GOD HAS A PLAN FOR
YOUR LIFE
Genesis 15:7-21
V:7. " And He said to him, "I am the Lord who
brought you out of Ur
A. Sometimes we need to
remind ourselves of what God has done for us.
1. God has a
purpose for what He does.
2. Whatever God does is in our best interest.
B. God brought
Abraham out of Ur
1. God has blessings
that are just for us.
2. In order to obtain what God has for us,
we have to go where God says go.
3. We have to go
when God says go.
4. When we have
directions from the Lord, we must walk by faith. Gen 15:6
V:8. "And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that
I shall inherit it?"
A. God does not tell
us how He is going to do what He promised.
1. If God said it,
we should accept it and wait on the blessing.
2. We have to
accept the future blessings of God by faith.
B. It is ok to ask
God for clarification.
1. We need to
get an understanding of God's Word.
2. If we do not
understand God's Word, we should accept it as true and continue to
seek an understanding.
3. Faith requires
us to accept God's Word as true, even if we do not get an
understanding.
a. God does
not have to make sense to us.
b. His
ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
V:9. "And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three
years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and
a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
A. Often times
throughout the Bible, God uses animals to describe the attitude and the
heart of man.
1. In this text,
He uses five different animals to establish and commemorate the
covenant with
Abraham.
a. The animals
used in this covenant with Abraham are the same animals used in
Mosaic Law
some 500 hundreds years later.
b. The
Idolatrous nations were compared to bulls, rams and goats ( Psalms 22:13 ,
Daniel
8:20-21). Israel 2:14 )
B. God chose Abraham
as the father of the nation of Israel
he and Sarah had
no children.
1. Abraham's part in the covenant was first
his faith and second to gather and
prepare the animals
for the sacrifice.
2. Notice the age
of the large animals was 3 years.
a. The number
3 is a sacred number. There are three in the Holy Trinity.
b. There are
three heavens according to the apostle Paul.
c. The number 3 denotes perfection of the
victims in the point of maturity
(Barnes
Notes).
d. There are
three major light sources; the sun, the moon and Son of God (Jesus).
V: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."
A. It was an ancient
practice of ratifying a covenant between two parties by cutting an
animal in two.
1.The agreeing
parties would pass (walk) through the cut parts.
2. If any party
broke the covenant, his body would be cut in two (Adam Clark).
B. A covenant
consists of several parts.
1. An agreement
between two parties.
2. A blood
sacrifice
3. An agreement
to punishment the party breaking the agreement.
C. The word covenant
come from two words;" con" which means together and
"venio" which means I come.
1. Man was
separated from God by sin, but come together with Him through the
blood covenant
ratified with the sacrifice of His Son.
D. The birds were not
divided.
1. The birds may
represent the Holy Spirit; the spirit of peace and love.
2. The birds may
also represent the spirit of unity and the Spirit of Christ
which cannot
be divided (Pulpit Commentary).
E. The number of
parts in the covenant was seven; the six parts of the animals
and the birds
(counted as one).
1. Seven is the
number of completion.
a. God created
the universe in six days and the seventh day He rested.
2. The cutting of
the animals in two could also represent violence, sin
and the wrath
of God.
a. The dove
could represent the peace of man offered by God through the
sacrifice of
His Son.
V:11. "The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses,
and Abram drove them away."
A. Satan and his
demons are always waiting to interrupt the
peace between God and
man.
1. In all our
ways, we have to resist the Devil for him to flee.
B. The Holy Spirit
within us is the driving force that rids us of the Devil in our lives.
1. God has given
us peace.
2. It is up to us
to keep the peace by closing the door to the Devil.
C. Abraham had to
drive the prey away.
1. We have to
drive the Devil away from our lives by combating him with
the Word.
2. Your prey want
give up.
a. We have to
be constant in our study and application of the Word in our
lives.
V:12. " Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep
fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him."
A. God does not need
us to ratify or keep a covenant with Him.
1. Our ideas and
opinions would only get in the way of God's plan.
2. Abram was put
to sleep.
3. While we
sleep, God is working on our behalf.
B. In the mist of our
sleep, God is the keeper of those who rest in Him.
1. In the life of
man, there will be some dark days.
2. With God as our
protector, we need not be terrified.
3. God has not
given us the spirit of fear, but power. love and sound mind.
V:13. " God said to Abram, "Know for certain that
your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they
will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years."
A. God's plan for us
includes some good times and some bad times.
1. The bad times
we face are not always caused by our decisions.
a. Bad times
are God's way to prepare us to accept and appreciate the good times.
2. God's plan for
Israel
B. In order to grow Israel
some tough
times.
1. We need to learn
to be thankful in tough times.
2. It is in the
tough time that we learn to trust God.
3. It is in the
tough times that our faith is developed.
C. Slavery forces togetherness.
1. Slavery forces us to develop a hatred for
wrong.
2. Slavery forces
us to appreciate freedom.
3. Slavery forces
us to call on the Lord for help.
4. Slavery enforces
common goals and aspirations.
5. Slavery puts us
on equal ground.
6. Slavery causes
us to be a help to each other.
7. Slavery gave common
economical status.
V:14. "But I
will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come
out with many possessions."
A. God allows others to do us wrong.
1. God will judge
those that He allowed to wrong us.
2. God allowed sin
to enter into His prefect creation and to affect His people.
B. God planned a time of deliverance.
1. God's plan for
us includes trouble and deliverance from trouble.
2. If we trust
God, His help in times of trouble is assured.
15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace;
you will be buried at a good old
age. "
A. God has planned
our death.
1. God knows
when we will die.
2. God knows how
we will die.
3. God knows the
condition we will die in.
16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return
here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."
A. The land promised
to Abraham and His descendants would be inhabited by a
powerful tribe
called the Amorites.
b. The Amorites
were care keepers of the promised land until Israel
1. God determined
that the Amorites would inhabit the promised land 4 generation
before the
Nation of Israel became a people in Egypt
2. God determined
that the Amorites would be a sinful people.
3. God determined
four generations in the future that He would judge and punish the
Amorites.
B. God planned 4
generations ahead that the Nation of Israel would be released from
slavery.
1. God planned
the Israelites return to the promise land.
a. A nation
that started with just Abraham and Sarah would form over a 400 year
time frame in a foreign land.
b. God returned
the land promised to Abraham and His descendants.
2. God orders
events, times , places and people to accomplish His divine will.
a. God's
divine will is being accomplished before our eyes in present time.
b. We are in
God's divine will which is being accomplished according to His
ways.
V:17. " It came about when the sun had set, that it was
very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which
passed between these pieces."
A. God ratified His
plan by passing through the sacrificed animals.
1. God appeared
in the form of smoke.
2. All believers have God in their mist in
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
B. God is controlling
our present situation.
1. Every believer
has been equipped to make a difference in the lives of others.
V:18. " On that day the Lord made a covenant with
Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river
of Egypt Euphrates ."
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite
20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim
21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and
the Jebusite."
A. The covenant that
God made with Abraham and His descendants is eternal.
1. The covenant
that God made with Abraham includes land and people that are
dedicated to
Him.
2. This promised
land whose boundary is set by God cannot be altered by any
event or
action of man.
B. This land promised
to Israel
treaties or any
agreement made by man.
1. This promised
land may at times be inhabited by other people, but it is the
property of
the Nation of Israel.
2. God insures the
ownership of the promised land.
C. What is for us is
for us, regardless of present circumstances.
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