Let us turn to God's Word and
directing you again to the portion that we were considering this
morning in Romans chapter 4 and verses 20 and 21. This chapter that speaks to us
concerning Abraham, spoken of in verse 11, as the father of
all them that believe. Those who are of faith are the
children of Abraham. And here in Romans 4 and verses
20 and 21 we read how he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being
fully persuaded that what he had promised He was able also
to perform the faith of Abraham. We said this morning though,
with regards to that that is real in religion, there are always
those two aspects, those two sides. There is the dark side
and there is the bright side. There is the awful truth of sin
and also of course at the same time that blessed facts of salvation. There is sin, there is salvation,
there is that ruin that has come upon the human race because of
the first Adam and the way in which he transgressed God's commandment
there in the Garden of Eden, the record that we have in Genesis
3 concerning the fall of man. Ruin is the dark side, but then
we find the bright side when we come to consider him who is
spoken of as the last Adam. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man, we're told, is the Lord. from heaven. And Christ has come to pay that
great price of redemption. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
that they might receive the adoption of sons. There are always these
two sides. The dark side, and we must know
something of that dark side before we can know the other side, the
bright side. It's when we are brought to see
what we are as sinners that we see that great purpose of salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who said, they that are
whole have no need of a physician. but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. God deliver
us from all self-righteousness, those scribes and those Pharisees.
They needed not the Lord Jesus Christ. but how he was pleased
to receive sinners and to eat with them. We must know then
these things, we must not only know them theoretically, we must
feel something of these truths in our own souls. True religion
is more than notion. Something must be known and felt,
says Joseph Hart. And this is something of the
faith of Abraham. It says here that he staggered
knots at the promise of God through unbelief. His faith was sorely
trite. And we read of that trial of
his faith that came when God gave that strange commandment
concerning the son of promise, Isaac, that he was to offer there
upon the Mount Moriah. His faith was trite. He was,
as we said this morning, or he is the great exemplar of faith. We understand something of what
saving faith is, justifying faith. That's the great theme, of course,
of this whole chapter. In verse 3, Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. His faith
is that justifying faith. He is the great pattern of justifying
faith is Abraham. But we're not to think that he
was altogether free from unbelieving doubts and unbelieving fears. He was one who, as we said this
morning, on occasions was clearly not living by faith. In Genesis
12, he deceives the Egyptians, he's fearful, He is there in
Egypt and his beautiful wife Sarah, and he tells her she's
to say that she's not his wife, but his sister. She was closely
related to him, that was the truth, but she was his wife.
William was afraid that he would be killed, that they might take
Sarah to themselves. He's not living the life of faith.
Similarly, in chapter 20, he behaves in the same fashion with
regards to Abimelech. He doesn't acknowledge Sarah
to be his wife. Worse than that, when God speaks
of his seed, and Sarah is without child, and Sarah is barren, he
says in chapter 15 of Genesis, out at Eleazar, who is the steward
in his house is to be his seed. Not so says God. It will be his
own child who will be the true seed. It's not one of his servants. He doesn't really believe what
God has said concerning that great promise about his seed. And even after that in Genesis
16 we have the account of the birth of Ishmael who was a handmaid
to Sarah, Sarah is still barren, and Abraham must have a son,
there must be the seed. Well, says Sarah, why does he
not take Hagar to wife and she can have a son? And so it was,
but this is not to be the seed as we read there in Galatians
chapter 4, that was the son of the bond woman. the seed is going
to be the son of the free woman, the promised seed is going to
be Isaac Abraham's faith then was a faith that was often times
tried and although ultimately he holds true to the promise
he says he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief
He is brought through, but how at times his faith seems to be
sorely wanting. And even when God comes to him
in that 17th chapter of Genesis, and we read it this morning,
and assures him, gives him the promise that Sarah is going to
have the son at the appointed time, what are we told? in verse 17 of that chapter,
Genesis 17 verse 17, And Abram fell upon his face, and laughed,
and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that
is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah that is nineteen years
old bear? And Abram said unto God, O that
Ishmael might live before thee, And God said, Sarah, thy wife
shall bear a son in deeds, and thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after." And
this is the true seed that is promised to Abraham. But that
seed that is promised points to a far greater seed that we
read of there in the portion we read earlier in chapter 22
of Genesis where God renews the covenant by myself have I sworn
saith the Lord for because I was done this thing and is not without
thy son thine only son but in blessing I will bless them and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore and in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." That is
the true seed of Abraham, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But how this man's faith is tried,
it's a very different life, the life of faith, to that of those
who are unbelievers, and they might be some who even profess
to have faith, and yet they know nothing of true faith. We're
told in Psalm 55, because they have no changes, therefore they
fear not God. Or what changes? What strange
experiences Abraham must pass through as he is living this
life of faith. This life in which he is looking
to God and trusting in the promise of God. Well, we were considering
more particularly the first part of the text verse 20 this morning
and I want us now to look at what he said here in verse 21
being fully persuaded being fully persuaded that what he had promised
he was able also to perform he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory
to God and being fully persuaded The persuasion of faith is what
we see here with regards to Abraham. He was strong in faith, fully
persuaded that what he had promised, that is what God had promised,
he was able to perform. Firstly then, let us consider
something of the promise of God, this promise that his faith so
much centers upon. His promise that his faith is
really anchored in. This is that hope
that is spoken of in Hebrews chapter 6 which enters into that
within the vial. It is the promise of God that
is so important to this man. And so we are told he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief and we remarked this
morning also that there the verb to stagger a compound verb it's
made up of two words really the basis of the verb has to do with
the mind literally it's to be divided in mind that's what it
is to be staggering to have a divided mind but not so with Abraham
his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He staggers not at God's promise. What was it that God had promised?
We've already intimated, we've said as much. The promise centers
in Isaac. This is the seed. Sarah is to
have a son. But Isaac, as we've also said,
is a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thinking of
the promise, I want us to observe four particular truths in which
we see Isaac as a very real type of the Lord Jesus. Firstly, when
we think of him as the seed. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse
16, It's an interesting verse where the whole context
is most instructive when we come to consider the seed there. Because we have to observe the
difference between the plural and the singular. It's the exactness. of the Word of God. It says,
"...to Abram and his seed were the promises made. He saith not,
and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ." There is just one seed. That's what Paul is saying. Abram's seed. And Abram's seed
is Christ. And Isaac is but a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But we go back, beyond Abraham,
we go back to the beginning, we go back to the book of Genesis
and that awful account that we have in the third chapter of
the fall of Adam and Eve and the entrance of sin, and there
we read of the seed. there is the first mention of
the seed and it's the seed of the woman the woman was first
in the transgression remember it was to Eve that the serpent
came and tempted her and she sinned and she gave unto her
husband Adam and he partook of the forbidden fruit and he sinned
that the woman was first in the transgression but here is the
promise deliverance will come through the seed of the woman
when the Lord God speaks to the serpents as he speaks of that
awful curse that has come because of Adam's transgression, what
does God say to the serpent there? In Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel." There is the first promise of
the Gospel, that is recognized to be the first Gospel promise,
the first mention in Scripture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
seed of the woman. Now it subsequently unfolded
when God, as it were, renews that promise and speaks to Abraham
concerning his seed. Oh, this is the promise. This
is what Abraham was fully persuaded of, what God had promised. This one who was to come as the
seed of the woman and so it was when we think of the birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ there was no seed of man there she was
conceived without the seed of any man he was conceived in the
womb of the virgin by the Holy Ghost The birth was a miraculous
birth. But you see in a sense how it
is anticipated in the birth of him who is the type. Surely the
birth of Isaac was a miracle, because this woman is 90 years
old. When she is delivered of this
son, she's past the natural age of childbearing. and that's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 11 in this catalogue of the faithful of the Old Testament
the men, the women of faith Abrams mentioned and so is Sarah through
faith it says verse 11 through faith also Sarah herself received
strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when
she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promise. And therefore sprang there even
of one that him as good as dead, as many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable." All this birth, you see, is quite
a miraculous birth. She was 90 years old, and she
has a son. Then it's all pointing to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. Words of the prophet there in
Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. The virgin is with child. again later in Isaiah chapter
9 unto us a child is born unto us a son is given why the child
is born but the son is not born the son is the eternal son of
God and there the eternal son of God in Mary's womb is united
to a sinless human nature, the Holy Ghost shall come upon them,
the power of the higher shall overshadow thee, therefore also
that holy thing that shall be born of thee, that holy thing,
that's the human nature and that human nature joined
to the eternal Son of God How in Christ we really see the substance
of what is foreshadowed in that birth of Isaac to Sarah. Yes, there's a miracle there.
This old woman of 90 years bearing a son. But when it comes to the New Testament in Christ,
why we see a virgin. with child of the Holy Ghost
but not only in the birth when we consider that chapter that
we read that 22nd chapter of Genesis is it not a chapter that
is full of time Abraham is commanded to take
his son his only son and he's going to sacrifice him. This
is a command of God and he goes to Moriah, the Mount Moriah. Jerusalem built on those two
mounts, Mount Zion and Mount Moriah and it was at Mount Moriah
that the temple was built. That's where the temple stood.
The very place where the tabernacle would be established and then
the temple in the days of Solomon would be built for the worship
of God. This is the very place where Abraham is commanded to
take his son, his only son. We read the account in that 22nd
chapter. What does it say there at verse
6? Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon
Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife,
and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abram his
father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? And Abram said, My son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And so they went both
of them together. And God did provide himself with
a lamb. That ram that was caught by its
horns in the thicket, that was the ram to be sacrificed. That
was the ram to be sacrificed. But what a remarkable type it
is of God giving his only son, his only begotten son, as the
great sacrifice. for the sins of his people. Abraham
took the wood, we're told. We read of the Lord Jesus bearing
his cross, going forth unto a place called the place of a skull. In the Hebrew it was called Golgotha. This is where the Lord Jesus
Christ goes to make that one sacrifice for sins forever. He's there that he dies as the
substitute, bearing in his own person all that rot of God that
was the desert of sinners, all but those sinners who had been
given to him in the eternal covenant. How he loves them and loves them
onto the end, even the bitter end of the cross. And so He willingly
lays down His life. No man is able to take that life
from Him. He has the power, He has the
authority to lay it down. And He has the power to take
it again. This is the commandment that He has received of the Father.
But we see it there in type, that 22nd chapter of Genesis,
Isaac. a type of the Lord Jesus, but
not only a type with regards to sacrifice, but also we see
a type of the resurrection. We see a type of the resurrection.
Isn't that what is said in Hebrews 11 concerning Abraham's faith? By faith, it says in verse 17,
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received
the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it
was said that in Isaac's shall thy seed be called, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence
also he received him in a figure. What happens there in Genesis
chapter 22 doesn't only typify the great sacrifice of Christ,
but according to what we read here in the New Testament in
this 19th verse of Hebrews 11, it is also a type of Christ's
resurrection, accounting that God was able to raise Him, that
is, Isaac up, even from the dead. from whence also he received
him in a figure." Oh, what a remarkable chapter this is, Genesis 22. As we say, the ram was sacrificed
in the place of Isaac. There we have substitutionary
atonement. The ram a substitute for Isaac
whom God had commanded him to offer. but not only that, there
we see the great truth of the resurrection because Abraham
receives his son back as if from the dead the resurrection is there this
great type that we have pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ says
Paul died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he
was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Not only the sacrifice is in
accordance with the Scriptures, the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead is also all in accordance with the
Scriptures. All this is the promise you see.
that Abraham is aware of. He's a spiritual man. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief. He was fully persuaded,
it says, that what God had promised he was able also to perform. Oh, he was persuaded concerning
the things that God had said, the things that God had shown
unto him. all pointing to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't Christ that one who is
the embodiment of all the promises of God? The Lord Jesus says to
the Jews there in John chapter 8, verily, verily, before Abraham
was, I am! Christ is there declaring himself
to be the great I am, Jehovah! the Lord God of the Covenant. Why, as you know, John's Gospel
is full of those I AM statements. We see Christ as that one who
is revealing to us all the character of God, who declared himself
to be I AM. and he says again in that chapter
to the Jews your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad by faith Abraham was able to see through
these things he was able to see through the through the type
he was able to see beyond that son of promise Isaac he could
see his true seed even the Lord Jesus Christ He could discern
something of the wonder of the Incarnation, Christ coming into
this world, the miracle of His birth. He could see the great
sacrifice that He would make when He offered up Himself in
the room instead of sinners. He could see, by faith, the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Where was it that He
obtained His faith? Where was it that he had this
persuasion, as we have it in the text, being fully persuaded,
it says, that what he had promised. Why this faith? It's not of himself. It's not of himself. This faith
is altogether to be understood in terms of the blessed object
of his faith. What saith the Scripture? Abraham
believed God it is. Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Not his faith that is counted
to him for righteousness. It's the object of his faith.
He believes God. And what does he believe? He
believes that great promise of God. being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, He was able also to perform, and therefore
it was imputed to Him. That is the promise. The promise that centers in Christ
was imputed to Him for righteousness. It's important that we understand
that. When we speak of justification by faith, we're not saying that
faith justifies us. That would be making faith a
work. And faith is not a work. Faith
is the gift of God. Look at how it continues here
at the beginning in verse 4, "...to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt." But him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Why? Faith is the very antithesis
of work. It's the very opposite of work.
Where there is work, why there's death? You work and you are paid
for the work that you've done. But this righteousness, it doesn't
come by works in any sense. This righteousness is of God,
that the poor delights in. Not having mine own righteousness,
he said, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of God, by faith. Or Abraham's faith, it is it's
that true faith, it's that justifying faith it has to do with the promise
of God and that promise is in Christ by all the promises of
God in Him are yea and in Him are men He is the embodiment
of all the promises of God the persuasion then the persuasion
of His faith He's persuaded because of the promise that God has given,
that promise that his faith centers upon. And then, in the second
place, let me just say something with regards to this performance.
He was able also to perform. Fully persuaded that what he
had promised, it's not just a promise that God has given, that he believes
in the promise, yes, but more than that he believes that God
is able also to perform to do the thing that he had said. Oh, we sang it just now, did
we not? Sing the sweet promise of his
grace and the performance. It's not just the promise of
his grace, it's the performance of it. Why God does the thing
that He said He would do. The Lord Jesus Christ has come
and the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished righteousness. And that is the righteousness
that justifies the sinner. That is the blessed truth, of
course, that God revealed to Martin Luther when he was struggling
with all the awful reality of his sinnership before God and
he wanted a righteousness and his eyes were open to the truth
of that righteousness being in another, being in the Lord Jesus
Christ and he was open to the Reformer as he was reading here
in this epistle to the Romans all that justifying righteousness
what is it that God requires? Well, look at the end of Deuteronomy
chapter 6. It shall be our righteousness
if we observe to do all these commandments which the Lord our
God hath commanded us, says Moses. Here is righteousness. There
must be the observance, there must be the doing of all that
God has commanded. Every commandment must be obeyed
and obeyed in full not only obeyed in the letter all must be obeyed
also in the Spirit and it is only the Lord Jesus who has ever
done that. James says if a man was to keep
the whole of the Lord of God and yet offend Him one point
he is guilty of all and alas in many things we offend all.
There is but one There is but One who has obeyed every commandment. There is but One who has never
sinned. Yes, Adam, Eve also, they were sinless as they came
pristine from the hand of their Creator God. As we've said, they
sinned there in Eden. It's recorded in Genesis chapter
3. And we all descend from that
first pair. We all partake of their sinful
natures. There is none righteous, no,
not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
but there is one. Though being found in fashion
as a man, he became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was obedient in life, and he is obedient through to the
very end of his life, he is obedient in the death that he dies, that
substitutionary death. The Lord Jesus, he's the end
of the law for righteousness, says Paul to everyone that believeth
or the The sinner, believing in Christ,
trusting in Christ, is freed from all that condemnation of
the Lord of God. The law can no more accuse him.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. What a deliverance it is. All
death where is thy sting? All grave where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. says Paul, the strength of sin
is the law but thank be to God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ and this is the message that we find these
apostles in the New Testament preaching when we see Paul in
his sermon in Acts 13 preaching at Antioch in Pisidia we have
some detailed account of what he said on that occasion and
amongst other things we read this in verse 39 concerning Christ
he says, By him all that believe are justified. By Christ all
that believe are justified from all things that they could not
be justified from by the deeds of the law. or the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished righteousness. And Abraham believed that. Abraham
believed it. Do we believe it? He was fully
persuaded of what God had promised. He was able also to perform.
He sees it in all the darkness of types. We can look back upon
it now. We have all the fullness of this
revelation of God. oh it says to those to those
Jews your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and
was glad oh do we see the day of our Lord Jesus Christ what
a day the day of grace the acceptable time the day of salvation what
a privileged people that we should hear these things the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ also
applies that salvation that he has accomplished. This is the
performance you see. He's able also to perform, he's
not only accomplished it historically, that's a glorious truth, Christ
has lived and Christ has died and Christ has risen again from
the dead and Christ has ascended on high That's historic. But how the Lord Jesus is able
to make all these great objective truths so real in the souls of
sinners. That's how he applies it. He gives that word of promise concerning our prayers being
heard our prayers being answered ask and it shall be given you
he says seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened
unto you everyone that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth
to him that knocketh it shall be opened the Lord Jesus ensures
that all these promises will be performed these prayers
will be heard, these prayers will be answered salvation will
be brought home, salvation will be applied we cannot seek the
face of God in vain again he says verily, verily whatsoever
you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it to you whatever
we ask in his name oh the Father is pleased to give it. Why the Father has set His seal
upon that work that Christ did as He not raised Him again from
the dead and having shown Himself 40 days by those infallible proofs
as we are told in Acts chapter 1 He has now ascended into heaven,
He has been received into the highest heavens, He has entered
into that within the veil. And there we are to see Him by
the eye of faith reigning in His Kingdom. Here in chapter
5 And verse 10 Paul says, if when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life. And mark what he says there at
the end, there's reconciliation in what He did upon the cross
when He died, or there's salvation now in His life, that's His resurrection
life, that's his life as that one who is the great mediator
of the New Covenant. He prays. We have the prayers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. He is in heaven and His very
presence there in heaven in all his glorified humanity is a constant
prayer on behalf of his people. He reigns in his mediatorial
kingdom. He gives the gift of the Holy
Spirit, does he not? Peter says it. There in his sermon
recorded in In Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, the glorious
coming of the Spirit of God, what does Peter declare to his
congregation? Why he speaks of Christ? Being by the right hand of God
exalted, having received of the Father, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. He gives the Holy Spirit. He
gives the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who must
come and must work in our hearts. How we need that gift of the
Spirit. All you want to know salvation, ask God for the Spirit. If you being evil know how to
give good gifts unto your children and much more, Shall your Heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Do we ask
for the Spirit? How do we need the Spirit? It's
not enough is it to come, to sit, to hear, not enough to stand
and preach. Just a multitude of words, worthless,
except we know that blessed anointing of the Spirit, taking the Word
of God, applying the Word of God, making that Word a reality
in our souls. It is Christ, you see, who is
that one who is exalted to give. He prays in heaven. He is now
at the Father's right hand. He has entered into that aspect
of his priestly office on earth. On the earth he was a sacrificing
priest. But he has entered into that
within the veil and never lives to intercede. and He gives the Holy Spirit,
and He gives faith, and He gives repentance. He gives all that's
necessary to salvation. Are we those who are looking,
looking onto Jesus, looking only onto Jesus, looking away from
every other object? One object only, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. He whom God exalted
says, Peter with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour
to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.
That's why he's exalted. To give. But it is, he says,
more blessed to give than to receive. Oh, he is that God who
is able to perform all the promise. He has accomplished the glorious
righteousness and he applies to poor sinners a blessed salvation,
or to be those friends who know what it is to be in possession
of such a faith as Abraham's. He staggered not at the promise
of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised He
was able also to perform. Oh, the Lord grant that we might
be those who have that persuasion, that persuasion of true faith,
fully persuaded it says. It's not the quantity of faith
that saves us. Our faith might be weak faith.
As I've sought to say, it's a blessed object. Oh, let us not be satisfied
with small faith. Let us desire that great faith,
even the full persuasion of faith, fully persuaded that what He
had promised, He was able also to perform. The Lord be pleased
to come and to perform all His gracious works in our hearts
tonight, for His name's sake. Amen. the sinner that truly believes
and trusts in his crucified God, his justification receives redemption
in full through his blood. There are thousands and thousands
of foes against