turn tonight to Genesis chapter
15. Genesis chapter 15. After these
things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what
wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of
my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me
thou hast given no seed. And lo, one born in my house
is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord
came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bow shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad
and said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall
thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto
him, 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 that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, take
me a 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. And 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, Abram drove them away. And when the
sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo and horror
of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, know
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that
is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict
them 400 years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out
with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that when
the sun went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. And the
same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto
the great river, to the river Euphrates. The Canaanites and
the Canaazites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites and the Perizzites
and the Rephimims and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Gergesites
and the Jebusites. In the letter of Romans, the
Apostle Paul quotes verse six here in this chapter in showing
that Abraham was counted righteous, that he was justified before
the law of God, the law of Moses, the law of God was ever given.
that Abraham was justified before the law was ever given, showing
that justification is not by obedience to the law. The scripture
there in Romans chapter four reads, what shall we say then
that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? That is, what shall we, Jews,
what shall we say then that our that Abraham, our father, as
pertaining to the flesh, hath found. For if, it's a big if,
isn't it? For if Abraham were justified
by works, by obedience to the law, if he were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what
saith the scripture, and here it is, the scripture here in
verse six, here in 15 verse six, for what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God and it was counted or imputed unto him for
righteousness. Now the question is, what was
imputed unto him for righteousness? Some would tell us it was his
faith. But it wasn't his faith that
was imputed unto him for righteousness, but it was the object of his
faith, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not the promise,
he believed, that was counted unto him for righteousness, but
it was his seed, that is, the seed that God promised in whom
all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham, remember
our Lord said, saw my day, and he rejoiced." It was his faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And believing God, God counted
that righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ would bring in when
he came into this world was counted his righteousness. Abraham was justified. He was
declared righteous before God. The same way that all men are
who are justified, even though he lived so many hundreds of
years before the law was given. Now God promised to give him
the land of Canaan. You see that in verse seven.
And he said unto him, I'm the Lord that brought thee out of
Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. And then the Lord made a covenant
with Abram. The covenant was made by Abram
taking those animals and cutting them in two pieces, and then
that burning lamp, which was a picture, a type of the Lord
going between them. That's the way a covenant was
made. To cut the covenant was to divide
the animals. It was a unilateral covenant. God, in this burning lamp, passed
between these pieces of animals that were sacrificed there. And we see that in verses 9 and
10. And he said unto him, take me
a heifer of three years old. And he gave him the animals that
he was to take and to separate them, to divide them in the midst,
that is, to cut them in two, in two pieces. And then, of course,
down in verse 17 and 18, we read, and it came to pass that when
the sun went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. That's
the way the Lord made that covenant with Abram to give his seed,
give Abram and his seed the land of Canaan. Now, I want us to look at what
the Lord told Abraham. I read this a few weeks ago,
and I was impressed with this, and I wanted to bring this to
us this evening. I want us to look at what the
Lord told Abraham that would take place in verses 13 through
16. And there's seven things that
God told Abraham that would take place. And he said unto Abram, Know
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that
is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict
them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterward they shall come out
with great substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good
old age, but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again,
for the iniquity of the Amorites, that is the people of the land
of Canaan, was not yet full. Think of the fact that God Sometimes
people say, well, God commanded Israel to go in there and destroy
all these peoples. How can that be right? Well, notice the long-suffering
of God, the patience of God, His forbearance with these vessels
of wrath. He gave them years, 400 years
to repent. but they were nations that were
fully given over to wickedness and evil, everything against
God and against righteousness and everything against what God
Almighty stands for. But see the patience of God,
see the goodness of God. People always want to point out
that God is somehow cruel. No, they receive justice. That's what they receive for
their sins, for their iniquities. even though God had given them
space to repent. But there was no repentance. Now I want us to look at what
God told Abraham would take place. And my point in us looking at
these things is to remind us again, first of all, of God's
sovereignty. Of God's sovereignty. and God's
wisdom, his power, and his faithfulness in fulfilling his word, the word
which he here made known unto Abraham. You know, the Apostle
James in the New Testament said, known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. All of his works are known unto
God. He knows the end, in other words,
from the beginning. known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. In Psalm 22, the psalmist said,
for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among
the nations, all nations. He's the governor among the nations. And then in Ephesians, the apostle
Paul said, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own, will. Work at all things after
the counsel of his own will. So there's seven things we'll
notice here. First of all, know of a surety
you shall have a seed. Abram, know of a surety you shall
have a seed. Notice that the first part of
verse 13. He said unto Abram, know of a
surety that thy seed But Abraham would say, well, I don't have
a seed. Notice that in verses two and three. He didn't have
a seed at that time, did he? Abraham said, Lord God, what
wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? And the steward of
my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abraham said, behold, to
me thou hast given no seed. But the Lord here tells Abram,
know of a surety that thy seed, you're going to have a seed.
You're going to have a seed, Abram. Though you will be a hundred
years old and your wife 90 years of age, behold your seed, Abram. And as I wrote these notes out,
I thought, have we heard that so many times, that it has lost
the wonder of that, the amazement of that, that a woman 90 years
of age, far past the age of childbearing, that she would have a son? And
remember what that angel said to Sarah when she laughed when
she had overheard the angel telling Abram that about this time next
year, your wife is going to have a child. And she laughed in unbelief. And remember, the angel said,
is there anything too hard for the Lord? What a comfort for
you and for me tonight, for all of God's children, no matter
how difficult Our situation may be that we may find ourselves
saying, is there anything too hard for the Lord? How this should
encourage us in believing God and trusting God because he's
able, there's nothing too hard for him. The Lord of hosts has
sworn saying, surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. God's purpose shall be accomplished. The second thing here, know of
a surety thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs. Now, why would Abraham's seed
ever go into a land that was not theirs? How is this going
to take place? How is this going to be accomplished? And I have several things. First
of all, the Lord will first send one of Abraham's seed into this
land that was not theirs. Abraham's grandson, Jacob, will
have 12 sons and 10 will become jealous of one of their brothers.
And think of what all it would have to take place for that to
happen. How that Joseph would have to
have those dreams. And his brothers and his father
even having to have that coat of many colors made for Joseph,
showing that he showed preference to Joseph. And that just increased,
didn't it? The jealousy, the hatred that
these 10 half-brothers of Joseph had of him. This is going to happen, Abram.
Know of a surety. Thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs. Your grandson, Jacob, he's going
to find a wife. He's going to deceive his father,
your son Isaac. He's going to deceive him and
run for his life and end up over in a country, and he's going
to be deceived. And when he thinks he's marrying
the love of his life, which he did, but he ended up with two
wives, and then eventually four wives. All of this is going to take
place. Your seed, know of a certainty, Abram, that your seed shall be
a stranger in a land that is not theirs. what they did to him, that is,
what his 10 brothers did to Joseph, we know was out of malice. And
yet Joseph himself later said, you thought evil against me,
but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day,
to save much people alive. Know of a surety, Abram, your
seed Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs.
And then after that son gets sold into bondage, a particular
man, not just any man, but a particular man had to buy him. And the Lord
gave Joseph favor in the eyes of that man, and that man made
him Lord over his whole house. All of this has to take place.
You see what I'm saying? We see the sovereignty of God,
the wisdom of God, the power of God, and the faithfulness,
the truthfulness of God. No other surety, Abraham. You
don't question this, you don't doubt this. And then he's going
to end up in prison. We know how that took place,
how that came about. And then the Pharaoh, the king
of Egypt, he gets mad at his butler and his baker and puts
them in prison. And they just happen to dream
a dream. And Joseph interprets a dream
to those men, and he asks The baker, I believe it was, the
baker, to remember him, and the baker, he was restored to his
place, serving the king, Pharaoh, but he forgot Joseph. I think
it was three years went by. And then, Pharaoh dreamed a dream. And nobody could interpret his
dream. And this baker remembered. that there was a man that he
met in prison who could interpret dreams. And here comes Joseph
up, interprets the dream, and Pharaoh's so impressed with his
interpretation, he makes him overseer of all of Egypt. Only Pharaoh was higher in authority
than Joseph. The scripture says, for promotion
cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the
south. But God is judge. He putteth
down one and setteth up another. All this has to take place for
this word that God spoke to Abram to be fulfilled. And a third
thing, we know how it was Jacob, And all of his seed came down
into Egypt. There was 70, counting Joseph
and his children. 70 of them went down into Egypt,
the seed of Abram. The third thing that he was told,
Abram, know of a surety thy seed shall serve them and they shall
afflict them 400 years. Now what's got to take place?
What all has to happen for God to make good this promise, for
God to make good this word? Well, when they entered Egypt,
when Jacob and his sons and his family, when they all entered
into Egypt, remember they were received with open arms. the
best of the land. Pharaoh told Joseph, the land
of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy
father and thy brethren to dwell. In other words, they could live
anywhere in Egypt. They went down there favorites
to the Pharaoh. They were not servants. Their
brother, their uncle, their son, Joseph, was in the highest place
of authority. They were not servants. They
were given everything, the best of the land, provided for. But then the scripture says,
and men die, don't they? Men die. This Pharaoh died, no
doubt. Joseph died. And then the scripture
says, There rose up a new king over
Egypt, which knew not Joseph. Know of a surety, Abram, thy
seed shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years.
Know this for sure, for sure. They then, over a period of time,
were not certain how long it took for them to go from being
favorites there in the land of Egypt. Maybe another army captured
Egypt and destroyed the king, set him aside or something, but
he didn't know Joseph, whoever he was. And he had no love for
these Israelites, the seed of Abraham. And so he began to afflict
them and they were made servants. And the scripture says, therefore
they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. 400 years they were afflicted
in Egypt. And then the fourth thing, know
of a surety. It's all here in these verses
here in Genesis 15. Know of a surety that nation
whom they serve will I judge. And it's always impressed me
that when this Pharaoh would destroy all the boys, all the
baby boys that were born to the Israelites, they were to cast
them into the river, that he ended up feeding, educating the
very man that God had chosen who would deliver his people
out of Egypt, Moses. who at the age of 80 years of
age would be sent back into Egypt and God would judge that nation. All those judgments, I believe
there are 10 of them, all those judgments which came upon the
nation of Egypt, the water turned to blood, the frogs, the lice,
the darkness, the death of the firstborn. That really cinched
it, didn't it? When God killed all of the firstborn
in those houses where there was no blood, and then Pharaoh came
and he said to Moses, get out, get out. God judged that nation. And that wasn't the end of it
either, was it? Because after they had left, Pharaoh decided
Why in the world did we let them go? What came over me that I would
let those slaves go like that? We're going to go get them. Yeah? And God judged all of them. The
whole host of the army of Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. Noah of Assyria, Abram, that
nation whom your seed will serve, I will judge. Fifth, know of a surety they
shall come out with great substance. When they're going to come out,
and they're going to come out not poverty stricken, they're
going to come out wealthy. They're going to come out with
great riches. How is that going to happen?
Look with me in Exodus, just a moment, Exodus chapter 11. In Exodus chapter 11, verses
one through three, we read, and the Lord said unto Moses, Yet
will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards, he will let you go
hence. When he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the
ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and
every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of gold.
Now notice this, and the Lord gave the people favor in the
sight of the Egyptians. He gave them favor. You know
that scripture says the heart of the king is in the hand of
the Lord, but everyone else's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
And these people borrowed from their neighbors, from the Egyptians,
and the Egyptians said, sure, be my pleasure. I've got some
diamonds, I've got some rubies, I've got some pearls over here,
I've got some gold and silver I've been saving up. How much
do you want? Take it, take it. God gave them
favor so that they plundered that nation. And they did it
with those people just opening up their coffers and giving unto
the Israelites. Now later, someone said, Was
that right? Well, they'd serve these people
without pay. They'd been slaves for 400 years. They were just getting paid for
their free labor. When they came into the wilderness
and God gave Moses the instructions concerning the tabernacle, remember
there was pieces of furniture that was made out of incorruptible
wood, but covered over with gold. Where are they going to get that
gold? They've got it. There were precious jewels on
the dress of the high priest. Where are they going to get those
precious jewels? They've got them. The Egyptians gave them
to them. They plundered that nation. Just like God said, they shall
come out with great substance, no of assurity. And then the
sixth thing, know of a surety thou shalt go to thy father's
in peace. This is the sixth thing that
I see here that God told Abraham. Verse 15, and thou shalt go to
thy father's in peace. Now that speaks of his death,
of course, Abraham's death. He shall go thou shalt go to
thy fathers." Well, his fathers had already preceded him in death. This shows the immortality of
the soul, for one thing. Yes, his fathers had died, but
they were still persons. You know, some people think that
when a person dies, that's just the end of life, the end of existence. No, not at all. We have a soul. God has created man and breathed
into him the breath of life, and every person has a soul that's
going to exist forever, never ending. But Abraham, you will
go to your fathers in peace. Think about this speech. Look
over to chapter 25, Genesis chapter 25. We read about that. Verses seven and eight. We read Genesis 25, verse seven. These are the days of the years
of Abraham's life which he lived, and 103 score and 15 years, 175
years old. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good,
good old age, an old man. and full of years, and was gathered
to his people. Of a surety, Abraham, know thou
shalt go to thy fathers in peace. When we think about him dying
in peace, remember Balaam said, let me die the death of the righteous. But he died with the wicked.
Balaam, that false prophet, did. Abraham died in peace. peace with God. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. And the last thing,
Abram, know of a surety thou shalt be buried in a good old
age. There in that chapter 25 of Genesis,
we read verse 9, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him
in the cave of Machpelah. You know, that's the only piece
of ground that Abraham ever owned in the land of Canaan, although
God had given him all that land. It was all his, his seed. But
he bought that cave when his wife Sarah died, a cave in which
to bury her. And his two sons, Ishmael and
Isaac, buried him there. Jeremiah, the scripture says,
I have spoken it. God did. I have spoken it. I have purposed it. And will
not repent. Neither will I turn back from
it. Know of a surety, Abram. All
these things are going to take place. And they all took place. And I say unto us tonight, know
of a surety. He that cometh unto me, that
is to Christ, I will in no wise cast out." Know of a surety. It's certain. Certain. Know of
a surety. Casting all your care upon him.
Know of a surety. He cared for you. Know of a surety
that all things work together for good. to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. How faithful, how truthful, how
powerful is the Lord our God. Know of a surety. We should never
question or doubt his word because there's nothing, nothing or no
one that can hinder God in accomplishing what He has purposed. He will
bring it to pass. May the Lord bless these words
to us here tonight.