The Word of the Lord: Genesis 15
After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.
But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? And the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, you have given me no children, so a servant in my house will be my heir.
Then the word of the Lord came to him. This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.
Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.
He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur and the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?
So the Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, Know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants, I give this land from the wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates. The land of the Canaanites, the Canaanites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.
This is the word of the Lord.
Walking with Abraham: A Journey of Trust
Good morning, everyone and Happy New Year to you. Such a great honor to be here this morning with you as we are walking with Abraham. Since last week and today, the first Sunday in 2026. So welcome to you if you're joining us for the first time and welcome to you if you're watching online. I hope that you find this service encouraging to your faith and to your own journey with Lord Jesus Christ.
So last week we stood with Abraham in Genesis 12 at Vanessa mentioned. So first time that we meet him is in one chapter before 12, which is chapter 11. And we see that in chapter 12, God spoke and Abraham listened and Abraham walked. So we see that he is from Ur down here and in chapter 11, the last verse finished like, Terah took his son Abraham, his grandson Lot, son of Heron, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abraham, and together they set out from Ur of the Caledonians to the Canaan.
But when they came to Heron, they settled there and Terah lived 205 years and he died in Heron. So that's up there when they ended up and that's where in Genesis 12, we see that God is speaking to Abraham. So Heron is in north of Syria, in today's Syria, and is located in Turkey, which is my favorite place, Turkey. If you've been there, make sure that you visit this area as well.
So Abraham felt like that the future is uncertain, but he left what was familiar to him. He stepped away from security, his comfort zone, and he trusted a promise without a map. It was called to go somewhere, that it was unknown and didn't know where to go, but just follow what God asked him to do.
When the Excitement Fades: Dealing with Disappointment
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who was Muslim, when I shared my faith with him after a couple of minutes, at the end, he said, how do you know, Pedram, that the things that you were saying is true? How do you know that your sins are forgiven? How do you know that your trust in Jesus is real? And then that question pushed me to think deeply. How do I know? How am I sure about my salvation in Jesus?
Well, most of Christians don't struggle at the start of their faith. We struggle after a while. I remember again a couple of years ago from the church in Turkey in Ankara, there was a friend of mine again who became Christian. He was so passionate about God and coming to the church. He was so passionate about God and coming back to me every week with lots of questions and sharing about his journey with God and how he tasted the goodness of God and how he has changed. And then after a couple of years, everything's changed for him. He started to bring more questions out of some discouragements.
He was not the person who had been at the beginning and he started to question God and he started to question himself and the situation that he had. So when we dig down, we realize that he's dealing with a great disappointment of resettling in another country and the family situation was uncertain as well, broken relationship with the spouse and children and all these things all of the sudden changed his heart towards God.
So we struggle after a while, after we've done what God has asked and nothing seems to have changed and the circumstances around us will be worse or tougher and then we experience some ups and downs in our faith and on our journey with God.
The Gap Between Promise and Reality
So between Genesis 12 and 15, which is three chapters that we are not covering today, but we jump from 12 to 15. It's a couple of papers that we turn to but it's almost 10 years, even more than 10 years between these three chapters. A lot happens.
10 years of obedience from Abraham, 10 years of trusting God, 10 years of walking with God and between these three chapters, Abraham experienced famine and fear, travels to Egypt, returns with complication, separates from Lot, risks his life in war to rescue him, meets Melchizedek, which is the king of Solom and Solom is generally known as Jerusalem and he receives blessing from him and then he refuses the wealth of Sodom because he wants God, not power, to define his future.
And yet after all of these things happen, in 10 years, 12 years, Abraham still has no child and no land. Although that he received the promise, but he still cannot see anything visible in his life. Now Genesis 15 begins with two words, "after this." After this obedience, after courage, after all the ups and downs, after all the disappointment and it is after this that God speaks again. The Lord comes to Abraham in vision and says, "Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your very great reward."
"Do Not Be Afraid": God's Answer to Fear
And that phrase is important and matters deeply because Abraham looks faithful, right? He walked, he obeyed and he just trusted God and acted courageously. But here yet God addresses his fear and says, Do not be afraid, Abraham. So that there is a reality about our faith that even faithful people, faithful Christian, they get afraid, they get disappointed. Obedient people, they still feel uncertain, uncertain about their future, their life, their children and walking with God doesn't remove fear. It gives us somewhere to bring our fear.
So let me ask you a question. Do you know what the most repeated phrase in the Bible is? What is it? Do not be afraid. That's right. It appears over 300 times in the Bible and it depends on the translation. But often noted as 365 times which symbolically one for each day, one for each day. Do not be afraid.
And notice what God gives Abraham here first. Not land, no children yet, not explanation about the plan or the future or the destination. God gives him himself. The assurance. I am your shield. I am your reward. So Abraham is looking for answer, but God gives him himself. I am your shield. Before God explains the promise, he offers his presence.
During the service today until now, we've been singing hymns and songs of reassurance of God's presence with us, of God's faithfulness and goodness to us. And this is a great way to start our new year with. 2026, starting with this great assurance, reassurance of God's presence with us. So Abraham here is reminded again that the center of faith is not the outcomes, is not the things that he experienced in his own life in a visible way, but the relationship that he has with the faithful God.
Honest Faith: Asking "What Can You Give Me?"
And look how he responds. After that, Abraham responds honestly. He doesn't hide anything. He says, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? I have your promise, but I'm still childless. He's saying, it's been 10 years. I trust you, but I don't see how this works. How this works in my life.
And sometimes in our Christian life, we think that asking a question or questioning the future or questioning God is some sort of sign of weakness, right? There is some deep judgment in us, even weak, that judge ourselves or others who bring those kind of questions before God or before us. How can I know? I have nothing yet.
So then that is where people start to have a backup plan, a plan B for themselves. And this is exactly what Abraham says here. Abraham explains that according to ancient custom, if he has no son, a servant could become his heir. He named someone Eliezer of Damascus that who is going to be inheriting the things that Abraham has. And it seems that he has started making this backup plan for himself and for his family and for his future.
But scripture is clear that God is not offended by honest faith and by honest questions. This is part of the journey and God doesn't shame him. He answers, he reaffirms the promise. This means that that God is not shaming Abraham for the question that he brings. "This man will not be your heir," This is what God says, "but a son from your own body will be."
Then God takes Abraham outside and says, look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. So shall your offspring be? And what does God do here? God meets Abraham's tired faith with something visible to show him that he is faithful. And then Abraham is invited to look upward rather than inward towards God's promise rather than his own limitations.
Then we read one of the most important verses in his scripture that shapes the rest of the story. So Abraham believed the Lord and he created to him as righteousness. And the language here suggests that ongoing trust, that believing God is an ongoing trust. And Abraham keeps learning, keeps leaning his weight on God's promise. And faith here is not certainty about the future, about the things that is coming up. It's about the trust in the God who holds the future.
The Covenant: God Binds Himself to Us
And yet Abraham is not finished. He believes God, but he needs assurance and he needs to trust. So he asked the second question, another question that many Christians would ask at some point. How can I know? How can I know? How can I know that Abraham wants to know that the promise will not collapse in the end and he wants to know that that God is faithful? And God responds with a covenant here.
What is a covenant? So covenant is not a contract. Contract is different from a covenant. A contract says, if you do this, I will do that for you. But a covenant says, I bind myself to you. I bind myself to you. Throughout scripture, covenants are the way that God commits himself to redeem humanity from sin. And we have six different types of covenant that we see in the Bible, mostly in the Old Testament. And there are six different types of covenant that we see in the Bible.
- The First Covenant (Works): The first one is a covenant of works that we see in Genesis chapter 2. At creation, God established a covenant of works. Life and blessing were tied to perfect obedience. But what happens? The sin entered and humanity lost the ability to restore himself by performance. And that covenant, that covenant exposes our need, our need for God to be redeemed.
- The Second Covenant (Noahic): And the second one is in Genesis chapter 9, the Noahic covenant. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and promising that he keeps the history and preserve the history that this such a thing, that such a flood would not continue and mercy could unfold.
- The Third Covenant (Abrahamic): And then we get to Genesis chapter 12, 15 and 17, the most important chapter in the book of Genesis, the Abrahamic covenant. A promise given to Abraham. With Abraham, God makes a covenant of promise, committing himself to bless the nation through Abraham's line.
- The Fourth Covenant (Mosaic): Then we have the fourth covenant, the Mosaic covenant. Later, God formed Israel through Moses. And this covenant is a conditional covenant and shaping a people to live as God's representative. The law doesn't replace the promise, but it serves it. And it reveals sin, it forms holiness, and it prepares the way for salvation.
- The Fifth Covenant (Davidic): And the fifth one is Davidic covenant, the kingship covenant. God narrows the promise further and the blessing will come through a king. Not just Abraham's sons and an offspring, not just Israel's hope, but David's heirs.
- The Sixth Covenant (New Covenant): And then finally, the new covenant, the fulfillment of the covenants. Israel fails, exile comes, and God promises a new covenant in Jeremiah chapter 31. One final sacrifice, complete forgiveness, blessing for all nations.
And that's where Genesis 15 points forward. Animals are caught, blood is shed, but at the cross, God himself is caught. Jesus bears the curse and keeps the promise and fulfills the covenant. The God who walks alone between the pieces now walks alone on Calvary.
The Smoking Firepot: God Walks Alone
Here God tells Abraham to bring animals and cut them in half, which is somehow a strange thing, a weird thing to do. But in the ancient world, this was a known covenant ritual. This is the way of making the covenants. So today is when we want to make a contract or a covenant. The signature is important, right? But back in the olden days, it's like this is the way for Hebrews to show the covenant is a covenant ritual. So normally both parties would walk between the pieces of animals and declaring that may this happen to me if I break the covenant. May this happen to me if I break the covenant. That's the way of the ritual of the covenant.
And that's why God asked Abraham to do that. And Abraham prepares the animal as as meant to be and then falls into a deep sleep. So remember, two parties. Walking through these cut animals, but here we see that only God passes through the pieces, not Abraham. Only God passes through the pieces. The smoking fire pot and a blazing torch move between the halves. These symbols, the fire pot and the blazing torch, these represent God's holy presence. And God alone walks the path, not Abraham, just God.
And this is the heart of Genesis 15, the covenant that God makes with Abraham. God is saying this covenant does not rest on your faithfulness. It doesn't matter how you act, but on mine, I will bear the cost. And then God reveals something Abraham didn't expect. He says there will be slavery, 400 years will pass. The promise will unfold slowly because God's justice and timing are larger than Abraham's lifetime.
How Can I Know? Three Lessons for Our Walk
Now we return to the question, how can I know? How can I be sure about this?
1. God invites the questions.
Well, first things that we can learn from this passage is that God invites the questions. There is no wrong question in the presence of the Lord. We could bring whatever is in our heart before God. Abraham believed God and was counted righteous, remember, but yet he still have these questions. And he asked the question, how can I know God? How can I know? And being honest and honest wrestling with this type of question is not a sign of weakness. It is often the deepening of faith. So the invitation here is that bringing before God the fear, the question, the doubts that we have and name what you see and ask him the question.
2. God gives signs.
The second one is that God gives signs. Abraham had the stars, so God took him outside to look at the skies. And every time he looked at the night sky, he was reminded that God's promise was real and was larger than his circumstances. We have signs too in our lives, don't we? Just look around, just turn to your right or left or look inward and see what kind of signs that God has given you to show his faithfulness.
So Vanessa asked the question, what does faithfulness and goodness of God mean to you? What does it mean to you? Yes, we are saved in Jesus Christ. Yes, we are given a new identity. Yes, we are given the eternal life. But what are other tangible signs in your lives? What are other things that you can name in your journey with God that is a sign of God that you can name and you can live with?
At the church, as a church family, we have two great signs of reassurance. We have signs of baptism when we declare our new identity and our salvation in Jesus Christ. And we've got the Lord's Supper that we've come to the table to celebrate what God has achieved for us. And these are given to us as a sign to be reminded and keep remembering that God is faithful.
When doubt rises, we are invited to not only look inward to our situation or to our emotional things. But look outward to God's appointed signs in our lives. When the situation is changing our life, when we wrestle with these kind of things, it is hard to see God's faithfulness and goodness in our life. It doesn't mean that there is no God's faithfulness. It means that there is, but we cannot see it clearly.
So look outward to God's appointed signs. And remember, remember your own baptism. Do you remember the day that you were baptized? Yes. Such a great day. Such a great declaration of who you are. I'm not sure how old were you at that point, but I'm sure that the joy of that declaration will remain with us forever and ever. Remember that day. Come to the table each time that we celebrate Lord's Supper and lift your eyes beyond yourself, beyond your circumstances.
3. God alone sees the bigger picture.
And third one, God alone sees the bigger picture. I am sure that we all admire the beauty of Persian rocks. They're famous, they're well known around the world. And it takes a lot of time and effort to make one. And that's why it is expensive. But if you stand really close to it and look at the back, it doesn't look impressive at all. You see knots, loose threads and colors that don't seem to match. And it can look messy and even wrong. If that's all you saw, you might think something has gone wrong. But the person who is weaving the rock never looks only at the back. The weaver sees the front, the whole picture. They see the pattern that is slowly forming. They know where each thread belongs, even when it doesn't make sense yet. That's often how our own lives feel.
There are lots of moments that I am sure that you can name in 2025 that didn't make sense to you, right? Lord God, why these things happen to me? Why did I lose my job? Why I lose my family member? Why did I have to face with this kind of situation? There are lots and lots of those moments in our lives. And there will be more in 2026. There will be more challenges. And as we live and get older, you see that there are more challenges coming in different types. That's how our lives feel. And that's a reality about us. We are standing very close to the back of the rock and we see delays, confusion, and unanswered prayers. And that's where we ask, why is this taking so long? Why is this happening to me? What did this happen last year? We see the knots, but God sees the design, the whole pattern, the beauty of this Persian rock.
Abraham wanted a fulfillment in his lifetime, right? But God was working across generations. In verse 16, God explained that justice must run its course. And it's in the fourth generation your descendant will come back here. And God's timing and wisdom is deeper than what we can see here. And above all, we look to the cross. God didn't spare his own son. When we ask, how can I know the cross answer? God was willing to be cut off so that we would never be. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ declares that God's new creation has already begun.
Walking into 2026 with Assurance
Well, Genesis 15 today teaches us that God meets us after excitement fades and welcomes honest questions and anchors faith in his own commitment and calls us to trust him even when fulfillment seems distance. And when it's time to wait, waiting is not a wasted time.
So how do we walk with God in the year ahead of us? Not by fear, not by control, not by pretending that everything is clear and everything is good. We walk by trust. We lean our weight on a promise we cannot yet see because God has already proven that he will carry the cost.
If you're not certain, you can simply pray, "Lord Jesus, I believe, help me trust you."
Assurance is often confused with arrogance, but biblical assurance is actually humility. And it rests not on our grip on God, but in God's grip on us. And whenever you face that kind of situation, think about Abraham's situation. God did not answer the question, how can I know with a list of requirements? He didn't say that, try harder, Abraham. Believe stronger, Abraham, or perform better. He gave Abraham himself. The covenant ceremony was God's way of saying, I will take responsibility for the future you cannot see or control yet.
That is exactly what God says to us in Christ. And many Christians search for assurance by looking inward. They ask whether their repentance was sincere enough, whether their faith is strong enough, whether their obedience is consistent enough. And the story of Abraham redirects us outwards. Assurance doesn't come from inspecting the quality of our faith, but from trusting the faithfulness of God. And there are some seasons in our life that faith feels strong, and a season that faith feels thin. And Genesis 15 speaks to both. It tells the strong to remain humble, and it tells the weak that God has not let go.
So when the question, how can I know, rises in your heart, answer it in the way that Genesis 15 answers. Look to God's promise. Look to God's sign. Look to God's timing. And above all, look to the cross. And you can answer it with the confidence that God keeps covenant, finishes his work, and will bring you home in grace and peace. And perhaps the most faithful prayer we can pray is simple.
Lord, I believe. Help me trust you.
