SALVATION BY FAITH

Genesis 15:7-21
Bob Bonner
January 9, 2005

There are many today who believe that in order for a person to be saved and approved of or permanently accepted by God, that responsibility rests upon the individual. Even some Christians believe that what begins by faith, their salvation, is something that they are responsible to hold onto. In other words, they believe that there are certain things one can do that can lead to one’s loss of salvation.

This has been a subject of debate for centuries between the Armenian and Calvinist theologians. To me, for logical as well as theological reasons, I do not believe that once a person is saved, that person can lose or even reject one’s salvation. To me the question has always been, was the person ever saved in the first place.

In Jesus’ Sermon on The Mount, He made it perfectly clear that when some religious people face Him in judgment, they will point to their religiousness and Jesus will say to them, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness, for I never knew you.” Not, “I knew you once, but I know you no more”, but “I never knew you.” That person had never been truly saved.

As we come to our passage of scripture today, we will see demonstrated one more reason why salvation is truly a gift from God that comes to someone by faith and faith alone. If you have your Bibles with you, please open to Genesis 15.

The subject of Genesis 15 is two divine encounters that God had with Abraham. We have already looked at the first of those two encounters, which concluded with this statement in v.6 about Abraham. It reads, “Then he [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and He [God] reckoned it to him as righteousness.” I want to look at this verse a little more closely before we move ahead, because it is important that we understand this verse if we are going to correctly grasp how it is that one is saved and eternally accepted and approved of by God, even with our ongoing failures.

There are two very important terms used in this verse that often times I think individuals read but don’t fully understand or miss the important truths behind them. The first is the term “reckoned.” This is the first occurrence of this term in the Bible. Elsewhere, it is translated “imputed.” To reckon or to impute means “to put towards someone’s credit, or to regard or judge something as.”

It’s important to recognize that Abraham didn’t do anything to reckon himself as righteous. The subject of the verb “reckon” is God, because God is the one who is declaring that Abraham was righteous.

The second important term is “righteousness”. This term refers “to being in right standing because one is approved.” In Abraham’s case, that which led to Abraham’s right standing was his faith, which we learn elsewhere in scripture is a gift of God. Hence, Abraham did not do anything other than believe or trust God and God made him once and for all approved.

When we read in Romans 4:1-5, which is the New Testament commentary or explanation of this verse, we discover one thing about Abraham’s life. It is this:

Abraham was not saved by being faithful; he was saved by believing God. We will see this morning, that Abraham’s future faithfulness to God after this point had nothing to do with his maintaining his salvation. Instead, Abraham’s future faithfulness to God was the outward evidence that he had already been reckoned as righteous and saved.

What we see demonstrated in this next divine encounter that Abraham has with God, in Genesis 15:7-21, illustrates the permanence and the security of Abraham’s salvation.

This next divine encounter does not necessarily happen immediately after v. 1-6. It takes place, most likely, after some time has passed. In this next encounter, God grants to Abraham God’s unchangeable and permanent covenant, as a result of Abraham’s faith up to that point. In other words, no matter what Abraham did from that point forward in his life, it would not change God’s promises as outline in this covenant.

In this second divine encounter, we see a similar pattern to the first. Both encounters begin with a promise of God. Then, both are followed by a statement by Abraham that reveals some level of apprehension, to which God responds by reassuring Abraham with a dramatic symbolic act.

In this second divine encounter, God promises Abraham that the land of Canaan would forever belong to Abraham and his descendants. We read in verse 7, “And He said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.’”

“Abraham, this land in which you now live will be yours and your descendants in perpetuity. It will always belong to you and your descendants, no matter what.” That’s Gods point.

However, having heard that statement from God, Abraham was definitely excited, but God’s promise also raised up some questions. Abraham is not quite sure how this could be true. Not if this could be true, but how it could be true. Hence, we read of Abraham’s apprehension in verse 8. “He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”

This is not a question of unbelief on Abraham’s part. Abraham is not questioning if somehow God will go back on His promise and refuse to give Abraham or his descendants the land. It can’t be because it would not make sense if it were, having followed the evaluation of Abraham, just given in verse 6, that he is a man who believed God. This questioning on Abraham’s part comes because Abraham does believe God and takes Him seriously. He just wants to know this will be possible.

Let me show you what I believe to behind Abraham’s apprehension. Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes for a moment. You are a relatively new believer. You still don’t know a whole lot about God and whether or not His promises come with conditions. God tells you that you are going to be given some land and that it is going to belong to your descendants. You believe God means what He says. But you also know yourself. You know that you still sin, ignore God and rebel against Him and often times follow your own agenda. And because you know this about yourself , you probably would have asked yourself, “I wonder if there is anything I can do to invalidate this covenant? Is there anything I can do that will remove God’s promise from giving me or my descendants this land?”

I believe that is the question that is on Abraham’s heart when he asks God what he does in verse 8. And because it is a valid question on Abraham’s part, God goes to great lengths to reassure Abraham and to teach us a very important principle about saving faith, in verses 9-21.

In these following verses, God clearly answers Abraham’s question. In essence, God says, “No Abraham. There is nothing you can do to foul up this promise of land to the people of Israel.” To drive home this point, God symbolically and dramatically demonstrates His answer to Abraham in a way that he will never forget.

Let’s begin reading God’s reassuring answer to Abraham, beginning with verse 9. In this verse God gives Abraham some instructions to follow. We read, “So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.”

Now, let me explain to you what is about to take place here. It is something that initially must have scared Abraham, but later, it became a real source of comfort and blessing to him.

In Abraham’s day, there were several kinds of agreements, contracts and covenants made between individuals. Some contracts, if broken, had more serious consequences than others. To the degree of the seriousness of the contract determined the manner in which the deal was sealed.

The most serious of contracts, the one that brought on the most serious of consequences is the one we find taking place between God and Abraham right here. It was a contract, that by its very a nature, reveals that whoever violates this contract will be punished by death. And as soon as God told Abraham what to do in order to prepare for the signing of their contract, Abraham knew that this was very serious and at first, I suspect that he became a bit nervous.

The steps to making this kind of covenant would be to take animals, as Abraham did, kill them and slice them in half, except for the birds. Then make a pathway between the two halves of dead animal carcasses. After the guidelines of the covenant have been agreed upon, then both parties would walk together down the path between the dead carcasses. That was their way of effectively signing their contract. After signing the contract, if either party failed to fulfill their responsibilities as agreed to in the contract, their fate would be that of those carcasses they had passed through. They would be like those animals, dead. If you want to read about another such covenant, there is an example of one in Jeremiah 34:18ff.

What is almost humorous, at least if you are not Abraham you might be laughing, is what takes place in verse 11. Imagine, Abraham has just heard God’s promise, and they are about to make this covenant together. Abraham has made all of the arrangements, but before God shows up to walk with Abraham through these carcasses, we read this in v. 11: “The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.”

If the times are not tense enough, now Abraham has got to beat off the buzzards!

Isn’t that so typical of our spiritual enemy in our lives. God calls us to do something and while the situation is put on pause, the enemy invades, distracts and does what he can to make a mess of God’s plan for our lives. We see through Abraham’s modeling that we always need to remain alert to the attacks of the enemy, to bring division or to frustrate God’s perfect will for our lives.

What happens next is very important for us to understand. Failing to understand this could lead one to believe that faith alone in God’s promise is not enough to save you. You might end up believing you could put your faith in Christ as your savior and still lose your salvation. So follow along closely to what happens here.

After preparing the scene for God to ratify a covenant with Abraham, God causes Abraham to fall asleep and have a dream. For Abraham, this dream, involving this covenant, starts off as a nightmare, but by the end, it appears more like a fairytale.

First, in verses 12-16, God delivers 8 SPECIFIC PROMISES that make up His covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants, the nation of Israel.

Then, after listing what the covenant is about, God single-handedly ratifies the covenant, in verses 17-21, while adding a “P.S. promise” at the end.

Let’s look at God’s 8 specific promises beginning with verse 12. “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.”

So far, we have read about five promises. They are that Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrews, will be strangers in a foreign land (later to be known, Egypt). verse 13, the Hebrews will be an enslaved people. verse 13c, the Hebrews will be enslaved for 400 years in that foreign land.

Furthermore, God says that He will judge their foreign oppressors; verse .14

In addition, God promises that He won’t abandon them or leave them after those four hundred years of oppression. Instead, He promises them that they will leave that foreign land and return with great possessions; verse 14

Interestingly, when Abraham’s relatives first go to Egypt, they go as paupers begging for food. But through some providential circumstances, once they get there they are blessed, becoming wealthy and numerous to the point that they become a threat to their Egyptian hosts. In turn, the Egyptians enslave them for 400 years. They once again own nothing. But when they leave Egypt, they leave with great wealth. Talk about a topsy turvy gross national product!

What we must keep in mind here, is why God finds it necessary to let Abraham and his descendants in on what’s going to happen to them in the future. God loves Abraham and his descendants even before they are born. Furthermore, understanding human nature, God doesn’t want Abraham’s descendants to be fearful that God has abandoned them when these horrible events take place. He wants them to know that it is all apart of His divine plan and that they can still trust Him.

Throughout history, God has never deceived those whom He has called and who have chosen to follow after Him. If there is going to be danger ahead, God always warns his followers. That’s true even in the times of Jesus. Before the Apostle Peter betrayed Jesus, Jesus warned Peter that it would happen. He even told Peter ahead of time that he would face a spiritual battle with Satan in which Satan would win a few rounds, but in the end, Peter would turn up the victor. He tells us that if we choose to follow after Christ, we will eventually be persecuted. He even tells us that toward the end of the church age, and before that historical period that is to come, called the Tribulation, the church will fail, for the most part. It is my understanding, that by the time the rapture takes place, I doubt that there will be anywhere near the percentage of true believers living in the world then, as we have today. Instead, there will be a great apostasy.

So why does God tell us these things? He doesn’t want us to be shocked when these things happen. He wants us to know that it always seems to get worse before the final victory takes place. There will always be the shake down time, the sifting time, when the phoney believers will bail out when the times get tough. Only the true believers will hang in there, in spite of the spiritual, emotional and even physical attacks upon their lives and discouraging circumstances that surround their lives. Hence, God warns us about these difficult seasons in life so that when they happen, we won’t think that God has failed us, or worse, that He has abandoned us.

This news concerning the problems that his descendants would face disturbed Abraham. It even prompted another question in his heart. His question was, “What about me? What will happen to me in these days that are coming?” God answers that with his sixth promise found in v. 15. There we read, “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.”

In other words, Abraham is promised that he will not experience the oppression that was laid out for the generations to follow.

The next verse adds another promise concerning Abraham’s descendants. He promises them that in 4^th generation (approximately 100 yrs. X 4), they would return to the promised land. It tells us, “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

The reference to the “Amorite” is probably a figure of speech that refers to all 10 Canaanite tribes that are mentioned in verse 21, that presently lived in the promised land. These people were indeed evil in their worship of idols, their sexual immorality and even in their physical sacrificing of babies on altars. However, at this time, the people were not fully saturated with their sinful lifestyles. God was going to wait patiently another four hundred years for them to seek Him, before He would dispossess them from the land, and replace the land with His worshipful followers, the Israelites.

It’s interesting to me, that as I read about the period of the Flood, and the destruction of Soddom and Gomorrah, as well as the future Tribulation that God predicts will come to our world, that God is never in a hurry to punish or judge people for their sin. He is always long suffering and patient with the hope that we will turn to Him. But there will always come a point where He says, “No more!” and judgement comes.

In this case, God is telling Abraham that He will wait four generations, which is a little more than four hundred years, before He will send the Hebrews into their land to judge and dispossess the Canaanites of their land.

I think it is important to mention here, that Israel’s conquest of the land was not based on Israel’s or a typical human aggression or greed to conquer land. Rather, Israel’s taking over of the land of Canaan is based in God’s absolute justice and His choice to use Israel as His implement of cleansing. If you recall, when Abraham’s descendants moved in to Egypt, it was never their intent to take over Egypt. Even when Moses was trying to rally them to the exodus, they left Egypt dragging their feet and complaining all of the way. The didn’t want to go back to Canaan. God forced them to take over the land of Canaan. This eventual conquering of Canaan was a move of God, not the move of a self-colonizing nation.

Furthermore, Israel herself experienced God’s similar judgment when She was dispossessed of her land by the Babylonians and the Romans because of her own sin and rebellion against God. That was a big lesson for Israel that God does not play favorites when it comes to sinful rebellion against Him.

That which happens next, in verses 17-21, is God’s dramatic ratification of His covenant. By this time, the sun has completely set and it is dark outside. Abraham is still asleep, but through a dream he witnesses God ratifying His covenant with Abraham. We read, “It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.”

The smoking oven or pot and the flaming torch were both symbols of God’s awesome presence, and God walking down this path between these two halves of animal carcasses.

Culturally, one who bound himself by such a covenant symbolically was saying he must fulfill his oath or be as these dead animals he passed through if he fails to fulfill his oath. According to the text, did Abraham walk through the carcasses? No. Why not? Because he was asleep, dreaming. So, what role does Abraham play in ratifying this covenant? None! Abraham did not do a thing!

On the other hand, God, in the form of a smoking oven or pot and a flaming torch, is the only one who passes through the two halves of these dead animals. This demonstrates that this covenant with Abraham is a unilateral covenant, not a bilateral contract. A bilateral contract requires two people to agree to the conditions for it to be ratified. A unilateral contract requires that only one party needs to fulfill the conditions of the contract. Since God is the only one who ratifies this covenant, it is a unilateral covenant. And, since God can’t die, that emphasizes that this type of covenant is guaranteed to be fulfilled.

God did it all. All Abraham could do was receive by faith what God promised. Hence, God’s covenant with Abraham is more of a gift from God to Abraham than it is a covenant. Once Abraham put his faith in God, all that was required for the covenant to be fulfilled from that point on rested with God. This covenant with Abraham and his descendants was going to be fulfilled no matter what Abraham did in his life from that point forward.

Similarly, beyond our receiving by faith the gift of salvation, we have nothing to do with our own salvation. Romans 8:30 makes that clear. From the beginning of God’s call upon a persons life and until the person is dead and in even, it is all the work of God. We can’t work for our salvation. We can’t earn it. And we can’t protect ourselves from losing it. Our salvation is solely based upon the finished work of Christ, not the finished work of Bob Bonner. We either have it or we don’t. God does all of the work, we simply receive by faith.

That’s the whole point behind verse 6. God imputed or reckoned or permanently passed on to Abraham God’s righteousness, God’s right standing to Abraham. On the basis of what? His faith and faith alone. From that point on, the works of his life, the fruit of the spirit was the evidence of what had permanently transpired in Abraham’s life...that he had been saved. Once we put our trust in Christ, once we believe, the rest of salvation is a unilateral contract with God.

In these last verses, God adds a “P.S.” type of promise to His covenant with Abraham. It concerns the promised land to be inherited by his descendants Israel. He gives us the description of the future borders of the promised land. We read, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

What’s interesting to me concerning the dimensions of this promised land is that never in Israel’s history have they ever possessed this land. And by possess it, I mean did they kick out all of their enemies and have a recognizable control or rule of this land. Yet, God promises that they will. This leads me to believe that when Jesus comes to reign on earth for 1,000 years, in the new Jerusalem here on earth, after the tribulation period is over, this will be the geography of Christ’s rule. What is beyond those borders during the Millennial Kingdom, I don’t have a clue.

What we have seen here this morning, is that God is so in tune with Abraham’s concerns, that He calms Abraham’s every apprehension. God ultimately says to nervous, weak hearted Abraham, two things: First, remember who I am. In verse 7, He reminded Abraham, “I am the Lord” (Yahweh) your personally interested God who cares about you. Secondly, from verses 9-21, God draws nervous Abraham’s attention not just to Who God is, but what His promises are to Abraham. Furthermore, we are overwhelmed with God’s desire to bring permanent inner peace to the believers’ hearts, reminding them that following a person’s putting their trust in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, the rest is up to God. He alone guarantees how the story will end.

Once again, isn’t it good to know that we can “Be still and know that He is God?”

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