Communauté et discipulat

The Promise Keeper (Genesis 15:1~6)

2026.10.04Harold Kim창세기 15:1~6

Let us trust the Promise Keeper. God patiently answers our doubts, counts faith as righteousness, and swore the covenant oath himself, to the point of being torn apart on the cross in Jesus Christ.

Abram's unfulfilled promises and his doubts

Genesis 15 is for anyone who has been let down, or who has let others down, even in God's name. In Genesis 12:1-3, God gave Abram threefold promises: leave your land for a greater land, leave your family for a greater nation, and give your name so that a new name would bless all the families of the earth. Yet Abram is aging, still nomadic and childless, and nobody knows his name. Three revelations come in the middle of his doubts and fears: how God deals with doubts, how to be right with God, and how God shows he keeps every promise.

God answers doubt with patient reminders (1-4절)

Abram became the father of three world religions, yet he had deep doubts. God would not say 'Fear not' unless Abram was afraid. In verses 2-3, Abram calls God out: 'I have no offspring, and Eliezer of Damascus is my heir.' God does not say, 'Why do you question me?' or 'How dare you doubt?' He gives a verbal reminder in verse 4: 'Your very own son shall be your heir.' When we lose faith, God does not lose his patience. He gently repeats his promises.

Look up at the stars and at the Maker (5절)

God also gives a visual reassurance. He brings Abram outside and says, 'Look toward heaven and number the stars.' Your offspring will be as countless as the stars. God does not want Abram to stare at the promises alone. He wants him to look at the Maker who made the billions of stars and galaxies. So if you struggle with doubt, do not only read the Bible indoors. Go outside and look at nature. Psalm 19:1-2 says, 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.' Creation can help your doubt.

Righteousness is received by faith, not earned (6절)

Verse 6 says, 'He believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.' Most people think they become right with God by becoming right people through good, moral and religious deeds. This verse says righteousness is not achieved but received. God credits it to us as a gift through faith, not works. This is the doctrine of justification: God declares and treats us as no longer guilty, as if we had lived righteously. Romans 4:5 says that to the one who does not work but believes, 'his faith is counted as righteousness.' This is where Christianity stands or falls.

God walks through the torn animals alone

Abram doubts again in verse 8, and God tells him to bring a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. He cuts the animals in half. This prepares an ancient covenant oath. The two parties walk between the pieces, as if to say, 'May I be cut apart if I break my promise.' In verses 17-18, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, signs of God himself, pass between the pieces. The greater party took the vassal's role, and Abram was never called to walk through. God was swearing: 'I would rather be torn apart than have my relationship with you torn apart.' This covenant is one-sided and unconditional.

The cross and the Lord's Supper

Abram had no idea how costly this would be for God. Isaiah 53:6 prophesied a Messiah cut off from the land of the living. Jesus Christ was torn to death on a cross, not because God broke his promises but because we break ours. This covenant relationship is ours not by working harder but by resting in a promise-keeping God who sacrificed his own Son. The Lord's Supper lets us reenact the drama of his love. John Calvin called it a visual, sensory sermon. God wants us to see, smell, taste and touch Jesus, so that we know how much he loves us.

Apply to Life

  • Let us bring our doubts honestly to God and trust that he answers them with patient, gentle reminders.
  • Let us go outside, look at the stars and creation, and be reminded of the Maker who keeps his promises.
  • Let us stop trying to earn righteousness by good behavior and receive it as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Let us rest in the promise-keeping God who bore the covenant's cost on the cross, rather than in our own efforts.
  • Let us come to the Lord's Supper to see, taste and remember how much Jesus loves us.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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