Abraham & The Blood Covenant

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♪ I was called by Him ♪ ♪ Born and raised by Him ♪ ♪ I put in, I was made for more ♪ ♪ So why would I be, in shame and found in the race ♪ ♪ He's running my way, I know I am yours ♪ ♪ I was made for more, we sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you call out my name ♪ ♪ I'll sing on your praise, hallelujah ♪ ♪ You made my past, I'm not wasting my life in hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you call out my name ♪ ♪ I'll sing on your praise, hallelujah ♪ ♪ You made my past, I'm not doing it now ♪ ♪ I wasn't made to be tamed in the ground ♪ ♪ I was called by Him, born and raised by Him ♪ ♪ And I'm learning, that I was made for more ♪ ♪ So why would I be, in shame and found in the race ♪ ♪ He's running my way, I know I am yours ♪ ♪ I was made for more, we sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ I am yours, and I was made for more ♪ Come on church. Men, it's great to be gathered here with all of you this morning. Hope you had a great week. If you're new here, I just wanna say welcome to Church on the Move. You know, today we get to hear from our founding pastor, Pastor Willie George, as we continue the series that we're in on the life of Abraham. But as we continue together today, we're gonna read scripture.

You know, one of the reasons why we do this every single weekend is because we believe our worship needs to be grounded in the truth of the word of God. And what you see throughout the book of Psalms is a group of people, a group of prayers, a group of songs, in which people approach the Lord as they are. You see, not perfect, not all together, but as they are, their whole selves. And so today, as we read this scripture, let's be reminded of God's word and let it form our time of singing together. Will you join me as we read our call to worship at Psalm 107? Will you say these verses with me, Church? Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert waste, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things. This is the word of the Lord, and we say. There is one on the throne, Jesus, holy. He is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. There is one on the throne, his name is Jesus, and he's holy. And he is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. And he is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. ♪ Who was slain, He's seated on the throne ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ The elders and preachers bowed ♪ ♪ Giving praise to Him in Him alone ♪ ♪ Cause there's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ And there is one on the throne ♪ ♪ Jesus, and He's holy, yes He is ♪ ♪ He is worthy of praise and honor ♪ ♪ Oh, and glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, worthy is the Lamb ♪

♪ Who was slain, He's seated on the throne ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ The elders and preachers bowed ♪ ♪ Giving praise to Him in Him alone ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ He's worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ Who was slain, He's seated on the throne ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord, yeah ♪ ♪ The elders and preachers bowed ♪ ♪ Giving praise to Him in Him alone ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We come down Your love on us Lord ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy ♪ Group sings with Jesus ♪ Oh lift it up today, He's worthy, worthy of it all ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ Oh lift it up today, He's worthy worthy of it all ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy, worthy, worthy of it all ♪ ♪ We call You King of glory ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy, worthy worthy of it all ♪ ♪ We call You, You are worthy, worthy, worthy of it all ♪

♪ You're worthy, yes, You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ Of the fire, the cinders, and the oils, and the gold ♪ ♪ You are worthy, yes, You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy, yes, You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy, yes, You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ All the elders and preachers now give a praise to You alone ♪ ♪ Give a praise to You alone ♪ ♪ There's no one like You, no one like You, no one like You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You, no one like You, no one like You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, seated on the throne ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ The elders and preachers now give a praise to Him and Him alone ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ No, there's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ There's no one like the Lord ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene And I wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean He took my sins and my sorrows He made them his very own And he bore my burden to Calvary Where he suffered and died alone How marvelous, how marvelous Shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful is My Savior, Lord, for me We sing how marvelous, how wonderful If my song shall ever be We sing how marvelous, how wonderful is

My Savior, Lord, for me When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see And it will be my joy through the ages To sing of God's love for me We sing how marvelous Sing out how marvelous How wonderful My Savior, Lord, for me You unravel me with a melody You surround me with a song Of deliverance from my enemies Until all my fears are gone And I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God From my mother's womb You've chosen me Love has called my name I've been born again To your family Your blood flows through my veins Sing it together And I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God, I'm no longer a slave to fear. Yes, I am a child of God, I'm no longer a slave to fear. For I am a child of God, I'm no longer a slave to fear. For I am a child of God. Is that your testimony today?

Because you're a child of God, He set you free. Does God set you free today? Oh Lord, we thank you. Jesus, you set us free. I am surrounded by the arms of a Father. I am surrounded by songs of deliverance. Oh, we've been liberated from all of our bondage. Oh, we're the sons and we're the daughters. Don't let us sink, the sink of our freedom. You've swept the sea so I could walk right through. You've turned my fears into loving love. You rescued me and I will stand and sing. I am a child of God. You've swept the sea so I could walk right through. You've turned my fears into loving love. You rescued me and I will stand and sing. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. Hallelujah! Yes! Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Holy Spirit for leading us into the throne room of our Savior. We love you and we love singing these songs to you. It's in Jesus' name everyone sing. Amen, amen. It's so good to see you. We're glad you're here today.

Yeah! Hey, before you're seated, turn around. Find somebody you've never met before. Introduce yourself. Let us know you're glad you're here today. Well, good morning Church on the Move family. So good to see you. I love that song. It's kind of an anthem, you know. Thank you so much for worshiping with us. You know, it was our Lord Jesus who said this. Greater love has no man than this that he would lay down his life for his friends. And here in our country, we take this weekend to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice that we would experience the freedom that we get to enjoy. So we're going to pause just a second. It's right for us to do this. I'm going to ask you right now, if you would just put your hands together in honor and celebration of those who have served. served our country, who have given us this freedom. And I know there are some of you in the room, you're active military. I know there are some of you in the room that have family members that are active military, a willingness to put their life on the line for us. And so it's right for us to remember that this weekend, we celebrate it, the freedoms that we have. My name's Lee, if I haven't met you before, I'm one of the pastors around here and I've been gone for a couple of weeks and it's so good to be back.

I'm glad I was back for this weekend and I'm glad that you're here too, because our founding pastor, Pastor Willie George is in the house and he's bringing him, yeah. No one better to talk about the life of Abraham. This man's been doing that for a long time. He has such a great teaching for us this morning. But if that wasn't enough, we've got two of Pastor George's latest books in our bookstore, our new bookstore right out here. So you can pick those up after the service. They come with like a video resource and a study guide. Pastor George has such a unique way of taking like deep theological concepts and making them easy to understand and easy to apply. And so I hope that you'll pick those up. But if that wasn't enough, right after he gets done teaching, he's gonna be right out there in the lobby outside of the bookstore signing books. So if you get a book today or if you have a book, he would love to sign that for you. You can greet him after the service. Well, a couple of things before he comes out that I just wanna say, if you're new around here, we always have new people every weekend. I just wanna say welcome. We're glad that you're here. In fact, we've got something for you.

If you'll send us a text message, the number's 23101. Send us the word new. We wanna send you a gift card to our new Fulfilled Coffee Lab right out here in the lobby. Go get a nice coffee or a pastry on us. It's just our way of saying we're glad that you came this weekend. And it's also a way for us to send you an invitation to a monthly lunch that we do called The Next Move. Our next one's coming up in June. It's a place where Pastor Witt talks about what we believe as a church and where we're headed. Our team gets to meet you. We love to learn your name and get to meet you. Hopefully it's a place where we can connect you to community or ways that you can use your gifts in the church. And so I hope that you'll do that. If you've been around a little while and you haven't done Next Move yet, hey, join us. Just send the word next to 23101 and get signed up for June. We'd love to see you there. One other thing I want you to be aware of is that we're doing one big summer midsize group that will kick off the first Wednesday night in June. That's June 3rd. And it's called The Life of Prayer. What would it look like if this summer

we could become people who learn better how to communicate with the creator of the universe? We learn how to speak to him and how to hear from him when he's speaking to us. That's what this study is gonna be about. It's only a five-week study. Kicks off that first Wednesday in June. If you wanna be a part of that, then just go to cotm.info and get signed up. Let's do that together this summer as we grow in the life of prayer. Well, we take time in all of our services to honor and worship God with our giving. We're gonna do that at this time. There's a card in the seat back in front of you that talks a little bit about why we give and how we give. One that I wanna highlight today is our compassion offering. Chris Turner was telling me that since 2017, when we started our compassion offering, which is kind of an above and beyond giving, $10 million has been given to that fund that has flowed through us and helped missions partners around the world. Yeah, that's a lot of money since we started that fund. And so it's gone to missions partners, it's gone to local outreaches, but it's also the way that we care for immediate needs within the church family. That's why the compassion offering is always open and always active because there's always needs.

So this is the resources that we can draw from. If somebody loses their job and they're falling behind on their rent or their mortgage, we can help them. If a single mom's transmission goes out in her car, we can make sure that she gets that vehicle back operating properly, quickly. If somebody loses a loved one and can't afford the funeral costs, we're able to come alongside our church family and help them. That's what this goes for. If you just wanna give regular tithes, you can just text the word GIVE to 23101. We also have our expansion fund that you can give through. All that's outlined on that card. If you came prepared to give in the room, there's an envelope in the seat back in front of you and drop boxes at all of the exits. Thank you for however you choose to give. Well, Pastor George is about to be out here, so let's get our Bible ready, prepare our hearts. Let's bow our heads together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much already for a wonderful morning to be together as a family, as brothers and sisters, your children. We just sang about that. But now, Father, we want you to speak to us powerfully through our founding pastor and through the life of Abraham. Speak to us from your living word that we might go out of here different than when we came in.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks. Good morning, Church on the Move. Good to see you. I love getting to be here on Genesis 22 day. But before I get into that, I want to tell you a little bit about what leave may. I mentioned a minute ago, I've got two books, I've tried to write books the way normal people write books and couldn't do it. I bombed. Now, I usually don't bomb, I've got a lot of success stories in my life, but when it comes to writing books, I bombed, big time. I won't even tell you how much money I spent on editors and guys to help me clean up my books and make them sound good, and they were awful. And so, it's because God didn't want me to do books like that. I came up with a better plan that really captures my style of communication a lot better, and it's a combination workbook and video series. And so, what I did is I created a 120-page workbook, and right here on the inside cover next to my picture, I used to say, this is Arnold Schwarzenegger, but there's really not that much difference. But there's a QR code here, you scan it, it'll take you to the website that will give you the videos. So, there's a 13- to 15-minute video for every single lesson. And I did a teaching on making money. Now, lots of people do a good job of teaching how to budget, Deliva and I never had a budget. We never had a budget. It was too depressing to have a budget, because we never had enough money to ever even get close to the budget. So, we didn't have a set salary for the longest time, and so we were always having a deficit.

But God showed me how to make money, and if I hadn't learned those lessons, there would be no church on the move, there would never have been a Lincoln Christian school, there never would have been a gospel bill or anything else. Anyway, that's really what's behind this book. I want to teach you how you can make money without becoming greedy, and how you learn to trust God, and see how God blesses the work of your hand. It puts you in control. And with the hand of the Lord, so that's what this is about. And then I've got another book called The Coming Resurrections, I won't get into that, but both of them are available out in the lobby. The resurrection book's $25, the money book, I get more money for it because it's money. It's $30. And if you buy both books, it's not $55, it's $50, and I'll be signing these at the end. All right, let's get through that. Now, I want to talk to you about the second most important story in all the Bible. Hands down, the second most important story in all of the Bible. Without this story, there is no most important story, which is the cross and the resurrection. The story I'm about to tell you is bigger than the Red Sea, it's bigger than David killing Goliath, it's bigger than Daniel in the lion's den, or any other story. In fact, if it doesn't happen, I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that the death and resurrection of Christ would not happen, at least not in the way that they did. This is huge. And so, in order to appreciate it, I'm going to take you on a journey into this idea of the blood covenant. You have probably heard the word covenant many times in church, but most of the time we avoid using the word blood. But there is no covenant without blood. The blood covenant is the basis, it is the most significant covenant, ancient agreement there was.

It was so solemn that it was almost known never to have been broken. Because of the way you entered it, it was such a binding agreement. Abram, as he was first called, entered into a blood covenant with three of his neighbors, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner. They were Amorites, remember that word, Amorite. They were Amorites, and when Abram's nephew Lot was carried off into captivity, Abram went to go rescue Lot, but along with him went Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, because they were in a blood covenant with Abraham. And let me read this to you, Genesis 14, 12, and 13. They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, they being four kings from the east, the kingdom of Babylon, the kingdom of Elam, which is Persia, or Iran. They took Lot and his goods, they departed, and there came one who escaped and told Abram the Hebrew, this first time he's called that, meaning that he comes from beyond, he's an east sider. That's really what it is, he's an east sider, he comes from the east side of the Euphrates River, Abram the Hebrew, other side of the flood. And he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite brother of Eshcol, brother of Aner. and these were confederate with Abram. Now, the word confederate means something totally different to us in the United States than it would to the average person around the world. And it's unfortunate that the word confederate is used here in the translation. In fact, when it was translated confederate, there were no confederate states of America and the confederacy didn't exist. But here is the real word. It's a Hebrew word and it's barith. And what it means is this. It is a compact made by passing between pieces of flesh.

Now, in the ancient world, there was no United Nations. Wouldn't matter anyway, they don't do anything good. If you had a tiny little kingdom, if you had a tiny little kingdom, the only thing that kept you from getting wiped out would be your army. But if another city state had an army 10 times bigger than yours, you're in trouble. So different groups of people would band together. Sometimes a great farming community would band together with a great military community because the military guys spent most of their time building weapons and taking care of themselves and all that. And the farmers, they spent all the time growing crops, but they were subject to invaders so they would make covenant with this stronger tribe and they would provide food, but the stronger tribe would provide defense. And it was a common thing for different people groups to band together for self-preservation. Sometimes for commerce because they needed trade. And then other times, they would do it in order to have places to go with their sons and daughters to marry so that the tribe would not be inbred. So the blood covenant was an important idea. And it was so, so very powerful that people dared not break it. And the reason was how they entered into it. They would kill a sacrificial animal

or maybe animals plural, and they wouldn't just kill them. They would kill them by slitting the throat and letting the blood spill out on the ground. And when the blood had stopped, they would take a very sharp knife. And sometimes these were really sharp stones, flint knives, which were known to be amazingly sharp. And they would slit right down the back of the animal. And when the cuts were made, they would pull the animal apart. And this is not done by one guy. This is done by multiple people and they're pulling this animal apart. And the whole purpose of this is to create a path with a carcass here and a carcass here of equal size and shape. And so once the path was created, the two parties would come together and they would walk down through the bloody path and they would make an oath. And they would say, I swear that I will not plunder your fields, your crops. I swear that if you are in battle, I will come with my people to help fight for you. I swear that we will respect your borders and not intrude into the space that you occupy. I swear that we will answer if you fall into hunger and need. I swear that we will be your friends,

that you will be able to count on us forever. And so let this be done to me if I break my word. And that was how people entered into a blood covenant. My uncle is the first one who I heard teach on this back in probably 72, three, four, somewhere there. He was talking about the blood covenant and it was a series. And while we were in the middle of the series, a lady comes into the church, one of our church members with an article that came out of the Amarillo paper. And it was about this sociologist, this made national news. A woman doctor was studying heathen tribes and remote tribes in New Guinea. And there were two tribes that were fighting each other. They were in a war. And she'd been there to study their culture. And the woman did something absolutely crazy. She's probably a doctor and very highly educated. She married the chief of this tribe. I mean, one of those guys who probably had the bone through the nose. And I mean, you know, these guys are known to be pretty wicked. And so she marries the head of the tribe. And after the ceremony, she lets things cool off for a bit. And then she goes through the jungle

and goes to the head of the other tribe and makes a covenant. covenant with him and immediately all of the war stopped because now the two chiefs are related. His wife is in covenant with the chief of the second tribe and all the fighting stopped. She immediately brought an end to bloodshed that had been going on for years just by making a covenant with someone from the other tribe who was in a seat of power in fact I probably shouldn't even say she made a covenant because the biblical way to say this is she cut a covenant. There is no covenant without cutting. She cut the covenant with another tribal leader and this is how it was done in Abraham's day and it is this device that God chose to use in dealing with man in order to bring salvation to planet earth. Now after this battle was over and Abraham won, drove off the four kings of the east, recaptured Lot, all of his possessions and all the people who'd been carried off with him, God appeared to Abram. Genesis 15 verse one, after these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, stop, this is fascinating to me. He has a vision but he doesn't see anything. I'm gonna say it again, he has a vision but he doesn't see anything but he does hear something and so God's preferred method of communication

is not to show you something but to speak to you. The word of the Lord came to him and it's interesting when we go to the gospel of John in the first few verses that we read that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, the same was in the beginning with God and so we see that Jesus Christ before he came to this earth and was born in Bethlehem had another name and this name is much older, it's eternal in fact, he's called the word of God. Later on in the book of Revelation we see he's called the word of God again and so here is the word of God talking to Abram and so this is none other than the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, before he comes to Bethlehem, before he has the name Jesus, this is the word talking to Abram and he's talking. So it's no wonder that when we come to the book of Romans and we see how God talks to us, we read this verse in chapter 10 verse 17 so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In other words, God's preferred method of communication with you is to speak so that you can hear it. That's why I'm a big believer in reading the Bible, not always but often out loud because when I hear those words coming out of my mouth,

it's as if I'm hearing God speaking because they're his words, his words echoing through my mind and there's nothing that'll build your faith and make it strong any quicker than the spoken word of God. Remember in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve had sinned, they were hiding from God and God came to speak to them and the Bible says, and they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the, wait a minute, the voice was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. God came to talk, what he says is more important than what he looks like. We have 66 books full of what he said, we have very little description of what he looks like. In fact, when it comes to the father, no one has ever seen him. So the way God sees it, it's more important that we listen to what he says than to be concerned with his appearance. Now, fear not, Abram, I am. Oh, there's another one, that's the Hebrew phrase for God's name. It's Yahweh. I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. In other words, I have no doubt

Abraham was probably wondering will these guys come back after we licked them? And they find out it was just three, four of us little tribal guys that whooped them. Will these kingdoms come back in war again next year? And God. comes to him and says, fear not, Abram. I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. Now God has opened up the subject of giving rewards to Abraham. Abraham's pretty smart. So while God's talking about rewards, he puts the question to him. And he said, Lord God, what will you give me? Saying, I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, to me you've given no seed, although one born in my house is my heir. In other words, Abram is saying, I've got all these riches, all of this wealth, I'm protected here, but what I'm concerned about is what happens after I'm gone. And Abram is well into his 80s when he has this vision and he's thinking about what's gonna happen when I pass away, is my name over? Do I get to give this to someone? Does my top servant, does he get it all? He's more concerned with having children than he is anything else. In fact, the children mean more to him than the stuff.

Years ago, I was in Dallas. We were at a big minister's convention and it was a who's who of the church in America and loads of well-known pastors. We were sitting there on about the fifth row, fourth row, something like that. There were churches lots bigger than ours that were represented and I surveyed the auditorium. I'm looking around and I say to myself, I wouldn't trade places with any of these guys, none of them. None of them. Because I had my arms outstretched around the two people that were next to me. And on the one side was Whit, on the other side is Gabe. And I thought, I don't know how many of these guys in the room can say that they have sons like mine. And of all the things I've accomplished, of all the things I've done, of all the things that I've been part of, in my mind, my greatest achievement, what gives me more joy than anything else is seeing my sons become men of God. Other than perhaps, thank you. Other than perhaps Lincoln football. They didn't really have any family at all, but they still didGet right across. I was a problem. I was a problem man. And then I went to the Salvadorian church

where the coach was found and I said, you know what? You see, maybe I could fold the about, the choice may change. But they still reached out to him because they felt like this may be too soon, the stars. Can you number them? So shall your seed be. If you're in a dry desert air and you're not around any light pollution and you look up into the nighttime sky, you can see about 6,000 visible stars. And that doesn't even begin to represent the true number. And Abram believed the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am, once again, that name. I am the Lord that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeas to give you this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord, God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? I want a guarantee. And God said unto him, take me a heifer of three years old and a she goat of three years old and a ram of three years and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. And he took him all these and divided them in the midst. Now we read it in very short order, but what happened here took a few hours. This is a full grown female cow.

She doesn't have any calves yet. That's why she's a heifer. So when you come to church on the move, you get biology lessons in your sermons. So she's a full grown cow, has not yet had any offspring. There's a she goat that's three years old, easily capable of giving birth, but hasn't yet. And so she also is divided. They are killed by the slitting of the throat. And then the sharp knife is taken right down the spine. and the servants begin to pull the pieces of the body apart. One half on this side, another half over here, and there is a bloody pathway. The ram is three years old. He too is cut in half. The turtle, dove, and the pigeon are not halved, but they are on either side of the pathway. These five species will be used later on in the law of Moses for all of the sacrifices. They are considered the clean animals. Hogs didn't make the cut. And so now there's this bloody pathway, and when it's time to do the covenant ceremony, God does a curious thing, a very curious thing. See, for this ceremony to work, both guys have got to walk the path. Both parties have got to make promises. Both parties have got to walk down the middle and swear. Both parties have to stand ankle deep in the blood and say, I will do this, I will do that,

but Abram is completely incapacitated. He can't move, yet he's awake enough to know exactly what's going on. And the Bible says, Genesis 15, 12, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and lo, a horror of great darkness fell on him. And God said to Abram, know of a certainty that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years, and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward, they shall come out with great substance. And he's telling Abraham, your family will come here, they will own this land, but it won't happen for 400 years, and they will do a stop in another country where they will be slaves and treated badly. Abraham had this premonition, he knew there was something not good. But then God comforted him, and he said, you shall go to your fathers in peace, and you shall be buried in a good old age, but in the fourth generation, they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. We know who the Amorites are. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, they're Amorites. And God is saying to Abraham, the guys who helped you in the battle you just fought in the previous chapter, I'm gonna be fair with them too. Their families will become desperately wicked, but they're not that way now, so I am going to wait

to give this land to your family when these people have gotten so bad that they're hopeless. But the time is not yet. I'm gonna give them every chance to turn to me. So God honored Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol for the help that they'd given to Abraham, which shows you something about how God regards covenant. He could have stepped in and said, I don't care about these guys, but he didn't, because God has honor. Now, God walked the bloody path, but he wouldn't let Abraham do it. It says in Genesis 15, 17, it came to pass, when the sun went down, it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. It is my opinion that what Abraham really saw was a menorah that was going down through the middle, that God would take some of the furniture from heaven and use it to light the path going down. Scripture doesn't say that. That's my interpretation, and I'm usually right. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, under thy seed have I given this land. This land. So, Abraham said, how will I know that I inherit it? And God said, this is how you know. I just made a covenant with you. And knowing the power and the strength of the blood covenant, Abraham was at home with that answer.

He knew God will keep his word. Now, some years later, many years later, perhaps even 40 years after this, God has every right in the world to test this covenant. You see, when two parties cut a covenant, any party could come to the other and ask anything. That's why when you read in the Gospel of John and you see in the red letters Jesus speaking and saying, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you understood where those words came from, they are thousands of years old. They are the words of a blood covenant partner who turned in the middle of the pathway of blood and spoke to his friend and said, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. You can still see Jesus carrying out the tradition of the blood covenant. Your salvation and mine are based upon this deal that God made with this man 4,000 years ago. So after these things, God tested Abraham, he's actually testing the covenant, and he said to him, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. It's unthinkable. But the covenant demands that one party be able to ask anything of the other. And the other thing that we know about it, it would never be frivolous. In other words, if God is asking this, it's important. He would never ask this just for the purpose of asking it. He is asking it because it's absolutely necessary. So without hesitation, Abraham responds. And the Bible says, he rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. He actually carried fire as well.

My commentaries tell me that the fire that he carried was very similar to what the frontiersman in America would do. They would never let a fire go out. They would always be able to take coals and put them in some kind of a container and carry them from one cabin to the next to get the fire going. Yes, there were those who could make fire from nothing, but Abraham had special fire. Because in those days when God answered him, he answered from heaven with fire when he made a sacrifice. And so he's carrying this sacred fire to the place where he's going to offer his son along with the wood. Every detail of this is important. Pay attention to this. He rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men. Remember that, and his son Isaac. And they went to the place of which God had told him, and on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place from afar. Isaac was of age to be a part of this. Some of the movies that are made about Abraham offering Isaac show Isaac as a 12-year-old boy. It's despicable that God would subject a 12-year-old boy to this kind of a trial. Would be unthinkable in my interpretation of the character of God. Isaac was of full age. He also was a part of the covenant. The Bible says he was circumcised on the eighth day of his life. So he bore the responsibilities of the covenant just like Abraham, and this is as big a deal for him as it is for Abraham. And what we know about this is Isaac was of sufficient age that had he wanted to escape, he could easily have done it, but he yielded. Two of my sources are both very respected Bible scholars, tell me that Isaac was 33 years old when this happened.

I tend to believe it. So he could have gotten away, but he was a willing sacrifice. And they went, and the Bible says that when God saw Abraham putting his hand on his son Isaac who was bound, when Abraham was holding the knife in the air and was preparing to slit the throat of his son, that the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. God stopped him and he said, I have seen what you did, but he didn't do it. But God said, you did it. Actually, you did it two days ago. From the very first day you heard these words, it was a done deal in your heart. Now, know this about God. God would never ask anybody to do anything for a frivolous reason or even to prove that somebody had great faith. Most people will look at this and say, well, God is proving the faith of Abraham. You've missed the point entirely. What God is doing is testing the blood covenant, and he has to find one man on earth somewhere who will give God his son. And it can't be a man with multiple sons. Jacob would be disqualified. It can't be a man with two sons. Isaac would be disqualified. It has to be a man with just one son. And that's why over and again, God emphasizes to Abraham, take now your son, Isaac, whom you love,

your only son, the only son that he had with Sarah. And the prized son, the one that came by miracle birth. And that way, Isaac and Christ are both connected because both of them were born through a supernatural miracle of God. Christ, a virgin birth. Isaac, when his mother was 90 years old and father was 100. And so you see the parallel here of these two. And what is God after? He's not after the death of Isaac. If Isaac is killed, it means nothing. Why? He's a sinner. His blood pays for no one's sin. But what God is after is Abraham's willingness. And I have found the willingness. How did he get that willingness? Let me tell you this. My willingness to follow God is different today than it was 40 years ago. It's stronger today. Why? Because I've learned his character. The Bible says that Abraham was willing to offer Isaac thinking that God would raise Isaac from the dead. He had to. Because God, who gave him the miracle son, said it's through him that your family is going to come. And all of the descendants I showed you in the sky,

they all have to come through Isaac. So Abraham is thinking, if I kill him, God has to raise him. And the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verses 15, 16, and 17, it was that thinking precisely that enabled Abraham to offer his son. He knew he would get him back. But there was no need. What God really needed was willingness. And so when Abraham showed that he was willing, and he stopped and was obedient, and God spoke to him twice, and the first time, he got a directive. God said, don't do it. The second time, God gave him revelation. That speaks to us hugely. There are going to be times in your life when you're following God, and you will hear the Lord say, or you'll get a sense very strongly, don't do this, don't go that way, don't do this. Some of us want to know, well, why? Just listen. If you want to know why, obey. When you obey, you will get the rest of the story. And it is then the angel of the Lord calls back to Abraham the second time, and he shows him what just happened. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham

a second time from heaven and said, by myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the Sam that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the world shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. And this only happens when Jesus Christ comes to that same mountain, Mount Moriah, and does exactly what Isaac did. Both were destined to die on Mount Moriah. Both came into this world through a miracle birth. Both carried wood on their backs up the hill to the place of their exile. execution. Both of them were destined to be burned physically after the death. Isaac on the altar, Christ had it not been for Joseph of Arimathea would have been taken from the cross, carried down into the valley of Hinnom and thrown onto a burning pile of rubble, which is what happened to all crucifixion victims. Their bodies were burned. God showed Abraham, this is not just about your son, this is about substitution. And the Bible says, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he looked and behold behind him, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Behind him. He walked right past this and didn't see it. He walked right past a ram caught by his horns in a thicket and never saw him. In other words, the substitute was on the mountain waiting and Abraham didn't see it. And so too many of the people of Israel walked right

past the ram and didn't see he was there all the time in Jesus. And so Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son and Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide, Jehovah-Jireh in Hebrew. As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And there's a variation of this translation in Hebrew which I believe is probably more accurate and it's this, it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord, the Lord shall be seen. Years later, 2000 to be exact, Jesus would come to that same mountain. And just before he went to his cross, he told the leaders of Israel who were directly opposed to him, he said your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. In other words, Jesus said Abraham saw me going to the cross and it thrilled his heart. But he didn't see it till after he'd offered his son, but he saw what his decision opened the door to. Wow. Remember I told you pay attention to all the details because they're all important. Abraham took two of his guys with him and the two guys were witnesses to the fact that Isaac came back, Isaac was resurrected. Luke's Gospel 24 verses 3 and 4, but when they went in, the women went into the tomb, they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and they let the women know, we saw the resurrection, he's raised. And so in every possible detail, God fulfilled the story of Abraham and Isaac. One more thing. I thought about this for years and years and years until one day I was reading just a few years ago. And I've always seen the cross as God sent his son to die for us. But when I read this story and when I read the first verse of the New Testament, I realized that God is not the only one who sent his son to the cross. Because the first verses of the New Testament read like this, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. In one body, both covenant partners had their sacrifice. God merged himself with Abraham and both God and Abraham as fathers were willing to give their sons to each other to fulfill the most binding agreement known to man. I will never leave you nor forsake you even unto the end of the age.

I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. And what we see is that God walked through a bloody path in the blood of His own Son, and He made an oath to us that we are His. That's why you should never wrestle with your salvation. If God put this man Abraham through such a test, how could He not honor His commitment to you? And if you have never responded to Him with giving Him your heart to sign into this covenant, you need to do it right now. We're going to pray a prayer. I ask you to join me. Those of you who've prayed it before, pray it again, being mindful now that you're in a blood covenant with God. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me, sending Your Son to die for me in my place. You raised Him from the dead. This I believe, and I confess with my mouth, Jesus Christ is my Lord. I am in a covenant with You. I accept what You did for me. Thank You, Lord, for saving me. In Jesus' name, amen. Wow, I've been thinking this weekend how thankful I am for YouTube because I can go back and listen to that again, you know, because it's just like I've read that story so many times and go, wow, I didn't see that. I didn't see that. The meaningful story of God from the very beginning to the very end, just so powerful. But have you noticed a theme in all of these great messages about the life of Abraham? The theme is pretty simple. What was it that brought blessing and righteousness and salvation through Abraham? Trust and obey. It's pretty simple. Trust and obey.

And maybe some of you prayed that prayer for the very first time. You're saying, I'm ready to put my trust in God through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. If that was you, you prayed that today in a way like you've never had before, in a way that you meant it, you want to enter into that covenant, I want to encourage you when this service is over, there's going to be prayer partners right down here, they want to put a resource in your hand, just a simple resource that we put together that helps you understand what that means and then how do you live it out? What does it mean to obey as a disciple of Jesus, to live out that salvation and that covenant? I hope you'll come down, grab one of these, pray with somebody. These guys are down here also just to pray with you if you've got a health need or a thing with work or something in your family, they would love the chance to pray with you. And so if you want to do that, as soon as we're finished, you can just step forward and pray with one of them. Let's stand to our feet. Hey, don't forget those resources are available and Pastor George will be right out here in the lobby after the service is over to sign your book and you can greet him if you'd like. We finish our services with a blessing out of Numbers, the sixth chapter. The words will be up here on the screen. I invite you to say it out loud with me as we close our service. Here we go. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. We love you guys. Have a great Memorial Day weekend. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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