Last week when we left Abram in Genesis 14, if you remember, he had just enjoyed several victories in the faith. He had just defeated a powerful alliance of four kings. He had successfully rescued his nephew Lot and all the possessions and people that had been captured. And then, even more importantly, he had resisted the temptation to exalt himself for the victory. Instead, he had honored God by tithing off of those spoils, by making sure that everyone knew it was God who gave him the victory, not him, not his wisdom, not his might. And then he gave all the rest of the spoils from the victory back to the kingdom of Sodom. Gave up his rights for the glory of God. So in light of all this, you would think this morning, as we turn to Genesis 15, that Abram will be flying high, right? It's coming off all these victories. He should be on cloud nine. But actually, we find here in Genesis 15 that Abram is fearful and he's discouraged. And that happens oftentimes after a great victory, a great spiritual victory. I don't know if you notice that in your own life, that just all of a sudden you get discouraged for some reason. We saw that with Elijah at the Mount of Carmel after that victory. In much the same way, as we look now at verse 1 of Genesis 15, Abram is fearful and discouraged. Follow along with me, please, as I read. After these things, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram. God knew Abram was afraid. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But notice Abram's reply in verse 2. But Abram said, O Lord God, What will you give me? For I continue childless." Let's stop there for a moment. So now we see really what's bothering Abram here. Now we understand why he's discouraged. God had made some incredible promises to Abram. Remember, He had promised that Abram would become a great nation and that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And on top of that, He had promised that his descendants would inherit that very land that he was now a sojourner in, the land of Canaan. But Abram has not experienced any of these promises yet. None of them have been fulfilled because God has not yet given Abram a son. I mean, back in Genesis 12, Abram was already an old man when God called him out of the land of Ur to come to Canaan. But now, probably around eight or nine years has passed since that call, since Abram responded. So him and his wife Sarai are not getting any younger. So Abram is left wondering, How, Lord, how is this promise going to be fulfilled? I mean, do you sense Abram's heart in this situation? He's beginning to doubt. He had believed the promises of God, but now he's doubting them. He's wondering, God, how are you going to fulfill this? How is this going to come about? It's seeming more and more unlikely every passing year. In fact, you'll notice here in verses 2 and 3, Abram seems resigned almost to the fact that things are not going to work out the way he had hoped. Let's pick it back up again in verse 2. Remember, he's just said, Lord, I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus when his servants And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." See, that's what they did back then. If you didn't have sons, kids to pass on your estate to, then one of your servants became your heir. And so Abram's just thinking, this is how it's going to be, I guess. So Abram's discouraged. He's struggling in his faith. He's beginning to lose hope. Abram needs reassurance, and he needs it bad. And that's why this morning, I think many of us could probably relate to Abram. He was given some unique promises, no doubt, but I imagine there are some here this morning who are discouraged in their faith. Perhaps you believe the promises of God, you've committed to follow Christ, but along the way your faith is beginning to falter. Trials are pressing upon you. Persecution is striking you. Your own sin mocks you. And so you begin to wonder, is God's Word really true? I mean, I won't ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many of us have thought that. Is all of this really true? Am I just wasting my life here? Are all His promises about salvation and Him never leaving us and Him working all things for our good, is that really true? Because sometimes it doesn't feel like it. Will His promises of eternal life, no more pain and sorrow, seeing Him face to face, will those all really come to pass? Or how does God respond to such questions like those? How's He going to respond to Abram asking these questions of Him? Do you think God's going to thunder down and say, How dare you doubt Me, Abram? Who are you to question Me? No, we don't see God doing that, loved ones. Look at how He responds. He doesn't respond with a rebuke, but He responds with grace. He seeks to encourage and reassure Abram. That's what chapter 15 is all about. God reassuring Abram, reaffirming his promises, reassuring him that his word is true. God's even going to go so far as to establish a covenant with Abram to confirm to him that his promises will be fulfilled. So as we study Genesis 15 today, the title of the message is God Assures His Children. God assures His children. And I pray that as we go through this, that you're struck by this truth. God wants His children to have assurance. Those who have been saved, those who have trusted in Christ, God doesn't want you going through life doubting and unsure and fearful. He wants His children to have assurance. He made us. He knows that our faith fluctuates. He knows that our hearts are deceitful. He knows that we get buffeted by trials. He knows that we grow weary as we wait on the fulfillment of His promises. He knows that doubts creep in and those doubts give way to fear and discouragement. But God doesn't leave us there. Just like He's not going to leave Abram where he is. Although we await the consummation of our salvation, God wants us to know it's a sure thing. He wants us to have the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven, of knowing that we will never have to face His wrath, of knowing that He has given us eternal life, of knowing that we will be raised from the dead in glorified bodies, physical bodies. God wants us to have confidence that He is working all things together for our good and His glory as He conforms us to the image of Christ. God wants His children to have assurance of these things. So this morning, as we study how God assures Abram, I'm going to point out four ways that God assures us as well. His blood bought children, four things that God gives us, that he gives his children, four ways that he gives assurance to us. Here's the first one. God gives assurance as we, number one, remember the promises in his word. God gives assurance as we remember the promises in His Word. Let's look at verse four together. Notice how God responds to Abram's questions in verse four. Behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man, right, your servant Eleazar, this contingency plan that you have, that man is not going to be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And then he brought Abram outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. And then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. So instead of rebuking Abram, the Lord reaffirms his promise. He says, don't worry, Abram, your servant's not going to be your heir. I'm going to give you a son and he will be your heir. I've not forgotten. My promise, I've not changed my mind. I'm going to do what I promised to do. And then God follows up these words of assurance by using a kind of a visual aid here. He takes Abram outside and gets him to stare up at the star filled sky. You can just imagine what that would have been like back then out in the wide open country. No city lights. And He says, Abram, your descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. So God gives Abram a concrete, visible declaration of His promise. How gracious of God, right? Because then, every time after Abram would be out at night or whatever and look up at the sky and see those stars, he would remember this promise and remember that God is going to fulfill it. God was using the stars as a way of supporting and strengthening Abram's faith. So God took His discouraged and fearful child and assured him by reminding Abram of His promises. And that's the same way that God assures His children today. By pointing them back to His promises in the Word. So this morning, loved ones, if you are struggling in your faith, what should you do? Well, you need to open up God's Word. We need to dig back in and read and reread and meditate on all the promises that He gives us in Jesus Christ. Promises like Romans 5.1, Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Promises like Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Promises like Christ gave in John 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Promises like what Jesus gave. I will never leave you or forsake you. Read over these promises. Pray them back to God. Ask God to help you believe them without a doubt. Cling to them in times of weakness and difficulty. Because God uses His promises. God longs that we would have assurance through His promises. By the way, just like he gave Abram that visual aid of the stars, he gives us the same thing, right? We're going to do it in a moment, this morning. The Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper accomplishes the same thing. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper so that the bread and the cup could serve as a visual reminder to us of what Christ accomplished and of the promises that we have through Jesus Christ. So how did Abram respond to this reminder of God's promises? Well, look at verse 6. There it says, "...and he, Abram, believed the Lord, and he, God, counted it to him as righteousness." Abram believed the promises of God, and God counted it to Abram as righteousness. Even though Abram didn't yet have a son, and even though humanly speaking, he can't probably imagine how this is going to be fulfilled. Abram believed that God would do what he had promised he would do. Even though Abram was a sinner, even though he was a rebel against Almighty God, God declared him right in his sight. God entered into a holy fellowship with Abram. So, it's not surprising, is it, that this verse is one of the most important verses in the Bible, because it really summarizes the way of salvation. Some call it the John 3.16 of the Old Testament. This verse shows how sinful humans are made right with God. In fact, the Apostle Paul quotes this verse twice, once in Galatians 3, once in Romans 4, to prove that a person is not saved by works. but by God's grace alone through faith. See, the Bible makes it so clear that we can't make ourselves right with God because of our sin. Our sin is what separates us from God and our sin keeps us from ever reconciling ourselves to God. We need God to wipe away our sins. And then we need God to credit to us the sinless life that His holiness demands. And that's what he does through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A right standing with God. What the Bible, other places, calls justification is by God's grace through faith alone. And you say, faith in what? Or faith in whom would be a better question? And the Bible is so clear. It's faith in Jesus Christ. It's in the finished work of Jesus. Romans 3.21, listen to what it says. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. It can't be attained through works. And then verse 22 says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. So the good news of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is that God has provided a way for sinners like us to be forgiven and made right with Him. God Himself made that possible because He became a man. The Son of God became Jesus of Nazareth. And then He lived a perfect life under God's law as a man. And then He willingly died on the cross in the place of sinners to pay the penalty for all who will believe. And so the Bible says that if you will acknowledge your sin, acknowledge that you're a sinner, forsake that sin, and embrace the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as payment for your sins, then you will be saved. You will be forgiven. God's righteousness will be credited to you. God will forgive your sins, take away your condemnation, and credit you with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So I ask you, Are you right with God? That's the most important thing you could take away from this sermon today. You know, we're talking about assurance. Some of you may not have assurance because you've never, you have no business having assurance because you've never turned from your sins and trusted in Christ. So just be honest with yourself and say, am I right with God? When I stand before Him, Will I be standing in my own failed righteousness? Or will I be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? That's an important question. I pray that you'll take it seriously. And I just want to point you to Jesus. Salvation and assurance begins when you believe the good news of Jesus Christ. You can't earn your way into heaven that God calls you to repent and believe. If you will turn to Christ this morning, what was said of Abram will be true of you as well. You will be righteous before God. So if I can help you with that after the sermon, please come see me. I would love to open up the Scriptures and help you discover the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. Now let's look at v. 7. We don't know precisely how much time passes between v. 6 and 7. Obviously not much. It was night in v. 6, right? He was showing Abram the stars, and so maybe v. 7 is the next morning. But God is still wanting to reassure Abram. So He says to him in v. 7, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. And Abram answers in v. 8, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? We've talked about the Son, now let's talk about the land. How am I to know? And you may say, man, Abram, that sounds like unbelief. But I don't think it was because Moses, through the Spirit of God, just told us in verse 6 that Abram had believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. So this question's not coming from a hard heart of unbelief. In fact, I think it's the type of question that comes from belief. It's like Abram saying, God, I believe Your promise, but just help me understand how it's going to happen, because it hasn't happened yet. I'm still living in this tent here with no sun. So how can I know that this is going to happen since You haven't yet done what You've promised to do? And so, like I said, the rest of the chapter is God just reassuring him specifically by saying, alright, I'm going to make a covenant with you. I'm going to remove all your doubts by making this covenant." What is a covenant? It means to bind yourself to someone in a relationship. So God's saying, I'm going to formally obligate myself by means of this covenant. I'm going to obligate myself to do what I've promised to do. So as we begin now in verse 9, the rest of the chapter really is all about this ceremony. It may seem kind of strange to us, but it's the ceremony of God establishing this covenant with Abraham. As we look now in verse 9, we are wanting to discover three more ways that God assures His children. So verse 9, he said to him, this is God talking to Abram, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, a young pigeon. And he brought all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in half, probably because they were too small. And you say, what is all this about? What's going on here? Well, God is making a covenant. Literally, the word is to cut a covenant with Abram. And the way God did this, covenants were inaugurated with a sacrifice. And we know throughout Scripture that sacrifice is always pointing toward the ultimate, perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So that's the way covenants would begin, with a sacrifice. And you say, okay, fine. Sacrifice an animal. Got it. But why are all these things being cut in half? That's a fair question. Well, back in Abram's day, they didn't make a covenant with each other by signing a contract. They didn't sign on a dotted line. No, instead, what they would do is, the animal that was going to be sacrificed, they would actually cut it in half or whatever in pieces and walk in between those pieces. And this served as a graphic illustration of what would happen to them if they broke that covenant. So you see, when you entered into a covenant with somebody and you walked through the pieces of this animal, you were basically calling upon yourself a curse. You're saying, if I ever break this covenant with you, may I become like this animal here. That's pretty serious stuff, huh? Probably a lot more people kept their word back then. There's an example of this, by the way, in Jeremiah 34, 18, if you want to read that on your own. I know it sounds gruesome to us, but no doubt it was effective. And I know that Abram would have understood what was going on here because this was common in his day. So he knew what God was about to do. Now, this brings us to our second point, by the way, and I'll get through these last three quickly. Don't be alarmed. God gives assurance as we, number two, exercise our faith and obedience. Exercise our faith and obedience. Think with me back now. What did God tell Abram to do in verse 9? Go gather all these animals and cut them in half so we can initiate this covenant, right? Now, don't you think God could have just snapped His fingers and, boom, the animals would have been there? Right? Cut in half, all ready to go. Why make Abram do that? I mean, we're such at a loss with this because I'm guessing most of us have never done something like this to animals. But I mean, this would have taken some effort on Abram's part, right? To go gather all these specific things, three years old, an animal in the prime of its life, cut it in half, been very bloody. Why did God have him do all that? Well, God responds to Abram's lack of assurance by summoning him to obedience. Scripture is clear that God's blessings are experienced by His children when they obey. And so, I think God was giving Abram a way to just exercise his faith, to just obey. So this morning, follower of Christ, if you're struggling with assurance, if you want the blessings of assurance, if you want your faith strengthened, then let me just challenge you to exercise your faith in obedience. Even when we're struggling with doubts and fears, we can never stop obeying, and that's what Satan wants to do. When you are discouraged, when you are doubting, when things are going rough, he tries to come in and tempt you and say, see, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Just don't worry about obeying God. Don't worry about reading your Bible. Don't worry about going to worship. Don't worry about those standards of holiness. It's not worth it. That's what Satan tries to get you to do. That God works the exact opposite. It's during those times that we must, with God's help, obey. And that's what Abram did. Abram acts in faith to take hold of the promises of God. Now look at v. 11. Not only did Abram get all the animals ready, but v. 11 says, "...and when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away." Why this detail, Moses? You have the picture there? Abram's getting all these animals ready and vultures or whatever coming down. Get out of here. He's shooing them away. Abram didn't have to do that. He could have just said, I'm not chasing those things away. Let them eat it. I'm tired that Abram didn't do that. He drove them away. Why? Because Abram wanted assurance. He wanted to see this covenant happen. And he didn't want anything to get in the way of the establishing of this covenant. He didn't want anything to interfere with the assurance of knowing that God's promises are true. And so again, if we are struggling with doubts, the worst thing we can do is to stop praying, stop reading our Bibles, stay away from worship. If we want the assurance of God, then we have to act in faith. We have to put forth effort to drive away anything that would interfere with that assurance. To get rid of sin that entangles us. To chase away doubts by obeying God and finding that His promises are true. And as you obey God through the power of the Spirit, then you'll see God growing you and giving you victory over sin. Did you notice our Scripture reading today, what the Apostle Peter says? He admonished believers to make every effort to add to their faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, and on down the list. Because as you do that, as you see by God's grace, God forming in you through your obedience, through His power, As you see Him producing in you the fruit of the Spirit, it gives you assurance. It encourages you. I am a child of God. God is at work in my life. So, God gives assurance as we Act out our faith and obedience. Then thirdly, God gives assurance as we consider our future in Christ. Notice what happens next. Now, God gives assurance as we consider our future in Christ. Look with me at verse 12. As the sun is 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 up with it 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 yourself, 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 what is God doing? God is just showing Abram his future. God brings this deep sleep on Abram, I think, because God was approaching Abram to answer him. That seems to be the picture. You may say, man, that's kind of weird. What's up with this deep sleep and dreadful and great darkness? I think what that's picturing is God is coming near. This is like an Isaiah 6 thing. This is like Peter falling down before Jesus after the catch of miraculous fish. This is the holiness of God coming near to a man to establish this covenant. And as he comes near, God shows Abram his future. God told Abram that his descendants would be slaves for 400 years, but then be delivered and inherit the land by the power of God. So what he's saying to Abram through all this is he's saying, my promises are true. I am at work in your life. I am accomplishing my plan through you. Your life, your suffering right now, it's not in vain, Abram. I'm at work. You have a good future. No doubt this would have assured Abram He would know God's ultimate plan. He could trust God now. He could wait on God to accomplish these purposes. And, loved ones, God has done the same for us as believers. He has graciously showed His plan and our future. He's told us in Ephesians 1.10 that He is bringing all things that have been marred and separated by sin. He's bringing all things back under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And He's told us personally in Romans 8.28 and 2 Corinthians 3.18 that He's working all things together for our good in order to conform us more and more into the image of His Son. So we know the future. We know what our future is. that it's secure in Jesus Christ. God promises that when Christ returns, this process of sanctification, this process that He's at work in us right now of conforming us into His Son's image, that it will be completed. When Jesus returns, we'll be made like Him, transformed into His glory and be with Him forever, reign with Him forever, the Scripture says. That's our future if you're a follower of Christ. And that is a future worth living for. That is a future that should encourage you today in your walk of faith. Now, in verse 17, the covenant is formally established. All this has been prep work. Here's the signing on the dotted line, if you will. Verse 17, when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. I'm talking about the pieces of the animals. And on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites. Yeah, all those guys, right? The promised land, the land of Canaan. So the smoking fire pot, the flaming torch, those are symbols of the presence of God. So what is happening here? Do you see the picture? God Himself is walking through the blood in between the pieces of the animals. Can you remember what that meant? God is saying, Abram, if I fail to live up to My promises, if I fail to live up to these covenant obligations, may I be cursed. May I be like this animal. God calls down the curse upon Himself if His promises should ever fail. But notice who isn't walking through the pieces. What's Abram doing during all this? He's asleep. This was a unilateral covenant. This was a covenant dependent on God alone. Why doesn't Abram go through the pieces? Well, God is taking full responsibility for the keeping of this covenant. Aren't you glad Abram didn't have to go through those? Because guess what? He wouldn't have made it. Because we're going to see his faith falter again. The keeping of this covenant is based upon the faithfulness of God, not on the condition of man. And that provides an important reminder for us, an important truth. Salvation is all of the Lord. Salvation is all of the Lord. And that's our final point then this morning. God gives assurance as we realize that salvation is entirely God's work and not ours. Oh, loved ones, if you can understand that salvation is entirely a work of God. You contribute nothing. You don't keep yourself saved. If you can understand that, that will give you such assurance. Because God doesn't fail. Salvation is, the scripture is clear, salvation is entirely a work of God. God the Father planned it, God the Son secured it through his life, death and resurrection. God the Spirit is the one who applies it to our lives. God is the one who makes us alive, removes the blinders from our eyes so that we see our hopelessness before a holy God, so that we see the glorious provision of Jesus Christ as our only way of being made right with God. And then God gives us the faith to cry out in repentance and belief. So it's God who saves us and it's God who keeps us saved. Jesus saved us by establishing the New Covenant, a different covenant the Bible talks about. He established the New Covenant with His shed blood on the cross. And because the obligations of that covenant fell completely on Christ and not on us, then those who trust in Him can never fall away. That's what Jesus said. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Not because they're so faithful, not because they're not ever going to stumble and disobey, but because I am faithful and I have accomplished this. So salvation is entirely a work of God. Because we're in covenant with God through faith in Christ, we can be assured that the promises of God will not fail. We are forgiven. We will enter into his kingdom. We will rejoice in his presence and we will fellowship with him face to face. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for your incredible grace. That you would condescend to sinners like us, that you would set your love and grace on us, that You would lavish these blessings on us that came at such an incredible price, the suffering and death of Your own Son, Jesus. And we praise You for all that He accomplished, all the promises that He has secured. We praise You for His victory over sin and death. We know that He is alive today at Your right hand. And we long for His return, and we believe that He is returning. Strengthen our faith. And we pray once again, you draw sinners to yourself this morning in Jesus name. Amen.