Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 292. 292. Day pilgrim was I and of one
dream In the cold night of sin I did roam With Jesus the kind
shepherd found me And now I am on my way home Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my
life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. He restoreth my soul when I'm
weary. He giveth me strength day by
day. He leads me beside the still
waters. He guards me each step of the
way. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. When I walk
through the dark, lonesome valley My Savior will walk with me there
And safely His great hand will lead me To the mansions He's
gone to prepare Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. And
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and I shall
feast at the table spread for me. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. All the days, all the days of
my life. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
512. We'll sing the first two verses. 512. Someday the silver board will
break And I no more as now shall sing But oh the joy when I shall
wake Within the palace of the King. And I shall see Him face
to face, And tell the story saved by grace. And I shall see Him
face to face, And tell the story saved by grace. Someday my earthly house will
fall I cannot tell how soon't will be But this I know, my all
in all Has now a place in heaven for me And I shall see Him face
to face And tell the story saved by grace And I shall see Him
face to face And tell the story saved by grace Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter
4. Start at verse 16, read to the
end of the chapter. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end, the goal being the promise might
be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. And this is how he knows he's
the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations. before him whom he believed,
God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which
be not as though they were, who against hope believed in hope
that he might become the father of many nations, according to
that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. when he was
about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
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. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
for our justification. Our great blessed Lord God of
heaven and earth. Lord, what a blessing. What a blessing
to be able to come into your presence. What a blessing it
is to be able to read your word. And what a greater blessing it
is to believe it and to some degree understand it. So Lord,
we look unto you tonight. We look unto you from the hills
from which cometh our help. And you're a very present help
in the time of trouble. And Lord Jesus, we look to you.
And I look to you for this whole congregation tonight. I look
for you, oh Lord God, in your power and presence to be with
us in this service. God, not only for me to be able
to speak, but the saints to be able to hear. and that of all
things is said and done tonight, it'll bring glory to you, it
exalts your holy name, and put us in our proper place, put us
down before you in thanksgiving and praise. And Lord Jesus, we
pray for those who are going through trials, through heartaches,
through burdens, through troubles at home, through troubles with
their body. We ask, oh Lord Jesus, that you
would please Be merciful, be gracious, work your will, perfect
will in their hearts and lives. Please enable us to worship you
tonight. Have mercy upon our loved ones.
We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. In our course books, we'll sing
the love of God. It's on page 34. 34 in the course
book. ? The love of God is greater far
? Than tin or pin can ever tell ? It goes beyond the highest
star ? And reaches to the lowest hell God gave His Son to win. His erring child He reconciled,
and pardoned from His sin. O love of God, how rich and true! How measureless and strong! When glory times shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall When men will hear, refuse
to pray On rocks and hills and mountains call ? What was so
sure shall still endure ? ? All measureless and strong ? ? Preaching
in grace to Adam's race ? ? The saints' and angels' song ? ?
O love of God, thou rich and pure ? ? How measureless and
strong ? It shall forevermore endure. ? The saints' and angels'
song ? Could we with thee the oceans fill ? And were the skies
of parchment made ? Were every stalk on earth a quill ? And
every man a scribe by train ? To write the love Would drain the
oceans dry? Nor could the scroll contain
the whole Though stretched from sky to sky? O love of God, how rich and pure
How measureless and strong it shall forevermore endure, the
saints' and angels' song. I see the guys with the t-shirt on today. He said, love Christ and serve
him. And if I'd had the time and the
inclination, I'd have said, how do you love Christ? I'd hope
he would reply because he first loved me. It's astonishing that
God's love is eternal. There never was a time that he
didn't have it. And there was a time that he didn't manifest
it towards his people. And sure enough, as long as you
live, he's going to manifest that love. It's like Sunday. He looked at that rich, young
ruler, and he said, behold, he loved him. Behold him, and he
loved him. And I believe because of that
love that Christ had for that young man, that I believe he
became a believer later. I believe he was Paul the Apostle. I found that thing today. Got
about eight or nine things that said he was solid Tarsus. But anyway, Christ loved him. And I tell you what, I'm sure
thankfully he loves sinners. All right. I want to talk about
Abraham's faith and ours. You know, he's the father of
all. The scripture said the faith
of Abraham, last part of verse 16, who's the father of us all.
It said we walk in the footsteps of that faith of our father Abraham. And faith, oh my, my, what a
precious gift. What a blessed grace faith is. Those that have faith, Don't take it for granted. They
know they wasn't born with it. They know they didn't have it
by nature. They also know that all men don't have it. That's
what Paul told the Thessalonians. All men have not faith. And they
know it's not born of nature. Then they know it's God's gift.
Faith, how precious. They know it's God's gift. God
hadn't give it to them, they wouldn't have it. And I'd also
know this, that people that have faith, God-given faith, they
wouldn't part with it for this world and everything that's in
it. Would not do it. Just would not do it. What in
the world would it profit the, if you had the whole world, it'd
lose you so. And faith is so precious. Faith
is so powerful. Faith is so wonderful. that sometimes you just, I BELIEVE! You catch yourself saying, Well,
I BELIEVE! And the apostle here now takes Abraham's faith and
uses it as an illustration of faith in us, faith in us. So let's look carefully, CAREFULLY
at the characteristics of this faith that says forth here. I
want you to look in verse 17 with me. As it is written, I
have made thee a father of many nations. This is what I want
you to see. Before him, whom he believed, even God. You know, faith, faith relates
to God, relates everything to God. In whom, in him, in whom
he believed, even God. Faith, I tell you, is always,
always centered upon a person. Every place you find in the Bible
where faith is, it?s in a person. It?s not in a time, it?s not
in a time when you believed. Most of us in here could not
tell you when we actually became believers, and then not only
is it a thing of time, It's not in a THING that we have, or a
PREED that we have, or a CHURCH we belong to, it's not in an
EXPERIENCE we've had, or any EMOTIONS we have, because ALL
of these things ebb and flow, but the PERSON the person that
believes, and he believed God, and in Him whom he believed.
And you know, faith ALWAYS believes a person, looks to a person,
and that person always remains the same, no matter what we go
through, that person remains the same, even God Himself. He
said, Ye sons of Jacob, ye are not consumed. Why not? Because
I am God, and I do not change. And I'll tell you, God cannot
lie. And I tell you, here's the thing, the presence or revelation
of God produces faith. When God revealed Himself to
Abraham and said, Go out, what did Abraham do? He responded.
Why? Because God produced faith in
him. He reacted to that revelation
that God gave. And that's the same way when
we hear the gospel. We react to what we're listening
to. Our faith is brought out for us. And the gospel produces
this faith. A revelation of God produces
faith. Oh my, it draws faith out, draws
it out. And I tell you something else,
not only is it the revelation of God, it s like when our Lord
Jesus said, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? They said,
Oh, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Who do YOU
say that I am? Thou art the Christ, you're the
Son of the Living God. Blessed art thou, Simon John
Jonas. Flesh and blood didn't teach
you that. My Father which is in heaven. And beloved, that's
what, you know, the thing that honors God more than anything
in this world is faith, faith. And I'll tell you what, and faith,
faith, God verifies our faith in us. You know how he verifies
our faith in us? It IMPUTES RIGHTEOUSNESS TO IT.
IF YOU BELIEVE, IT CALLS YOU A RIGHTEOUS MAN. LOOK OVER IT
NOW, KEEP ROMANS, LOOK OVER IT IN FIRST JOHN CHAPTER 5. FIRST
JOHN CHAPTER 5. I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS. YOU KNOW,
WE'RE MADE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, AND GOD VERIFIES OUR
FAITH BY PANELING US RIGHTEOUS. How do you know Abraham believed
God? God counted him righteous. That's what God does. He counts
us righteous. And oh my, look what he said
here in 1 John 5, 9. If we receive the witness of
men, now I'm a witness. I witnessed about God. I witnessed
about Christ. I witnessed about grace. I witnessed
about man's sin. I'm a witness of a lot of things,
a lot of things. A lot of things, but if we receive
the witness of men, what I say about God, about Christ, about
salvation, about grace, if I do it, the witness of God's greater.
How about God's witness? What does God witness to? For
this is the wisdom, witness of God, which he hath testified
of his son. We testify of him, but what does
God say about him? He that believeth on the Son,
now listen to this, this is what I'm talking about, hath the witness
in himself. God verifies our faith, who has
the witness in himself. What is that witness? That he
believeth, that he hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. I've got the witness in myself
in the Gospel, and the righteousness that Christ gave to me. And so
I tell you what, not only does God produce this faith, and God
is the one in our faith is in, in whom he believed. And I tell
you, that's what we say. Oh my. And I'm gonna say this,
God guarantees faith. Guarantees it. If he ever gives
you faith, he guarantees it. He guarantees you'll keep it.
Huh? Oh my. Faithful is he who also
calls you. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, BEING CONFIDENT, BEING CONFIDENT OF THIS ONE THING THAT
HE WHICH BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU, WHAT'S HE GOING TO DO? HE'S
GOING TO PERFORM IT UNTIL THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S A GUARANTEE! WE'RE CONFIDENT
OF THAT! WHY? WE GOT THE WITNESS IN OURSELF
THAT WE'RE RIGHTEOUS. HOW WAS WE RIGHTEOUS? THROUGH
CHRIST, THROUGH FAITH. And oh my, I tell you what, that's
what our Lord told Simon Peter, said, I prayed for you that your
faith fail not. And he's looking under Jesus. What is it? He's the author of
our faith and he's the finisher of our faith. And I'll tell you
something else. You know what it says about people
that believe? These all died in faith. Huh? Oh my. Faith. is real. Faith is concrete. Faith is definite. It's definite. It's not theoretical. Faith is
not theoretical. Faith is not an abstract principle.
Faith is not blind. Oh, people say, well, you've
got to trust blindly. No, no. Oh, no. No, our faith
is not blind. But, oh, some people say, well,
it's so hard to believe. To believe whom? To believe whom? Huh? The impetus of faith is
always, always placed upon the object rather than the act of
believing. Now, I've met lots of people
over the years that they said they looked at the time that
they believed. They look at the act of their believing. Now,
I'll tell you what, if we don't look to the act of
our believing, we look to a person in whom we do believe. Huh? Oh, my. That's why Paul said,
I am persuaded. I'm persuaded that whatsoever
I've committed to Him, He's able to keep it. Oh, my. To Him. It's to Him. To whom? And I'll tell you what. I'll
tell you, I don't make my act of believing my Savior. Christ
is my Savior. Even when my faith is nothing,
even when I m as low as I can possibly go, or no care how high
I go, I have but one Savior, and that s the Lord Jesus Christ,
and my faith is not my Savior. Christ is my Savior, and that
s what faith looks to, and oh, my! Now, that s the relation,
faith in the relation to its object, God. He said, God in
whom he believes. And oh, look what he says now,
look at faith as it relates to God's power. Again there in verse
17, God who quickeneth the dead, God who quickeneth the dead,
oh my, and calls those things which
be not as though they were. Do you know what that's telling
us? THAT GOD GIVES DEAD MEN LIFE, AND HE CALLS THINGS THAT DON'T
EVEN EXIST YET, HE CALLS THEM AS IF THEY DO, CALLS THEM AS
IF THEY DO. KNOWN UNTO GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. NOW HERE'S THE THING WITH ABRAHAM,
AND I BELIEVE THIS IS THE WAY WE ARE, HE BELIEVED THAT GOD
WOULD AND COULD AND GIVE HIM LIFE FROM THE DEAD. Everybody
knows about God telling Abraham to take Isaac and go up to a
mountain. Take your son, and he said, Your ONLY son. And Isaac
was the heir. Isaac was the son of promise.
Isaac inherited EVERYTHING, everything. And he was the promised son,
that God PROMISED him that he'd have this boy. And then He took
him up and said, Take him up and offer him as a sacrifice.
And the scriptures tell us very plainly that Abraham, by faith,
took Isaac up on that mountain, and he believed, he said, I and
the lad will go yonder and worship, and we'll return again. He believed
that if he offered his son, that the God who promised him that
his son Isaac was gonna be there, that God would raise him from
the dead and bring him back off that mountain with him. That's
how his faith was. I tell you what, and we believe
the same thing. God did quicken the dead. Did
He quicken you? He called you as if you wasn't
nothing, and I tell you, Abraham, oh, Abraham, God calls things
that don't exist as if they do. He told Abraham DECADES before
Isaac was ever born. You're going to have a son. Wait,
and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Got tired
of waiting. Sarah said, go into Hagar and have us a child. Well,
that didn't go over very good. That turned out to be a fiasco.
I mean, that really got things in a bad state. But oh my, none
of the things that was promised to Abraham were fulfilled in
Abraham's day. God said, I'll give you, I'll
give you a land. He said, he dwelt in tents. Didn't
know where he was going. He was a soldier and he was a
pilgrim, but he didn't know it, but every promise God made to
Abraham, he did not have every one of them before he left this
world. All he had when he left this
world was a grave, and he went and paid for that. Then he put
his wife in that grave before he was, and oh my. And I tell
you, Abraham saw them, all of them, by faith. The scripture
said he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God.
He was looking for a place that had a foundation, because there
wasn't none for him in this world. He just went from here to yonder
and here to yonder, never owned a spot of ground except his old
grave! And I tell you what, that's what
God does for us. Before we ever was born, And
that s what s so wonderful about the Gospel. The Gospel comes
along and tells us that when Christ died on the cross, when
I wasn t even born, He bore my sin. Before I ever existed, Christ
bore my sin. I believe that, don t you? And then he comes along and tells
me that he did it. And then he gives me faith to
believe that he did it. And then rewards me with my faith
with a righteousness. Figure that now if you can. Oh my, Abraham saw him, but he
saw him by faith. He saw, he received, you know,
he received the promises by faith, by faith. Seen him afar off. him afar off. And then look what
his faith as it relates to nature. His faith is an illustration
of our faith. Look what he says there in verse
18, Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become
the father of many nations. Now why didn't he? Faith relates to his nature,
to human nature. who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of Mitzvah. You know,
as far as nature is concerned, everything seemed to be against
Abraham. And yet he rested his faith solely
upon God. And on the strength of that hope,
he believed against all hope that anything could ever be done. He said, Father, I don't, he
told God, I don't have an heir. He said, you will, you will. And Abraham, when all hope was
gone, he still said, I believe in all. My faith is still looking
to something. Faith always has to do with the
future. And he said, oh, that there's something out there for
me that God doesn't promise me. And so against hope, he believed
in hope. I believe it's going to happen
out there, out there. And that's the way our nature
is. Oh, our nature. We'll get in some situation,
I hope, you know, I believe God will get me through this. And
that's what exactly what Abraham believed. That's what Abraham
believed. And look what it is according
to God's word. And this is what's so good about
it. Who against hope believed in hope that he might become
the father of many nations. And then here's the thing in
relation to God's word. According to that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed be. According to that which was spoken.
What does that tell us? Same thing it tells us every
time we hear the gospel, every time we read the word. What was
Abraham's warrant of faith? The word of God. God said. God told him. Huh? The word of God was the warrant
of Abraham's faith. The word of God is the warrant
for all believers. It's what God says. And it rests
upon who God is. It's impossible for him to lie.
You know, that's the, I don't know if I told you this.
I know I told somebody this, but I, you know, but I, you know,
somebody was preaching on Jonah the other day. I heard him preaching
on Jonah. You sit that thing out and I
listened to it. Kevin Thacker and uh, And I'd
made the statement one time, I preached on Jonah, and I said,
if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe
it. Did the whale swallow Jonah? If Jonah swallowed the whale
and God said it, I'd believe it. I believe what God says. Don't believe what I say, believe
what God says. That's what Abraham does. Abraham said, God, I promise
you, I promise you, and I tell you what, and that's what he
says, according to that which was spoken. Paul said, he said, you know,
I use plain language. You know what faith does? Faith
reasons from God and His Word, not in self, not in our circumstances. Did you hear what I just said?
FAITH REASONS FROM GOD AND HIS WORD, NOT IN OURSELF! FAITH DOES
NOT REASON FROM SELF! FAITH DOES NOT REASON FROM ITS
CIRCUMSTANCES! FAITH LOOKS AT THE WORD OF GOD
AND SAYS, I BELIEVE! YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK BAD,
I BELIEVE! DOCTOR GAVE YOU A DEATH KNELL,
I BELIEVE! I'M HAVING AN AWFUL ROUGH TIME,
I BELIEVE! It's awful dark, I believe! Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, they
was out, he got in the boat with Simon and the fellas and they
was out in the boat and he said, Simon, launch out in the deep,
throw the net on the right side, you'll have a great draft of
fishes. Old Simon Peter said, Lord, Lord,
Lord, Lord. He said, Lord, I've been a fisherman
all my life. And we've worked all night long.
We ain't caught the first fish. I know what fishing is. But you
know what he said? Nevertheless, at thy word. Nevertheless, at thy word. He
let that down. It took three or four of them
to pull it in there. And it's like the centurion had
the sixth servant. And our Lord said, you know,
I'll go over there and I'll heal your servant. That centurion
said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you come under my rule. All you
have to do is speak the word, send the word, and speak the
word, and my servant will be healed. That's all it takes for
God. You know what it takes for God
to save a man? One word. We've all been in some bad circumstances,
we've all been sick at one time or another, we've all had trouble
in our homes, all had trouble with death, and all had trouble
with great, great heartaches and things that happened to us,
things that we can't get over, and you know that changes our
whole life. But I'll tell you one thing,
we believe what God said. And you know what He said? I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. I'm not only that, but I'm gonna
go with you to the end of the world. When you get to the end
of your life, when you get to the end of your world, when you
get ready to leave this life and go into that next world,
he said, I'm gonna go with you right there. And then when you
get to the asylum, he'll be waiting on you. He's gonna take us, he's
gonna go with us all the way there, and he'll meet us when
we get there. Now what makes us believe that? The word which was spoken, the
word which was spoken. Oh my. In faith, faith in relation
to self, in relation to difficulties that would go through in this
world. Look what he said in verse 19. And being not weak in faith,
HE CONSIDERED, NOT HIS OWN BODY NOW DEAD, WHEN HE WAS A HUNDRED
YEARS OLD, NEITHER YET THE DEADNESS OF SARA'S WOMB." And it says
here, you know, he looked at himself and said, impossible,
this can't happen, I can't have a child, I'm a hundred years
old! Sara, she's 90! How are we going
to have a child? But now look what it said, He
considered not His own body, now dead. You know why He done that? He
believed God who quickened the dead, and He looked at the situation. Here's what He did. He considered
His own body. When God made that promise, a
hundred years old, And he looked at his body and he thought, well,
my body's dead. I can't, you know, I got no life
in this old body, but, and oh my. He deliberately, he deliberately
faced this problem. And he gave it careful, careful
attention. And in spite of the appearance
of things, that he was, body was now dead. Sarah was 90 years
old. You know what it says? In spite
of appearance, he persisted in trusting God. Oh, my. Oh, he persisted, deliberately
faced this problem, gave it careful attention in spite of the appearance
of things. He persisted in trusting God,
being not weak in faith. Oh, look at me, look at me. I don't know if he had mirrors
back then, but you know, I guess, I guess they'd look at a creek
or something like that, you know. Faith answers to faith in the
water. But he'd look at that, he'd look at himself and said,
there's no way, there's no way. But the scripture says, be not weak in faith. He looked
at everything that could possibly go wrong and said, It's gonna
happen, it's gonna happen. Oh, this was nothing unreal. This was not merely emotional
about his trust in God. He considered everything, every
obstacle, and being not weak in faith. He wasn't blind to
the situation he faced. He wasn't blind to his situation.
He faced the reality of it. And he trusted God. When they
came and told Abraham, they said, this time next year, this time
next year, you're gonna have a child. Sarah was in the tent
and she heard that. And she laughed and laughed and
laughed and said, oh, shall I? How can I do that as old as I
am? She just laughed, thought this is ridiculous. And he said,
why is Sarah laughing about? She went in there and said, Sarah,
why are you laughing? Oh, I'm not laughing. I'm not laughing.
But she thought, man, this can't happen. This can't happen. But
oh, my. Weak faith looks at difficulties
and rarely, rarely looks to God. Strong faith looks at God who
has promised and don't even consider difficulties. And then look at
faith triumphing here. Look at faith triumphing. Look
at this. In verse 19. Oh, being not weak in faith.
And look, God said down there, being not weak in faith. Listen
to this. He staggered not at the promise
of God, but was strong in faith. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but strong in faith, giving glory
to God. Oh my, he staggered not. He'd
staggered not at the promise of God. Now what in the world
staggered mean? Well, when you think of somebody
staggering, they move, you know, they move here and they move
there. And that's what Abraham didn't do. God made a promise,
he said, well, I don't know, I just don't know if I can believe
that or not. I just, you know, he, Swerve this way, swerve that
way. No, no, no, no. He didn't do
that. He didn't stagger. I was telling my wife, sweet, sweet
Shirley, all the way over here. I said, you know, when I first
started learning the gospel and preaching the gospel, I don't
know how many people come up to me and said, if what you're
saying is right, I'm lost. Do you believe my mom and dad
is lost? I never said anything about anybody being lost. I was
preaching what Abraham was doing. I was preaching what God does.
And if they come to the conclusion like that rich, young ruler,
they were SHOCKED and ASTONISHED at the gospel. I shocked and
astonished at the gospel and I'm still shocked and astonished
at the gospel that God in sovereign mercy would cross my path and
keep my path crossed all the days of my life. Huh? And that's the way Abraham was,
when God crossed his path and appeared unto him and called
him out of Mesopotamia, he was strong in faith, didn't stagger,
never swerved, never said, I need to go this way, I might ought
to try this thing, I might ought to try something else. But no,
no, he was strong in faith. What happened to him? And listen
to this, and it's being fully, down in verse 21, being fully
persuaded, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, and
listen to this, he is able to bring it to pass. He can do it. He can do it. If he promised
it, he is able, I'm persuaded beyond a shadow of a doubt. If
he promised it, he'll perform it. Three blind men, a couple
of blind men, come to our Lord Jesus Christ. And they said,
what would I do for you? Oh, that we might receive our
sight. You know what our Lord said to them? He said, do you
believe I'm able? That's what he asked them. Do
you believe I'm able? Yes! Their sight come just like that.
That's the way Abraham was. He was strong in faith. And listen
to this. being fully persuaded, oh, giving
to glory to God. That's what he was, giving God
all the glory. God, you did it all. You made
the promise. You fulfilled the promise. You
were able to perform the promise. And oh my, he was able to perform. Now Abraham really made a, When
he listened to Sarah and went in unto Hagar, and Ishmael was
born, that was one time his faith swerved. God came to him and
strengthened his faith, and he rested on God's Word and went
on in hope and joy, believing. And then look what else it says
here, down here in verse 22. Oh, being fully persuaded that
what he had promised he was able also to perform. Oh, he's able,
he's able, God's able. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness, because Abraham staggered not. Because
Abraham considered not his body. Because Abraham believed God. Because Abraham believed what
God had said to him. He believed the promise. He was
an old man, didn't consider his situation. He believed God. He
didn't stagger, he never stumbled. But he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And what did God do about it?
He imputed him to righteousness for it. You believe me? You believe my
word? You believe I'm able? You believe
that I'm going to keep my promise? You believe I'm going to make
you the father of many nations? Yes. You know what? You believe me, I'm going to
make you, I'm going to count you a righteous man. Oh my. Oh, listen to me now, God reveals
Himself, He gives the promise, and then He gives faith to BELIEVE
His promise, then imputes righteousness to Abraham for believing, and
he only believes with the faith that God gave him. Here s the thing about it. God
calls us righteous and counts us righteous, but He gave us
the faith to believe and then turns around and rewards us that
faith and says, You re a righteous man. When everything He gave
us, that s God. God can do that. Oh, my. When a man believes God, God
counts him righteous, and he gives by the faith that God gave
him. And oh, listen now, look in faith
as it goes to God's example. Now look what it says in verse
23. Now it was not written for Abraham's
sake alone. Not just written for Abraham's
sake alone. No, but for whose sake? NOW IT IS NOT WRITTEN FOR
HIS SAKE ALONE THAT IT WAS IMPUTED TO HIM, BUT IT WAS WRITTEN THAT FOR US
ALSO, FOR US ALSO TO WHOM IT SHALL BE IMPUTED IF WE BELIEVE
ON HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS OUR LORD FROM THE DEAD, WHO WAS DELIVERED
FOR OUR OFFENSES, RAISED FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION. SEE, THE OLD
TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN FOR US WHO WOULD BELIEVE and walk in
the steps of our father Abraham, and I say it is not written for
his sake alone, but for us. Abraham believed God, so that
is why we walk in the steps, and that is faith of Abraham
who is the father of us all. He believed God who quickens
the dead, and oh my! And I tell you, if he believed
God was able to perform, we believe God ALREADY has performed. Abraham
faith was counted for righteousness. Our faith in Christ having died
and risen again, ain't that what it says? But for us also to whom
it shall be imputed. Now listen to this, IF we believe
on Him, on God, that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
that's what Abraham believed, THAT HE'S GOING TO RAISE MY SON
FROM THE DEAD, AND THAT'S THE ONLY WAY I CAN BE THE FATHER
OF MANY NATIONS. AND I TELL YOU WHAT, AND I TELL
YOU CHRIST HAVING DIED AND RISEN AGAIN IS OUR FORGIVENESS AND
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR US. AND ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE HIS
DAY, WE REJOICE TO HAVE SEEN HIS DAY. THE REASON HE WAS RAISED,
LOOK WHAT IT SAYS NOW, THAT GOD RAISED HIM UP JESUS OUR LORD
FROM THE DEAD. Do you believe that God raised
Christ from the dead? Do you believe that Christ was raised
from the dead? God raised Him up. But what happened
before God raised Him up? He was delivered for our offenses,
delivered for our sins, delivered everything that was against us.
But listen to this, and this is what He has raised up for
our justification, that God justifies us and says, You're righteous.
That's about as good as it gets. That's about as good as it gets,
huh? I believe him, don't you? That's
why I'm gonna preach Sunday, you know, where our Lord said,
he told him, he said, I gotta go to Jerusalem. And I tell you
what, what's gonna happen to him when I get there? Well, it
happened. You know why it righteous and
imputed to us? Because we believe everything
Abraham did. When Christ was revealed to our
hearts, we didn't stagger. When the Gospels preached to
us, we didn't stagger. Do we believe God's able to keep
us? Do we believe God's able to save us? Yes. Do we believe
He raised Christ from the dead? Yes. You believe me, I'll tell you
what I'm going to do. You believe me, I'm going to say you're righteous.
Now, I could believe anybody else, couldn't get that, but
I believe Him and I did. Our Father, oh, blessed be your
name. Thank you for this gospel. Oh,
what a gospel. What good news. What glorious
news. Oh, Lord, Abraham's our father. He's the father of the faithful.
He's the father of all who believe. He's the father, and we walk
in that same steps of that faith of our father Abraham. As he
believed God would quicken the dead, we believe God did quicken
the dead. We believe God made a promise
to his son that he'd come and bear our sins away in his own
body on the tree. And Lord, when we heard that,
we staggered not, but rejoiced and we believed. Oh, how we believed. We believed Christ. We believed
God who raised him from the dead. We believe Christ was delivered
up for our sins and our offenses. But right now, our justification
before God, before the world, before our conscience, before
even God's Word, Christ is our justification before God right
now. And we thank you and bless you
for it. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away, away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. They're all taken away, away. They're all taken away, away. They're all taken away, away. My sins are all taken away. My sins are all taken away. My sins are all... You know,
there's another verse to that. So I'll praise the Lord for sins
forgiven. We missed that one. That's my
fault. See you Sunday. I'm going up to preach in Redeemer
Grace Church with Fred Evans, pastor, Friday and Saturday. And preach Friday night, Saturday
morning. I'll see you Sunday, God willing.