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Genesis chapter 15 and verse number 6, the Bible says, And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. The title for the sermon this morning is, He Believed in the Lord. He believed in the Lord. One thing you'll notice as we go through this chapter, we're already seeing how God had given certain promises to Abraham. And in this chapter we start to see Abraham doubts a little bit. Obviously the years are going by. When we look at these chapters, it's not like one day to the next. We see several years developing, Abraham's getting older, Sarah's getting older, and you'll constantly see this battle with Abraham and with Sarah. They begin to doubt some of the promises that God has given. And I can fully appreciate and understand that from my own perspective. When we see promises of God, or we see trials in our life, and we start wondering, Lord, are you going to hold up to your promise? Are you going to hold up to the things you said? We begin to doubt. And look, I don't have to go many years like these guys. Sometimes I can just go days. I can just go weeks and I begin to have certain doubts in my mind about the Word of God. It says, but we've noticed something about Abraham. Every time the Lord speaks to him, every time the Lord reinforces those promises to him, Bible tells us that he believed in the Lord. He believed in the Lord. Now look at verse number one, Genesis 15 verse one. And after these things, so you say after what things? Well, after the, if you remember the last chapter, we saw the wall that Abraham took part in delivering lots and the people of Sodom from the hands of the enemies. And so after all these things, Genesis 15 verse one, after these things, the Word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision. Now we can take that in two ways. We know who the Word of the Lord is, right? We know who the Word is. And the Word, of course, is Jesus Christ. So we can take it from that perspective that in a vision, Jesus Christ himself came to speak to Abraham, not in person this time around, like we saw, like we see later on when the Lord comes and speaks to Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. But at this point in time, he comes to Abraham in a vision saying, Fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Now, one thing you'll notice here is that the Lord says to Abraham, fear not Abram, okay? Abraham's been having an experience of fear or some doubt. We'll soon see what that is. You might think, well, maybe it's the vision, you know, maybe it's the vision that's caused Abraham to fear, but we'll soon see that's not the fear that it's been referred to. But one thing the Lord says to Abraham, he says that, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. I mean, what an amazing promise. He says, look, Abraham, I'm going to protect you. I am your shield, okay? The Lord God is your shield. And the Lord God is thy exceeding great reward. You know, quite often I preach about the rewards in heaven. And that's something that we also have our mindset. And we ought to be thinking about those rewards, eternal rewards, working for those rewards, making sure we have this, you know, inheritance, or not so much the inheritance, because that's a given. But you know, that we can build upon our foundation, we can build upon the inheritance that's given to us by Jesus Christ. And we ought to be looking at as our great reward. But one thing we ought to also pause and consider is that the Lord God himself is our great reward. The fact that we can have him as our God, as the King of our lives, as the Lord of our lives, that we can speak to him through our prayers, that he speaks to us through his word, that we have his eternal salvation is great reward. Just having the God of the universe as our Father, you know, as our friend is that great reward. And we see how the Lord here is encouraging Abram. Now, this isn't the only time, if you guys can just keep your finger there, let's go to the book of Psalms. Because the Psalms has a lot to say about the Lord being our shield, our protector. And one song I'd get you to turn to is Psalm 3, verse 3, please. Psalm 3, Psalm 3, verse 3. The Bible says, But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. Okay? So when the Bible says that the Lord is our shield, not only is he our shield, but he's there to lift up our head. Okay? So when you're downcast, when you're discouraged, when your head is down low, and you're feeling sorrow, you're feeling depression, you're feeling fear, the Lord says, I'm going to lift up your head. I'm going to be your shield. Okay? Which means when you're in those difficult times, you need to draw to the Lord. You need to draw closer to the Lord. You know, the worst thing to do is when you're depressed. The worst thing to do when you're downcast is to, you know, further yourself away from the Lord. That's all right. You know, and that can be tempting sometimes to have that, you know, pity party and go, woe is me. You know, not even the Lord can look upon me. No, the Lord wants to lift you up. The Lord wants to lift up your head and be your shield. Let's go to Psalm 33, verse 20. Psalm 33, verse 20. Psalm 33, verse 20. Psalm 33, verse 20. The Bible says, our soul waiteth for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. Okay? Now, yes, we cover the fact that he's our help, he's our defender, he's our shield, but in order for you to claim that promise, sometimes you have to be patient. You have to there, our soul waiteth for the Lord. Okay? Sometimes the Lord will allow you to go through the trials in life, and you just need to wait for him to come through to deliver you. It's not, you know, the length of time, it's not that the Lord doesn't know about your trials. It's not that he doesn't care. He just, you know, he's allowing you to go through a certain experience, maybe to destroy your pride, maybe to break your ego a little bit, maybe to make you reflect on some mistakes you've made in your life, but in due time, you know, if we wait for the Lord, you know, we be patient with him, he will be that help and our shield. Okay? So please, even if there's a time of waiting, and we see with Abraham, he's promised his seed, he's promised to have children, you know, the years are going by, you know, and he's not having the child. Okay? It's not for a lack of trying. It's just not happening. Okay? It's not happening physically with he and his wife. Let's go to Psalm 84 verse 11. Psalm 84 verse 11. Psalm 84 verse 11. The Bible says, What I promise, if you walk uprightly, if you walk, now we spoke about your position before the Lord, and that's perfect, but we also spoke about your walk, right? Your walk is not necessarily perfect. You know, you will fail in your walk, right? But do we just give up? Do we just say, well, Lord, you know, we have the fallen flesh, you know, this is just the way I am. No, there's a command. There's a requirement that we walk uprightly, that we walk in the ways of the Lord. And if we do that, the Lord says, look, no good thing will he withhold from you. Hey, the Lord wants to gift you, the Lord wants to reward you, the Lord wants to bless you, but you can only receive those things in your daily life if you walk uprightly. The Bible says here, he's our son and our shield. Of course, the son gives us light, the son gives us, you know, heat. You know, we cannot survive without the son, but more important than the physical son we have is if we set the Lord God as our son, that we, you know, we get our strength from him. We get the light and direction from him. So that's just a few passages in the book. Look, if you go through the Psalms, you're gonna find many passages about the Lord being our shield, okay? Our defender. And that's a great thing to keep in your mind because in life, people are gonna do you wrong. You know, in life, you're gonna be tempted to take revenge sometimes, but you need to just remember the Lord's my shield. He's gonna protect me, okay? Here's the one that's going to take vengeance for me as long as I walk in his ways, as long as I walk uprightly, okay? But go back to Genesis 15. We'll soon now see that the source of his fear is the fact that he hasn't had a child yet. And I fully understand, okay? Obviously, as you get older, you know, in life, it's gonna be more difficult to have children. And we even get to a point where, you know, Sarah, physically speaking, later on, is just unable to have children. She's gone past that, you know, she's gone through menopause already, and she's already at a point where, you know, it's impossible physically for her to have children. And of course, the Lord's just trying their faith, and he's got his perfect timing as to when Isaac would be born from Sarah. But look at verse number two. This is the source of his fear. He says, 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. So you see the source of his fear. You see the source of his doubts there. He says, Lord, you haven't given me any kids. But there are other kids. There are other children. There are other babies being born in my household. Of course, we know that Abraham was very rich. He had many servants, of course. His servants were having children. His servants were there. And he points to the steward of his house. And if you remember from our past preaching that the steward of a house is someone who's kind of like the chief ruler, you know, like the household manager. You know, Abraham had a lot of things to take care of. So he had someone in second in command, and it is this Eliezer of Damascus. And he goes, well, you know, this Eliezer of Damascus, he's had a child. He's had someone born in the house. Maybe the promises. Maybe, Lord, that's my heir that you're talking about. The fact that Eliezer has had a son. And, you know, he's thinking like that. You know, he's thinking that, well, maybe it's not me that's going to have the child, but maybe through Eliezer I can have an heir that being his son. And one thing I also, just before I get into all of that, one thing I do want to teach you just briefly about the Bible. If you haven't noticed this already in the King James Bible, is that the grammar is different to modern day English grammar, okay? Because if you have a look at verse number two again, look where the question mark is. And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? So that's the question. What will you give me, right? And the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. Like, that's how we would read it. If we were reading it in modern, it's like, that's the question, is Eliezer of Damascus, like question mark? One thing you'll notice about the King James grammar, just to help you enrich in your reading, is that when you say question mark, it's not necessarily that the end of that phrase is the question. The end of that phrase might actually be the answer to the question, okay? I mean, this is kind of like why, you know, we don't have quotation marks in the King James Bible. Have you noticed that? When someone's, like, when you're reading a novel, for example, when someone speaks, you've got the inverted commas, you've got the quotation marks, you know, so you know someone's speaking, but you don't have that in the King James Bible. You don't have the quotation marks. It just basically says, look, and Abram said no quotation marks, Lord God, okay? And another thing that you'll notice there, just regarding the question mark, is the question is there. Lord God, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless? That's the question, that's the question. And the answer, or Abram's answer to his own question is, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. They're thinking, maybe this is the answer to the question I just asked you, Lord, okay? Let me just give you another example of this. Please keep your finger there, and go to 1 John 5.5. You're gonna find this throughout your Bible, okay? But I'm just telling you this, because I remember when I first picked up my King James, I used to get confused, and just in case you're struggling with that a little bit, this can help you understand. Look at 1 John 5.5, just quickly. 1 John 5.5. So, you know, let's read it like modern day grammar, as we would read it. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Is that the one that overcomes the world? You know, the one that believes that Jesus, you know, is that the, is that a question? You know, is John asking the question, you know, is Jesus the one that is, sorry, is Jesus the Son of God? Is that a question that John is asking? No, of course, that's the answer to the question, right? So the question is, who is he that overcometh the world? Question, that's the question. The answer is, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Okay, so that's not the question, but that's the answer to the question. So just in case you were ever wondering, if you were reading your King James Bible, like I said, I know I struggle with these question marks sometimes. Why is the question mark there? What's the question? Only to realize, no, that's the answer to the question. So you'll notice that a lot when you read through your Bible. But anyway, just for your information there, go back to Genesis 15. Genesis 15, verse four. Genesis 15, verse four. How does God answer the question from Abraham? He says, and behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, this shall not be thine air, that being the son of Eliezer, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine air. So God makes it very clear, look, your air will come from natural birth. Okay, that being Isaac. It's going to come through you and Sarah, that will be your air. And look at verse number five. And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if they'll be able to number them, and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be. Okay, so the Lord takes Abraham out to the night sky and shows him all the stars. Now, one thing that I love about the Sunshine Coast is at night I see a lot more stars than I did in Sydney. Okay, I mean, I sort of, you tend to forget, right? Every time you look up to the sky, I mean, you know, I see this a lot of stars, obviously when I lived in Sydney, there's a lot more lights. There's a lot more light pollution like they call it, right? And it hinders you from seeing some of the deeper stars because of the light that's emulated by the city, okay? And when I come to the Sunshine Coast, I just love it because we still have light pollution. It's not perfect, but I just see so many more stars. You know, it's kind of like, I mean, the sky looks bigger to me in general here on the Sunshine Coast, okay? But if you get out somewhere where it's even darker, you get somewhere out where there's no light whatsoever, you go out to the night sky, you're gonna see even more stars. You know, you can see some of the, you'll even make out some of the planets because they have a slightly different color to the stars and things like that. And, you know, he points Abraham to the stars, right? And he says, your seed will be like this. And of course, we know that the seed, when we looked at this, was the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're in Christ, you know, you also become, by extension, the seed of Abraham, okay? So he says, look, I like all these stars, innumerable once again, the Lord reminds him, he's already told Abraham that he's gonna have an innumerable number of people under him, you know, innumerable children or seed. And the Lord again just reminds Abraham, you know, Abraham is going through a period of doubt there. The Lord just reminds him once again. And I love the fact that it takes him out to the night sky, you know? And then it says there in verse number six, and he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him full righteousness, okay? And so that's what it took. It took the Lord taking Abraham, reinforcing the truth from his word, okay? And also pointing into the night skies for Abraham to believe the Lord, okay? And one of my old pastors would often say, you know, he would often say, and I haven't really done this, but I know it's true, you know, that he would encourage parents to take their children, you know, camping. You know, he would encourage them to say, you know, you really ought to take your kids out, you know, get away from the technology, get away from the phones, get away from the TV, you know, just spend one night out in nature and at night look up to the stars and tell your children about the Lord God, you know? Because it's when you look at the handiwork of God, when you just, you know, put all other distractions away and you look at the beauty of nature, when you look at the, you know, the stars, you know, those gas pools, how, you know, God has put them in its place, you know, they're not falling out of orbit. They're all there rightly so, you know, you know where they are, you know, people can, you know, chart the movement of planets and stars and all those kinds of things, you know, all those things, you know, are sort of perfect. The Lord has put everything perfect out there and sometimes it just allows you to meditate on the Lord. It just reminds you to just look at his handiwork, the great works that he's able to accomplish and say, man, Lord, if you're able to do that, if you're able to create such a beautiful thing, you know, how much more than, you know, can you help me in my life? How much more than can I depend on your word and know that your promises are true? And that's what the Lord does with Abraham. Not only does he reinforce him with the word, but he shows him his handiwork. And that causes him to believe in the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And so one way for you to overcome your fears and your doubts, one way, okay, is once again, going back to the word of God. We saw that the word of God came unto Abraham, okay? There are promises in the Bible. The promises of God, he says, he'll never leave you nor forsake you. He promises that he'll forgive you if you confess your sins to him. He promises to guide you in your path. He promises you, you know, to give you wisdom from above. If you seek after that, you need a question, you ask the Lord to answer that. He promises you many things, okay? And again, you know, cause we're fallen creatures, because we're weak in the flesh, okay, we do have doubts sometimes. You say, what's the answer to overcome those doubts and those fears? You need to just return back to the word of God. Just like Abraham, he had some doubts. The word of God came unto him once again, and we've been given the scriptures. We've been given the whole canon. Abraham didn't even have what we had. You know, in order for him to receive the word of God, he had to get a vision. Hey, we can just open up the word of God. We can just open up the Bible. We can read the promises that God gave to Abraham. We can read all the promises that God has given us in his word. If you go through doubts, you go through fears, that's what you need to do. And sometimes you need to get out of your house and just look up the stars. You know, look at nature, look at the beautiful beaches, look at the oceans, look at the creation of God and see how powerful and how mighty he is. That's gonna help reinforce the fact that God loves you and that is with you. And something else I want you to turn to please is leave your finger there and go to Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four. Verse three, please. Romans chapter four, verse three. And I've already kind of covered this in a previous sermon, but I just want to look at where this is recorded for us in the book of Romans. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. Now we already know that Abraham is definitely already saved. Definitely already saved. Definitely a man of faith at this point in time, of course. And if we go to Romans chapter four, verse three, it's quoted for us here, but this time it's quoted in context of salvation, okay? But let's have a look at this. It says Romans chapter four, verse three. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Your question might be, how do I trust God's promises? Because I do go through periods of doubt, you know, pastor Kevin. How am I supposed to trust those promises that I see in the word of God? Well, you see that the Lord takes the same principle and applies it to salvation. How is it that you are saved? What did you have to do to be saved? You simply believed the gospel, didn't you? You simply believed in Jesus Christ. You believe in his death, burial, and resurrection. You trusted that as your way to heaven. You trusted that as your way of having your sins forgiven and receiving eternal life. And you say, was that hard? Maybe it's hard for some people that are stuck in their own ways to, you know, reject what they've heard, reject what they believed, and then put their faith in the truth. That might be the hard part. But as far as believing what Jesus Christ did, it's easy, okay? It's just putting trust and going, yes, Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you did that for me. And you know, if you got into a point, I mean, I know many of you have no doubts whatsoever. You know you're saved. You know Jesus Christ walked the earth 2000 years ago. You've never seen him. You've never seen him crucified, but you believe it happened. You believe that he rose from the dead. You never saw that, but you believe it happened. Well, then it's no different in your day-to-day walk. Just as easy as it was for you to believe and put your faith and trust on the gospel, is the same way you, you know, put your faith and trust on the promises that God has given you in your life. That's it. It's the same thing. It's not some extra complicated thing. It's not exactly the same thing. Lord, you said this in your word. Lord, I'm going to believe it. You know, Lord, I'm going to hold you. Look, there's nothing wrong with telling God, look, Lord, I'm a little weak here, but I'm going to hold to what you said here in this passage, Lord. You know, I'm struggling financially, Lord, but I'm going to do the things you've asked me to do. Look, you said here that you're going to provide for me. You're going to provide for my children. They're not going to, they're not going to, you know, go hungry. You know, I'm going to trust you, Lord. I'm just going to do what you've asked me to do. And I know you're going to come through because your word says that. Now that's counted for righteousness. The Lord looks at that faith and goes, wow, what a righteous person, right? Just believe in the things that I've said. And that's how easy it is, guys. Just read the word of God, believe what Jesus Christ says. And look, sometimes you read God's word and you're not going to fully understand it, right? There are things, there are even things I read that I don't fully grasp, but I believe it's true. Regardless if I understand that, I believe it's true. And I know God's going to come through one day and answer that for me. Okay, in whatever way. It might be from my own personal study. It might be conversations with you guys. It might be listening to some other preacher, but somehow the Lord's going to come through and answer that for me because I've got faith in His word. Okay, even if I don't fully understand it. So that's how you go through life day to day. It's no different to how you got saved. You simply believe what God says for you in the Bible. Let's go back to Genesis 15. Genesis 15 verse seven. And he said unto him, so that there are two promises here. There's the promise that he's going to have a child, okay? And of course the seed will come through there. And the other promise was the land. Okay, and this is now verse number seven about the land. And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the 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? All right. So the word whereby there in verse number eight is like by which or how? So Abraham says, look, how will I know that I will inherit it? Okay. So not only did he have doubts about having a child, but now he's asking the Lord, how do I know that's going to happen? Because remember, he did not inherit the land. He was a sojourner. He was just passing through like a gypsy. Okay, he just set up tents and he would go through and he never owned a, later on, he bought a piece of land, but the land never belonged to him. In fact, throughout his whole life, Abraham never inherited that physical land. Okay. So he's asking the Lord, how will I know this? Okay. Now this is kind of harder for Abraham to believe, I think, because having a child, that's something he's going to experience. If the Lord said that's promised, again, he believes the Lord, he's encouraged by the promise, he's going to experience, you know, having a child. But one thing he's never going to experience in his lifetime is inheriting the land. That's going to be given to his seed. Okay. Now, verse number nine. So what does the Lord, you know, he sets up this covenant, he's already set up this covenant, this agreement with Abraham, but he asked Abraham to do a certain practice, a certain sacrifice here in verse number nine. Let's have a look at it. Verse number nine. And he said unto him, take me an heifer of three years old. Now, a heifer there, that's, if you don't know, that's a young female cow. Quite, I think it's one that hasn't given birth before. Okay, just a young female cow of three years old, and then it goes a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. All right. Yeah, my understanding of a turtle dove, a turtle dove is just a type of pigeon. Okay. But anyway, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. So, you know, from a big cow, to a goat, to a ram, and then to two birds here. And verse number 10. 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. So, Abraham does this. He takes the cow, the goat, the ram, and the Bible says he divided them in the midst. So, he cuts them in half. Okay. He cuts them in half, and he separates the pieces. The only thing that he didn't divide were the birds. Maybe they're just too small to be divided. And the reason he divides them in half, you know, it's got to be sort of far enough where the Lord God himself is actually going to pass through the midst. He's actually going to walk through between these sacrifices that were made. We'll have a look at this. Verse number 11. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. So, of course, you've got fresh meat. You know, the birds of prey are going to come and try to eat it. And Abraham is trying to get him out of the way. And then verse number 12. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and low and horror of great darkness fell upon him. Okay. So, we're going to now see that God is going to not just appear in a vision, but he's going to be there physically. Okay. And I actually believe that this isn't Jesus Christ. I actually believe this is God the Father doing this. Okay. And I've got a few reasons for this, but number one is that Abraham's becoming, falling into a deep sleep. This is something that God is causing Abraham to experience. Okay. And we know that there's no problem in seeing Jesus Christ. We know that later on Abraham will see Jesus, but no man has seen the Father. Okay. And I actually believe this is the Father he passing through, that's going to pass through this sacrifice. And the Bible says that great horror, and horror of great darkness fell upon him. And I think he realizes I'm about to experience God here. Like, you know, and this isn't just the Lord God, Jesus Christ, but this is now the Father here. And verse number 13, 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. Now, what is that about? You know, God is prophesying here that the seed of Abraham, his descendants are going to be in another land. Okay. And they'll be afflicted for 400 years. What's that about? Anyone? No, no. Egypt. Remember Egypt? Oh, you're waiting for the children. All right. Yeah. Kids, this is Egypt. Okay. This is about Egypt. Now, I don't know if you've ever, it depends on kind of circles you fellowship with, but this is a point of contention amongst a lot of Christians as to what this means, the 400 years. Okay. I don't know if you know this, but you know, I believe that Israel or the children of Israel was in Egypt for 430 years, and I'll show that later on. 430 years. There's a passage here that speaks of 400 years. Some people say, well, this is a contradiction in the Bible. Why does it say 400 years here? And there's another passage that says 430 years. Is that a contradiction? There are others that say, well, this isn't just Egypt. This is also the time that Abraham spent in Canaan as a sojourner, and basically they break it up as, I think, 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt. I don't know if you guys have heard this before, but I mean, this is a contention amongst Christians as to what all this means. And I personally don't think it's that complicated. Okay. I don't think it's that complicated. And I'll show you some of the reasons, some of the things that are said here. Keep your finger there. Actually, before we move away from there, I just want you to be careful with the way it's worded. Okay. Verse number 13. And he said unto Abraham, no vashority that I see shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. So there's an affliction for 400 years. Okay. Now keep your finger then. Go to Acts chapter seven. Acts chapter seven, verse five. Acts chapter seven, verse five. Acts chapter seven, verse five. And before we read that, have you heard of the black Israelites, or what do they call it, the black Hebrew roots, or black Israelites, or something like that? They say, I'm not going to cover this, but they say that Israel was not afflicted for 400 years. Okay. That they were only afflicted in the generation of Moses, and that they lived like royalty before that, you know, for many of those years. So this prophecy given to Abraham is not to those that claim to be Jews today, but rather they claimed it upon themselves because they've been taken into slavery. You know, and then they say, you know, if you look this up on YouTube or something, they'll say, you know, the 400 years are almost over, you know, and they're going to have this great, you know, I don't know, you know, victory over the white man or something, you know, because of the slavery. But, you know, some people take it, you know, to that extreme. Obviously, you know, I do not believe that, but look at Acts chapter seven, verse five. Acts chapter seven, verse five. And it says here, and he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as he set his foot on, yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. So we know that's about Abraham, you know, that Abraham never inherits or possessed the land himself. But verse number six, and God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land and that they should bring them into bondage and entreat them evil 400 years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place. So once again, there in verse number six, Acts seven, verse six, it says there at the end of it, that they should be brought into bondage and entreat them evil or do harm unto them for 400 years. Okay. Now, if you guys can go to Exodus chapter 12, please. Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, verse 40. Exodus chapter 12, verse 40. Exodus chapter 12, verse 40. The Bible says, now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years, even the selfsame days it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. So here we have something very clear in Exodus chapter 12. It says it's exactly from the very day, 430 years from the time the children of Israel would go into Egypt to the time they would exit out of Egypt. 430 years. Okay. So what is, you know, you might ask me, which one is it? Is it 430 or is it 400? I don't think it's complicated. Okay. It's definitely 430 years that they were in Egypt, but the Bible says very, makes it clear as well that they were afflicted or they were treated evil for 400 years. Okay. So what that means is for the first 30 years, they were, you know, people loved them. They were being respected. Why? Because we know the story of Joseph. He became the second in power, you know, just under Pharaoh in Egypt. And then, you know, his brothers came. Of course they would treat his brothers well. Of course they would receive his family because of the great stuff that Joseph did for Egypt. But then 30 years later, then they started to treat them evil. They started to persecute them. That's, you know, that should be straightforward. I don't think all this talk and complication should change. Now, if you guys can also go to Leviticus chapter 19, please. Leviticus chapter 19, just very quickly. And, you know, what I'm saying is, I'm not saying that for 400 years they were like slaves. I'm not saying that, okay. I think what we see in the Bible, you know, we don't get much. We basically get, we get a lot of information about the Israelites going into Egypt and we get a lot of information about the Israelites leaving Egypt. But we don't get a lot about the in-between. We don't have a lot in the scripture, okay. I'm not saying that they were in hardship, in burdens as slaves for 400 years, okay. But what I'm trying to point out here is that, you know, persecution probably started, you know, light. You know, just some type of discrimination, just from light. And then it starts to build up generation after generation. Things like that. Because, you know, societies can change a lot in just 30 years, okay. So the people, you know, the children of Israel were received well into Egypt. You know, they say, well, really 30 years later they've already been persecuted. A lot changes in 30 years. I mean, I'm 38 years old. You know, when I was eight years old, it was a different world. Totally different. I'm not just talking about technology. I'm just talking about the things people thought were right. The things people thought that were good. The things people thought were evil, you know. Things have changed so much that, you know, what was once called evil is now considered good. And things that were once considered good are considered evil. I mean, just in 30 years of my lifetime I've seen how this world has changed, you know. So yeah, why, you know, societies can change, you know. They receive the Israelites into Egypt. 30 years later, they're like, why are they still here? Of course, you know, we have changes. You know, things develop. We have new generations. We have new pharaohs, you know, taking seat. Things change. But look at Leviticus chapter 19, verse 33. And brother Sam preached a good sermon about immigration. But this is how Israel was supposed to treat a stranger that walked into the land in Leviticus 19, 33. The Bible says, and if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. And you have a tourist coming past. You have someone coming through. Hey, don't vex him. Don't treat him bad. You know, be nice to them. You know, be hospitable toward them. And verse 34, but the stranger that dwelleth with you, so this is a stranger that wants to immigrate. He wants to be part of that nation, right? But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shall love him as thyself for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So the Lord reminds him, hey, you need to treat the strangers well because remember how they treated you in Egypt? Okay, so he uses that parallel, okay? Now, the Lord's not saying, you know, don't put them under bondage. You know, don't make them slaves. He's not saying, look, just don't vex them, you know? So when I read something like they were afflicted for 400 years, I'm not thinking they're slaves for 400 years. I'm just thinking the Egyptians started to vex them. The Egyptians started to discriminate against them. The Egyptians started to, you know, take away certain of their rights when they should have been treating them as one born in the land. They should have been loving them, you know, the way the Lord God has instructed Israel because he uses that comparison about how you were treated in Egypt, all right? So go back to Genesis 15, verse 14. I hope that answers some questions if you had any of those questions, but I'm telling you, if you start to talk to certain Christians, there's a lot of debate about that 400 years, okay? There's nothing clear in the Bible that they were in slavery for 400 years. You know, it is clear that in the time of Moses, that was definitely happening, okay? They were definitely under bondage. They were definitely being persecuted. But all I'm saying is that light persecution, even light persecution that grows and develops as the generations go by, you know, was considered being done evil to a stranger when you should have been treating them as one born in the land, okay? Back to Genesis 15, verse 14. Genesis 15, verse 14. The Bible says, and also that nation whom they shall serve, we know who that is now, that's Egypt, will I judge? And afterward, shall they come out with great substance, okay? With great substance. And so, of course, we know the story. The Lord would plague Egypt, would destroy Egypt. And then I'm just going to read, you don't need to turn that. I should have told you to stay in Exodus 12, verse 35. You don't need to turn that, I'll just read it to you. Bible says, and the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptians, jewels of silver. I'm not sure why it says borrowed there. But anyway, borrowed of the Egyptians, jewels of silver and jewels of gold and reignments. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required, and they spoiled the Egyptians. Now, the word spoiled is commonly referred to as warfare. You know, if you defeat your enemy in a war, you take their spoil, you take their food, you take their possessions, right, for being victorious. You know, for the cost that have come from you fighting the war, you say, well, you know, you made me go to war, I'm going to take some of the stuff that was yours, I'm going to take them for myself. And interesting thing, there was no war. I mean, the Lord just steps in and utterly destroys them, right? The Israelites did not have to raise a hand in this battle. The Lord delivered them. And of course, this is a picture of salvation. You know, the picture of salvation that the Lord did all the work, you know, and we can leave Egypt as it were in haste. But it said here that they spoiled the Egyptians, kind of like they just had a war with them, okay? But look at verse number 15, Genesis 15, 15. And thou shall go to thy fathers in peace, thou shall be buried in a good age. So God also promises this to Abraham. Look, you're going to go to your fathers in peace, and you'll be buried in a good old age. Abraham, you're going to live a long time, you're going to live a good age, and you're going to go to your fathers in peace. I love those words. I love those words that Abraham's been promised. Look, you're going to die a peaceful death, and you're going to go with your fathers, okay? You know, you're saved fathers, you're going to be with them once again. And just turn to Genesis 25, please, Genesis 25, verse 7. Genesis 25, verse 7, where we get this, the death of Abraham, just to see how well did the promise or the prophecy of God play through here. In Genesis 25, verse 7, it says, and these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived. And a hundredth free score and fifteen years. And a hundredth free score and fifteen years. Can someone work that out? How long did he live? 175 years, that's a long age, right? He lived a long time. And then verse number 8, look at this. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, just like God said. An old man and full of years, and look at this, and was gathered to his people. What does that mean? Well, what God said, that he should go with your fathers in peace. You know, the Bible says here, just in a very poetic form, that he was gathered to his people. He went to be with his loved ones that have gone before him, okay? And I'm just going to read to you from Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. You know, do you fear death? You know, there was a time in my life when I feared death. Actually, you know, I feared death. You know, I don't know why, I just did. But no longer, no longer. You know, I'm looking forward to the time when I can go with my fathers in peace. You know, I'm looking forward to the time when I can be gathered to my people. You know, and that's, you know, I'm thankful that I've had, you know, my parents, I mean, they're still alive. But you know, I'm thankful that my parents are saved. You know, I'm thankful that many of my relatives were saved. But you know what? You know, these are my, obviously my physical flesh and blood. That's a blessing to have. Not all of you have that. You know, I certainly do. But those that are in faith, those that have gone before you, you know, you're going to see them in heaven. I mean, the reason you're saved, the reason you, you know, you heard the gospel is because someone preached the gospel to that person that preached the gospel to you. And someone preached the gospel to that person. And someone preached the gospel to that person. They're your forefathers in the faith. Okay, you know, we have to be thankful for the men that have gone before us. You know, the churches that have been before us, those that have preached the gospel before us, you know, we should never, you know, have this attitude that, you know, we're the only generation that's trying to do something for the Lord. No, the fact that you're even saved proves that the previous generations, you know, prove their, you know, past fathers, forefathers in the faith that have passed the gospel down, you know, in word, and you've been able to benefit from that, you know, make sure you pass the gospel down yourself. You know, make sure that one day when you're passed on, others can look back and go, you know what, I'm looking forward to the time that I can be gathered with my people, referring to you. You know, referring to my fathers, referring to you as someone that passed down the gospel to other people. Look at verse number 16, Genesis 15 verse 16. But in the fourth generation, they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Okay, that's an interesting statement there by the Lord. So he says, look, you're gonna, after you're in Egypt, in the fourth generation, you're gonna come back. You're gonna come back to the land of Canaan. It says, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Now the Amorites were people that lived on the land of Canaan. And it's interesting how the Lord has some of this perfect timing. He's in no hurry. He says, look, there's coming a time when the Amorites need to be destroyed, because they're wicked, okay. But notice that he says, look, their iniquity is not yet full. They haven't reached the full measure of their iniquity. And this just shows me that the Lord God just looks at people and looks at nations, and can see how the wickedness of these nations are building up. And he's got this perfect timing as to when he's going to pour out his judgment, when he's gonna pour out, you know, his wrath upon this world. And again, I'm just reminded, the day and age that we live in, we're seeing an increase in wickedness, okay. You say, well, why, God, aren't you gonna pour out your wrath tomorrow, or today, or yesterday, Lord? But, you know, it's like, well, the iniquity of this world is not yet full, all right. We know there's gonna come a time when it's full to the brim, and the Lord's just going to bring destruction and his wrath upon this world, all right. But the Lord has this perfect timing. You know, he gives the Amorites time, you know. You know, he's given them time to work up their iniquity. But I also believe he's given them time to repent and get things right, okay. That's why the Lord doesn't come down, especially even on us. He doesn't come down hard on us immediately. It's because he gives us time to repent. He gives us time to do things, walk in the right paths, you know. And I want to talk about the Amorites a little bit here. So, please go to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, because I think we can learn a lot from the Amorites, and the Israelites' interaction with the Amorites. In Deuteronomy, chapter 7, Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 1. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 1. So, of course, we fast forward several hundreds of years later. We fast forward to Moses having delivered Israel out of Egypt, as was promised to Abraham, okay. And let me tell you now, the iniquity of the Amorites is full, okay. And this is what God says to Israel in verse number 1. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 1. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, look at this, the Hittites and the Gergeshites and the Amorites, so there's the Amorites, and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, look at this, thou shall smite them and utterly destroy them, okay. So, it says, look, the Lord God is going to deliver these nations unto you, all right. Now, when the Bible says he's going to deliver the nations, it's not saying that the Lord God himself is going to destroy them. He's saying, look, God's going to deliver them, he's going to make them defeatable for you, okay. But you've got to come in, Israelites. You've got to come in and utterly, you know what utterly means? Completely destroy them, okay. The command to the Israelites is don't let anyone of them alive. Destroy them completely, you know. That's man, woman, and even child, okay. That might seem harsh. But you know, there were other people that lived on the land of Canaan, other peoples that Israelites were not instructed to kill the women and the children, but they were instructed to kill the men. But these nations, they were to wipe them completely out, utterly destroy them. Verse number two, thou shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, neither shall thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindred against you and destroy thee suddenly. He says, look, if you don't destroy the Amorites, you know, and you start being friendly with them, you start intermarrying with them, you start worshiping the God, then God will come and destroy you, okay, Israelites. Now go to the book of Joshua 21. Joshua 21, you see some harsh words there from God, very hard words. Totally destroy those people, destroy those nations. Their iniquity had come to the full, okay. The full measure of the iniquity had been built up and the Lord was going to pour out his wrath and judgment through the Israelites, okay. A double whammy, destroy the wicked and also give his people the inheritance of the land as was promised to Abraham. But Joshua 21 verse 43, Joshua 21 verse 43. So of course, we fast forward a little bit more. Moses has now passed away. You know, he did not enter into the promised land, but that task was given to Joshua to be the leader of the Israelites to go into the promised land, if you remember the story. And of course, they had many warfares. In Joshua 21, we're now toward the end of Joshua's life. He's coming to a ripe old age and he soon passes away. But this is what Joshua says to Israel in Joshua 21 verse 43. And look at this, look at this. Remember when we looked at Deuteronomy chapter seven, there was a twofold to the promise of God about the land. He said, look, I will deliver them, but you've got to destroy them, okay. Now look at Joshua 21 verse 43. It says, and the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which is square to give unto their fathers and they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about according to all that is square unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of all their enemies before them, the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand, okay. Bible says here, the Lord did his part. He delivered the enemies into the hands of the Israelites. Verse 45, they failed not of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass, okay. Did God keep his side of his agreement? Absolutely. Very clear here that God had given them everything according to the promises that he gave to Israel and even delivered the enemies into their hand. But if you know the story, the Israelites did not defeat the enemies like they were called to. They did not utterly destroy the nations they were called to utterly destroy. They did have mercy on them. You know, they did take them prisoners. They did let them live on the land and things like this. Now God lived up to his promise, but the Israelites did not completely fulfill what they were called to do, okay. Now that's important because there are some Christians today that say, well, you know, we've got to give Israel, we've got to give 1948 Israel their land, you know. And they're Zionists. They're called Zionists. They want to bring, you know, the Jews back into that physical land and they want to get rid of the Palestinians. It's not a promise to the Palestinians, they'll say. They'll say it's a promise to the Jews, right. And one thing you hear over and over again is that Israel has never been given the promise by God of that physical land. You know, that they never inherited the land the way they were meant to. Well, that's not a problem of God. God did give him the promise. God gave them all the land. God delivered all the enemies into their hands. The problem was with the people. The reason they did not live in the whole land in peace, you know, was because they failed. They didn't live up to their side of the bargain, okay. It's the Israelites' fault. It's not like God's now going to give them another chance while rejecting Jesus Christ out of all things, you know, and give him this land. No, but that land was promised to the seed, that being Jesus Christ. And come the time of the millennium, that land will belong to Jesus Christ. He's going to rule and reign from there. And that's going to be the complete fulfillment, okay. Jesus is going to fulfill his side of the bargain for sure, okay. And he's going to take ownership of that. We know when Christ comes back, he comes back with that sword and he defeats the enemies. And so I just wanted to show that in Joshua 23, that God fulfilled the promise, okay. There's no promise being fulfilled today, you know, in 2019. But go to Judges chapter 3 now. Judges chapter 3, just the next book over. Judges chapter 3 verse 1. And let me show you the promise, sorry, the problems of being merciful to these nations, okay. And the Amorites. Judges chapter 3 verse 1. So they didn't wipe out these nations. People still lived on the land. So of course, what's God going to do? Well, he's going to use that mistake, okay. He's going to use this obedience of Israel to, he's going to use that for his purpose, okay. And in Judges chapter 3 verse 1, the Bible says here, Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan. So we're now several generations later after Joshua, and the Lord says, you know what, these people that they didn't kill, well, I'm going to use them to test the Israelites who have not known war, okay. Verse number 2. Only that the generation of the children of Israel might know and teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. Namely, look at these, Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonites, and the Hivites that were in Mount Lebanon, and Mount Baal-Hiram, unto the entrant in Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So God says, look, I'm going to test the Israelites, these other generations, if they're going to keep the commandments of the Lord that I gave to their fathers, all right. And verse number 5. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, so see the Amorites are still there, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, and they took, look at this, and they took their daughters to be their wives. Exactly what God told them not to do, okay. Exactly what Moses told Israel not to do, they took daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods, look at this, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forget the Lord their God, and served Balaam in the groves, okay. So exactly what God said to say, why would God do such a thing? Why would he command, you know, entire people, entire city, to be absolutely destroyed? This is why. They're so wicked, and they're causing the children of God, the people of God, to commit wickedness, to turn their hearts against the Lord God. That's what God had warned them of. Destroy them, otherwise this is exactly what you're gonna do. You're gonna marry them. You're gonna turn your hearts against me, and you're gonna serve the other gods, okay. Now we're not gonna continue the story, and you can read it for yourself, okay. The Book of Judges, very interesting book, but I just want to show you, you know, and there's a lesson here for us, especially parents. I love talking to the parents, because for me, the most important people in this church are the children, by far. The children, for me, are the most important people in this church. They've not made the same mistakes that we have, okay. They're able to accomplish greater works than we have. They have an opportunity to serve the Lord, to know the Lord at a younger age, to do more for the Lord in their life, and they're growing up in a society that's more wicked than the society that we grew up in, okay. They're gonna need, you know, a greater portion of the Spirit of God working for them to be successful. So I really care for the children in this church. But I want you to see in this story of the Amorites and Israelites, that the children of Israel, you know, the other generations suffered. Why? Because the previous generations did not do what God asked them to do, okay. The lesson here, guys, is our disobedience can have lasting effects on our descendants, okay. Our disobedience to the Word of God can cause problems to our children and to our children's children and so on, okay. When the Lord asks you to do something, please don't compromise, okay. And the fathers of these Israelites compromised. They didn't utterly destroy the Amorites, okay. They let them live on the land, okay. They compromised. And then you see the generations that came after them, they made further compromise. They marry the non-believers. They turn their hearts against the Lord. They worship false gods. Please see the lesson here, okay. You know, this is why we have so much, so many books, we have so much history. So, you know, we have the benefit of seeing how this affects further generations. Please think about what areas of your life, parents, that you compromise in. You know, how do you allow this world to influence your family, you know. You may only allow it to influence it so much, but it's gonna have an effect on your children, okay. It's gonna have an effect. That's why I really, for me, the children are so important, okay. Because our mistakes, guys, our mistakes is gonna have an impact upon them, okay. Back to Genesis 15, verse 17. Genesis 15, verse 17. We're almost done now. It says, and it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, look at this, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. Now remember, Abraham's in a deep sleep now. So he doesn't see this happening, but we get this recorded in the Bible. So when the Lord comes and passes between those pieces, he comes as a smoking furnace, like this fire, all right, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. So, you know, I don't know if it's saying here that the smoking furnace is the burning lamp, or if there's a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, like a separate, you know, and then I would kind of think of that being the father and the son, maybe, you know, passing through the midst between these pieces. But, you know, I do truly believe that God the father is walking between these pieces here, because like I said, he put Abraham to a deep sleep, okay, and he passes through like this fire, right? And we also get a similar story with, who was it, with Moses, I think in Exodus 33, when the Lord came unto Moses and says, look, I'm gonna cover your face so you can't see me. Like, I'm gonna cover you. You're not gonna see my face, you're just gonna see my backside as I walk past, okay? And again, I believe that's God the father, okay? Because there doesn't seem to be any problems with seeing Jesus Christ, you know? And even, you know, even the apostles, they saw Jesus Christ in his glory when he was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration, if you remember that. They actually see Jesus even in the fullness of his glory. Whereas, you know, the Bible tells, Jesus told us that not that any man have seen the father. You know, Jesus Christ makes it very clear that no man has seen God the father. And that's why I believe God the father is definitely walking between these pieces here at this time. Verse number 18, in 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, the river Euphrates, the Canaanites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephames, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Gershites, and the Jebusites. I don't have anything else to add there. Just a quick summary, you know, quick summary. If you're having a time of doubt and fear, you turn to the word of God, okay? That's you turn, you go back to the word of God, you reinforce your faith, and look at creation. Take time out and consider the works of God, the stars of heaven, a great thing. Number two, parents, remember, your compromise can have lasting effects on future generations. Please be careful about the influences you allow in your life, okay? Let's leave it there and let's pray.