarai, Abram's wife,

took Hagar the Egyptian,

her servant,

and gave her to Abram,

her husband,

as a wife.

That first sentence is really terse,

but it conveys that devastating reality,

the plight that Sarai was facing.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife,

had borne him no children.

Now that's not as big of a deal

in our culture

where people delay having children

or forego having children altogether

for all kinds of reasons.

But in this culture,

for a married woman

to not have children

was a source of great shame

and humiliation.

And so this is saying

that she had borne him no children.

And she is by now 76 years old.

And she has every good practical reason,

human reasons,

to doubt God's promises.

It's, I'm well past childbearing age.

What do you,

so she's,

it's starting to look at other options.

And so the option that she comes to,

the idea she has,

is surrogate motherhood.

She's saying,

you know what,

I'm surely not going to have a child.

So let's have my servant,

whom she probably had

as a part of her dowry,

or maybe she acquired her in Egypt,

since Hagar is described as an Egyptian.

And she wants to give her,

who is,

who belongs to her,

to Abram,

her husband,

so that she could have children

by her instead.

This was a common practice

in the ancient Near East.

But from the biblical perspective,

this is not the right thing to do

because we know from Genesis 2

that God's intention for marriage

is to be between one man and one woman.

And God had explicitly told Abram

that he will have a son

through his own,

through his,

from his own body,

that he will have his own heir.

And at that point,

when God gave that promise,

Sarai was his only wife.

So he,

he should know at that point

that Sarai was the woman

from whom God's promised offspring

would come.

But,

but at this point,

it feels right to them

to find another way.

Because,

humanly speaking,

they can't believe

that this is going to happen.

And look at Sarai's,

what Sarai says to Abram,

Behold now,

the Lord has prevented me

from bearing children.

Even though the Lord

promised them children,

he says,

the Lord prevented me

from having children.

And so,

she's failing to believe

in God's promises

and she's living

by what she judges

to be the best way.

She thinks that,

well,

this must be God's way

because I can't imagine

another way.

And that's very tempting

for us.

Often,

when we face

our desires,

when we face

our sinful desires,

we're tempted

to rationalize them.

We're tempted to say

that this must be God's way.

This must be what God wants

because I can't imagine

another way.

Think someone,

for example,

of maybe someone who,

a married man,

a Christian man,

or a woman

who finds another man

or a woman

very attractive

in the workplace.

They start to get

very intimate,

have great conversations,

and they start to rationalize

and tell themselves,

my wife doesn't

listen to me

and support me

like this woman does.

My husband

doesn't care for me

like this man does.

And then they start

to rationalize.

This must have been

the person God wanted me

to find in the first place.

This must be

the relationship

that I'm supposed

to be in.

When God's word

expressly says

that it's sinful.

or a man

who is attracted

to other men

or a woman

who is attracted

to other women.

It feels right.

This must be

God's will for me

because I was born

this way.

God wouldn't give me

these desires

if this were sinful.

But God's word

expressly says

that it's sinful.

So whenever

we find ourselves

starting to rationalize

our sinful desires,

the things that are

expressly forbidden

in God's word,

then we need to stop

right in our tracks

and then go back

to God's promises

and hold on to that

because believing

in God's promises

should always trump

anything that we feel

or what our circumstances

might seem.

And so that's...

And we know

that what Abraham

and Hagar are doing

here is sinful.

There are several

textual clues to this.

Look at

verses 2 to 3

of chapter 16.

Abram listened

to the voice

of Sarai.

And so Sarai

took Hagar,

the Egyptian,

her servant

and gave her

to Abram

as a wife.

The phrase

listen to the voice

of occurs

only one other place

in Genesis.

That's Genesis 3.17

where God promises

his judgment

over Adam

after his sin

in the Garden of Eden.

He says to him,

because you have

listened to the voice

of your wife

and have eaten

of the tree.

So here,

it's a type

of a fall.

The man who

should have

taken responsibility

for his wife

and who should have

led her

instead listens

to her

and follows

a way of sin.

And then look

at the sequence

of verbs also.

Sarai took

and gave.

Took Hagar

and gave her

to Abram.

That's the same

sequence of verbs

that's used

to describe Eve's sin

in Genesis 3.6.

She took

of the forbidden fruit

and gave some

to her husband.

So again,

what's happening here

is not God's ideal.

It's a diversion

from God's will.

They're transgressing

the covenant

because they cannot wait

on God's promises.

They wanted to take things

into their own hands.

The consequence,

of course,

isn't good.

Verses 4 to 6

tell us about

the unhappy aftermath.

And Abram went

into Hagar

and she conceived.

And when she saw

that she had conceived,

she looked with contempt

on her mistress.

And Sarai said to Abram,

May the wrong done

to me be on you.

I gave my servant

to your embrace.

And when she saw

that she had conceived,

she looked on me

with contempt.

May the Lord judge

between you and me.

But Abram said to Sarai,

Behold,

your servant

is in your power.

Do to her

as you please.

Then Sarai dealt

harshly with her

and she fled

from her.

Now,

Sarai is quite audacious

after the suggestion

she made

and she's very adept

at blame shifting here.

And Abram,

likewise,

sins.

He cowards

and he is very good

at absolving himself

of any kind

of responsibility.

Right?

So because what's going

on here,

it's,

even though Hagar

was the maidservant

of Sarai,

you remember,

Sarai gave her

to Abram,

not as,

you know,

not as a concubine,

as a wife.

So Hagar is Abram's wife.

It's his responsibility

to protect her.

And he says,

Oh no,

she's in your hands.

Do to her

whatever you want.

Right?

And Hagar

and Sarai treats her,

it takes,

it runs with it

and she treats her harshly

so much so

that she flees.

And those two words,

treating harshly

and fleeing

are the exact way

Israel is described

in Egypt.

They were treated harshly

so they fled.

So there's this kind

of poetic justice

in what's going on here.

And one commentator

puts it this way,

What the Egyptians

would later do

to Sarai's children,

Sarai did to a child

of Egypt.

But God listened

to both.

His compassion

is with all his creatures.

So even here,

God intervenes

on behalf of Hagar

and he sends

and the angel

of the Lord comes.

And the angel

of the Lord

or the angel of God,

you know,

appears 69 times

or so throughout

the Old Testament.

And it's usually,

and I think it's almost always,

is God appearing

in human form.

And so at first,

it appears to just be

a messenger of God,

an angel of the Lord.

But then later

in this course,

it turns out

that it's actually

God himself

who is addressing

his people.

And so that's

what happens here

because in verse 13

it says,

So Hagar called

the name,

not of the angel,

but name of the Lord

who spoke to her,

You are a God of seeing.

For she said,

Truly here I have seen him

who looks after me.

And God tells Hagar

to return

and to submit

to Sarai.

And the word submit

comes from the same root

as the word treated harshly.

So God's not just

telling her to return,

but he's also telling her

to return to submit

to the harsh oppression

of Sarai.

But why?

Because he says

the promise,

he extends the promise

he had given to Abram

to Hagar

and her offspring.

You will also

be a mother

of many nations,

of the multitude.

And because of that,

God sends her back

so that she can be

an heir of that promise.

And often,

it seems,

God's promises,

his blessings

come through a period

of suffering.

And that's what we see

with both Israel,

with the prophecy

of their oppression in Egypt,

and with Hagar.

And then chapter 16

ends with a contrast

to how it began.

It began by saying,

Sarai had borne Abram

no children.

And then it ends

with saying,

Hagar bore Abram children.

It says that three times.

And so at this point,

there's a little bit

of ambiguity

in the story.

Well, I thought

it was supposed

to be Sarai

that was supposed

to be an heir

to receive God's promise

in the covenant.

But it looks kind of like

maybe Hagar

is the person

that's going to take

that place.

But then chapter 17

clears it up

and teaches us

that this was actually

a diversion.

And that's the final point.

It's covenant confirmed.

And another 13 years

has passed

according to chapter 17.

And God says to him,

I am God Almighty.

Walk before me

and be blameless

that I may make my covenant

between me and you

and you may multiply greatly.

The expression

God Almighty,

it refers to,

it's always used

in the context

of God bringing

fruit out of something

that is barren.

So it refers to

his power

to bring fruit

out of barrenness,

infertility.

And so it says

God Almighty,

that's his name.

And he tells Abram

to walk before him.

That's the same way

Noah was described earlier.

That's the same way

Enoch was described

earlier in the book

of Genesis.

To walk before God

means to take

every step of your life

toward him

and with him.

To live,

to make all the decisions

in your life

for him.

And so that's

what Abram

is called to

by God himself.

And then he also

commands another thing

and this is the circumcision.

This is a covenant sign

for Abram

and all those

who are with him.

And circumcision,

as you well know,

involves a cutting

of the foreskin

of the male genital organ.

And it's therefore

particularly appropriate

actually for this promise

because God's promising

Abram a progeny,

the people,

generations of nations

that will come from him.

And so it's kind of

an intimate reminder

that's perpetually there.

You know,

remember that promise.

Through you,

all the families

of the earth

will be blessed.

It's also kind of

a sign,

a reminder of

the punishment

is that if you do not

follow God,

if you're not committed

to him,

you'll be cut off

from your people.

You'll be cut off

from the people

that you are called

to be a part of.

And,

but of course,

you can cut off

the foreskin

all you want

and people could

still be rebellious,

right?

People could still

rebel against God.

People could still

refuse to follow

God's covenant,

keep God's covenant.

And that's why

other parts of Scripture

speak of circumcision,

not just of the foreskin,

but of the heart.

Deuteronomy 36,

Moses prophesied

to Israel of the day

when the Lord,

your God,

will circumcise

your heart

and the heart

of your offspring

so that you will

love the Lord,

your God,

with all your heart

and with all your soul

that you may live.

But we don't see

this prophecy

fulfilled

in the rest

of the Old Testament.

Instead,

we find God's people

failing over

and over

and over again.

They do not

keep God's covenant.

They do not believe

in his promises

and they do not live

according to

his promises.

But if God's

people do not

keep God's covenant,

then God's supposed

to cut them off.

That's what it says

here in chapter 17.

In verse 14,

it says it's supposed

to cut them off

from his people.

But God never

does that

throughout the entire

Old Testament.

He tenaciously

remains with his people

even though

they continue

to violate his covenant

and to rebel

against him.

He does punish

his people

to reinforce

the covenant,

but he never

nullifies

or dissolves

the covenant.

He keeps

the covenant.

And you can see

this also

in the way

God makes

the promises

to him,

to Abram,

because he says

that I will

multiply you

greatly

and I will

make you

exceedingly fruitful.

I mean,

those are two words

that are very

familiar to us

by this point

in our series

in the book of Genesis.

Be fruitful

and multiply.

That's what God

had told Adam.

That's what God

had told Noah.

And now Abram

is this new

Adam figure

at the precipice

of a new creation

and God tells him

that I will

make you

fruitful

and multiply.

So God's

guaranteeing

what he had

earlier commanded

to his people,

but how can God

guarantee that

to a faithless

people,

people who do not

follow him

and keep his

commandments?

For the answer,

we have to

go back briefly

to chapter 15

and back

to that ritual

where Abram

cuts up the animals

and lines them up

parallel to each other.

And because

there's a twist

to that ritual

that is highly

unconventional

in a typical

ancient Near Eastern

covenant making oath,

you do the same thing

and then

not the suzerain,

not the covenant lord,

but the covenant subject

is supposed to walk

between those two pieces.

And that's a way

of bringing upon himself

a maledictory oath.

saying,

if I do not

keep the covenant,

I will become

like these animals.

That's what that means.

But who walks

between the pieces

of animals?

Not Abram,

who should be

walking down

through it,

but the Lord God

himself,

walking down

between the pieces

and invoking that,

and saying,

promising,

in essence,

that he will himself

bear the curse

of the covenant

that his people

repeatedly fail

to keep.

And that's exactly

what God did

when he sent

his son,

Jesus Christ,

who is the son of God

who came into the world

to save sinners.

He kept God's covenant

by believing in his promises

and living by them.

He did that perfectly.

Yet,

instead of enjoying

the blessings

of the covenant,

he submitted himself

to take upon himself

the curse of the covenant

and died a sinner's death

on the cross

and rose again

so that those

who believe in Jesus

might be counted righteous

as Abram was counted righteous

because he died

on our behalf.

And that,

brothers and sisters,

that is how we become

circumcised in the heart,

not just in the flesh.

Galatians 6.15 says,

Neither circumcision

counts for anything

nor uncircumcision,

but a new creation.

And how do we become

a new creation?

2 Corinthians 5.17,

Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has gone,

the new has come.

It's when we believe

and live

by the promises of God

in Jesus Christ,

that's when we are

circumcised in our hearts.

That's when we are

filled with the Spirit

and enabled to live

according to his promises.

And that's what this passage

is ultimately calling us to.

And that's why it's said,

remember,

in chapter 15.6,

Abram believed the Lord

and he counted it to him

as righteousness.

And as we close,

I want to ask you

this question.

What are the things

that you count on

for your righteousness?

What are the things

that you count on

to be in right standing

before God?

Is it your own morality?

your righteousness,

your faithfulness,

how you did this past week?

If what makes you righteous,

if your confidence

as you approach

God's judgment

to stand there

is your own righteousness,

that will turn out

to be a false confidence.

And the Father's verdict

will be guilty.

But if

you are counting on Jesus,

what he did for you

on the cross,

and you're relying

on his righteousness,

then even though

with every fiber

of your being

as you stand before God

in judgment,

you know you are guilty

and deserving

of eternal punishment,

the verdict will be

not guilty,

acquitted,

forgiven,

covered,

righteous

because of what

Jesus Christ

has done.

So I urge you,

whether you're a Christian

or not,

to consider that

and to keep

God's covenant

by believing

in the promises

and living by the promises

that he has given

to you in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together.

God, it's

easy to believe

in our heads

that your promises

are true,

that you are indeed

good and sovereign,

that you are gracious

toward us

and you give

every good blessing

to us.

Yet our

idolatrous hearts

so often

question you,

doubt your calling,

impugn your goodness.

so help us,

God.

Give us faith

to believe

in your promises

and to live

every step,

every part of our life

in accordance with it.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.