Covenant Assurance

Order of Service

• Hymn — All You That Fear Jehovah's Name
• Call to Worship — Psalm 89:1-4
• Hymn — All You That Fear Jehovah's Name
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Micah 7:18-19
• Scripture Reading — Luke 9:57-62
• Hymn — Take My Life and Let It Be
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — On Jordan's Stormy Banks
• Sermon
• Hymn — What Wondrous Love Is This
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Covenant Assurance

Scripture: Genesis 15:7-21

I. Covenant Assurance Through Covenant History

• A. God opens the covenant by recounting his redemptive act: "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess" (Genesis 15:7).

  1. This preamble mirrors the opening of the Mosaic covenant at Sinai: "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 20:2).
  2. The Davidic covenant follows the same pattern in 2 Samuel 7:8: "I took you from the pasture… that you should be prince over my people Israel."
  3. All three covenants—Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic—begin with a preamble grounding the covenant in God's prior grace: "I took you… I brought you."

• B. J. I. Packer summarizes covenant theology in one word: you. God is not merely a transcendent deity but one who bows down, redeems, and says, "I am your God and you are my people."

• C. The New Testament epistles echo these covenant preambles in their opening greetings; believers should not pass by them but immerse themselves in the covenant Lord's address to his redeemed people.

  1. Romans 1:7 — "loved by God and called to be saints"
  2. 1 Corinthians 1:2 — "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints"
  3. 2 Peter 1:1 — "obtained a faith of equal standing… by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ"
  4. Jude 1:1 — "called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ"

II. Covenant Assurance Through Covenant Honesty

• A. A deep and dreadful darkness falls on Abram (Genesis 15:12), corresponding to a dark message: his offspring will be sojourners, servants, and afflicted for 400 years (Genesis 15:13).

• B. The promise is ultimately fulfilled, but not on Abram's timetable — God gives it to him straight rather than offering flattery.

  1. God hates flattering lips (Psalm 12; Proverbs 29) because he does not flatter his people into hell; he tells them what they need to hear on the path to glory.
  2. King Ahab rejected Micaiah the true prophet in favor of false prophets who said only what he wanted to hear (1 Kings 22) — a warning against preferring comfortable falsehood over an honest God.

• C. The honest God who calls by redeeming grace is the same God who corrects and chastises because he loves his people.

  1. Christ himself warned his followers: "In this world you will have trouble" and "If they hated me, they will hate you" (John 16:33; John 15:18).
  2. "My timing is not your timing; my ways are not your ways" — yet the covenant Lord remains trustworthy in every season.

• D. The question pressed on the congregation: Do you want the God who gives it to you straight, or a god who tells you only what you want to hear?

III. Covenant Assurance Through Covenant Humility

• A. A covenant in the ancient Near East was ratified by both parties walking between severed animal carcasses, symbolically invoking a self-maledictory oath: "May I become like these dead animals if I break this covenant" (cf. Jeremiah 34:18).

• B. In Genesis 15:17, God alone — appearing as a smoking fire pot and flaming torch (a theophany) — passes between the pieces while Abram sleeps.

  1. Though it is impossible for the immortal God to die, he accommodates himself to Abram, invoking upon himself the curse of the covenant.
  2. This self-maledictory oath is the greatest possible condescension: "If I fail to keep my promise to you, may I be cut off like these carcasses."

• C. This covenant ceremony points forward to the cross, where the promise is ultimately and fully kept.

  1. The deep darkness over Abram foreshadows the darkness at Calvary, where the seed of Abraham bears the covenant curse.
  2. Just as God passed through the pieces while Abram slept, Christ went to the cross while his disciples slept at Gethsemane and scattered at his arrest.
  3. Romans 5:6-8 — "While we were still weak… Christ died for the ungodly… while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

• D. The cross is not only salvation from sin and death; it is the Father's ultimate cry of assurance to his people: "Do you see how far I go to show you that my promises never fail?"

  1. God could go no deeper than giving his own beloved Son.
  2. Dale Ralph Davis: "How do you spell assurance? C-O-V-E-N-A-N-T" — and ultimately, C-H-R-I-S-T.

• E. The call to the congregation: know that the covenant love and promises of God are not for "them out there" but for you whom he has redeemed — do not disbelieve, but believe.