How Can I Be Sure? (How Can I Know?)
Who’s asking?
Abram (Abraham) A man of faith. (Hebrews 11:8-10 (NLT))
Genesis 15:7-21 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
God promised to give Abram “this land.” (Descendants were promise in verses 4-5)
- God promised to give Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:5)
- God promised to give Abram the land He was showing to him. (Land identified in Genesis 15:18-21).
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
How can I be sure? How can I know?
A genuine request for information and assurance. It’s a legitimate question.
Is it o.k. to question God?
- Numerous people of faith (Hebrews 11) asked for and received signs from God. (Abraham, Gideon, David (Psalm 86:7), Moses)
God responded, using an ancient tradition.
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
Evil omen
- God’s promises of blessings do not negate hard times.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep,
A unilateral covenant. Abram was sleeping.
and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land,
“You can be sure ….”
where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.
400 years of oppression.
14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.
15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)
16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
God’s timing
- God tells us that we can know for certain that His promises will come true. (“You can be sure …”)
- God’s promises might not be fulfilled in our lifetime.
The ritual (the sign)
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch (symbolized the presence of God) pass between the halves of the carcasses.
Abram did not walk through the halves of the carcasses.
Ancient tradition
Referred to in scripture:
Jeremiah 34:18-19 (NLT)
18 Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. 19 Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people—for you have broken your oath.
18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram
- God’s promises must be taken seriously.
that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— 19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Unilateral covenant
Numbers 23:19 (NLT)
God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
- God does not lie. God keeps his promises.
P.S.
Genesis 24:1-7 (NLT)
A Wife for Isaac
1 Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. 3 Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. 4 Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?”
6 “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to take my son there. 7 For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.
Abram believed.
Hebrews 11:13 (NLT)
13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.
How can we be sure that we can live a godly life?
Pray
Ephesians 1:18 (NLT)
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Spend time in the Word
Acts 17:11 (NLT)
And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.
John 8:31-32 (NLT)
31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Remain faithful: hold to my teaching, If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, If you abide in my word,
God’s promises to us.
2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)
Growing in Faith
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
- God has given us great and precious promises.
- God gives us everything we need for living a godly life
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- God’s promises enable us to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption.
