[Music] ever had someone break a promise it's irritating and frustrating to have a person go back on a commitment but God's promises are different because they are rooted in faithfulness to his Covenant so what is a covenant in the most basic sense a covenant is a binding agreement but a Biblical Covenant goes beyond our modern-day concept of a contract or legal promise between equal parties God's covenants with Humanity are pronouncements made by him based on his unchanging nature while Disobedience to God always brings consequences his declarations aren't dependent on our ability to uphold our half of the agreement in the 12th chapter of Genesis God declared to Abraham I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed God enacted this Covenant in chapter 15 by instructing Abraham to divide animals in half while this may initially seem an odd request it's important to understand that the word for Covenant in the Old Testament is bth which means to cut it was part of creating a binding agreement that had stipulations that lasted a lifetime the seriousness of these agreements rements were often cut or sealed by Blood however here in Genesis 15 instead of both parties passing through the carcasses together as was common in confirming a covenant between two men God Alone passed through the sacrifice and doing so he took full responsibility for the Fulfillment of his promise Biblical history proves that all the provisions of the Covenant with Abraham were satisfied before the close of the Old Testament record except 1 and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed it wasn't until the coming of Jesus Christ that this final piece of the Covenant that God struck with Abraham found its fullness on the night before Jesus was crucified he gathered with his disciples for a final meal he lifted the cup at the Last Supper and said this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many only hours later he offered himself up as the perfect sacrifice to enact this most powerful Declaration of God whoever believes in the son has eternal life in Christ all the covenants God made with Humanity are fulfilled and through him all the nations are blessed with the offer of Salvation and life forever with him as Romans 15:8 says all the promises of God are confirmed and completed in Christ through our faith in Jesus Christ his promises become ours Dr Stanley explains what this means for you today if God chose with the blood of animals to make a covenant with Abraham and lived up to that Covenant will he not much more live up to his Divine Sovereign Everlasting Covenant with his son when it is the blood of Jesus Christ that sealed the Covenant between you and almighty [Music] God my friend that's why you and I do not have one single legitimate reason for ever doubting one single promise in this book