Personal Faith in a Personal God

Surely we live in uncertain times. Last Monday's (10/27/97) record drop in the stock market preceded Tuesday's record increase in a day. Many live and die by the ticker tape of stock prices. The real burning question for me is just how much money did Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, lose on Monday? It is sad to report that he lost more money in one day than I will earn in a lifetime...

Because times are uncertain we long for control: of things, of people, of circumstances. Yet at least 90% of life is out of our control. One can despair in such uncertainty or one can find certainty in the only constant around -- the LORD Jesus Christ. In fact, our text reveals that we can know Him and His plan with certainty.

Scripture Passage: Genesis 15:1-21
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Main Thought: Our LORD communicates His word to us in a personal way
so that we can know and relate to Him in a personal way.

When Abram was ignorant, God spoke and revealed Himself.

When Abram was confused, God spoke and affirmed His promise.

When Abram was convinced, God spoke and declared him righteous.

When Abram was intrigued, God spoke and made it plain.

1. When Abram was ignorant, God spoke and revealed Himself.

"After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.'" (Genesis 15:1, NKJV)

In a pagan land called Ur (the area of modern-day Iraq), the LORD spoke to Abram. He was living among a people who worshipped a multitude of false gods. In the middle of such idolatry and immorality, God called Abram to leave that place. Even in the clamor of godlessness, it is possible to hear God's call to faith. God is gracious and merciful. According to 1 Timothy 2:4, it is God's earnest desire that all people be saved. Each of us, though, must hear and respond to God's call to faith. Abram responded in faith when God spoke. In responding to God's call, Abram found a personal God who was personally involved with his life.

Hearing God speak to you by His Spirit, through His word, through the preaching or teaching of another person is a fearful thing. One person I know who heard God speaking to him, calling him to a personal relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ, stated, "Each week, I just could not understand how the preacher knew what I was thinking and what I had been doing!" God uses many avenues to reach inside the deepest part of you inner being to reveal Himself to you. As He said to Abram, He still says today, "Do not be afraid!"

2. When Abram was confused, God spoke and affirmed His promise.

"But Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Then Abram said, 'Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!' And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 'This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.' Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'" (Genesis 15:2-5, NKJV)

Abram did not understand how God was going to fulfill the amazing prophecy that he would become a great nation with many descendants. (Gen. 12:2-3,13:15-17) Now God does not have to reveal the details of how He will accomplish His plans. But quite often God will reveal these things when it helps to hone and strengthen our faith. God made the promises to Abram and, in a very personal way, He affirmed His promise to Abram and provided another significant detail.

Abram and his wife, Sarai, were old -- well beyond the child-bearing years. Abram assumed that God would fulfill this promise through his servant, Eliezer, who was literally, "...the possession of my house" (Gen. 15:3). This seemed incomprehensible to Abram that God would not provide him a son of his own to fulfill the promise. God graciously acknowledged to Abram that it would indeed be the descendants (the word translated descendents literally means "seed") of his own body. This word was a very significant to God for in it there was a dual fulfillment of His promise:

It promised a descendent from his own body who would multiply beyond measure -- "...count the stars if you are able...so shall your descendants be" (Gen. 15:5). Abram understood this meant children and grandchildren from his own body.

It promised the Savior who would come put an end to the problem of sin brought into the world through Adam and Eve and every person born since. Thus, the "seed" of Abram would indeed be the way that all nations on the earth would be blessed.

The word translated "descendants" literally means "seed" and is singular not plural. Galatians 3:16 explains this: "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ" (NIV). Here we find the next prophetic utterance from God concerning Christ or Messiah who would come to take away the sins of the world. He would be born of the family of Abram. As is typical of God's personal involvement in our lives, He gives us what we need and then pours out multitudes of blessing upon us for which we can never thank Him enough.

3. When Abram was convinced, God spoke and declared him righteous.

"And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6, NKJV)

This is by far the most important revelation God has given us. How can one become righteous in God's eyes? God is holy, pure, totally blameless. Moreover, God is unchanging -- He has always been and always will be holy. His standard of righteousness is perfection. No person born of the seed of Adam can make that claim. "There is no difference -- for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22b-23, NIV).

How can you or I -- both sinners in God's eyes -- ever become righteous since we are all stained with the darkness of sin? God revealed in His Holy Scripture that because of your sin, you can never be righteous enough. That is why He promised from the beginning (Gen. 3:15) to send a Savior into the world who would "crush the head of the serpent" -- indicating He would deal once and for all with the problem of sin.

Who is this Savior and how can He deal with my sin? The Scripture says that Abram "...believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6, NKJV). Abram did not simply say he believed that there was a God. The verb tense indicates He was continuing to believe IN the LORD who promised the Savior who was to come. He entrusted his life and his future to God. By faith in God, in His word, and His promised Savior, Abram was "accounted" or credited with righteousness.

It was not because Abram was a "good" person from our perspective because no one is "good" compared to a holy God. It was not because Abram did "good works" that he was credited with righteousness. One simply cannot erase the stain of sin through good deeds. A holy God cannot look upon sin, even with the facade of good deeds. Only by taking the sins away can one become righteous. "'Who then can be saved?' Jesus ... said, 'With man this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible'" (Matthew 19:25b-26, NIV). The prophet, John the Baptist, boldly declared that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior who came as "...the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:29, NIV). God granted Abram mercy through His promise of THE seed -- the Savior Jesus Christ. Abram believed IN the LORD and God declared Abram to be righteous. He entered into a personal relationship with God through faith in His Son, the Savior Jesus Christ.

God will declare you righteous if you acknowledge your position before Him as a sinner and ask for that same mercy He gave to Abram. Put your trust in the LORD Jesus Christ and you will be forgiven and declared righteous forever by God. God is not a man that He should lie. His promise to Abram was sure and so is His promise to you.

4. When Abram was intrigued, God spoke and made it plain.

"Then He said to him, 'I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.' And he said, 'Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?' So He said to him, 'Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two... And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates; the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'" (Genesis 15:7-9,17-20)

We all have questions about the future. Certainly, when God speaks we would like to understand what it is He has commanded. Abram was given a promise that the land God promised to him was his to possess. Was Abram to go out and take the land immediately? How was Abram to know the time that the land would be his? He asked for a sign to know what God was promising him. God did not have to reveal this to Abram. Yet He graciously dealt with Abram to strengthen his faith and develop a trust that would stand the test of time. More importantly, God intended to bless the whole world through Abraham and developed his faith so that Abram would go and do the things that God required of him.

The sign that God gave Abram was a familiar one to a man living in this time. It was a covenant -- more than a contract -- a solemn oath taken between two people. The more animals involved, the more serious and binding the covenant was deemed to be. God told Abram to bring three animals and two birds -- a sacred covenant was to be enacted. In a human covenant, both parties would pass between a sacrificed animal indicating a curse would be upon the one who failed to keep the covenant. In this most significant covenant, God alone passed between the animals while Abram simply observed it. This means that the covenant God gave to Abram was UNILATERAL -- by God alone -- and UNCONDITIONAL -- God alone would bring it about.

God promised to give Abram's descendants the land from the river which flows through the Sinai peninsula up to the river Euphrates (in modern-day Iraq). This was a huge area which would be given after a time when Abram's descendants were enslaved for four hundred years. God would judge this nation -- which we know now was Egypt -- and bring these people out with all the treasures of that nation -- this too was perfectly fulfilled in history. God would then bring Abram's descendants into the land to be possessed by them.

Was God unjust in taking the land away from the Canaanites? God is just and holy -- always. In this Scripture passage and many others, we find that the Canaanites were living in idolatry, gross immorality, and godless rebellion against their Creator. God would judge their nation for this sin but mercifully and patiently granted them four hundred years to repent. They did not repent and, thus, were judge by God through the nation of Hebrew people He called for that very purpose.

Reflect on YOUR life: Abram was intrigued by God's promise and wanted to know what the sign would be that he should take possession of the land. God made it plain that He would fulfill the promise given to Abram. He sealed it with a covenant -- in a way that Abram could understand and accept -- thus strengthening Abram's faith. Our God is a personal God who wants to be personally involved in all your affairs. Rather than a "holy busybody", God is the all-wise, all-loving God who wants the absolute best for your life. This involves directing your life according to His will and purposes. As you trust in Him and allow Him to guide you through life:

Your faith will be strengthened

You will know and understand God more each day

Your effectiveness as a servant will become greater; and

Your love for Him and all of His creation will increase.

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright 1999, Randy Lariscy.