How can I know? That's what I've entitled this
message. How can I know? Now this is the question that
Abraham asked the Lord after the Lord had given him this promise. Look in verse seven. And he said
unto him, God speaking to Abraham, I am the Lord that brought thee
out of Ur of the Chaldees. Just a hesitation. Why did Abraham leave? The Lord brought him out. That's
very simple. The Lord brought him out of the
land of the Chaldees. Everybody thinks, well, how did
Abraham have that kind of faith? Well, because the Lord brought
him out. That answers that question. I am the Lord that brought thee
out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit
it. And he said, Lord God, whereby
shall I know? Now, that grates, doesn't it? The Lord said, I'm giving you
this. He said, how can I know? Because
I said it. Is anything else needed? The
Lord makes this promise. And Abraham says, how shall I
know that I'm going to get what you said you're going to give
me? Now, I have to think that this,
once again, displays the unbelief of Brother Abraham. He, without
question, should have just implicitly believed what the Lord said.
Nothing else was needed, but what I think is interesting about
this passage of scripture is the Lord didn't rebuke him. I
would have rebuked him. The Lord didn't. You see, he
knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. And look how he answers this
question Abraham asked How can I know? Verse nine, and he said
unto him, take me and have her. And he goes on to give the five
Levitical beasts that are to be sacrificed in the book of
Leviticus. Take me. This is not for you. This is for me. and he gives
him the reason as to how he could know. Now, there is seldom a day that
goes by, as a matter of fact, I'm not sure there ever has been
a day that has gone by in my almost 62 years, and however
long I've been a believer, I don't know, a long time, but there's
seldom a day that goes by when at some point I don't say to
myself in my own heart, how could you be saved? How? How can you know that you are
saved? Now why do I make that statement?
Well, it's from looking within. That's why. How can you be saved
when you commit the same sins in a premeditated way? How can
you claim to be saved? How can you be saved when you
have such evil desires? How can you be saved? How can
you be saved when it comes right down to it, your heart is as
bad as it ever was? How can you be saved? When fill in the blank, there
are a lot of things that could be used to fill in that blank.
How can I know? Now this was Abraham's question,
really of unbelief. God said, you're going to have
it. And he questions, how can I know? Now, let me give you
a rule to which there are no exceptions. You know, you've
always heard there's always an exception to the rule. Not here,
there's not. There are no exceptions to this rule. Is the standard
by which this question is answered found in you or in Christ? There's only one acceptable answer. It's in Christ. If you're finding
a reason as to how you can know in you, you've missed Jesus Christ. Now, I want to repeat that, and
I want you to think about it, and I want you to, by the grace
of God, believe this. If you find a reason in yourself
as to how you can know you have missed Jesus Christ, that's a
scary proposition, isn't it? Are you an ex-sinner? Are you making progress in your
obedience and your battle with sin? Are you finding yourself
more Christ-like, more holy and less sinful? Or do you think I must not be
saved because I do not see these things. In saying that, when I say that,
I'm saying I would be saved if I did see those things. It's what's called a works-based
assurance, which is just as bad as seeing
them. I could believe I was saved if,
if what? If Christ died? Oh no, I'm fine
with that. I'm totally confident in the
death of Christ, but I could believe it's saved if I, hold
on, stop right there. Stop right there. You're looking
the wrong place. I could believe I was saved if
I was more holy, if I was less sinful, if I thirsted more after
God, if I had more experience, if I had... That's believing
in yourself. That's not believing on Jesus
Christ. That's looking to yourself. How can I know? How can I know? Now I've already said, you're
not to find any reason in yourself to know. If you do, you've missed
Jesus Christ. If you feel like you're not saved
because you don't have those things, that's missing him as
well. One's as bad as the other. It's still a workspace looking
to yourself instead of him. How can I know? Now look what
the Lord said in answer to this question, verse nine, he said
unto him, take me out. Don't miss that. He didn't say,
get yourself a heifer. He didn't say, get yourself a
ram. He didn't say, get yourself a goat. This is not for you.
Take me. Take me, an heifer of three years
old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three
years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. Now, assurance, how can I know? Assurance will only come from
what God finds assurance in. If you find assurance in anything
other than that which God finds assurance and satisfaction in,
once again, you've missed it. He said, take me a heifer. God
said, when I see the blood, he didn't say when you see the blood,
he said, when I see the blood, God wasn't looking at what you're
looking at. That's not what he was looking for at all. He said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when you see the blood, when
I see the blood, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. There's nothing you can provide.
God will provide himself a lamb. for a burnt offering, the only
way you and I can know is seeing God's complete satisfaction with
Jesus Christ. Any assurance you have other
than that is a false assurance. Now, God says take me, a heifer,
a she-goat, a ram, a male sheep, three years old at the prime
of their strength, A turtle dove and a pigeon that which is offered
for the poor. These are the five Levitical
animals used for sacrifice in the book of Leviticus. Now,
somebody says, why this need of sacrifice? Why can't God just
forgive? Why does there have to be sacrifice? I mean, that
seems almost barbaric. Why does there have to be sacrifice? Why can't God just forgive? Well, what about a human judge
that just forgave? He would be unfit, wouldn't he?
We get rid of him. He's not standing for justice.
Somebody commits some kind of crime and a judge says, well,
I'm a forgiving judge. I'm a loving judge. What would
we do with a judge like that? Now, understand this, God is
the judge of the earth. He's the righteous God. He's
the holy God. If he just forgave like that,
he wouldn't be God anymore. He would lose his Godhead. He's
the judge of the earth. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right. This is who he is. And there must be sacrifice to
satisfy the divine will. justice. Now, when we say, why
can't God just forgive? What we're saying is we really
have a low view of God. We have a low view of our sin.
And we have a high view of ourself. Whenever we make a statement
like that. Now look what Abraham was called
upon to do. Verse 10. And he took unto him all these
and divided them in the midst, right down the middle, and laid
each piece one against another, but the birds divided he not."
Now, these were clean animals. Remember, you could not sacrifice
an unclean animal. A clean animal had a divided
hoof. It chewed the cud and it had
a divided hoof. And he took these animals and
he divided them in the midst. Now, why? Why these two, these
divisions? This is to let us know that the
sacrifice God accepts must have the holy nature of God in Christ. and a perfect human nature. The blood of an animal would
never satisfy God. These animals are given simply
to demonstrate to us our need of a sacrifice and given different
aspects of the gospel. But the only sacrifice God could
be satisfied with is the sacrifice of his son, the God-man. No other sacrifice will do. The sacrifice of the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, no other sacrifice will
do. That's why these animals were
divided, to let us know of the one sacrifice that God would
accept. The one who is God, the one who
is man. God can be satisfied with nothing
less. You see, the blood of an animal
wouldn't satisfy him, and your blood wouldn't satisfy him. You
know, if you died for me, I'm going to pay for that man's sins.
You can't do it. It wouldn't do me any good at
all. It has to be the blood of the God-man. That is what God
is satisfied with. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, here's how we can know.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing. but the blood of Jesus. For my
pardon, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing,
this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for
sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I
have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope
and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Amen. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. When the accuser of the brethren
makes his accusation, how is he overcame? They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb. Bring me a heifer. Bring me a goat. Bring me a ram,
three years old in the prime of its life. And bring me the
turtle, dove, and the pigeon for people who are too poor to
provide their own sacrifice. Now, let's go and read. Verse
10. He took unto him all these, and
divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another.
But the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down
upon the carcasses." Now these fowls are vultures. Vultures. I imagine they look
like a turkey vulture. Have you ever seen a turkey vulture?
They're so ugly. I can see these things coming
down upon the sacrifices. And Abraham drove them away. What did they attack? The sacrifice
of Christ. Now listen very carefully. These
vultures were attempting to eat some part of the sacrifice so
you would no longer have a whole, complete sacrifice. That's what
their purpose was. Some part of it would be missing
because of these ravenous birds. Now, please hear carefully. There is a being named Satan. He's a whole lot more than me
or you can handle. There is a being named Satan,
the enemy of God, the enemy of The gospel. And what is it that
he will attack? You know, somebody says the devil's
trying to get me to fall. The devil doesn't care about
you. You have a whole lot higher opinion of yourself than he does.
I think of that passage of scripture where it's in Acts chapter 19
when those fellows says, we rebuke you in the name of the Jesus
whom Paul preaches. And the devil said, I know Jesus,
I know Paul, but who are you? And he fled on, he came on them
and he whipped them bad and they fled naked out of wherever they
were. Here's where Satan attacks. The sacrifice, the atonement
of Jesus Christ. Here's what he doesn't want you
doing. He doesn't want you looking holy to Christ only. He will do anything he can to
cloud that issue. And where did these ravenous
birds come down? Upon the sacrifice. And that's
what Abraham was doing. He was trying to drive these
vultures away from the sacrifice of Christ. Now the atonement
of Christ on the cross of Calvary at a point in time, in a particular
place with an actual longitude and latitude. I mean, it was
a particular place called Gotha's Hill. At a particular time, the
scripture says in Hebrews 1, 3, when he had by himself, don't
miss that, when he had by himself with no help from you, with no
contribution from you, when he had by himself purged our sins,
not by him enabling you to do something, to activate what he
did, not by enabling you to do something, to enhance what he
did, forget doing. Let me repeat that, forget doing. If any part of my salvation is
dependent upon me doing something, if my salvation is dependent
upon my faith, my faithfulness, my repentance, my love, my holy
living, I have no hope. None. Forget doing. Would to God that everybody in
here would just do that right now by the grace of God. Forget
doing. Now, the ravenous birds came
upon the sacrifice. Now remember this sacrifice,
don't look at this, this is some kind of primitive religion, people
needing sacrifice to appease the angry gods and all the kind
of stuff people think you have a bloody religion. Yeah, we do
have a bloody religion. Amen. It's the blood of God's
dear son. and what glory there is in the
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. What glory there is in the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, the most glorious thing there is. Now, let me give
you seven places, seven places where the evil one, the ravens,
the vultures, the ravenous birds will attack the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the first place. Take
this word, scriptural. They're going to give some view
of the sacrifice that's not what the Bible actually teaches. Now
here's all that counts. What does God's word have to
say? That's the only way you can understand anything about
the atonement of Christ is what God actually says in his word. Not what a preacher says, not
what a denomination says, not what a catechism says, not what
a confession says, what saith the scriptures with regard to
the atonement of Jesus Christ. Here's where the vultures are
going to come down. They're going to present an atonement. They're not gonna deny atonement.
You can't go with the Bible and do that, but they're going to
give some view other than what the scriptures gives. And this
second thing is similar, but I remember as a young man, I
thought, well, I wanna learn the atonement, what the atonement
is, and I opened up a systematic theology. And I remember the
theologian gave five theories of the atonement. And that just
graded. The atonement's not a theory.
You see, a theory is man's explanation of the atonement. And that always
falls short. The atonement is not a theory.
I'm not interested in a theory of the atonement. And make it academic. Well, let me tell you this with
regard to what the Bible teaches about the atonement. I'm not
interested, as I said, in anything but the scriptural view. I don't
wanna know about man's theory on the atonement. But the first
thing I would say that the Bible says concerning the atonement
is the atonement is eternal. The atonement of Jesus Christ,
yes, it happened at a particular time. in a particular place,
Golgotha's Hill, but it is eternal. Revelation 13, eight says the
lamb speaks of the lamb slain, the lamb having been slain from
the foundation of the world. God's people have always been
viewed in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, never ever
a time when they haven't. This is God's purpose for all
things. This is God's purpose for making
the world. This is God's purpose for creating
the world. This is God's purpose for everything
that takes place, including the fall of man. It's to exalt the
saving atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The atonement is
eternal. The atonement is scriptural.
It's not academic. It's not a theory. It's eternal. And the atonement
of Jesus Christ is efficacious and successful. Now listen to
this scripture. As a matter of fact, I want you
to turn with me. Romans chapter five, I would quote it, but I
want you to see it in black and white with your own eyes. Verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. When were
we reconciled to God by the death of his son? When we were enemies. You want that lets me know? His
atonement is absolutely successful with no reference to any work
that I perform. I was reconciled to God when
I was an enemy, when I had no love for God, when I saw no need
of Him, no need of His grace. I was fine with things the way
they are, an enemy of God. No thought for the glory of God,
no thought for the things of God, an enemy of God. When was
I reconciled? when we were enemies. You see,
His atonement is utterly successful. It's not dependent on anything
mere you do. His atonement, His atoning blood
is utterly successful. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now understand this, most of
what goes on under the name of Christianity, of preachers that
Jesus Christ died for all men without exception. Isn't that
so? Your average church, Jesus Christ
shed his blood for everybody. He died for all men without exception.
If that's so, two things are true. Number one, he's a failure. Whatever it was he intended to
do, it didn't happen. He failed. Number two, salvation
is not dependent upon what he does. but what on you do? That won't do me any good. But
thank God I love the scripture. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. You need
anything else? Nope, nope. It's Christ that
died. Now, God's satisfied with Jesus
Christ, amen? You know what? I'm satisfied
with what God's satisfied with. How can I know? Because of the
power of His blood, the success of His blood. You see, His atonement,
here's where the vultures will come down. They'll preach an
atonement that doesn't give God all the glory. Something's needed
to be done on your part. But His atonement, According
to the scriptures is that which gives God all the glory. Does God get all the glory in
your salvation by what Jesus Christ did? You look anywhere
else? Now His atonement completely glorified God. He said, I finished
the work. thou gavest me to do, I've glorified
thee on the earth." You see, when he died on Calvary's tree,
he gave full glory to every attribute of God. God's character is displayed
in the atonement of Jesus Christ. Now the ravens, the vultures
will try to attack The complete finished work of
Christ that gives God all the glory. Now, when we talk about
the atonement of Christ, this is very important. It's very
important. Somebody says, uh, who did he
die for? Now somebody says, do you need
to make an issue of that? Yes. Yes. The Lord did. He said, I
laid down my life for the sheep. Who did he die for? Well, he
died for the elect. He died for those the father
gave him before the world began. He died for the church, feed
the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. He died for
sinners. Now, this is the one I want you
to get hold of. If you're a sinner, Jesus Christ
died for you. I guarantee you. And I'm not
guaranteeing you on my own words, but the word of scripture. He came into the world to save
sinners, scripture says. Sinners, evil, sinful people
who can't save themselves. Now, when we talk about Christ
only dying for the elect, that doesn't keep anybody from coming
to him. Somebody says, well, I wanted to be saved, but he
didn't die for me. Never happened. Never happened. You come to Christ for mercy
as a sinner, he'll receive you. But the power of the gospel is
that his blood saves everybody he died for. That's the gospel. And where is it these birds of
prey will attack? You know, they didn't come down
on Abraham. They didn't come and start pecking
on Abraham and trying to bloody him. No, they came down on the
sacrifice. And this is where Satan will
always attack Jesus Christ and him crucified. How can I know? God's acceptance of the sacrifice. That's how I can know. No other
answer is acceptable. God's acceptance of the sacrifice. Now we're going to look at verses
12 through 16 next week, but the story is carried on in verse
17. Genesis chapter five, verse 17. And it came to pass, I love to
think of Abraham fighting off these birds and vultures coming
down on him. Maybe he got a branch or something,
knocking at him, trying to get off. Well, verse 17, it came
to pass that when the sun went down, and I have no doubt that
this refers to the darkness that covered the earth when Christ
was crucified. It came to pass when the sun
went down and it was dark. Can't imagine how dark it must
have been. Darkness that might be felt. It was dark. Behold, a smoking furnace and
a burning lamp passed between those pieces. Now remember, he
divided it up. And he was fighting off the ravens
and the vultures and the eagles, whatever they were, wanting to
consume the sacrifice. He fought them off. And it came
to pass that night, what comes through those sacrifices? A burning
furnace. A smoking furnace and a burning
lamp. Now, the furnace represents God's
judgment. The lamp represents light. Now, the smoking furnace that
came and passed between those pieces, this represents the wrath
of God against sin. Now, please hear this. On the cross, God was not punishing
the innocent. He was punishing the guilty. My sin became his sin that he
was guilty of. God's always gonna do right.
God's always gonna be just. God's always gonna be righteous.
and Christ was consumed under the wrath of God, guilty as charged. What I deserve, what I really
do deserve, to be cut off, to have God's wrath poured down
upon me, to be separated from God eternally because of my sin. He took my sins and my sorrows
He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary. He suffered and died alone. That furnace, the fiery furnace
of God's wrath and justice against sin, it passed through that sacrifice. But not only was there a smoking
furnace, there was a burning lamp. that passed between the
pieces. Give me some light. How can I
know? Because of Jesus Christ. He's the light as to have God. can accept, embrace, love, justify,
sanctify, redeem, regenerate. He is the light. All God has
for the sinner is in his son, and he is the light of that. You remember when the Lord said,
I'm the light of the world? Well, right before that, he looked
at that woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. There's no question regarding
her guilt. She was caught in the act. And
you remember they brought her before the Lord and said, Moses
said in the law that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?
Well, you know, that's a glorious story. But he looked at that
woman and he said, woman, this is after the Lord says, he that's
without sin among you, you catch the first rock. And they all
began with shame to walk away. And he said, woman, where are
those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. Neither do I. Go and sin no more. Now, how is it that he couldn't
condemn her? Because there was nothing to
condemn her for. Christ put away that sin. He is the light as to how that
could take place. The sacrifice, all the Levitical
sacrificial animals divided. The smoking furnace passes through
the wrath of God. He really was forsaken by God.
Cut off what you and I deserve. But oh, the light that comes
from that. The light of how I can know. That's how I can know. Take me, God said, a heifer and
a sacrifice. Verse 18, in the same day, same
day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying unto thy
seed have I given this land now look in verse 7 of the same chapter I am the Lord that brought thee
out of her of the caldees to give thee this land that's what
I'm gonna do I'm gonna give it to you and then he says after
the sacrifice I have given thee this land. How can I know? Because you already have it. How can I know? You already got
it. He already gave it. And he gave it because of the
sacrifice. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? How can I know? Because you already
got it. You already got it. And then all these nine different
nations have a negative connotation to the meaning. the Kenites,
the Chemezites, the Kadamonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Rephims, the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Girgashites,
and the Jebusites, all these are yours. They're being used by God for
your good and his glory. And there's nothing good about
any of those in and of themselves, but all of them are given to
you. All things are yours, and you
are Christ's, and Christ is God's. How can I know? Well, take me. I have her. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
power of your holy word How we thank you for the gospel of thy
dear son. How we thank you that your wrath
was satisfied by his death, the death of the God man, and what
light we have as to how we can know through him. Bless this
word for your glory and for our good. We ask in Christ's name
for his sake, amen.