A book Publisher is fired for objecting to the publishing of the ‘Queen James Bible’

2. A book Publisher is fired for objecting to the publishing of the ‘Queen James Bible’ • A young woman films her own abortion, while it is happening, and posts it on the internet • A black NFL player is drafted, and news coverage shows him kissing his white male ‘wife’; an NFL player is fined for objecting to the coverage in a Twitter post • An Austrian transsexual wins a talent contest, with a female body, but an obvious male face with black beard • A Christian College in Tennessee is in an uproar and many faculty threatening to resign because the Trustee and President hold to a literal, historical view of Adam & Eve

3. 2 Timothy 3:1: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  6For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

4. 10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.  13But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.  14But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

5. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, andis profitable for doctrine– (what is true and right) for reproof– (knowing what is wrong) for correction– (teaching how to get right again) for instruction in righteousness– (how to stay right) 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

6. Genesis 15 Abram demonstrates his faith in Jehovah

7. Genesis 15:6 Faith is not merely assent, but an unconditional trust in the Lord, and His word, even where the natural course of events furnishes no ground for hope or expectation. This faith Abram manifested, as the apostle has shown in Rom. 4; and this faith God reckoned to him as righteousness by the actual conclusion of a covenant with him. (K & D, Vol. 1, p. 213) Note: From Genesis 16-20, we will see Abram fail miserably, trying to work out his own salvation in the flesh.

8. Genesis 15:6 “Righteousness, as a human characteristic, is correspondence to the will of God both in character and conduct, or a state answering to the divine purpose of a man’s being. This was the state in which man was first created in the image of God; but it was lost by sin, through which he placed himself in opposition to the will of God and to his own divinely appointed destiny, and could only be restored by God. When the human race had universally corrupted its way, Noah alone was found righteous before God (Gen. 7:1) because he was blameless and walked with God (Gen. 6:9)

9. Genesis 15:6 This righteousness Abram acquired through his unconditional trust in the Lord, his undoubting faith in His promise, and his ready obedience to His word. This state of mind…was reckoned to him as righteousness, so that God treated him as a righteous man, and formed such a relationship with him, that he was placed in living fellowship with God. The foundation of this relationship was laid in the manner described in 15: 7-11 (sacrifice)” (K & D. p. 213)

10. Genesis 15:6 “it was counted unto him for righteousness” • The nature of justification---the reckoning of righteousness to one who is destitute of such excellence within himself, on the ground of an imputed [ascribed to a person because of that characteristic in another person] righteousness. The Divine Law acquits the one otherwise deserving condemnation Abram, possessing no righteousness of his own, was justified or declared righteous before God

11. Genesis 15:6 Romans 3:21-31 “But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation [grace/acceptance] in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness , because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed

12. Genesis 15:6 (26) For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of Law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith is one. (31) Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law”

13. Genesis 15:6 • The condition of justification, which is not works, but faith, Abram having been accepted solely on the ground of belief in the Divine promise (Rom. 4:2-5); not, however, faith as an opus operatum, or meritorious act, but as a subject condition, without which the act of imputation cannot proceed upon the person. • The time of justification, which is the instant a soul believes, whether that soul be cognizant of the act or not, Abram again being justified, according to the Scripture, from the moment he accepted the Divine promise, though it is not said that Abram at the time was aware of his favor in the Court of Heaven (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1, p. 218)

14. Genesis 15:7 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”  8He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”10 Then hebrought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

15. Genesis 15:8-11 God renewed His promise to give the land to Abram Abram asked for a sign – because he is childless Although Abram surely believed the LORD at this time, he asks for the sign as confirmation, or as a fuller explanation and assurance of the details. God granted the request by giving a ceremonial sacrifice The ceremony not only confirmed the promise, but was highly instructive. God’s gift of grace to man would be costly to God – by the shedding of blood (through His Son, Jesus Christ)

16. Genesis 15:8-11 The curse of sin can only be removed by sacrifice, in the shedding of blood. Abram had known and practiced this, but now the sacrifice is tied in to the promises of God. One each of the five acceptable sacrificial animals were slain by Abram (either in his vision, or actually in reality of his five senses); these were a cow, sheep, goat, pigeon, and dove. They are laid in two rows, with a bird on each side, and the other animals divided in half The practice of making a binding covenant between two parties meant that each would pass through the sacrifice

17. Genesis 15:8-11 If the covenant was broken, the substitutionary death of the animals would no longer be efficacious, and Abram (and perhaps his livestock) would be subject to death. Typically, the sacrifice was followed by a ceremonial meal, where the roasted animals were eaten.

18. Genesis 15:8-11 Apparently, Abram notes the sacrifices, lays the bodies out as instructed---at least in his vision, but no fire is kindled, and nothing else happens for the rest of the day, and into the night---unless it is only done in a vision. So there is actually no shedding of blood, nor offering up the sacrifices, other than the fact that the animals were seen killed, and separated into two parts.

19. Genesis 15:8-11 Q: Was this a symbol of the time Abram would have to wait for the fulfillment of the promises of God? Yes. Abram would have to wait another 10 years for the birth of a son; and his descendants would have to wait many centuries before the seed would become a great nation, and possess the promised land; and it would take millennia before the ultimate fulfillment would take place, with all nations being blessed through the nation of Abram’s seed (through the Lord Jesus Christ)

20. Genesis 15:8-11 Q: Does the picture of Abram driving the birds of prey away from the sacrifices represent anything? Yes, possibly the attempts of Satan to thwart the plans of God. Yes, possibly the need for alertness on the part of the believer in order that the enemy’s plans not succeed.

21. Genesis 15:12-18 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that yourdescendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

22. Genesis 15:12-14 Abram falls into a ‘horror of great darkness’ • This could have been death, but more likely the emotions centered around the death experience • In God’s covenantal grace, Abram will be delivered • But God warms him about the distant future, when his descendants will be aliens in a foreign land • As Abram fell into a ‘deep sleep’, it could also symbolize the death of the Lord Jesus, and the glory to follow

23. Genesis 15:12-14 Q: Did the Nation of Israel live in a foreign land 400 years? Yes. This number is rounded off. Exodus 12:40 - “Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came about at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”

24. Genesis 15:12-14 Galatians 3:17 suggests that the 430 year period was from the time of the covenant with Abraham until the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. This suggests that Genesis 15:13 can be read, “Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and [all the people among whom they dwell, both Canaanites and Egyptians] shall afflict them four hundred years.”

25. Genesis 15:15-16 Q: How many generations went by while they were living in Egypt? If a generation lived for 100 years (rounded off), then there were four generations.

26. Genesis 15:15 15As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 

27. Genesis 15:15 He shall go to his fathers in peace. Note, [1.] Even the ‘friend of God’ (as Abraham is called in James 2:23) and favorites of Heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. Are we greater than our father Abram, who is dead? [Jn. 8:53– “Surely you (Jesus) are not greater than our father Abraham, are you?”] [2.] Good men die willingly; they are not fetched, they are not forced, but they go; their soul is not required, as the rich fool’s (Luke 12:20), but cheerfully resigned because they know they would not live in the flesh forever

28. Genesis 15:15 [3.] At death we go to our “fathers”, to all our fathers that have gone before us to the state of the dead (Job 21:32, 33), to our godly fathers that have gone before us to the state of the blessed (Heb. 12:23 “to the spirits of righteous men made perfect”). The former thought helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. [4.] Whenever a godly man dies, he dies in peace. If the way be piety, the end is peace, Ps. 37:37. Outward peace, to the last, is promised to Abram, peace and truth is his days, whatever should come afterwards (2 Ki. 20:19); peace with God, and everlasting peace, are sure to all the descendants.

29. Genesis 15:15 (2.) He shall be buried at a good old age. Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land of Canaan is promised him, because a burying place was the first possession he had in it. He shall not only die in peace, but die in honor; die, and be buried decently; not only die in peace, but die in season, Job 5:26. Note, [1.] Old age is a blessing. It affords a great opportunity for usefulness.

30. Genesis 15:15 [2.] Especially, if it be a good old age. Theirs may be called a good old age IF: First, They are old and healthy, not loaded with such distempers as make them weary of life. Secondly, if they are old and holy, old disciples (Acts 21:16), whose white head is found in the way of righteousness (Prov. 16:31), old and useful, old and exemplary for godliness; theirs is indeed a good old age Matthew Henry Commentary