All right, if you will turn your
Bibles back to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 is where
we will be fixing our eyes today. We are continuing in our series
in the Book of Romans. And at present, we are in chapter
4, where the Apostle Paul is primarily moving us away from
the works of the law, as was the trust of the Jews, circumcision,
which was a sign that was given to them. And he's moving us now
into an arena where we are contemplating what faith really is. So the
primary subject of chapter four is that of the triumph of faith
through grace. So the title of our message today
is the promise by grace through faith. And the primary subject
of our chapter is Father Abraham. He's going to be an illustration
for us of how faith works through grace. And last week what we
began to do was to work through understanding a biblical definition
of faith. And what I tried to do was help
us understand that faith is not some nebulous idea where we kind
of just cast ourselves on God and kind of hope that everything
works out all right. Also, what we did was to understand
that faith itself was simply a vehicle or a means by which
we get a hold of the promises of God. When a man or a woman
is trusting God, they are not trusting in their faith. When
a man or a woman is trusting in the promises of God, you are
not relying upon your faith. Your faith is simply a vehicle,
a means to an end. And what we did last week was
we began to work through very carefully the nature of saving
faith, how that faith is first and foremost a what? Gift of
God. It's a gift of God. Ephesians
2 verses 5 through 8 plainly tells us that for by faith are
you saved through grace and that not of yourselves. It is through
grace by faith and that not of yourselves. It is a what? Gift
of God. Not everyone believes God, do
they? Not everyone trusts Christ and not everyone relies upon
the promises of God in Christ. And so what we were doing last
week was contemplating how important faith is in the process of the
unfolding of God's will. And what I stressed and want
to stress just partially today before we look at an illustration
of faith is this. Faith is not given for you and
me to look at our faith. or to depend upon our faith.
And often people will do that. They will simply say, I have
faith. And the question that you and
I have to ask is faith in what? Am I making some sense? Faith
in what? Faith is essential to the glory
of God, but faith is not the first principle. Faith is rooted
in the grace of God, and it's the grace of God that brings
assurance to the soul. So as we work through our points,
our first point in our outline as we are thinking this through
is grace is the security of the promises of God that are given
to the people of God. When a man or woman is trusting
the Lord Jesus, relying upon Him for their salvation, they
are relying upon what the Word of God has said to them. And
in Romans chapter 4, verse 16, part A and B, notice what it
says. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by what? to the end that the promise might
be sure to all to see. Now the word of God is filled
with promises of God to us, is it not? Now the promises of God
are said to be yes and amen in Jesus Christ to us so that we
do not have to wonder whether or not God's gonna fulfill his
word. Will God fulfill his word? Indeed he will. And so what we
do is we understand that the gift of faith is designed to
rest in the grace of God. Your faith that's given to you
by what you believe on God is designed to rest in the grace
of God. Faith rests in the grace of God. It works because of the grace
of God and it looks to glory only because of the grace of
God and therefore the emphasis of Our contemplation of faith
is grace to the end that the promise might be sure. Why is
the promises of God sure to us? Because of the grace of God.
And when we talk about the grace of God, what we are talking about
under our first point, grace is the security of the promise,
is that unchangeable work of God in Christ for us. Part B, grace is the unchangeable
work of God in Christ for us. You guys see that? Grace is the
unchangeable work of God in Christ. See, in religion, what we like
to do is bandy about a lot of words, but we don't anchor those
words in the biblical context. And so a lot of times they have
absolutely no practical meaning. When we talk about the grace
of God, here's what we're talking about. We're talking about what
God said he would do for us all by himself without us doing anything
in it. When we talk about the grace
of God, we are talking about God's work apart from us. In theology, we call it monergism.
What is monergism? It is the singular, solo work
of God by which in God's intentions, in God's purposes, He does for
us what we cannot do for ourselves. When we talk about grace, we're
talking about a favor, a bestowment, a grant, a right, a privilege,
an exercise that's given to the believer. apart from whatever
the believer could ever do. When we use the term grace then,
what we're talking about is looking at how God has accomplished our
eternal redemption for us. Am I making some sense? It's
important to know this. Why? As we stated last week,
when you and I are honest about biblical faith, honest about
faith, your faith and my faith is weak. If you are honest about
how well you trust God, if you're honest before God, here's what
you will say. My faith is weak. My faith is
often flawed. Sometimes it's so fickle, I don't
even know where to find it in the morning. See, if you're honest
with God, you can say, like that man said to Jesus in the Gospels,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Now, what I'm doing is making
a distinction between faith and grace. so that you don't fall
prey to despair and doubt and anxieties and fears. Now I gave
you the text in Genesis chapter 18 to help you see something
that we affirmed last week. I don't know about you, but when
you read the Old Testament narratives and you read about the life of
Abraham and the life of Sarah and the life of David and the
life of Solomon or the life of the children of Israel, let's
say Jacob, Isaac. Anybody name anyone the Old Testament
patriarchs and matriarchs when you look at their life their
lives Were just as fickle and troubled as yours and mine. Isn't
that true? Here in Genesis chapter 18. What
is God doing? God is visiting Abraham to fulfill
a promise that he had given to Abraham 25 years earlier and
In Genesis 18, God is coming now to fulfill a promise that
he had given to Abraham 25 years earlier. Now, y'all know what
went on from the time that Abraham was 75 to when he's 99? A bunch
of mess! That's right. See, what we have
to be careful not to do, saints, is to pretend we're something
that we're not. What we have to be careful not
to do is to purport to people that we have this sterling faith
that is so powerful that it can overcome mountains of troubles
and mountains of trials when the truth of the matter is you
and I are scared every day out of our wits often about our troubles. Did you notice in the Genesis
18 account how that when Sarah was Ear-hustling on the conversation
between God and Abraham that she laughed Didn't see and I
intentionally stopped us at verse 18 where God said you did laugh.
I Wish Angela had done a better job of reading the narrative
because when reading narratives the emphasis in reading requires
you knowing the inflections of in the tonations of the narrative,
when to emphasize something and when not to, in order to bring
out the intentionality. Now God has what we call a divine
sense of humor, wherein he allows us to understand, he understands
us fully. And God's not moved by your weakness
or my weakness, because the promises of God do not depend upon you
or me or the weakness of our faith. Am I making some sense? Now this is important for you
to know so that as we learned last week, you don't misdefine
faith. Don't say faith is just trusting
God. Trusting God for what? There
are people who don't read their Bibles all their lives who say
they trust God. There are people who do not darken
the doors of the church who say they trust God. what are you
trusting God for? If you don't listen to God talk,
how can you trust Him? God has a lot to say, doesn't
He? And so for believers, watch this now, when believers say,
I'm trusting God, what you are trusting is the word of His promise. That's what you're trusting.
That's right. The only way Abraham moved out
of Ur of the Chaldees to go all the way to the land of Canaan
is because God had given him a word. See, so your faith must
always be anchored in what the Word of God says. Otherwise,
it will be pagan faith, mystical faith, all kinds of other faiths,
but not Christian faith. And so what the Apostle is doing
as he's trying to move his Jewish brethren away from works, righteousness
and legalism to a smack dab trust upon the promises of God in Christ
is to now use an illustration to help us understand how that
even Abraham walked by faith, not by the works of the law.
Abraham did not depend upon circumcision for that circumcision, which
Abraham was commanded to exercise, came in his 99th year. It was
the same year that Sarah conceived. So Abraham was a believer in
God apart from the law. He was a believer in God apart
from circumcision. All the days he made his sojourn
from Chaldea to the promised land. So what is our proposition? Grace is the security of the
promise. Did God make a promise to you?
Did God promise to save you? Did he promise to redeem you?
Did He promise to bring you out of all your troubles? Did God
promise to save you with an everlasting salvation? Does the promises
of God amount to what we call the gospel? Yes, it does. When the Bible says, For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, you
know what we call that? A promise. That's a promise. Now the integrity and the character
and the fulfillment of that promise is not based on anything that
you and I do. It's based on the faithfulness
of God. One of the things that the believer
learns as he makes his way through this life is that God is what? Faithful. God is faithful. God is faithful. In the whole
of your journey, what you're going to discover is while you
and I are not faithful, God is always faithful. And so as we
are working through this idea of biblical faith, what I want
you to be able to mark is the assurance of faith is what? It's
grace. It's grace. I've defined grace
as the unchangeable work of God in Christ for us. You see the
phrase unchangeable? Unchangeable is a theological
term that means God is not like you and me. Like, you'll ask
me, Pastor, can I borrow $50? I'll give it back to you next
week. And I'll let you borrow that
$50. And next week you'll come back and say, Pastor, can I get
another week? You know what you just did? You
changed on me. You just changed on me. Now watch
this. You changed on me because you're
human. You changed on me because you don't have power over circumstances
and events. But God's not gonna make a wager
with me and not come through when he said it, how he said
it, where he said it. Because God is immutable, unchangeable,
and therefore unfailing. Now I want you to listen to what
I'm about to do. I'm about to quote four or five Bible verses
that fall under what we're contemplating, the grace of God. Now the grace
of God, again, is what God does for us, outside of us, alone
in terms of his promises for us here's a promise of God in
Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 you know what he says I am Jehovah
I do not change did you get that I am Jehovah I do not change
I don't go back on my deals I don't remodify the contract I don't
I don't change the structure of the relationship now watch
this I am Jehovah I change not and therefore you sons of Jacob
are not destroyed The only reason that God hasn't destroyed us
is because God is faithful. See, that's a promise you get
a hold of. Grace is the unchangeable work of God in Christ for us,
and that's where my hope is. The next verse, John chapter
10, verse 25 through 27. Pull it up. Watch what Jesus
says in John chapter 10, verse 25 through 27. This amounts to
another grace promise that you must hear. Here's what he says.
Jesus answered and said unto them, I told you and you believe
not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear record of me. Verse 26. But you believe not
because you are not of my sheep as I said unto you. Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they what? Now watch this next line. Verse
28. Watch this, saints. I give unto
them what? And they shall never what? neither
shall any man what pluck them out of my head do you know what
we call that a promise now stay right there it's a promise from
God about what God will do to keep his people now stay there
it's a promise of grace that proceeds from God's immutable,
unchangeable purpose to save his people. Now watch how important
it is for me to place my faith in that promise and not in myself. If I place my faith in myself,
I am not able to fulfill that promise. Somebody can pluck me
out of the hand of God. I can pluck my own self out of
the hand of God I will leave God in a hot second apart from
the grace of God if God doesn't keep me by his grace I'm departing
every day from the true and the living God So the promise that
he will keep me the promise that he will not let me perish the
promise that no one will pluck me out of his hand is a promise
of grace not faith You see what we're doing? We're keeping faith
in its proper perspective. Now, ladies and gentlemen, faith
is the hand that receives the promise. Faith is the hand that
says yes to God. Faith is the eye that fixes itself
on the promises of God. Faith is the heart that yearns
for what God said to be true to come to pass. Faith is the
life that runs after God simply because of what God said. Are
you hearing me? It's so very important for us
to grasp it then. I want you to see another promise
of the Word of God. And remember I told you, when
you're reading your Bible, if you are sound in how you read
your Bible, learn to identify the promises of God in the Word
of God. And mark them and put a P by
it. And go, another promise of God. Because the Word of God
is filled with promises. filled with promises. We're going
to see why here shortly. Then another verse that I want
you to go to under this particular contemplation is Jeremiah chapter
32 verse 39 and 40. Jeremiah 32. Now watch what Jeremiah
says in verse 39. This is God talking. Here's God
talking. I will give them how many hearts?
One heart. And how many ways? Who is that
way? Christ! He's the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father but
by Him. Who's giving the heart? God is. And He's giving us one heart.
We'll talk about this in a minute. Do you understand that a double-hearted
person can never prosper? The man who has two hearts is
always vassaling between yes and no. right and wrong, up and
down. When God saves a person, he gives
them a heart that's able to rest in who God is and what God does. I will give them one heart. And
not only in terms of the individual believer, but all believers have
the same heart. We all believe the same things. We all believe the same God. We all receive the same promise. I will give them one heart and
I will give them one way. that they may, what, fear me
forever. It's a good thing to fear the
Lord. Did you know that? It's a good thing to respect God,
to reverence God. A large part of the problem in
our culture, in our world today, is a lack of the fear of God.
David said in the Psalms, he says, the transgressions of the
wicked said to my heart, there's no fear of God in the land. And
when a man or a woman or a society does not fear God, that society
is falling apart at the seams. He says He will give us one way,
one heart, that we may fear Him forever. For the good of them
and of their children after them cleave to that promise. You know
what the promise is? If God gives you a new heart,
if He places Christ in your heart, that's the one way. If He grants
that you love Him and reference Him, you will be a blessing to
your children. I want that promise, don't you?
You know what I'm told? I'm told if by the grace of God
I am able to look to Christ and look to Him alone, that blessing
will pour out to my children. And I want it to. I want it to. That's a promise of God. See,
God is not telling me to heap upon myself all sorts of promises. He's telling me to trust in the
promises that He's heaping upon us. glorious truth let me see
let's look at John chapter 4 then no look at verse 40 I got one
more verse look at verse 40 now watch this Jeremiah 32 verse
40 one more verse here here's what it says and I will make
an everlasting covenant with them what kind of covenant an
everlasting covenant now watch this here's the promise of God
that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will
put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me."
Hallelujah. Watch this. God promises that
He will not depart from me. He promises that He will give
me the kind of reverence for Him that I will not depart from
Him. Now watch this. God, keep your
promise. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Because, see, if you think your faith is strong enough by itself
to actually affirm the promises of God, you're deceiving yourself. That's why God gives us the promises
that are rooted in the grace of God, and the faith that we
have corresponds to those promises in utter dependence upon God. So let's go now to our second
contemplation under this same point. Grace is the security
of the promises of God. The reason why I know I'm going
to heaven, that I have eternal life, is because God said so. The reason why I know that I
have eternal life is because the promises of God do not change. How do I know that? They proceed
from His character. Now what the apostle is going
to do in Romans 4, going back to Romans 4, He's going to now
illustrate the nature of faith as it operates in the life of
Abraham according to the promise. He's going to illustrate the
nature of faith as it operates in the life of Abraham according
to the promise. Now in Romans chapter 4, this
portion of Paul's contemplation of Abraham is what we were reading
in Genesis 18. Now, if you and I take the whole
of Abraham's life, from the time that he came out of Ur of the
Chaldees until the time that he died. Who knows how old Abraham
was when he died? 175 years old. You know what
that means? God called him at 75. You know,
a bunch of you are ready to retire at 75 and go on vacations for
the rest of your life. Abraham was called to be the
progenitor of all believers at 75. It was 25 years later that
the promise was realized, of which you and I are talking about,
and then God gave the man another 75 years to live. Watch this,
saints. Watch this now. This is the longevity
and blessing that was poured upon Abraham. And you and I can
take several snippets of Abraham's life, pull them out, and use
them as illustrations of how God works. We're only going to
pull one out today. And it's the one area wherein
God had made a promise to Abraham that Abraham and Sarah struggled
with. Have you ever struggled with
the promises of God? If you've lived five minutes,
you have. Why do I say that? Because see,
faith, when it's properly defined, is the substance of things what?
Future things. And you and I struggle with promises
that don't come to pass right now. If it's a promise coming
to pass tomorrow, over this 24-hour period, you and I are going to
struggle. If God were to tell you, I'm going to give you a
million dollars tomorrow, You're going to struggle between now
and tomorrow getting a hold of that million dollars. You're
going to be struggling as to how you're going to spend it.
You're going to be struggling as to who you're going to keep
from knowing about it. You're going to be struck. Listen, this
is just true. See, so really, I don't really
want God to tell me anything about what he's given me, especially
when just give it to me. And what I'm getting at is this
intrinsically your nature in mind. have a hard time believing
God. Yeah, we do. If we believe God,
we wouldn't complain one time. We wouldn't doubt one time. We
wouldn't bicker. We wouldn't murmur. We wouldn't
argue with God. We wouldn't do it one time if
we really, really believe God. But remember, my point is this.
Your faith is not designed to terminate in you, but rather
to terminate in God. And it's not, listen now, it's
not necessarily even the quality of your faith in terms of how
strong or weak it is. It's the object of your faith.
If your faith is in God, you are good to go so long as you
know the promises of God that are given to you. Now, we do
need to talk about the life of faith. Because when a person
is a Christian, they live a life of faith. That's the whole book
of Hebrews chapter 11. So, if you say I'm a believer,
all I have to do is watch your life. Because your life will
tell me whether or not you trust God. Whether or not your faith
is anchored in the promises of God, and whether or not your
life is conformed to the promises of God. See, if you read Hebrews
chapter 11, verses 8 and following, guess what you'll read? You'll
read how that God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and
guess what the scripture says? Abraham obeyed God. And you know
how we know? Because he left! Listen, don't
tell me that you have faith when God tells you to do this and
you don't do it. Are you hearing what I'm saying? So the life
of faith becomes the evidence of grace in our life. The life
of faith. And every believer has a life
of faith. Here's another promise I want
you to get a hold of. Here's another promise. Isaiah
chapter 54 verse 17. This is good. Pull it up. Isaiah
54 verse 17. Get a hold of this. Because the
promises of God are designed to give you and me assurance
of faith. I love this. No weapon that is
formed against you shall what? All right. So we'll take it out
of the churches that like to play games with the term and
keep it right. There's a world of hostility. against all humanity, but especially
against the believer. It's a dark world of spiritual
powers that would love to destroy you and me and halt our ultimate
destiny to glory. The goal of the adversary, the
devil, who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,
is always out to distract you from the purpose of God in your
life. He's always out to defeat you. You know what the scriptures
say. He steals, he kills, and he what?
And so you and I every day are in a warfare, are we not? We
are in a battle, are we not? We are waging spiritual war against
principalities and powers in heavenly places, are we not?
Absolutely. Now watch this, saints, watch
this. Is the victory a consequence of our strength or a consequence
of God's promises? There we go, there we go. Now
watch this. I will go to war with a God like
this anytime who tells me no weapon formed against me shall
ever prosper. Do you see that promise? Watch
this. In every tongue that shall rise
up against you in judgment, you shall condemn. Amazing. You know what that means? Even
my own tongue, when it turns and says, Jesse, boy, you're
no good. Even that I'll be able to overcome. because of what God has done
for me in Jesus Christ. Now watch the last line. This
is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness
is from me. The grounds upon which God secures
the blessings of his people is his own righteousness. Isn't
that good? His own righteousness. His own
righteousness. And the thing I've told you about
God before, and you got to get it when you read your Bible.
I'm amazed at God. Because here's what he does.
God will seek to persuade you over and over and over and over
again that I've got this thing. I know what I'm doing. You can
trust me. Lean on me and I'll get you through
it. This is what faith does when
it's properly informed. Amazing amazing one more verse
Romans chapter 8 33 under this now. What am I doing? I'm sharing
verses with you That amount to the promises of God For you that
we call the grace of God because they are verses that have nothing
to do with your cooperation See I don't mind the verses that
have to do with me participating there are some that But those
verses that say, Jesse, if you do this, I'll do that, must be
buoyed up by the verses that says, even when you don't do
this, I'll do that. It's important to know that.
It's important to know that. See, because if I lean on the
verses that demand my cooperation, I am thinking too highly of myself. Now there are verses that demand
our cooperation. And we must ask God to help us
in those areas where God is demanding our cooperation. But I must never
depend upon God plus me to get the job done. As soon as I'm
doing that, I'm working for my salvation. Listen to what he
says in Romans 8, 33. This is an offshoot from Isaiah
54, 17. This is the New Testament counterpart
to Isaiah 54, 17. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who's the one doing the justifying?
God is. Verse 34, watch this. Watch this. Who is it that condemneth? It
is Christ that what? yea rather that is risen again
who is even at the right hand of God who also is doing what
for us making intercession for us saints those are promises
and when you read them carefully you know what they say God is
working on our behalf to see to it that the promises that
he gave us comes to pass now you guys remember our theme for
the year Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 and 13 work Wherefore
work out your salvation in fear and trembling and here's the
promise for it is God who worketh in you the will and to do of
its good pleasure you guys remember that we're getting ready to see
that in the illustration of the life of Abraham and Sarah let's
go back to Romans 4 now move to our third point Abraham an
example of faith through grace Abraham an example of faith through
grace. When you use the word example,
you know what we're saying about an example? It's a model. It's
a pattern. It's an example that you can
look to and learn something from. Like really, all believers ought
to be examples of faith. People ought to be able to look
at your life and learn something about the nature character of
salvation and how faithful God is to you. Your life and mine
ought to be able to model to other people what it means to
be a believer. And when that occurs, you know what God can
do? He can take your life and use it to testify to others.
Isn't that what he just did with Abraham? Isn't that what he's
doing with Sarah? Now watch what happens. I want
you to get this now. I'm going to share with you under these
four points some truths with regards to how God interacts
with his people by his grace according to their faith. So
we can learn something about my basic premise, and that's
this. The promise is sure by grace. It's made manifest in
the life of faith. The promise is sure only by the
grace of God, but it's made manifest in the life of faith. Now you
and I are about to see how Abraham and Sarah are demanded to participate
with God in something God's going to bring about. And in so doing,
God is going to demonstrate how he saves sinners. Abraham, an
example of faith through grace. Point number one, the promise
of grace given to Abraham before it's even fulfilled. Look at
Romans chapter four, verse 17. Here's what it says. As it is
written, have made you a father of what many nations now when
God stated that Saints in Genesis chapter 17 verse 5 Abraham was
not a father of one child let alone the father of many nations
and yet if you go back to Genesis 17 and you go to Romans 4 is
spoken in what we call the prophetic future you know how God talks
in the prophetic future as if it's already done You know what
he said? I have already made you a father
of many nations. You know what God is saying?
This doesn't have anything to do with you, Abraham. I'm the
one doing this. You simply happen to be the object
through whom this blessing is going to occur. So when God gives
us the promises, he gives us often promises before they come
to pass. And when he gives us promises
before they come to pass, he is requiring of us what? Faith. Because faith is the substance
of things, what? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things, what? I have made you,
Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations. Watch this. The only
thing that Abraham could do with that was to simply believe it. Thus, when God dealt with Abraham
in Genesis 17, the scripture says, and Abraham believed God. Well, what else you going to
do? Well, what else you going to do? What else you gonna do?
You gonna actually fulfill that promise? No! See then how faith
is designed to rest in the promises of God? So it's very important
for you to see then. Going back to our PowerPoint,
I want you to see in your points these critical truths. When God
gives us promises that are prophetic in nature, the only thing you
and I can do with that promise is go amen to God. This is a
prophetic truth and here's how Paul explains it. He says in
verse 17, these words, as it is written, I have made you a
father of many nations before whom he believed even God, here's
the explanation, who quickens the dead and calls those things
which be not as though they were. This is important. Stay here
for a moment. God comes to you and says, I'm
gonna make you the father of a multitude of nations. But you're
99 years old. And you haven't had one son.
And your wife is 89. And she's not having children.
But God says you're going to be a father of a multitude of
nations. The only thing you can do with that is what? Believe
God. Now watch this. And you've got to believe God
is able to raise the dead. Are you hearing me? So let me
share with you another critical point of theology in your Bible.
When God gives you and me faith, and we're called to trust Him,
we're called to trust Him according to the gospel. And you know what
the gospel is? The gospel is how that God, through
Christ, raises dead sinners from spiritual deadness. Spiritual
deadness! Where in you and in me, there's
no spiritual life at all! God raises us from the dead.
He quickens the dead. Salvation is nothing short of
being brought back to life from the dead. Now, ladies and gentlemen,
answer the question. Did you help God raise you from
the dead or did God raise you from the dead all by himself?
See, when we say that we're saved, we're saying that God saved us.
When we say that we're saved, we're saying that God saved us
alone. And when we say that we're saved,
we're saying that God raised us from the dead. John chapter
5, verse 24 and 25. You've heard it. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, whosoever believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. He shall never come into condemnation,
but has passed from death to life. The hour is coming, verse
28, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
And they that hear shall what? Live. When the gospel is preached
and the Spirit of God works in the hearts of those who are still
lost, the first thing that God must do is raise you from the
dead. While as yet you are outside
of Christ, you're dead spiritually. You have no relationship with
God. You have no idea of the truth of the living God. Until
the Word of God gives you life, you're dead. And when He gives
you life, this is how you know it. Are you ready? You believe
God. Faith is the evidence of life. Life is the gift of God that
comes through grace. Now that you have been given
faith, you can rely on the promises that God begins to pour into
your life. Abraham was given the promise
in Genesis 17 that God would make him the father of a multitude
of nations, and he believed God. He believed God because he believed
God could quicken the what? right and call those things which
be not as though they were radical now when we read Genesis chapter
18 God did just that he not only told Sarah you're gonna have
a child girl he said if his name's gonna be
Isaac then he said and it's gonna happen next year Sarah like to
flip back in her chair But see, her flipping back in
the chair had nothing to do with the promises of God. Watch this,
God said to Abraham, I'll be back next year. So for a whole
year, Sarah has to struggle with believing God. But see, her assurance
is not based upon her faith, it's based upon the promise of
God. He'll show up when he said he'll
show up. Now, let's work this through
because I want you to see some very important things in this.
So under our first point, the promise of God given to Abraham
by grace, which means before Abraham even was capable of participating. The second principle is what
we call the principle of faith in Abraham. The promise of grace
given to Abraham before anything was even supplied to assist him
Now we're talking about the principle of faith in Abraham. You see
the point? Watch this. When God gave Abraham the promise,
it was before, that's a prophecy. And the principle of faith in
Abraham was manifested in Genesis 15, six, when Abraham said what? I believe God. The Hebrew word
there, as I told you last week, is a word that we use all the
time. You know what the word is? Amen. Amen. You know how religious folk go,
amen. We go, amen, right? When we are saying amen, you
know what we're saying? Let God be true. Let God be true. When you hear
a proposition and you agree with that proposition, you go, amen.
My heart says amen to the promises of God. My heart says amen to
the will of God. My heart says amen to the word
of God. Does yours? That's what it means
to believe. When he says it, I go, amen.
Amen. That's what Abraham did. He believed
God. Now we already said faith is a gift of God, is it not?
So there's a day when I heard the word of God, I didn't even
care what it said. And when God saved me, now the
word of God is precious to my soul. I want to know every promise
of God, every precept, every prophecy. And I want my heart
to be able to resonate with that prophecy. And the evidence that
I have faith is that I believe that. Now I've got to walk in
that promise which calls us to the next principle. The what
of faith? The practice of faith. There it is. So we can really
learn something. Faith without works is what?
That's right. Don't ever play games with God. Don't ever play games with God.
A dead faith will never get you to glory. He who gives you faith
gives you a living faith because your faith is attached to the
grace of God which supplies its life. Faith has its life in God. There's no way for a true believer
to have a dead faith and if it's a living faith it's going to
be a faith that practices believing God. That's what I mean by practice.
So when I say that the promise was given to Abraham before he
was a individual who had no children, the principle of faith was given
to Abraham that is within him where he affirmed the promises.
Now he's going to practice the faith. Pastor, what do you mean
practice the faith? I'm so glad you asked. This is what I meant earlier
when I said just a little narrow snippet of Abraham's life. See,
because I know for some of you it would be more comfortable
if we was back in Ur of Chaldee and the practice of Abraham's
faith was leaving Ur of the Chaldee. That was a practice of faith.
He had to leave. Even with that, he waffled. Because you know
what he did? He brought his nephew Lot. When
God had said to him, leave everybody behind. And that got him into
some trouble, didn't it? See, so our faith is never perfect.
It's always mixed with things that are contaminations. And
God has to come in and clean up our faith, right? Because
that's what God did. He said, listen, you and Lot,
your nephew, you guys are on two different projectories. Tell
that dude, go to the left and you go to the right or vice versa
and I'll get back with you. And you'll notice that when Abraham
let Lot go, God started talking to Abraham again. So there are
times when in your walk, You are impeded by things that you
have brought into your walk that are hindering you from God's
moving you forward in his will. And God's going to have to cut
certain things off for you to move forward. Even things that
you dearly love, because they have nothing to do with the will
of God. Stay with me on this issue of the practice of faith.
So now, after that Abraham lets loose lock, guess what God comes
and tells Abraham? Abraham, we're getting ready
to have a son, boy. We can have a son who's 75 years
old. Abraham said, cool. Who, through
Eleazar, my servant? Because me and Sarah, we've been
practicing a lot of stuff for the last 50 years, and nothing's
happened. So now you're going to tell me
we getting ready to do something? Yes. Let me challenge you right
here. What we're about to read just
and contemplate, to me, is absolutely astonishing. God says to Abraham,
who was 99 years old, you work with that. And to Sarah, you
too getting ready to have a baby, the normal way everybody has
babies. So I'm gonna let that resonate
just for just a second before I expound on this, because I
love God. And what I love about him is
he will get us to the end of our road where we have stopped
trusting in ourselves altogether. And that's where he works. Cause
see, he gave the promise at 75 and Abraham and Sarah start working
it and nothing happened. Remember? And then Sarah said,
okay, I know what God's up to. God really means that he wants
me to give Abraham my slave. Ah, this is how we gonna get
it done. Now we're violating Proverbs 3, 5. Trust in the Lord
with all thine heart. Lean not unto your own understanding.
Acknowledge him in all your... See, Sarah forgot to read that
verse because she wanted the promise. Stay with me. But you
and I are only going to get the promise God's way. So after they messed up royally
by trying to add the flesh to the promise when they are mutually
exclusive, as we learned in Sunday school, the flesh will always
mess up the promise. How do we know when we're walking
by faith, when we have come to our wits end and we are totally
dependent upon God to get the job done? This is so radical
because again we're about to see what I mean by the practice
of faith. Go back to Romans chapter 4.
Now listen to how Paul explains this. He said in verse 18 after
the promise was given that God would make him a father above
multitude of nations who is able to raise the dead and to call
those things which be not as though they were. The promise
was given to Abraham according to verse 18 against hope. Do
you see that? Who against hope did what? Believed in hope. All right,
stop right there. We love quoting these verses,
but I want you to anchor the verse now in the historical context
of Abraham. What does Paul mean when he says
against hope? Abraham's 99. That's what he means. That's
what he means. Sarah's 89. It's against hope that a promise
is given of which Abraham must believe. Abraham now has to go,
all right, God, what you said you would do has to be accomplished
by you. Because insofar as I'm concerned,
I don't have any ability to contribute to what you want done. God now
has to move into Abraham's life. and strengthen his faith. Are
you ready? Strengthen his faith so that
Abraham does something that to the whole world looks absurd. Are you hearing me? Stay here
now. Sometimes when God gives a promise over against your circumstance,
it's all dependent upon the level and strength of your faith whether
or not you will begin to move. Have you had situations in your
life where God says this is the way to go, walk ye in it. But
your faith was so weak that you could not move. Were there situations
where you should have done it but you didn't do it and you
discovered that your faith was so weak that it couldn't be done? I'm just asking you the question.
Now what does God do to help a brother or sister when he's
calling them to do something and they discover that their
faith is so weak and flawed? that in order for them to actually
do it, he has to assist them. What does he do? You know what
he does? He reminds them of what his word says. In Genesis 17,
when Abraham was about to just give it up and say, all right,
let my servant have the promise. God says, Abraham, take a walk
with me. And they took a walk, remember? And he said, look up,
Abraham. Look up. And Abraham looked up
and he said to Abraham, if you can count the stars in the sky
or the sands on the seashore, that's how many children you
are going to have. Stay with me now. This is important.
This is important. I know the narrative is simple
in your mind, but for me, I'm putting my feet in Abraham's
shoes for the moment. And just before God revealed that to him,
Abraham was saying, no way, no way, no way. No way and God says
look Abraham look and all of a sudden Abraham says well, maybe
God can't do it Yeah, maybe God can't do it. He just gave me
a word didn't he? He just gave me a promise didn't he remember
what we learn faith anchors itself in the promises of God, right?
It anchors itself in the promises of God. God said Abraham look
so shall your seed be you see how God comes along to strengthen
our faith and You see how he must strengthen our faith? Because
we won't move until he strengthens our faith. In many cases, who
against hope believed in hope that he might become the father
of many nations, according to that which was spoken by God,
so shall your seed be. Verse 19, watch this. Verse 19,
here it is. Watch this now. And being not,
what, in faith? And being not weak in faith,
Ah, so now what we have are adjectives that are attached to the noun
faith. Because you can have a small faith, you can have a great faith. You can have a weak faith, you
can have a strong faith. We've been there, haven't we?
Some days where trusting God is easy, other days where trusting
God is very difficult. And what Paul is about to explain
is how Abraham could say to Sarah, are you ready? It's time for
us to go into the tent. See, it's going to take strong
faith. 99? 89? Against hope? Are you hearing
me? I'm trying to help you see the
remarkable, remarkable grace of God in something that seems
so insignificant to us. But see, Abraham is not 55. He's
99. And Sarah is not 65. She's 89. And she's been bearing all her
life. Why on earth would they even
take one step toward the tent? Are you ready? Stay with me now. The promises of God. The promises
of God. See, the promise of God is the
basis upon which faith now moves. Watch this, and faith will move
over against every opposition that comes to it. You understand
what was going on in Sarah's mind, Abraham's mind, as they
were headed to the tent? Didn't I close out last week
by saying, Sarah! Come on, girl! It's time to go! Because Abraham believed God.
When Sarah was done laughing in Genesis 18, We go to Genesis
19, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis chapter 20 and 21, guess
what? Isaac's born. What does Abraham
do? He takes his lovely bride of
all those years and go into the tent. Now at this point, you
and I are focused in on a critical concept of faith. Are you ready? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Are you hearing me? Faith is
the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things
what? See, if Abraham did not believe
God, he wouldn't have took one step towards that tent. If he didn't believe that God,
watch it now, God is able to make all grace abound, he wouldn't
have taken one step towards that tent. Now watch this, I want
you to see this. This is how faith is. When you are obedient
to the gospel, you're gonna have opposition from everywhere. They're
gonna say, now Abraham, these are neighbors. Now Abraham, I
heard you tell Sarah you're going into the tent. Now Abraham, you
know how old you are, dude. Sarah, don't let him. Sarah,
Abraham's senile now. Dementia's got him, he think
he 35. Now you two know, you two know
that what y'all is about to do is ridiculous. You understand? It makes no logical sense. Now
girl, don't you embarrass yourself. Now you know Abraham, he slept
over in the other tent for the last 30 years. He's getting ready. You understand what the Bible
says? The preaching of the gospel to those that are perishing is
foolishness. Foolishness! Utter foolishness! It doesn't make sense to them
that God would tell his people to do things in situations which
amount to you and me as being embarrassing. But see, this is
the way faith works. It works against the odds. It
works contrary to the circumstance. When faith is called upon to
embrace the promise of God, you know what faith says? Okay, God,
let's go! Stay with me. Philippians chapter
2, verse 12 and 13 is working smack dab in the middle of this
situation. Wherefore, work out your salvation, Abraham and Sarah,
in what? Fear and trembling. You know
what they're doing? They are obligated to believe
God right now. Right? They're obligated to trust
God. They're obligated now upon hearing
God's promise to do what? Take each other's hand and step
by step, we call it the walk of faith. Walk of faith. They're walking into the tent.
Believing God, trusting God, closing the tent behind them.
Cut out the lights. Closing the tent behind them.
Listen, this is how God works. This is how he works. Hallelujah. I'm thankful for Abraham and
I'm thankful for the account. because God's getting ready to
raise the dead. Do you understand that? He's
getting ready to raise the dead. He's getting ready to quicken
things. He's getting ready to bring life. God is participating with his
faithful son and daughter in the covenant nuptials what it
takes to produce a son glorious glorious glorious now watch now
watch watch how Paul explains it in Romans 4 just in case you
didn't get it we only got a few more minutes here's what he says
in verse 19 and Abraham not becoming weak in faith do you see that
first line I don't care what your Bible says. In the original
Greek language what it means is when Abraham was told by God
that him and Sarah would be the one, his faith did not shrivel
up and become effete and weak over against the opposition of
the circumstances. Watch this now. Sometimes when
God tells you we got to do a thing and you look at what you got
to do, your faith starts to shrivel up. Your faith says, I can't
do that. God, if you're going to get it
done, somebody else has to do it. Watch this now. Abraham's
faith did not wither. Literally in the Greek, it did
not lose its strength. It did not lose its strength.
It's like a person lifting weights. And God puts 150 pounds on the
bell, on the bar, and says, lift. And if your faith is weak, you
can't lift it. And as you're trying to lift
it, your faith is diminishing by the second. Am I making some
sense? Diminishing. Abraham's faith did not diminish. He was able to lift the bar all
the way up. What did that look like, pastor? He went into the
tent. He went into the tent and he actually did the business. That required faith. Are you hearing me? Now, ladies
and gentlemen, again, I am amazed at it because Abraham is a man
just like me. Sarah's a woman just like me.
Don't make the biblical characters out to be something different
than you. You know how you get a headache and nothing happening?
Are cold or flu? I'm talking to you as human beings.
in the context of the most sacred act two human beings can do in
the sight of God where life is produced which is a signal type
of how God saves sinners in the intimacy and union of the Holy
Ghost in the heart of a man or woman bringing about spiritual
life so that you see the glory of God in Christ Abraham and
Sarah believed God listen to what it says And not only did
he not become weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now being what? All right, that's amazing. Okay, so now in the original
language, literally, here's what it says. And him not being weak
in faith, he did not regard the fact that his body was now dead.
It doesn't mean that he did not know that his body was now dead. It does not mean that he did
not Affirm that his body was you
know, some people will say I'm not gonna believe that well if
it's true, it's true You might as well believe it if it's true
What it's saying is when he realized and recognized that God had given
a promise that him and Sarah are gonna have the child He turned
and looked at his body said well, I'm dead Sarah's dead God's gonna
have to do something for us That's exactly what it meant Watch this
The next verse is what we call an exegetical in theology. And
what it means is it explains the prior verse. When you don't
have clarity on the verse that's in front of you, the next verse
clarifies it. In our present verse, the way
it's structured is, Abraham did not become weak in faith, having
considered his own body. But, as the text goes on to say
in verse 19, when he was about 100 years old, neither the deadness
of Sarah's womb, see how Paul is emphasizing that? Verse 20,
but he did what? He staggered not. Do you see
that? He staggered not. Now, see that
word staggered? That's the word that literally
means to waver, or to doubt, or to judge critically. It's the word that's used in
James 1, when James says, let not the double-minded man, who
is unstable in all his ways, ever believe that he will receive
anything from God. What's amazing about what this
text is saying is when Abraham received the word of promise
that his seed would be like the seashore and the stars of the
air, and when he looked over at his body and said, I'm dead,
Sarah's dead, he still believed God. He went into the tent knowing
that this was not about him, nor about his ability. This is
what I mean by faith having its fix on God and not itself. Abraham took his wife into the
tent his wife went with him into the tent both of them knowing
this is God's business Are you hearing me? God must be in on
this and listen to how it unfolds He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but he was strengthened in his faith
See the word strong in faith Again, I don't know why they
would translate it that it's in what we call the passive form
and what it means is Abraham was strengthened in his faith
and Because he was strengthened in his faith. He gave glory to
God Now ladies and gentlemen again, it's important for you
to know when you are doing the will of God God must strengthen
your faith in order for you to execute God's will for your life
he must strengthen your faith when you find yourself in the
middle of the will of God and And you find yourself wanting
to withdraw from the will of God? Or wanting to stop doing
what God wants you to do? Here's what you do. Say, God,
strengthen my faith. Strengthen my faith. Because
see, I want to actually do your will. But I don't have it in
me to do your will. So strengthen me to execute what
you're calling me to do. That's what he did for Sarah
and Abraham. Amazing! But he was strengthened
in his faith, giving glory to God. Watch how he goes on to
speak then. In verse 21, and being fully persuaded, here it
is, that what God had promised, what's the answer? He was able
to perform. What God had promised, he was
able to perform. Amazing. Abraham believed what
God had promised. It moved him to obey. Him and
Sarah goes into the tent, and God now has to fulfill his word. That was an amazing day insofar
as heaven is concerned. That was an amazing day insofar
as Abraham and Sarah are concerned because you know what Abraham
and Sarah found out? That they could do what God says
by faith and God would always come through. By faith God would
always come through and God did come through. Then what Paul
says as we close out here, verse 22. Here's what he's saying to
you. And therefore it was imputed to him for what? Righteousness. The whole account is laid out
in the Scriptures for you and me as an example of faith. Imputation
is when God lays to your account all of his righteousness so that
you stand before God perfect, accepted, never once ever having
to doubt whether God will reject you again. God imputes to Abraham
all of his righteousness because Abraham believed God. Abraham
didn't believe himself, Abraham believed God. And God imputed
it. Now the application, the next
verse. This is how it applies to you
and me. Verse 23. And now it was not written for
his sake alone that it was imputed to him. Verse 24. But for whose
sake? Us also. Watch this. To whom
it shall be imputed if we what? Believe on him that raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead. Simple lesson in closing. Salvation
is an impossible task on our part. It's something that only
God could do. When God gave his only son to
die on the cross as as the guilt offering and sin offering for
sinners. That was a work that God did.
When Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day,
it affirmed that Christ had fully and totally atoned for the sins
of those who would trust in him. Men and women who believe the
gospel and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are just like faithful
Abraham. They have the righteousness of
God imputed to them. They have the righteousness of
God imparted to them. That is, they're born of the
Spirit of God. They have faith given to them as a gift. That
is, they are able to trust God. And one day, one day, we will
see God face to face. Face to face, one day, we will
see the Father and we will see the Son. And by the Spirit of
God, we will be glorified together with them so that we will be
forever with them, simply because of the grace to believe God. Amen. Amen.