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The covenant of faith - Genesis 15

This is a sermon by Peter Birnie from the Riverside Church service on 25th January 2026.

Click here to read the bible passage. Click here to use larger text.

An audio recording of this sermon is available.

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Intro:

(Slide 1) When I was at university, one of the modules we had to take was Constitutional Law. In that area of study, one of the most important disciplines and skills was trying to gain an understanding of the intention of law-makers when they put legislation together. The intention matters a lot so that the law is applied for the purpose it was designed for rather than being twisted and abused to permit things that shouldn’t be allowed.

(Slide 2) We see this principle at work in a stark light in the USA at the moment in the hotly contested area of gun ownership in that nation – the second amendment of the US constitution says this; “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

This 2nd amendment is used by millions of people in the USA to allow them to own all sorts of firearms, including machine guns and assault rifles that have been used in many school shootings and national tragedies. In fact around a third of adults in the USA own a gun and more than 40% of all people who live there live in a house that contains guns. Was this the intention of those who put the 2nd amendment together? To most of us Brits the obvious answer seems to be “No, of course not.” While that is not our subject this morning, the intention principle will be a big help to us. Because in Genesis 15 we come to a vital chapter in God’s word, a vc in salvation history, a vc in matters of eternity.

(Slide 3) And for the rest of this sermon series and indeed the rest of all of our lives, it is vital that we understand the intention of God as he blessed Abram with this incredible covenant in Genesis 15. Genesis 15 shows us that above everything else in our lives, and more important than any other blessing that we enjoy, God wants us to want him. That is the intention of this covenant. The covenant that God makes with Abram is there to bring God’s people into fellowship and communion with God . There is nothing more important in your life, in any of our lives, than communion with God, closeness with God, dependence upon God, trust in God. Faith is given for this very reason – so that we want God.

 

             1) God himself is the reward (v1)

(Slide 4) Or in the words of Genesis 15, the covenant is made so that God himself is our reward. Verse 1; “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’.” There was a time before Abram when this fact was as obvious to humanity as needing oxygen to breathe and water to drink. Back in Genesis 1 and 2, when Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden, there was no doubt in their mind that God himself is the pinnacle of enjoyment, the purpose for life, the reason for our existence. The fact that God needs to declare this explicitly to Abram is a consequence of all the damage that sin had done to the world itself and to the human heart.

 

(Slide 5) Following our fall into sin and rebellion, God still remained who he is and so his grace and mercy were still visible and enduring. Yes, he acted in judgement with the flood, but he saved Noah and his family. Yes, he acted in judgement at Babel, but he still chose to call Abram to obedience and give promises that point to life. And this incredible covenant that God makes in chapter 15 states clearly at the very beginning that God’s intention is to keep calling people close to him, into a lasting relationship with him, a relationship of blessing, of communion, of delight; “I am your shield, your very great reward.”

 

(Slide 6) Without God graciously acting to covenant with people and call them back to himself, there would be no hope at all. But God himself comes to Abram and makes a way, and so we sit here today, included in these promises as offspring of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. And so what was true for Abram is true for us – God himself is our treasure, God himself is our primary blessing, God himself is why we have been made and why we have been redeemed at the cost of the blood of Jesus. The Westminster catechism, a way of teaching people key doctrine from God’s word starts with this question; “What is the chief end of man?” The answer? “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” That is the intention of God’s gracious covenant with Abram – sweet, close relationship between God and his people.

 

(Slide 7) There is nothing better – Jesus taught this himself in the parable of the precious pearl and the treasure in a field (Matthew 13). There is nothing worth more than knowing God, it is worth giving everything else up to be able to be in God’s Kingdom, loving the King. When we begin to want God’s other blessings more than God himself we are missing the point. I know I am really labouring this first section in the sermon but it is because it is so central to everything in our own Christian walks and in our life together as a church family. The intention, pinnacle, point, the whole reason for the covenant is relationship with and worship of the one true God.

(Slide 8) Imagine the phone going and a police officer telling you that your loved family member, or your best friend had been driving your car and got into a serious accident. What would your first question be? It wouldn’t be about your car would it? It would be, are they ok? And if the answer was “Yes they are fine” then nothing else really matters does it? It is only a car. Or imagine waking up at night with the fire alarm blaring and smoke everywhere. What do you do first? You get everybody out. As long as they are safe then everything else is incidental. Priorities really matter.

(Slide 9) God is a generous God who showers blessings upon people. But the central blessing, the key blessing, the only blessing that ultimately counts is the blessing of himself. Job was able to say this whenever he lost everything except God; “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” God himself is our reward.

 

              2) Righteousness is required (v2-11)

(Slide 10) Abram accepts this and so, in the next few verses he speaks very freely and directly to God. In verses 2-5 he basically says; ‘ok God, you have made these promises, yet you haven’t come through on them yet, you haven’t given me a child’. Does this seem presumptuous to you? Does this seem a bit entitled or demanding, that Abram can be so bold with God? That a little bit of dust could be so direct with its creator? It seems that way to me – how can a sinner be so expectant of God? How can someone with doubt and failure in their life engage God in this way? Righteousness is required to be able to step into God’s presence and ask him for blessing. But where is that righteousness going to come from? Not within a person, that is tried and tested since Adam and Eve and Genesis 3.

 

(Slide 11) There is that necessary righteousness in verse 6, a verse recounted in a number of places throughout God’s word, one of the most important verses in the bible; “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as righteousness.” This verse shows the amazing contrast between human religion and genuine salvation. So many people believe wrongly that through our own efforts we can somehow earn God’s favour, through religious practice or moral effort we can clean ourselves up enough to deserve God’s acceptance. But here is how to be made righteous; “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as righteousness.”    

 

(Slide 12) This is not a trade in – Abram doing some great work and being rewarded. No, it is a drowning person, completely helpless, with no other hope, grabbing hold of the life ring. Credited righteousness is righteousness that is freely given – it is not a reward for some amazing level of faith Abram displays, instead God gives righteousness, credits righteousness, when us little creatures simply accept the creators promises and word as true. Abram simply had faith that God is who he says he is and will do what he says he will do. Faith is not just a vage feeling of trust, faith instead is creatures responding properly to the creator. Credited righteousness is at the centre of our faith and it is utterly vital so that the holy God can bring sinful people into close, loving relationship with him. Genesis 15 is so near the start of the Bible and yet in this chapter, from our New Testament perspective, we already can see the cross of Christ on the horizon. Look what else God does in this covenant;

 

• (Slide 13)The blessing of life (v2-5): Abram is going to have so many descendants they will be uncountable, like the stars in the sky. Totally undeserved blessing, but God is the life-giver, and from this promise, through the cross of Christ and the empty tomb, we will get to Revelation and the amazing sight of a multitude of people from every nation gathered around the throne, praising the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah.

 

• (Slide 14) A promised home (v7-8): In the Covenant is the promise of a land, of home for God’s people. God’s people are foreigners and strangers and long for home. Canaan was promised and now as we continue as foreigners and strangers in this land (1 Peter), we wait for our eternal home in the very presence of God himself – through the cross and the empty tomb we look to Revelation and see that very reality, a new heavens and a new earth, no more curse, God dwelling with him people.

 

• (Slide 15) Sacrificial blood (v9-11): And for this to happen there is blood to be shed. In verses 9-11, Abram sacrifices these animals – this covenant is a bloody affair. But then something strange happens in verse 17 – in the middle of all of this blood, with this covenant making ceremony all set up, only God does anything. Abram doesn’t pass between the animals, he just watches as God himself ratifies this covenant. Abram plays no part – God has set up the covenant and then God seals this covenant himself – Abram doesn’t promise anything, God does all the promises and then God himself signs the covenant. That is the centre of our faith – God does everything we need to bring people into this eternal, delightful relationship with him. God intends for this to happen and God makes the way for this to happen.

(Slide 16) This so clearly points towards the cross. God himself acting to fulfill the covenant without our input! God himself making the way when our sin had made us spiritually dead. What does God want from us? Simply to believe and accept.

 

             3) Trials are built in (v12-21)

(Slide 17) Genesis 15 is such an incredible chapter for us to turn to at so many different points in life. God is faithful, God is graceful, God has made a Covenant. Those are truths we are to stand on which will help us battle sin, our flesh and Satan himself. And as if that isn’t enough, here is one more great encouragement for the people of God as we go through trials and suffering – as this Covenant was made, trials and difficulties were built in to it, anticipated by it;

“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and ill-treated there.”

Sometimes, particularly when we go through repeated trials and painful circumstances, we begin to think “are we wrong about God?” Or perhaps “are we doing this Christian life wrong?”

 

• (Slide 18) But we are to realise that trials are part of life for God’s people. At the glorious start of the Abrahamic covenant, God is already telling Abram that the people of God will suffer. So we are not to fret when we go through difficulties because they were built in from the start. And then we move our eyes from Genesis 15 to the cross of Calvary and we are even more reassured – our saviour was a sacrificial lamb, God has kept his promises through suffering.

 

• (Slide 19) But even better than this, God hasn’t built trials in just for the sake of it, God has built them in because of his great intention for the covenant. God wants relationship with us, and in trials and difficulties we look to him for rescue, we run to him for comfort, we stand on his character for assurance. These trials are to cause us to treasure him as our shield, our very great reward. The God of love wants you to want him – this is the very greatest blessing that can be offered, and this is offered at the greatest of all costs, the blood of Jesus Christ which means that all God’s promises are yes.

 

 

Application: (Slide 20) So this morning as we finish, let me ask you this question. Is God the centre of your/my life? What should we do next?

Today, do you need to re-sight your life and set your eyes back on God himself? Do you need to reshape your days so God is at the centre (very practical: what time you get up at, how you rest, what you give time to, when you go to bed etc)? Do you need to refresh your memory about the goodness of God, his promises, his beauty – we can help each other with that! What wonderful words to finish with today, verse 1 and verse 6;

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward’ … Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as righteousness.”

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Kingston-Upon-Hull
England

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