Genesis chapter 15 is one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. This is where Abram is declared righteous by simply believing God, and where God “cuts a covenant” with Abram, guaranteeing the promises He has made to him.

The reason Abram’s faith is so significant is that it teaches us that the key to a relationship with God is faith and trust, not works that seek to earn God's friendship. Faith sees friendship with God as a gift, not something to be worked for and earned, but always just out of reach.

Many years later, Moses will be born, and God will use him to deliver the Hebrews from 400 years of Egyptian slavery. Moses will lead them out into the wilderness, where he will climb Mount Sinai and receive the Law of God.

The Bible presents to us Abram, a man of faith, and Moses as the Lawgiver.
The New Testament makes a strong point that Abram's faith came before the Law was given through Moses.

Therefore, the works of the Law were never meant to be the solution for sin. The Law was meant to make sin visible. God’s mercy does not come through the Law. God’s mercy comes to us when we, like Abram, humble ourselves before God and believe what He has said to us. For us specifically, God calls us to believe what He has said about Jesus and the cross. If we humble ourselves, repent of sin, and put our faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, then we will be saved.

Ga 3:16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. 19 What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. 21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. 23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

I have seen many new believers start out with a Law relationship with God. In other words, they believe in Jesus for forgiveness of their sins, but then think God’s acceptance of them depends on what they do and how good they are. This creates a constant sense of failure and guilt that causes them to eventually hide from God.

God does want us to live holy lives, but not as a means of obtaining salvation. We are to live holy lives out of thankfulness for our salvation and thankfulness for the acceptance we already have in Jesus because of what He did, not because of what we did.

But so many get saved and still think they need to work in order to be accepted by God, which creates a life of guilt and misery because they know they are not perfect. The cure for this misery is to believe that Christ took all our sin and guilt when He died on the cross, and to know that God’s love for me is not based on my goodness; it is based on Jesus’ goodness and love.

He took my sin and gave me His righteousness as a free gift, because I, like Abram, simply believed what He said.

The second thing I want to point out in this chapter is the meaning of the covenant that was cut between Abram and God.

Abram believed that God would give him a son, but he asked for help, believing that God would give him the land that He promised.

Ge 15:7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." 8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

Now this sounds like Abram is slipping back into unbelief, but I don’t think that was what was happening. I think Abram was asking God to enter a binding covenant relationship with him. So, God agrees, but what He does goes far beyond what Abram was asking for.

When two parties “cut a covenant” together, they entered into a binding agreement that was punishable by death if either party broke the covenant promises.

Animals would be cut in two. The animal parts were arranged so that the blood would pool in the middle. Each party that was making covenant promises would walk between the pieces of animal in the blood as a symbol of the seriousness of the promise. Walking in the blood meant that they were promising that if they didn’t keep the promises they just made, they would be cut, torn, bloodied, and killed just like the dead animals that lay on the ground before them.

Both parties knew that breaking the promises would be punishable by death.

But something amazing happens here in this chapter: God does not require Abram to walk in the blood. God alone walks in the blood.

Ge 15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-- 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

God alone walked through the blood. This is a picture of the gospel. Instead of both God and Abram walking in the blood, promising that if either of them failed to keep promises, then they would be cut, torn, bloodied, and killed. HERE WE ONLY SEE GOD WALKING THROUGH THE BLOOD, MAKING THAT PROMISE.

God was saying that He alone would take the full responsibility of the covenant promise. If Abram and his children failed, God would take the penalty.

Abram did not fully understand this, but we do.

But how could God be cut, torn, bloodied, and killed?

If God were making a promise that if either He or Abram failed in their promise-keeping, that it would be God who would be cut, torn, bloodied, and killed, how would this be possible for God, the Divine creator of all things, to suffer and die?

The answer is that God would have to become flesh & blood. Only then could He be nailed to the cross, and be cut, bloodied, torn, and killed, and take the full responsibility for the failure of mankind!

This epic picture of God and Abram in the dark, with God alone walking in blood, is a picture of the gospel.

A picture of exactly how the “Seed of the woman” will crush the head of Satan.

WOW!!!!!!!

This article first appeared as a post I wrote for The 555 Club.  Before your read this article please read Romans chapter 8. 

In Romans Chapter 8 Paul after having made his case in the preceding chapters that the Law only condemns and makes sin very visible, he now tells us that we can overcome sin and walk in the power of God by choosing to focus our minds on the Holy Spirit.  Paul tells us we have choices to make. We can focus our mind on the flesh which will lead to sin and death, or we can focus our mind on the Spirit of God that lives within us resulting in life and peace.

It is sometimes said that we can not keep the Law, and that is true if we are talking about sheer human effort to be accepted by God through keeping the Law and thereby earning our salvation. But Paul makes it clear that through the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible for the believer to live a holy life.  We are not required to keep the ceremonial aspect of the Law of Moses, but God certainly expects that Christians live the moral and holiness requirements of the Law.

There are folks who look to the Holy Spirit to only do miracles and give spiritual gifts, but they neglect to see that the greatest display of the Spirit’s power is in helping us live for Christ daily.  In other words, the fruit of the Spirit are just as important as the gifts of the spirit.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”  Romans 8:1-13 NIV

Paul says the Law is correct to condemn sin and God does not just dismiss the guilt but instead has given us Jesus to take our punishment and condemnation that the Law required so the sinner can go free because the righteous requirement of the Law has been satisfied in Jesus.

But the scripture also teaches us that through the Holy Spirit we receive the ability to live in a way that obeys the Holiness and morality of the Law.  We do not live a moral life to earn salvation or to keep salivation but because we want to please God. Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit we have the ability to choose to put our minds on the Spirit rather than our sinful flesh.  

This takes us back to the promise that God gave to Israel through the Prophet Ezekiel.

Eze 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

The prophet tells them that a day was coming when the Holy Spirit would give them ability to walk faithfully in the Law of God. That day came on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church.  

Paul writes to the believers in Rome that they had the power because of the Holy Spirit to choose to do what was right.

One of the ways to be freed from the mastery of sin in our daily lives is to be careful where we choose to set the focus our minds.  If we set it on our fleshly sinful desires we will be enticed and entangled by sin, but if we set our minds on the Holy Spirit that lives within us and seeking His power. He will give us the ability to not be mastered by sin.

Paul teaches us that the way to put to death the “misdeeds” or sins of the body is by the Holy Spirit.  In other words, to put our focus on relationship with the Spirit of Christ within us rather than sinful flesh.

Someone might say that the problem with sin is that a person will not want to put their focus on the Spirit, they will want to focus on sin and flesh.  But we must remember that we are not just talking about the power of the will to set the focus of the mind, we are talking about a person who has been born again and truly in their heat wants to please God. We are talking about a person that wants to do what is right.  We are talking about a person that is like Paul in Romans 7:19, and Romans 7:24.

Ro 7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing.  

Ro 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
This kind of person will spend time asking the Holy Spirit in prayer to give them strength to overcome sin.  This is where the power of the Spirit is delivered.  It is at that moment when we desire to be free and then exercise faith, that the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed.
Paul is teaching us the principle that we have a partnership with God. But we must exercise our will and have a godly desire to be free. This is where Christ comes to our rescue.
In the following passage Paul describes the action that should be happening in the heart of the believer.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”  Romans 8:14-17 NIV

So, this chapter tells us if we are having a problem with sin overpowering us we need to ask ourselves the question is the Holy Spirit causing us to cry out “Abba Father”?  Is there a strong and sincere desire to turn from sin?  Are we asking the Holy Spirit to give us power over the temptation?

Do we loath or sin? Or do we love our sin? God calls us to be completely honest about the condition of our hearts as we cry out to Him.

Then Paul shows us what attitude we need to have if we are to be empowered to overcome sin – we are to see this present world and all the sinful desires of the flesh as temporary.  He talks about how all of creation is groaning to be released from sin and how we should also groan to be released from this body and be set free.

 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  Romans 8:18-25 NIV

So instead of reveling in sin and enjoying it, we should long to be set free from this sinful body and looking forward to the future when we will be free of sin and with Christ in a sinless eternity.

So, in this chapter Paul teaches the superiority of the Spirit over the Law, and shows us how we are to walk in the Holy Spirit and overcomes the sins of the flesh.

• The focus of our minds.  A mind focused on flesh will lead to sin, which leads to death
• Paul teaches a partnership where we choose to pursue holiness and deny sin, and this is where the Holy Spirit gives power.  God will not do it all, but meets us when we call out for help and trust Him to give us power to overcomes
• Then we set our hope not on this sinful world, but we recognize that the world groans to be released and we should also groan to be released, and put our focus on what is to come rather than the sins of this world.
• We should recognize that the Holy Spirit is praying within us and working from the inside out to make us into what He wants us to be

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 NIV

The Spirit within us is working to bring about God’s will in us.
Then on top of all of this, Paul writes about how we need to know that God has been involved in our life from long ago.  He chose us.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”   Romans 8:28-30 NIV

God does not leave your salvation up to chance, but He is active in guiding your life in such a way as to lead you into the path He has for you.

When we look at what Paul has listed in this chapter we should feel the mercy and love of God.  He has delivered us from the condemnation of the Law.  He has filled us with the Holy Spirit and given us power to overcome sin.  He has caused us to groan to be released from these fallen bodies.  The Holy Spirit intercedes for us from within our heart.  He has been involved in our lives from the beginning - choosing, predestining, glorifying, and guiding us to His path

Then Paul ends it by this glorious point – that God loves us with a very special kind of love.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”    Romans 8:31-39 NIV

God gave us Jesus, which proves he loves us so much that He will withhold nothing from us.  No matter what we go though it will never separate us from His love.

What Paul has done in this chapter is made a list of things that are so much greater than the Law.  He is trying to show the Jews that the hope they have put in the Law, is no hope at all.   He shows them all the features of salvation. He is showing them the superiority of Jesus and the grace of God over the Law.

For a Jew who has been under the condemnation of the Law all their lives this was like drinking a cold glass of water on a hot day.
 

In the Gospel of John Chapter 9 Jesus heals a blind man, which starts a series of events that leads once again to a conflict with the Jewish leaders.  

Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and this will cause the Pharisees to bristle because they will see this as a violation of the commandment to do not work on the Sabbath.

First there was confusion as people see this man no longer begging and able to see.

Joh 9:8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

They ask him how it is that he can now see. He tells them Jesus put spit and mud in his eyes and told him to wash it off at the Pool of Siloam.

Neighbors bring the man to the Pharisees, and the Pharisees question him about how he was healed.

But they argued that this healing could not be of God, after all God would never lead anyone to break the Sabbath by doing the work of healing. But others were arguing that only God could do a miracle like this. There was confusion and disagreement.

Joh 9:6 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.

But this verse seems to show us that some of the Pharisees were starting to wonder if maybe Jesus could be the Messiah. “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?”

Because they were divided, they turn to the man who had been healed of blindness and they ask him what he thought about Jesus.  The man says that he thinks Jesus is a prophet.

 It is interesting that the chapter shows us how this blind man’s faith progresses and changes over time. At this point he sees Jesus as a prophet, but that will soon change.

Then we are told an important point.  The argument was being made by some of the Pharisees that the blind man had never been blind in the first place.  So, they call in his parents to see if they can verify whether he was born blind.

Joh 9:18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents.  19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"  20 "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.  21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."  22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.  23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So, after the parents verify that he really was born blind, the Pharisees turn back to questioning the man who had been healed of blindness.  The man gives one of the great lines of the bible.

Joh 9:24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

I love it, he says I don’t know exactly who Jesus is, but I do know that I was once blind and now I can see.

The man ridicules them for their many questions.

Joh 9:26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

It is funny because this man knows they hate Jesus, but he pokes fun at them by asking if their many questions were because they wanted to become his disciple too. Hilarious!

Joh 9:28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."  30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

Again, the man gives the Pharisees a sarcastic jab, then he lays down some suburb logic, and I have to believe these words were from the Holy Spirit speaking through the man to the Pharisees.

This unlearned man schools these religious scholars.  

Joh 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

The Pharisees throw the man out, but Jesus later finds him.

Think about the picture this passage shows us.  As a blind man he was mostly rejected by society.  Now he can see, and the religious leaders still reject him.

The implied truth of this passage is that the blind man can now see because of Jesus, but the Pharisees are blind still.

Jesus asked the man do you believe in the Son of Man?

Joh 9:36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." 37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

The Pharisees know Jesus was talking about them. Jesus was saying that even though they could see, they were blind.

 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"  41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Jesus says that your guilt is in the fact that you are so blind that you can’t see you are blind.
We could title this chapter “Will the Real Blind Man Please Stand Up”.

It shows us a blind man who was healed, and it shows us a whole room of men whose eyes were working but were blind as a bat.