Just Believe: God's Promises Secured by His Action

But I don't want you to leave early. I want you to hang around for the rest of it, but the decision this morning is is very simple. It's just simply to believe. It's just simply to believe. And so we leave out of here later, and someone were to ask you, what was the sermon about? What did the pastor ask you to do this morning? Just simply believe. Just believe what God has promised us. [00:00:32] (30 seconds)  #JustBelieveToday

And he has certainly promised us a lot, but we're focused primarily this morning on simply the promise that we have in Jesus, that Jesus was sent to die in our place, that he died for our sins, that we can have life in his name. That is the ultimate promise that we have from God. And so the decision this morning is just simply believe, to believe that promise. [00:01:02] (30 seconds)  #JesusPaidItAll

Now this is foundational for not just our understanding of Genesis, but this is foundational for our understanding of what the New Testament says about what it means to be saved, what it means to be justified before the Lord. It's credited to Abram as righteousness, it says. And so much like when, you know, maybe you'll do this when you go to lunch today or when you go out shopping. What do some of us do? We swipe a card. Right? That card, when we swipe it, whether it's a a credit card or or a debit card, right, it counts for money. Right? It counts as if we had cash in hand. Now, unfortunately, with a credit card, you still have to pay that later, but it counts as if you have that that money in hand. [00:08:05] (62 seconds)  #FaithCountsAsRighteousness

And so this covenant ceremony is is done, but follow this for a second. Who walks between the split animals in this passage? The Lord. Abram doesn't walk between the animals in the covenant ceremony. What is Abram doing while all of this is is going on, while the Lord is performing the ceremony? Abram's asleep. It says in verse 12 that a deep sleep fell on Abram, and the Lord then shows him this covenant ceremony. And so Abram's asleep. The Lord is going through this covenant ceremony himself. [00:17:40] (52 seconds)  #GodWalksTheCovenant

so in a very vivid way, the Lord shows us it is his action. It is his action alone that secures his promises. We offer no security or guarantee for our salvation. Abram offered no security or guarantee of his part in all of this. He was asleep. He was asleep when God displays for him what God will do to secure his promises. So our basis for believing God's promises are based on his action and his own work. [00:20:08] (39 seconds)  #GodActsNotUs

And based on the covenant, right, that's all we have to offer. Based on the strict rules of of covenant, we've broken the law. And as Paul says in Ephesians, the wages of sin is death. Right? We're worth more dead than alive, but Jesus takes place. Paul says, Jesus becomes a curse for us so that we could live and not die. We don't have to put up any type of security, any type of promise to make good on the covenant, God does all of that for us in his love and his mercy. [00:21:47] (44 seconds)  #JesusCoversUs

Too many people have wrecked themselves and and wrecked their faith thinking that I have to to keep these promises. I have to give some guarantee of of my own salvation. But that's not how it works at all. God secures his own promises. That's how we can believe the promises that he makes to us because of his actions, because of what he does. So believe in the security of his promises. Not just believing in the promises that he makes, but believing that it's the Lord himself who keeps those promises. [00:23:13] (40 seconds)  #BelieveGodsSecurity

``I know I'm saved. I know I have his promises because of the Lord's own action, because he has secured the promises that he's made. I'm simply asked to believe in the security of those promises. Each and every day, you and I face a a simple decision, much like me, whether or not to believe the promises that God makes to us. The good news is is that all that's asked of us to receive the blessing of his promises is belief. [00:24:51] (35 seconds)  #SecureInHisPromises