Good morning. We are here in the house of the Lord to worship him today and we're so
excited for that opportunity. For those of you that may be joining us here for the first
time in our sanctuary or if you're joining us online for the first time, we want to say
welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us here at Hosanna. I
am Pastor Nathan and today we are going to be looking at the biblical link between faith
and righteousness. You know, if you study the book of Genesis and the book of Hebrews concurrently,
what you're going to see is that the link between faith and righteousness is not just
a New Testament concept, nor was it something born in the patriarchal era with Abram, but
it's a concept that started all the way back in the very, very beginning with Abel and
Enoch and Noah. For example, in Hebrews chapter 11, 4, it tells us that by faith, Abel offered
to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith, he was approved as a righteous man
because God approved his gifts and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
And so right there in the very beginning, we see that righteousness coming by faith
was something that took place on the earth with the first family through their second son.
And then as history moved on through that area, we see Enoch was a man in Genesis 5,
24. It tells us that he walked with God and he was not for God took him. If you remember
our study of Enoch, he was a man that was known as a righteous individual. That word
walked when he walked with God, it's a word that referenced the closest communion and
intimacy that a person could have with God. To say that another way is that Enoch had
a righteous life. And then Hebrews 11, 5 commentaries this by saying, by faith, Enoch was taken away.
So he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away for
before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. And then we have Noah
in Genesis 6, 9 where it just tells us very plainly Noah was a righteous man, blameless
among his contemporaries and Noah walked with God. So that word walked is the same one that
with Enoch describing Noah had this close intimate relationship with God. And then it
tells us in Hebrews 7 that his righteousness or him being considered righteous by God wasn't
something that came through him being a perfect individual, but it was because he believed
God. And it says this in Hebrews 11, 7, by faith, Noah after he was warned about what
was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith
he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
You know two of the most important doctrines in Christianity is the doctrine of justification
by faith and the doctrine of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness means that it's righteousness
that is given to us, not something we earn, definitely not something we deserve. And this
idea that we are justified by our faith in God, not by our works, not by sacrifices,
not by rituals, but simply because we believe God is who he says he is and therefore everything
he says and promises is true and will happen because we have that type of faith we are
saved. This doctrine was established all the way back in the beginning before the flood
and it's an important thing to remember as we look at Genesis chapter 15 verses 1 through
6 today, which is a foundational verses when it comes to the relationship between faith
and righteousness and what that means for our walk with Jesus Christ today. But first
we're going to spend time worshipping God because you know that's just the funnest thing
to do. Singing songs to God, not for the sake of the songs, but so that we could express
our love and our gratitude and just our admiration and love for who he is. That's what we get
to do in worship. And so let's pray and then we'll praise God. Lord, we thank you so much
for who you are. And God, we're so grateful that Lord, our salvation doesn't come from
us doing anything because quite honestly, God, we're sinful people and we're selfish
people and we're wicked people. And Lord, you died for us because you loved us, not
because we were worthy. And yet God, it is that very doctrine that we are justified by
faith that is attacked by every cult in the world, that is attacked by the enemy, Lord.
All who would say that we have to work and earn our salvation by Almighty God, Lord,
those that would stand against what your word clearly teaches about us being saved by our
belief. And so God, today I ask that you speak to us and encourage us, Lord. God, those of
us that may fall into the situations of doubt and thinking because we did a bad thing that
we're no longer right before you and because we did a good thing, that means we're right
before you. God, address those things today in your word that we would understand, Lord,
that through our faith in you, we are adopted as children in your family and then you are
forever our Father who loves us dearly. We thank you, God, for our salvation. We thank
you, God, for how we're saved. We thank you for you, God, because you are more than enough.
Lord, we want to worship you and praise you this morning. We ask, God, that you would
speak to us today through your word, that you would be blessed and that you would bless
us, Lord. We love you so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are in Genesis chapter 15. We're going to be looking at verses one through six today.
Just to kind of go back again and set the scene, the pre-flood era of earth's history
obviously ended with the flood, right? Because pre-flood ends with the flood and then we have
the era after that. After the flood era where we looked at, we saw that righteousness by
faith happened in Abel's life and Enoch's life and Noah's life. We had this brief post-flood
era where God was kind of just letting humanity spread out. That era kind of peaked with the
Tower of Babel where mankind again thought we're going to get to God on our own efforts
and our own power and they tried to build this tower up into the heavens and God confused
the languages of everybody and that caused humanity to spread out all over the planet.
Then we get to this era of history called the patriarchal era. This era really begins
with Abram and his family. This is where the lens of history has gone from creation of
the universe zoomed in to Adam and Eve and zoomed in and zoomed in and now we're zoomed
all the way into this man Abram who is going to become according to Romans 4.11, the father
of all who believe. With this man's life we've been studying just his growth and I think
you would agree as we've been looking at Abram's life we've seen that he has great spiritual
highs and some pretty significant spiritual lows. That as the graph of his faith it's
not just a linear like, oh he continues to mature to perfection. It's that he has what
most of us have in our life which is this. It started with him hearing God in his hometown
of Ur and at that point we're greatly encouraged by the fact that we see this man hear God
and hear this God say go to a place and I'm not going to tell you where it is just go
and he leaves. Great faith. That's a pretty high of faith there and so he travels with
his family and his father and they go up to Haran where he stops and delays a little bit
and that's a little bit of delay of faith there where he decided to stop even though
God had said go all the way until I tell you to stop and then he finally leaves after his
father dies down to Canaan and when he gets to this promised land that God had told him
he was going to have he travels the land, he builds altars, he worships God. It's this
really beautiful moment of his faith just elevating as he is stepping into what God
had promised him but then you have this dramatic dip in his faith when he goes down to Egypt
and tries to figure things out on his own power, lies about his wife, tells his wife
to lie and it's just a whole debacle there in Egypt. So then he comes back to the land
of Canaan and we see his faith rise a little bit again because he's repentant at this point.
He's learning the lessons about don't try and one up God, don't try and take the reins
from God, let God lead you and guide you and then his faith goes up a little more when
he comes to the place of having to divide with his nephew Lot and Abram said Lot take
whatever part of the land you want because Abram was now building, his faith was growing
and he believed that he could give the land away a hundred thousand times and it would
still go to his descendants because God said so. And then of course after the army of the
four kings came into the land and took possession of all the people from Sodom and Gomorrah
and the other three cities including Lot who lived there, took him captive, took all the
spoils of war, we read that Abram was very selfless in going to rescue his nephew Lot,
risking his own life, the life of his men and yet he conquered this army, recovered
all the people, recovered all the spoils and at that point just soaring high, right? He's
successful, his name is growing, people are like, woo, General Abram, look at what he
did, right? And then he comes back and he meets this very mysterious individual Melchizedek
who is a king and a priest of God most high. This Melchizedek blesses him in the name of
God. We see that in Abraham's soaring faith he recognizes who everything is from and gives
his offering to God and then we also see him very nobly and humbly refuse to take anything
from the king of Sodom. So we've seen this in Abram's life and that should be very familiar
to all of us, right? This is our faith walk as we walk with the Lord in this world but
we always look back to Abram's life and we say what a life to model after, what a life
of faith to live according to and if we're honest, yeah, we definitely live according
to that example. But the epilogue of all of this story of Abram so far is which is really
the prologue to the next phase of his life. We see that after he's riding high on this
victory, this success, this moment where he just risked everything to do the right thing
and he's been honored for that and blessed by that, we see another dip in his faith walk
where he dips into fear and worry and doubt and that's what the beginning of Genesis
15 is all about and that really is a common experience for God's people. Oftentimes after
we have massive, huge, lofty success, spiritual success, right? We have breakthroughs in issues
in our life, we're set free from addictions, our marriages and relationships are restored,
we have these big spiritual highs where we're just so elated with who God is and what he
can do. We often, right after that, drop into a valley, a time of difficulty, a time of
doubt, a time of fear and worry and it's a common thing. It's not bad in that sense if
you have that experience because other biblical people have experienced the same thing. Elijah,
you guys remember Elijah who was the one on Mount Carmel who stood against the 450 prophets
of Baal and he was challenging them on their false god and I love it because he says in
one of those occasions, where's your god? What is he doing? Is he on the toilet? It's
what he says in their actual language because he's mocking their belief in these false gods
and we see that as he stands strong and stands for the Lord, the fire come down from heaven
and burns up the altar and licks up all the water and man, that's pretty amazing, right?
Pretty amazing to see God move in that way and you would imagine he would feel pretty
empowered and strong and just not in himself but wow, God is so amazing. But in that story,
we read right after that, he flees into the wilderness because he's afraid of Jezebel
and we read that after this great success, we find him in a cave saying, God, just let
me die. Just let me die because you did something and now everybody's going to come against
me and that's the high end in the valley. Well, Abram, he had just routed the armies
of four major kings from Mesopotamia and he did that with this little tiny group of 318
men plus whatever came from his neighbors and he took everything, took all the people
back, took all the spoils, right? Well, he had good reason to fear a response, especially
as news might have gotten back to wow, this little Abram, who's this guy with his little
force of men, wiped out the armies of the kings? It was natural for him to worry that
they were going to come back with an even bigger army to finish the job and to wipe
out everybody in the area but you have that contrasted with him having the experience
of just refusing all the spoils from the king of Sodom, right? As the king of Sodom was
like, hey, let me give you all the riches, you keep that, I'll keep the people and we
read how Abram said, no, I don't want anything from you because then you'll take the credit
for my success instead of giving that credit to God. And so where there's this worry and
there's this fear on one side, there's this sense of, yeah, I stood for God, I did the
right thing and so we have these two things contrasted and by the time we get to Genesis
15, what we see here is that Abram is now tired and he's fearful and he's worried and
so read with me starting in Genesis 15 verse 1. It says, after these events, everything
we just recapped, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram,
I am your shield, your reward will be very great. But Abram said, Lord God, what can
you give me since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Abram
continued, look, you have given me no offspring so a slave born in my house will be my heir.
Now the word of the Lord came to him, this one will not be your heir, instead one who
comes from your own body will be your heir. He took him outside and he said, look at the
sky and count the stars if you are able to count them. Then he said to him, your offspring
will be that numerous. Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness.
So after all these monumentous events through Genesis 14 and all the stuff that took place
there, Abram had time to reflect on the big picture here. Right? He's had so much success
defeating armies, learning from Egypt, I mean all this stuff going on in his life, Melchizedek
blessing him in the name of God most high, how awesome is all that? But Abram here, we
find that he is fearful and he is worried because the great victory he just had over
these four kings didn't bring him any closer to the promise that God had made to him. Remember
God said your name is going to be great, that was likely happening. He said you are going
to have a land that is going to belong to your descendants. He is in that land but it's
not necessarily his yet. But then he said you are going to be a great nation. That you
are going to be a great nation and yet his wife was barren. Sarai his wife, she couldn't
have children. So in the very beginning when he left Ur I imagine there was like, okay
wow this God just spoke to me, the real one true God, let's go. Then they get to Haran
and she is still barren. They get to Canaan and she is still barren. They go to Egypt
and come back and she is still barren. This shadow of barrenness had gone, remained over
their entire journey. Their journey started in barrenness but now it's still under that
shadow. This thousand plus mile journey from Ur all the way down to Canaan and all of that,
everything he has accomplished but my wife still can't have kids. So when he says, he
is like the heir of my house is going to be Eliezer of Damascus. He is saying to the Lord
there look my people, the people in my household, my servants, they are all having kids. But
I am not God, you promised this to me. I think I have been faithful. You just blessed me.
I mean obviously I believe you blessed me but what is going on with the promise? It's
as if Abram is saying what good is it if everybody from Mesopotamia all the way down to Egypt
knows who I am. What good is it if I am just rich and plundered everybody and all that.
What good is it if I have no children? I can't father many nations if I can't even father
one child. Now God being omnipotent and knowing all things, he knows what Abram is thinking.
He knows what is behind his questions and his concerns and so he says do not be afraid.
Why? Because he was afraid. God wouldn't say do not be afraid unless he was afraid. That's
how we know Abram was afraid here. He was afraid of something, afraid that the promise
wasn't coming true or might not come true. He says I am your shield. That word shield
is a word referencing military equipment. It's actually talking about the shield that
a soldier would carry in battle. And so he says I am your shield. Why would he say that?
Why would he say I am the shield to protect you in battle? Well the assumption is that
he was afraid of reprisals from the kings from the east. What if they come down and
wipe us all out? I can't even have a kid. And then he says your reward will be very
great. This is after Abram had refused all the spoils from the king of Sodom and this
is after everything. But from Abram's position where he is at right now in Genesis 15 is
all he really got after all of the risk and after all of the learning and after all of
the humility and humbling himself, all the effort, all the work, all he got after all
of that was God. Now when we're in that position are we satisfied with that? All we got was
God. Isn't that how sometimes we say that? All I got was God. All I have is God. But
are we satisfied with that? Do we consider God as greater value than anything we could
possibly have in this world? All the riches, all the fame, everything you could ever hope
and want, God is infinitely more valuable than all of that. If you had nothing but God
is your attitude all I have is God or I have everything? This is the position Abram is
in right now. You see Abram is being taught a very, very important lesson. Through all
the ups and downs and successes and everything don't ever forget to be satisfied with God
alone. Don't ever forget to be satisfied with God alone because it's not that God is enough.
The reality is God is more than enough. God is more above in abundance and beyond our
even comprehension. That's how much God is if all you have is God. And when we're truly
in that place of understanding that God is everything I need nothing else. If I have
God I have everything. I have more than everything. It's in that place where I see that God is
able to bless us with material things or position or all that because he knows that those things
aren't going to be the motivation to follow God. Does that make sense? Some people are
like, I'm obedient to God and then maybe they get a promotion and they go, wow, well I want
another promotion so I'm going to keep being obedient to God. That's the wrong motivation.
The motivation to be obedient to God is because he's God. Because he deserves it. Because
he's holy. Because he loves you. Because he's everything. And so he tells Abram your reward
will be great. You just gave away all these riches. You just did all this stuff. Your
reward is coming. Now Abram being called out by God here kind of exposed and vulnerable
he now responds with a verbal protest to that. And this is the first time incidentally we
have in scripture that Abram talks to God. He may have before but this is the first time
it's recorded and this is what's recorded. Verse 2. Abram said, Lord God, what can you
give me since I'm childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. Abram continued,
look you've given me no offspring so a slave born in my house will be my heir. How would
you like the first words you ever said to God Almighty to be your complaint? And yet
that's what we have from Abram. Now even though he's worried, even though he's obviously
unhappy, he's fearful, he still addresses God with reverence. You notice there he said,
Lord God. This was the picture of God that he had learned from his encounter with Melchizedek.
Remember Abram had known the Lord as Yahweh, that personal intimate God, that close God
but then when he met Melchizedek, Melchizedek was priest of God Almighty, God Most High.
And then when Abram told the king of Sodom, I don't want your stuff, he essentially told
him I follow the Lord God, the Almighty creator of the universe who is personally, personally
in relationship with me. And so he responds to the Lord here with that same title. Abram
wouldn't let his distress and his fears and his worries compromise his respect for God.
And that's a challenge we all have. When things aren't going our way, when we don't understand,
when it's not coming fast enough, sometimes our prayers, our communication with God can
start to get a little disrespectful. You know it goes from Lord God Almighty, my creator
to bro what's up? What's taking place? What's happening? Right? Now we need to always
stay in reverence to God because he is the Lord God no matter what. He's the Lord God
no matter what happens. He's the Lord God regardless of the circumstances. He is always
the Lord God. And so Abram is responding to him with the reverence and respect and I believe
that tells us that Abram's objections here weren't a lack of faith but rather a lack
of understanding. He still was God, you're God, you're the Lord God, I honor you but
I don't understand. I think that's what's behind what he's saying here. And obviously
as in verse 3 he goes look you've given me no offspring so a slave will be born in my
house to be my heir. He had concluded that God's promise was not going to happen. You're
still God but I'm not so sure about what you said anymore. That what you promised me is
not going to happen. You're still God but I'm doubting your promises now. He had concluded
that what God promised was not going to happen because it hadn't happened yet. Have you ever
been in that position? You feel like God's promised you something in his word or maybe
it was a personal revelation and you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting and
you're waiting and well in your mind here is the perfect timetable for that to be fulfilled
and that comes and goes and you're waiting and you're waiting and then you read the Bible
again and you read these promises and God says here's my promises for you and you're
like yeah I'm not so sure about that. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant and it means
something else but there's this doubt that creeps into us. There's this doubt that comes
into our mindset going God I believe you're God but I don't know that I believe your promise
right now and it's really based on our pride and arrogance that we place too much value
on our limited understanding of everything. I mean how arrogant is it to say look God
I'm not omnipotent. I'm not all knowing. I'm not all powerful but here's how I think it
should work and because you're not doing it that way wow God maybe your promises aren't
as true as we say they are. That's arrogance to be able to say that but still it's not
a lack of faith. I don't believe in you anymore. I believe in you but it's your word that I'm
having a problem with and so even knowing his word and his promises and assurances we
could be so quick to doubt him in the face of our fears in the face of our valleys or
our difficulties. Even coming after a spiritual high and we're going wow look what God did
in this huge victory spiritually in my life then well then what about the other things
he's promised and we start to get into this mindset that Abram's in right now. Now I want
to encourage all of us because when the fear and the worry overtakes us we begin to doubt
God and there's a lot that can be said about like do you trust God or do you not trust
God but the Bible tells us very clearly that we are weak and God knows our weaknesses not
to excuse us being weak but so that when we know that when we struggle when we are having
these moments of lack of understanding and we're going God what's up that he still loves
us he's not going to strike us down for our for us daring to do that. Read with me in
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14. It says therefore since we have a great high priest who has
passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast to our confession for
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one
who has been tempted in every way as we are yet without sin therefore let us approach
the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in our time of need. Abram's in a time of need right now and he's doubting the word
of God doubting the promises of God but what Hebrews tells us there what the writer of
Hebrews tells us that it's exactly in our time of need that we need to hold fast to
our confession. What is the confession? It said it right there that Jesus is the son
of God. We need to hold fast to that because when the doubts come in the very foundation
to combat those doubts is he's God. Right holding fast to that confession because it's
the truth of who he is that stands against doubt. God can't lie the Bible tells us that
we're going to look at that in a second but it's in our time of need where we're doubting
his word doubting his promises that we need grace and mercy because we're weak and in
our weakness we doubt even though it should be like oh no I should be able to trust God
perfectly we don't all the time and that's why we need God's grace and God's mercy to
be able to even come to his throne and say dad I got questions I don't understand I'm
a little worried or upset about this but we come to him with those things and even in
that God goes I know your weakness I lived as one of you so I'm going to extend grace
and mercy to you. It's in our time of need we have to remember that he was tempted in
every way we are yet without sin because that means he understands that means he doesn't
hold our weakness against us and it's because we've put our faith in him and trusted in
who he is and become children of God through faith it's because of those things that he
responds to us with the tenderness of a father that he responds to us with love and patience
that's exactly what we see him doing with Abram look at verse 4. Now the word of the
Lord came to him this one will not be your heir instead one who comes from your own body
will be your heir. There's no anger from the Lord here there's no exasperation right? Didn't
we deal with this already Abram come on. No none of that there's just a simple gentle
no your conclusion is wrong you've drawn the wrong conclusion and then there's this gentle
reiteration and a slight clarification of the promise. You see three times previously
God had promised Abram offspring first time was an ur you're going to be a great nation
second time was the first time he got to Canaan when he was in Shechem and he built the altar
there and called on the name of the Lord and then the third time was when God took him
to the highest spot in central the central Canaan the middle of the promised land this
was after he said Lot take whatever you want and Lot said hey that's a really good place
materially let me go over there and then God took Abram up on this mountain and he said
look at the whole promised land look at everything this is what I'm giving to you and your descendants
and it was in that moment where God told Abram your offspring will be as numerous as the
dust on the earth the greens of sand of dirt that exists that's how numerous your offspring
will be and so God is not saying anything new to Abram here he had already told Abram
you're going to have offspring and even though your wife is barren you're going to have a
great nation come from you so he's not telling anything new to Abram nor is he chastising
Abram for his lack of understanding he's just simply again repeating his word your conclusion
is wrong here is the word I've already given you here is what I've already told you the
idea in that is you believe I'm Lord God I've told you this you're having a season of doubt
okay I'll give you grace and mercy for that and all I'm going to do is give you my word
again what does that tell us that tells us that because he's God what he says is true
the foundation of dealing with doubt in his word is saying you are God you are Lord God
so therefore your word is true if you've given me a promise if you've spoken something to
me I've read it in your word it's true and so he's he's telling Abram again you will
bear a child of your own body I've told you that now this is just a very simple yet profound
axiom to live our lives after since God is what he says and promises is period that's
faith incidentally it's the idea that that because he is God that the result of that
the effect of that is that when he makes a promise it's going to happen period there's
no reason to doubt there's no reason to worry there's no reason to second guess you see
numbers chapter 23 19 says God is not a man that he might lie or a son of man that he
might change his mind does he speak and not act or promise and not fulfill rhetorical
question no is the answer then Hebrews 6 18 is where it tells us it is impossible for
God to lie so for us to ever come to a place where we say well I believe you're God and
you've said this in your word or something but I'm not so sure to doubt it is not a good
place to be because it's implying that you're entertaining the thought that maybe God lied
or maybe God spoke and is just not going to do it or maybe God's made a promise and he's
just simply not going to fulfill it but knowing Abrams weakness in this moment knowing his
weak frame I think this is an extension of grace and mercy verse 5 says he took him outside
and he said look at the sky and count the stars if you are able to count them then he
said to him your offspring will be that numerous he already told him it's going to be more
numerous than the dirt but maybe you didn't understand that Abraham so let's go outside
let's look up at stars I think I would venture to say most of us have been camping at one
time or another in our lives right we've been out somewhere away from the city lights and
we look up and we're like wow all that is up there I've never seen that before right
as kids you look and you know and spend time looking at the stars trying to count them
trying to see the constellations whatever it is but when you do have the opportunity
to go out and look up at the night sky without all the light pollution that exists in the
cities it is pretty overwhelming it is pretty amazing how much is up there an entire universe
of galaxies and stars that we just gaze up and look and we're just like God made all
that that's amazing that picture is is is sits in juxtaposition to Abram in Ur you see
remember when Abram was in Ur he was a moon worshiper the people in Ur worshipped Nana
the moon god right at the top of the ziggurat that was in Ur that has been discovered today
and partially restored at the top of that ziggurat was a temple to Nana the moon god
and a part of the worship up at that temple was they would go up and they would look up
into the sky and and worship Nana who was the god up there floating amongst all the
other gods and so you have that picture of Abram standing there worshipping false gods
looking up at this this sky full of stars and now he's standing here with God Almighty
looking up at that same sky likely familiar with planets and stars you know the twinkling
ones the non-twinkling ones but now he's standing here gazing up into that sky as his God gently
lovingly is saying look your conclusion is wrong here is the word I've already given
you but because you're weak let me let me show you this now Abram doesn't respond with
words here but scripture tells us what is happening in his heart and in his mind verse
six Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness that's it that verse
is the foundation of our entire faith that verse is the foundation of our entire understanding
of who God is in our salvation Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness
that word believed there means that he believed and continued believing like this was a turning
point in his life maybe before he was like I believe you God well I'm not so sure anymore
I believe you God well I'm not so sure anymore but at this point is when all of that was
done that he had grown in his faith his faith had evolved and enlarged to a point where
now he was just like oh something changed in his life something changed in his heart
where he was now at this place where I believe you and I'm no longer questioning you you
see when it says he believed the Lord what it's telling us there is that Abram considered
the God who just made this promise reiterated this promise to him he was considering that
God absolutely reliable and fully capable of making it a reality period God you've given
me no kids you just said my reward will be great I don't understand you're God I believe
you're God but your promise is I'm struggling with and then God says I already gave it to
you read it again read it again go look around at creation if you need to see my attributes
my invisible attributes that are clearly seen in everything think about what I've already
done in your life think about everything you believe about me and who I am and then reconsider
your question that are my promises true you used to gaze up at the sky Abram and stare
at the stars in the moon receiving nothing you've heard my voice you've heard my word
so think about it are my promises not true Abram is having this powerful moment here
considering God's promises now in this moment it was settled it finally settled in his heart
every possible objection right running through his head okay even objections he hadn't considered
yet that well what about no he was done with the what abouts he was done with all of it
here in this moment his conclusion is simply this he is the Lord so it will happen that's
what it's telling us there when he believed the Lord I don't need to understand how I
don't I need to understand why or when or where all I need to know is the who it is
God Almighty if God has told me this it doesn't matter that my wife is barren it doesn't matter
that I'm too old to have kids it doesn't matter it doesn't matter I don't even have to worry
about that I don't have to think about those things I don't have to consider those things
all I need to consider is he is God and if he said it it's gonna happen that's faith
that's a faith that God is developing in all of us that is the the faith that is attacked
constantly where the devil constantly wants to come in and go yeah but did he really say
are you sure he meant that for you and when we have situations where it's not happening
fast enough or it's not happening in the way we thought or God forbid it's not happening
at all because God's answer is no to that thing we're praying about or waiting for are
we gonna then step back and go oh maybe his word isn't true now maybe I misunderstand
that that's a fair place to be and that's why you go back to the word and you study
and you pray and you get counsel but the things that are in his word that are promises they
are non-negotiable they're irrefutable and yet we struggle so much with the with the
the paradox of I believe you are Almighty God I believe you love me and you're my personal
God yet I really don't know God if if you're gonna take care of my needs if I if I'm generous
the way you call me to be generous God I I really don't know if you're gonna forgive
me of this sin even though I your word says you've already forgiven me of all sin I don't
know God if if I could come to you boldly to the throne of grace and say God I messed
up or I don't understand or I'm mad at you and trust that you're gonna love me enough
to say okay let's talk about it God I don't believe that because and what is God's response
to us in those situations here's my word read it again think about it think about the implication
of your belief I am God Almighty I'm your father I said this there's no reason to doubt
and so Abram had come to this place interestingly enough the word believed in the Hebrew is
Amman it's the root of where we get our word amen from so so you could you could in a sense
say that when God said your reward will be great I told you you're gonna have a child
from your own body look at the stars that's how numerous your your offspring is gonna
be it's like Abram said amen to the Lord now that word amen although it is used as such
and used sometimes this way by me amen doesn't mean I agree amen doesn't mean do you agree
right I do that a lot and I'm trying to break the habit of that that that that amen question
mark right that's not what amen means what amen means is it's a declaration that it is
it will be so it is so that's what amen means so when we're praying together and we pray
God's word and we pray our our hopes in our heart on God and Lord we're seeking your will
and we go amen your will be so it will happen because you are God and you cannot lie this
doesn't mean that we conjure our own realities with that Lord I want to win the lottery amen
probably not gonna win the lottery but the Lord is saying you're gonna have your own
child and your offspring will be as numerous in the stars and and this is this is where
Abram's at God shows him everything after he just said I don't understand Lord he shows
him everything and Abram's response in his heart is okay that's it okay no question no
doubt okay I'm in let's go not the but but but what if but but no okay I believe you
you're God you said so that's all I need and then it says it was credit to him is righteousness
that word credited it means to be reckoned or imputed or counted as right now you'll
notice here Abram didn't do anything that would be considered righteous right he didn't
make a sacrifice he didn't follow a ritual in a temple he didn't you know he didn't do
these these things that we say well I've got to do this in order for me to be right before
God he didn't do anything it just says he believed and it was credit to him as righteousness
his belief was counted as righteousness do you guys understand that righteousness that
that means right living righteousness means being in a right standing in a right life
before God what is the right life before God it's a life of perfection no sin right you
haven't broken any law you haven't erred against him it is who Adam was in the beginning in
the garden pure perfect spotless and what the word of God is telling us here is Abram's
belief was counted as righteousness you guys putting the dots together it wasn't Abram's
work was counted as righteousness it wasn't Abram came to church every Sunday it wasn't
Abram's Bible was bigger than everybody else's Bible it wasn't Abram gave this much it wasn't
he prayed this often it wasn't wow he sang worship songs so well it was none of that
he believed God and then God looked at him and said hey you're sinless you're pure you're
spotless you are in a position where we can have fellowship together no more barrier we
can have fellowship together I look at you saved forgiven wiped clean of all sin washed
clean Paul's commentary on this in Romans chapter 4 verse 19 says this he speaking of
Abram did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead since he was
about a hundred years old and also the deadness of Sarah's womb he did not waver in unbelief
at God's promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was
fully convinced that what God had promised he was able to do therefore it was credited
to him as righteousness that's it do you believe God are you fully convinced that what God
has promised he is able to do when you get there when you when you when your faith matures
to that however you want to decide that or describe that when you're in that moment when
you're fully convinced that what God has promised he is able to do there's peace there's joy
there's contentment there's no more what about what about what about it's God is and so what
he says is this verse is foundational to our understanding of faith there's no other verse
that has exercised influence in the New Testament like this verse has this verse is is in in
alignment with what we read about Abel and Enoch and Noah it's been effect through primeval
history patriarchal history it's been in effect through the entire Old Testament the Old Covenant
area and it is the foundation of our New Testament covenant this verse is everything in our faith
this verse stands against every cult that would say no you need to do this many works
you need to go on this missions trip you need to hand out this many magazines no you don't
because God will credit righteousness to you if you believe in him nothing else this this
verse Genesis 15 6 it's quoted in full in three different places in the New Testament
Romans 4 Galatians 3 and James 2 in Romans 4 Paul is writing about the whole concept
of that we are saved by faith right and so he starts out talking about Abraham is saved
by faith and then he says David was saved by faith he quotes a psalm that David wrote
and I don't have time to read through it all but the psalm that that he quotes is when
David had sinned by sinned with Bathsheba right he had sinned with Bathsheba and in
in that sin he had broke three of the Ten Commandments he had coveted another man's
wife he committed adultery and he committed murder now in the Jewish law there was there
was there was these aspects of certain egregious premeditated sin that there was there was
no no atonement for that like you did it you chose to do it was so bad so horrible so huge
sorry there's no provision for that in the law and so in David's case with Bathsheba
his case was hopeless there was nothing he could do to atone for his sin and as he's
writing it he knows that and he's stating that and then so what he essentially says
and does is God I just throw myself on your mercy because there's no sacrifice I could
make that'll pay for this and God forgave him and David's faith restored his right
standing before God this is during the old covenant times Paul goes on in Romans 4 to
say look Abram was circumcised or Abram was declared righteous before he was circumcised
so you don't have to be a Jew to be to be saved through faith right and he says a bunch
of other stuff through there but in Galatians 3 Paul's writing to the Galatians and this
is what he says concerning this verse verse he goes you foolish Galatians who has cast
a spell on you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified I only
want to learn this from you did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing
what you heard are you so foolish after beginning in the spirit are you now finishing by the
flesh did you experience so much for nothing if in fact it was for nothing so then does
God give you the spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law
or is it by believing what you heard just like Abraham who believed God and it was credit
to him for righteousness you know then that those who have faith these are Abraham's sons
now the scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed
the gospel ahead of time to Abraham saying through you all nations will be blessed or
all nations will be blessed through you consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham
who had faith did you notice there twice in that thing he's like did you receive the spirit
which is the seal the seal of salvation did you receive that by the works of the flesh
or by believing in what you heard he says that twice how are you saved by believing
the word of God how are you blessed by believing the word of God how do you get through times
of doubt by believing the word of God how do you find peace and contentment by believing
the word of God which tells us who God is who we are and what that relationship is all
about and then James 2 we don't have time to go through that one either but James 2
is is the one where he goes hey look yeah you're justified by faith but if you truly
believe there will be works in your life to prove that right James is the one that deals
with the people say oh all I have to say is I believe in Jesus and I'm fine no you can't
just say you believe in Jesus and then live completely contrary to his word because then
you're proving you just said words you don't believe right that's what James gets into
but that's a different Bible study it's always been the same from the very beginning of time
under the old covenant and the new covenant that faith brings righteousness belief brings
salvation it was that way for Abel Hebrews 11 for he was approved as a righteous man
it was that way for Enoch in Hebrews 11 5 by faith he was approved as one who pleased God
it was that way for Noah in Hebrews 11 7 by faith he became an heir of the righteousness
that comes by faith and so it was with Abraham as Hebrews 11 verse 8 says by faith Abraham when he
was called obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance he went
out even though he did not know where he was going it was by faith it was because Abraham believed
that he was counted as righteous and so the question this morning for all of us really is
theme song for the conclusion right
what are you trusting in for your salvation what are you trusting in for your standing before God
what is it you're trusting in what are you trusting in to make you right before God to
to put you in that place where God says you're my child I love you you're in the family what
are you trusting in for that because the Bible says that you're my child I love you
because the Bible says we've all sinned we've all broken the 10 commandments we've all lied
steeled cheated coveted Jesus said if you've ever lusted against lusted for somebody you've
committed adultery in your heart we've all used the name of God as a cuss word and blasphemed
his name like and the Bible says you sin in one area you're guilty of breaking all of it
so having begun in the spirit are you living a Christian life today where you're thinking
if I do good God's happy with me if I do bad God's hating me are you now living as a Christian
where you say well I'm saved today because I did good things but oh I'm not saved today because
I had a bad day and I did some bad things that's the question Paul was asking the Galatians
if you were saved by faith and your trust in Jesus Christ does the fact that you messed up
and are trying to do things to make it right does that have any effect is that going to go wrong
is that going to keep you saved and the answer is no it's our faith it's our belief I'm so grateful
for that because if our faith if my faith was based on me doing right wow I'm done failed
like it probably would have been like like Jesus I believe in you and then one second later boom oh
I messed up already it's not based on us God knows our frame He knows our weakness He knows we're
sinners He knows our flesh is fallen that is the whole reason why He came and lived as one of us
without sin died on the cross to pay the price for all of us breaking God's law and then said
believe in what I did for you believe I am God believe I am almighty believe I love you believe
I can save you and when you believe that He can do that and you put your faith in that it happens
you're saved and nothing changes that now you will see works in your life if you truly believed
but you won't be a perfect person we try and live obedient to God in every way all day long but
when we do stumble God doesn't hold it against us because it's our faith that saved us not our works
when we look at every single one of His promises and we're in that place where we truly have fully
internalized internalized that He is God and His promises are therefore true no matter what when
when we get to that place where our faith has matured and is maturing to that place where we
believe now without question without doubt without worry that is the place where when we look at God's
word or God speaks to us about something we simply do what Abram did and go okay I'm in let's go
but if you're not in that place as a believer today
I would encourage you to do what Peter did Lord increase my faith Lord increase my faith
because I believe you are God I believe you can even do that please increase my faith help me to
be that person that's not constantly doubting and questioning and dealing with this well I believe
you're God but then why am I doubting you God I'm done with that
God I'm done with that now if you don't know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior this morning
you've never entered into that relationship God is not your father as of this moment God is your judge
and you stand before Him spiritually guilty of breaking His law sinning against Him
and without the blood of Jesus Christ without putting faith in His work you are going to be
judged based upon your own works and there's no possibility that you've done enough good things
to outweigh the bad things you're guilty before God and the Bible is very clear that Jesus died
to pay the penalty for every single sin you've committed and I tell you today God is real
and one day you will stand before Him when you pass from this earth and without Jesus you will
be found guilty fully deserving of judgment and punishment and you will be cast into hell forever
but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever that includes you would
believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life unless you say Lord I believe
I believe in you I believe in your word save me I believe in you I believe in you I believe in you
I believe in you I believe in your word save me unless you make that profession you're lost
and it doesn't matter how many works you do those will not lead to your salvation any more than
they keep a Christian saved it is righteousness imputed by faith and so this morning I'm going
to give you an opportunity to express that faith to cry out to Jesus and say I
I please save me I've sinned and know that when you make that profession it says you believe in
your heart and confess with your mouth you are saved let's pray father
we're so grateful God that your plan from the very very beginning
was to extend such an amazing massive thing to us salvation from our sin Lord from the very beginning
your plan was to grant us all of that
through our faith in you
Lord we know that so much of the old covenant and the law Lord your word tells us that the law wasn't
given to us to say hey follow these rules and you're in it was given to us to make us realize as
humans we can't follow your law we are incapable we are irredeemably wicked sinful people
and so God when you came and you lived that perfect life experiencing everything we experience Lord
doubt worry fear
but Lord you experienced all that without sin you went to the cross you died for us
that your pure perfect spotless blood would wash us clean of our sin through faith
and that God you would again through through our faith be able to look at us
the way you saw Adam in the garden the way you saw Eve in the garden perfect
spotless without sin innocent able to stand in your presence and have perfect fellowship with you
forever God that's what you offer to us through our belief and so Lord I pray God that you would
work in our hearts or those of us that believe that you are saved and that you are saved
or those of us that believe that you are Lord God but we're struggling with your promises God I
pray Lord that you would do a work in their hearts where they would come to that place
realizing who you are reflecting on what that means and reading your word they would just say
okay I'm in but Lord for those that may not know you this morning
God those that may be in the room and they've never committed their life to you they've never
made that confession of faith they've never said I believe Jesus is God I believe he came to this
earth I believe he died for me I believe that I deserve the judgment but because I have faith in
him I am spared Lord if if there's those here even watching online that have never made that
profession God I pray right now your Holy Spirit would move upon them and so while we're praying
everybody's heads bowed eyes closed if you're here in this room this morning and God has spoken to
you about your need for salvation and maybe you've even been wrestling with the truth that all I have
to do is believe and I'll be saved and God has spoken to you today that the answer to that
question is yes and you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior if you're here
in this room while we're praying just raise your hand where I could see it let me pray with you
this morning God bless you on the side God bless you on the other side anybody else I see you in
the back God is speaking to you today about your need for him how desperately he loves you how
desperately he wants to forgive you and set you free from the control of sin anybody else in this
room God is speaking to you raise your hand where I could see it I'm going to lead you in a prayer in
a moment if you're watching online and God is speaking to you I want you to pray this prayer
with me as well obviously I can't see you but if you're in the chat box please let us know in chat
that you're receiving the Lord Jesus anybody else before we pray
all right I see you on the side as well
all right for those of you that are wanting to receive Christ this morning
really for the first time I want you to pray this prayer with me say Lord God I believe in you
I believe you are who you say you are
I believe in your word
I believe that you will save me through my faith
and God I've sinned against you
God I realize now
that works good deeds none of that will ever atone for my sin
and so Lord I need you I believe you came to die for me
I believe you rose from the dead that you're alive forevermore
and God even in the things I don't understand
I choose to believe increase my faith as I grow in you show me your glory
teach me how much you love me
and be my Lord be my Savior thank you for loving me so much it's in Jesus name I pray amen
well congratulations those of you that prayed that prayer today
you didn't join a church you're welcome to come here we'd love to have you come here but you
entered into a relationship with your God a relationship that is going to grow and continue
to grow and we want to help you on that journey that's that's one of the things we love to do as
a church and so those of you that gave your life to the Lord today for the first time we
we have these little white envelopes on the front pew or out in the foyer as you leave today and
we call them a new believers packet and there's just a lot of information in there that we want
to put into your hand to help you start to develop a new faith and a new faith in your life
develop this relationship with God and it's all wrapped around learning how to pray and how to
worship God and how to study his Bible and and then as you're growing if you have questions
we're here for you so many of us in this church have walked that same path that you're on and
we're all at different places on that journey we're here together to encourage one another
if you're online and you've confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning
congratulations please let us know in chat because we would love to send you one of our new believers
packs to help you as well on this journey that you've just begun and for the rest of us never
get caught up and you that just got saved never again get caught up in the idea that I have to
perform for God to love me if you believe in him you believe he is capable of accomplishing everything
he says he is you are saved now and forever more the rest of your life here is just growing to look
like him more and more every single day are you going to stumble yes is the devil going to try
and condemn you when you stumble yes is God going to condemn you no he says come to my throne boldly
I have grace for you I have mercy for you confess your sin I've already forgiven you let's move on
and all of us let's learn to to to be in that place to have that faith where we just say God
you are so everything you say is and as a church as a body let's see what God's going to do
let's together march forward into the glory of who he is and what he wants to do to affect the
world around us because I believe God can do more greater above more abundant and beyond whatever
we can think or imagine and I'm excited to see what that is with you guys God bless you