Homiletics Genesis 15

2 April 2013

Contents:            Where?                  Promised Land                                Who?  Abram, God

1	1	After rescuing Lot and meeting Melchizedek, God told Abram in a vision not to fear, God is his shield and his reward shall be very great.
2	2-4	Abram said he was childless so his servant would be his heir and the Lord said he would have an heir from his own body.
3	5-6	God said, count the stars – so shall your descendants be and Abram believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
4	7-8	God said, I am the Lord Who brought you out of Ur to give you this land and Abram asked how he may know that he will possess it.
5	9	God said, bring a 3-y.o. heifer, female goat, ram, a turtledove and young pigeon.
6	10-11	Abram cut them in two and laid the pieces opposite each other except the birds and drove the birds of prey from the carcasses.
7	12	A deep sleep fell upon Abram as the sun was going down and terror and darkness fell upon him.
8	13-14	God said, your descendants will be strangers enslaved and oppressed 400 years, but I will judge the nation they serve and they will come out with many possessions.
9	15-16	You shall go to your fathers in peace at an old age then they will return here in the 4th generation for the iniquity (wickedness) of the Amorite isn’t complete.
10	17	When the sun set, it was very dark and a smoking oven and flaming torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
11	18-21	The Lord made a covenant with Abram giving the land (of the Kenite, Kenizzite, Kadmonite, Hittite, Perizzite, Rephaim, Amorite, Canaanite, Girgashite, Jebusite) from the river in Egypt to the river Euphrates to his descendants.

 

Divisions:

1	1-6	God appears to Abram in a vision and tells him that the descendants of his body will be numerous as the stars and Abram believed.
Principle:		The Lord is the shield of His people. The Lord gives very great reward to His people. God’s people can trust Him to keep His promises.
2	7-11	God has Abram bring and prepare the animals for the covenant He is about to make with him.
Principle:		The Lord brings His people to Himself. The safest place to be is wherever the Lord is leading you. Entering a covenant relationship with God involves sacrifice.
3	12-16	While Abram sleeps in terror-filled darkness, God prophesies about his long life, his descendants’ 400 year captivity and their return to this land.
Principle:		God’s prophecies for the future may seem terrifying, but if we are His, we need not fear those things.
4	17-21	When the sun set, a smoking oven appeared and a flaming torch passed between the animals, making the covenant between God and Abram for the land.
Principle:		God’s covenant promises to His people are for their benefit.

 

Subject Sentence:

God makes the covenant promising land to Abram’s blood descendants.

 

Aim (Christian and Non-Christian):

TCMAT know that God keeps His promises and that His Word is filled with promises for His people – including us today – and that this knowledge would encourage them to investigate what His promises to them are.

 

Application:

1	How has the Lord been your shield? What very great rewards have you received from God’s hand? How does God’s promise to Abram that he will have a son from his own body comfort you in something you are trusting God for? What impact does Abram’s belief in God and it being reckoned to him as righteousness have on your personal relationship with God?
2	Where has the Lord brought you out of and where has He brought you to? How do you know that this is where He brought you? What have you had to sacrifice to enter into covenant relationship with God? What have you had to protect to enter into covenant relationship with God?
3	What prophecies of God have sobered or terrified you and how are you responding to them? What assurances have you received from God and His Word that bring you comfort and let you know that you’re traveling in the right direction?
4	What covenant promises has God made to you? How have God’s covenant promises to you changed how you live? How will God’s covenant promises continue to change you?