Deo Gloria
Sermon for September 1, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Genesis 15:1-6
Theme: Say “Amen” to God’s Promises!
- His promise to take care of the future
- His promise to make you righteous
We say the word so often—every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, every time we sit down for a meal and offer thanks to God, often times at the end of a hymn. We say, “Amen,” but do we remember what it means? Do we recognize what we’re saying? We’re saying we agree. We’re saying that what we just said in our prayer or in our hymn is true. We’re saying we believe the message of the hymn or the message of the prayer or the message of the pastor, and we want that too. That’s what Abram did in the verses we have before us this morning. God told him some pretty incredible things, some wonderful and comforting things to be sure, but incredible none the less. And he gave him an amazing and wonderful promise. And Abram said “Amen” to God’s promise. He believed it. He trusted that God would make his incredible promise come true and looked forward to the time it would. That’s what we are encouraged to do as well, to say “Amen” to God’s promises, to trust in them with all our heart.
Back in verse 1 we’re told that the LORD appeared to Abram in a vision and he spoke to him. He said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Abram had good reason to be afraid. He and his men had just attacked an army led by four kings from the east. Those four kings and their soldiers had attacked the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and taken the residents captive, including Abram’s nephew and his family. So Abram and his men pursued them and attacked them during the night and defeated them and rescued Lot and his family along with the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was a stunning victory! But how do you think those four kings from the east would respond to their defeat, especially when they found out they had been defeated by some guy named Abram and some 300 men from his household? Abram had put a target on his back. Those four kings could have reassembled their armies and launched an attack against him and his household at any time.
So the LORD appeared to Abram and reassured him: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your protector. I will keep you safe.”
And yet as comforting and reassuring as that was, we soon find out that there was something else weighing on Abram’s mind. “O Sovereign LORD,” he said, “what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir”(vv. 2+3) Abram’s greatest concern was not about his safety. His greatest concern is that he didn’t have any children. He had no son to inherit his estate. Really? That was his greatest concern? To someone in his 30s and 40s that may seem like no big deal, but Abram wasn’t in his 30s and 40s. Abram was now 85 and his wife, Sarah, was 75. And to someone in their mid 80s, who is going to inherit your estate, especially when your assets are fairly substantial, becomes rather important.
But there was even more to it than that. God had told Abram that the Savior would come from his family, from one of his descendants. But how could that happen if he didn’t have any children, if he didn’t have any descendants? How could the promised Savior still come from his family? The biological clock was ticking, you know. The window of opportunity for him and Sarah to have a child was closing fast. And what if they didn’t have any children? Would the promise of the Savior not come true? This is what was eating at Abram, what was weighing heavy on his heart and mind.
And God wasted no time in addressing his concern. “Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir’”(v. 4). And then God took even it one step further and used a visual aid to reassure Abram. He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be”(v. 5). Last weekend my wife and I were visiting some friends in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If you’ve ever been to the U.P., you know how clear the sky can be at night without all the light pollution you tend to get in the Twin Cities area. So one night while we were there, I went outside about 1:00 in the morning and looked up at the sky and wow! It was one of those crisp, clear nights—not a cloud in the sky. And the stars were so bright and clear. You could see the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. You could see the Milky Way stretching across the sky. You could see hundreds of stars, thousands of stars, in every direction. I didn’t bother counting them. There were too many to count. What an amazing picture that was for Abram! And what a comforting picture too! Not only would he have a son who would be his heir, he would have descendants, lots and lots of descendants, as numerous as the stars in the sky.
What doubts and fears have been weighing on your mind lately? Are you concerned about your children as you’re getting ready to send them back to school, concerned for their safety, concerned about how they’ll do this year? Many parents are sending their kids off to college this time of year, some for the first time, some hundreds of miles away. Will their son or daughter be safe at college? Will they do well in school? Will they make good friends or fall in with the wrong crowd? It’s kind of scary.
Or maybe you’re a little bit older. Your kids are grown and now you’re looking at retirement or maybe you’re already retired. Will you be able to retire on what you have saved up? Will your money last throughout your retirement years or will it run out? And what about your heir? Who will be inheriting your estate? Those can be some unsettling thoughts as well.
So let me offer you some promises from the Word of God, precious promises God has given to comfort and reassure you:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
Say “Amen,” friends. God’s got you covered. He will watch over you. He will keep you and your children safe. And as far as the future is concerned, don’t worry. He’s got his plans for you all worked out—and they’re good plans, good for you and for your family—plans to give you hope, plans to give you a future. Say “Amen” to God’s promises. Trust in them with all your heart.
But perhaps there’s something else that has been weighing on your mind. That close call on the freeway the other day made you start thinking about it, or maybe it was the death of a close friend, or maybe it’s the fact that you’re 85 like Abram and every day you see more and more signs of your mortality. As you reflect on your life, there’s a number of things that stand out: your accomplishments, of course, the goals you achieved, your career, the years you dedicated to supporting yourself and your family. Of course, that isn’t what bothers you. It’s your blunders that bother you, your failures, your shortcomings, your sins, things you wish you hadn’t done, things you wish you hadn’t said, but you did. You knew it was wrong at the time, and you still do. So does God. Are you still acceptable in the eyes of God? Will he still welcome you into heaven when your time in this world is over? Or will he banish you because of your sins, banish you from his presence forever?
Again, Abram could relate. He had his share of sins and failures too. Remember that time he lied to Pharaoh about his wife, hoping to save his own skin, and almost lost her to Pharaoh’s harem until God intervened? Or remember that time he and Sarah tried to help God out a bit with this whole heir issue, so they agreed to have Abram sleep with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar; and then Hagar became pregnant and despised Sarah and so they ended up having to send Hagar and her baby away into the wilderness? As Abram looked back on his life, what he saw wasn’t always such a pretty picture. He had committed his share of sins too. Was he still acceptable in the eyes of God? Or did his sins disqualify him, disqualify him from enjoying God blessings now and forever?
Take another look at v. 6: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Let me start by pointing out what it does not say. It does not say, “Abram was a good person and did lots of good things in his life, and God credited it to him as righteousness.” Likewise it does not say, “Abram was a pretty good guy. He volunteered at his church and gave money to charity, and God credited it to him as righteousness.” It doesn’t say anything like that, does it? No, it says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” The fact of the matter is Abram was not righteous on his own. He was a sinner who had often said and done sinful things and therefore did not deserve to live with God in heaven. But Abram did believe. He trusted in God and his promises. The word used here is the word from which the word Amen comes. It has the basic idea of “firmness” or “certainty.” Abram was firm. He was certain. He was sure. He believed what God had told him. That he would have a son and that his son would be his heir—he believed. That his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky—he believed. That one day the Savior would come from his descendants and would rescue him from sin and death—he believed. No, he didn’t say it out loud, but he certainly thought it in his heart. He said, “Amen. I believe.”
And God credited it to him as righteousness. What Abram did not have on his own and could not achieve on his own, God gave him in his grace and mercy. God gave him righteousness. And Abram could be at peace because everything was right between him and God.
How about you? Are you righteous in the eyes of God? You won’t get into heaven without it, you know. God is righteous and holy. If we’re going to live with God in heaven, then we need to be the same. We need to be righteous and holy. The problem is we’re not. The problem is we’re sinners. The problem is, as the Bible says, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”(Isaiah 64:6) It’s a dead end, friends. You can never be good enough for God on your own. You can never do enough good things. You can never be righteous.
The only way you can be righteous in the sight of God is the way Abram was, by trusting in God and his promises, especially his promise of a Savior. You see, God knew Abram was not righteous on his own and he knows you aren’t either. But that’s why he promised to send a Savior, someone to rescue us from sin and death. And that’s why he sent his Son Jesus to be our Savior, to suffer and die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. And that’s why Jesus lived a holy and righteous life, so his righteousness could be credited to you. And that’s why God made that wonderful promise: that whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but shall have eternal life. And you know that God doesn’t break his promises. And for your sake and mine God has even taken it one step farther. He has given us a visual aid too, something we can see with our eyes and hold in our hands and taste with our lips, bread and wine, and along with them his very own body and blood, to comfort us, to reassure us. So say, “Amen,” friends. Believe it. Trust in God and his promises the same way Abram did. Trust that he will take care of your future. Trust that he will make you righteous, that in his grace and mercy he will credit righteousness to you. Put your doubts and your fears aside and just say “Amen.” Say in your heart. Say it with your lips. Say “Amen” to God’s gracious promises! Amen.