In Romans 4.3 it says this, For
what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. Let's take another look at saving
faith. Another look at saving faith.
The book of Genesis is called the seed plot of the Bible. And
what that means is that all the truths and all the doctrines
of the Word of God begin there. All the truths and all the doctrines
of the Bible begin in the book of Genesis. And they flourish
and grow throughout the Word of God as they get bigger and
bigger and more and more light. And there's also in the scriptures
what is called the Law of First Mention. And that means that
the first time you find something is mentioned, what it means there
is what it'll mean all the way through the scriptures. The first
time you find it mentioned, and what it means there, it'll mean
that all the way through the Bible. Now, in defining saving
faith, Abraham believed God. In defining saving faith, or
faith, or belief, you've got to go to the first time it's
mentioned. And where was it mentioned the very first time? Well, turn
there with me to Genesis 15. First time it's mentioned, Genesis
15.6. Here's where it starts, and now
we see here, Genesis 15.6, this is the first time that faith
is mentioned. First time faith or belief is
mentioned. as I mentioned, the first time
in all the scriptures right here. And God brought Abraham forth
and told him to look toward the heaven, tell the stars if he'd
be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And look what he says. And he
believed. He believed in the Lord. And
he counted it to him for righteousness. So whatever that means, believe,
or faith meant, believe. What it means right there, that's
what it means throughout the Scriptures. And it says, Abraham
believed God. Now look back over here in Romans
chapter 4 with me just a moment. Make a few comments here before
I get into my message. It says in Romans 4.16, Therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace, Why is it of faith
that it might be by grace? Because faith is not natural.
All men don't have faith. If you get it, God's got to give
it to you. And here's the reason being, the purpose that it's
of grace and faith to the end, the purpose being that the promise
might be sure to all the people. See, since it's of faith and
it's of grace, then the promise is going to be sure to everyone
God gave to Abraham and gave to Christ. Now watch this, not
only they which are of the law, not only they which are of the
Jews, but that also which is of the faith of Abraham. Those
who like Abraham believe God, who is the father of us all.
And then he says, just as God said in the beginning when he
told Abraham, as it is written, I have made thee a father of
many nations, I have made thee a great blessing to many nations.
Before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead,
and cause those things which be not as though they were."
Things that don't even exist, God would say, those things do
exist because they will. Who against hope? Now, here's
what Abraham's faith amounted to. Who against hope? Believed
in hope. When people say, all hope's gone,
you don't have any hope, Abraham said, against all hope, I believe. And his hope never died. that
he might become the father of many nations, to that which was
spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered his own body now dead, and I mean dead as far
as the ability to have children, when he was about a hundred years
old, and he didn't consider yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
who she was nine. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. God made promises to him and
made him wait and wait and wait and wait until it was impossible,
impossible for him to produce children. And he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. And here, I love this. You need
to go through the Scriptures one of these times and look at
persuaded. And being fully persuaded, fully convinced, That, what God
had promised, he is able also to perform. And watch this, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. And here's
what I want you to see. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone. God did not put that in the Scriptures just for Abraham
alone, that it was imputed to him. But for us, also, to whom
it shall be imputed, now watch this, if we believe on him that
raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead. Now, beloved, saving
faith. Abraham believed God, and he
was justified by faith. Now let me tell you the first
thing about saving faith. It's a work of God. Saving faith
is a work of God. And that means, beloved, it's
not... What did I say? Not to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. So faith is a work
of God. A Bible-living union with God
Himself. You know, the Scriptures tells
us, and you look with me over in Colossians chapter 2 and verse
12, and I'll show you just exactly what I mean. Faith is a work
of God. God joins us to the Lord Jesus
Christ in this business of faith. And we're joined, and we get
our life, we get our faith, we get our grace, we get everything
that we need by being joined to Christ. Christ is life, and
we are joined to Him, and we get our faith. We said we're
partakers of the divine nature. We're bone of His bone, flesh
of His flesh. And Colossians 2.12 says this,
buried with Christ in baptism. Wherein also ye are risen with
him. Now watch this. Now you're buried
with him. God recognized you to be one
with Christ. Buried with him in baptism. Wherein
also you're risen with him. How did you be buried with him?
How did you rise with him? Here's how it was. Through the
faith of the operation of God. who raised him from the dead.
God worked faith in you and operated faith in you and made you understand
that this is what took place when Christ was raised from the
dead. You're joined to him. Now won't
you see another place, Ezekiel 36. This is, this puts the icing
on the cake. Just favor him, believe God.
So saving faith is the work of God. Me and everybody, all these
preachers today, they've been saying this for, you know, for
years and years and years. The Jews believed it. A lot of
people believe it, that you're born with faith. You have faith.
And if the preacher can be convincing enough and persuasive enough
and the music can get right enough and everything can be in place,
then we can convince you to exercise that saving faith. You got it.
You just need to exercise it. But saving faith is the work
of God does for you. The Jews asked and said, what
is the work that we must work? The work of God that we work
in. Our Lord Jesus says, this is the work of God. That you
believe on Him whom God has sent. Now that don't mean that you
do the work. That means that if you believe on Him whom God
has sent, God does the work. God works in you to believe.
Now look here in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26. A new heart also will I give
you. A new spirit will I put within
you. And I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh.
Who does this? Your faith don't do it. Your faith don't reach to take
out of you. No, give me your heart. God said I want it. He
got to take it away from you. He got to take away the stony
heart. And what's this now? And I will put my spirit within
you. And I'll cause you to walk in
my judgment. And you shall keep my judgment
and do them. And you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be my people, and
I shall be your God. That tells me that everything
that happens in our lives, savingly, God done it. I'll take it. Nobody's
a stony heart. I'll put my spirit within you.
I'll cause you to walk. I'll give you a new heart. I'll
give you a new spirit. Now that sounds like something
God does. And secondly, not only is saving
faith a work of God, but saving faith is a gift of God. Not only
does God work faith in you, but it's a gift that God gives you. You're not born with it, for
by grace are you saved. through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works. If Abraham is justified before
God by works, he hath worth the glory, but not before God. He
glory before man, but not before God, because we know that saving
faith is the gift of God. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. Look in John 6 with me, just
a moment. John 6, 64. You know, it's not only given
you to suffer for Christ, but also to believe on Him. It's
given to you. And, oh, beloved, a man can receive
nothing except it be given to him from heaven, from God. Look here in John 6 and verse
64. Look what it says here. Look
what our Master said. But there are some of you that
believe not. He told them, look at that Adam.
He said, there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should
betray him. Now listen, here's what I'm telling you. And he
said, therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me,
now listen to it, except it were given unto him of my father. If you don't come to God, God's
got to give you faith to come. You ain't coming to Christ unless
God gives you what it takes to come. Ain't that what that says?
And that's the idea, you know, that you can walk an aisle and
you can accept Jesus anytime, is that's foreign to the Scriptures.
And, oh, beloved, so saving faith is the gift of God. Augustine
says this, faith is to believe what we do not see. Faith is
to believe what we do not see. And the reward of faith is to
see what we believe. Not only is saving faith the
work of God, saving faith the gift of God, but now saving faith
is a living principle. Now what do I mean by that? I
mean by that saving faith is not an isolated act. We don't
have to keep going back to a time when we believed. Once you start
believing, you always believe. It's not an isolated act. The
scripture says the just, the just shall live by faith. Abraham
lived for years and years and years before he ever had Isaac. And it looked like all hope was
gone that he'd ever have a child. And yet in hope, he believed
in hope. And considered not his own body
now dead, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God every day. He said, oh, listen, it wasn't
an isolated act. Oh, the just shall live by faith.
And Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. I've been convinced beyond a
shadow of doubt that what I've committed unto him, he's able
to keep it against that day. You know, Noah prepared an ark.
Why did he do that? He worked on that ark for over
120 years. He was 120 years working on that
ark. He didn't go back and say, well,
I know I'm saved, I know I got saved in faith because God told
me it's going to rain. No, no. For 120 years, his faith
was a living Bible principle in his life. Every day he drove
a nail and put tar on that ark. And I tell you, beloved, we walk
by faith, not by sight. I have believed, I do believe,
and by God's blessed grace, I will believe. Look with me at James with me
just a moment. James chapter 2. And not only is it a living
principle, but it's a producing principle. Faith. We're talking
about saving faith now. Saving faith. We're not talking
about You know, one day you walked an aisle, one day you got on
an altar, one day you had some kind of an experience and felt
goosebumps. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about hearing the gospel, believing the gospel,
trusting Christ. And I mean faith, being with
you every day, every moment of your life after God does this
work of God in you and gives you grace. And that's a producing
principle. Faith without works is dead.
Look what he said here in James chapter 2 and verse 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? That if you have faith and you
do not manifest the grace of God, the love of God, the commitment
to Christ, that your faith is dead? Was not Abraham our father
justified by works? What does he mean? When he had
offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar. Seest thou how faith
wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Now, what does he mean by that? The Scripture just says that
Abraham was justified by faith, not by works. But James is talking
about his works justified his faith. Now, when Abraham told
them fellows, he said, I'm the latter going yonder to worship
God. And we will return." And he took
with him wood, fire, and an iron to do one thing, to offer his
son Isaac on an altar. Now, God knew he had faith. God
gave it to him. But, beloved, when he came down
off that mountain with that boy again, and he goes to an altar,
his faith was justified by the fact that he took his son up
on that altar. And our faith is given to us by God, but our
works before men justifies our faith. Does that make any sense
to you? The Lord Jesus justifies my soul. Works justifies my faith. Now what I mean by that is, is
that if a person is not committed to Christ, not committed to the
Gospel, not committed to the Scriptures, I mean, if he's not
committed to that, works lets me know and lets you know that
I have justified faith. Now what kind of words are we
talking about? Well, you love the gospel, you love Christ,
you love his people, you attend the gospel, you give, you're
generous, you're kind, you're understanding, you're forgiving. Is that not right? And all of
those, you know, The fruit of the Spirit. This is what he's
talking about, living but producing. The fruit of the Spirit, the
first word is love, gentleness, kindness, meekness, faith, temperance, against which there is no law. That's what the fruit of the
Spirit is. And not only is saving faith that, a word, a gift, and
a living and a producing principle, but it's a preserving principle.
What do I mean by that? It never ever quits. Saving faith
never quits. It continues until it gives way
to reality. Now look with me over in 2 Timothy
just a moment. Back over to Hebrews and then
just keep going to your left to your 2 Timothy. In 1st chapter
4. I'll tell you, saving faith never
quits. I was talking to a fellow the other day, and he said all
his life he told his children, go to church, go to church, go
to church, go to church. And he says, now my children,
all three of them, are telling me to go to church. He said,
I started out on the front row, moved to the middle of the church.
Next thing you know, I was at the back row. Next thing you
know, I'm out. He said, I've got to get started again. No, he needs to eat a lot more
just to get started going to church again. Here's the thing,
beloved. With our saving faith, it never
quits. It continues. It continues until
it gives way to reality. Look what Paul said here in 2
Timothy 4, in verse 6. Oh my, it's what we're talking
about. I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure
is at hand. You know how he's going to die,
and he knows how he's going to die? He's going to have, Nero
is going to cut his head off. He's in prison. He says, I'm
ready. I am ready. They're going to
take me out here and some big Roman soldier is going to take
a great old big axe, like this here, and he's going to put me
on the chop block, and they're going to draw back, and when
they get through, my head's going to be off. He said, I'm ready! But this is all he's interested
in. I fought a good fight. I mean, beloved, this is a war.
This is a fight. It's a fight of faith. It's a
fight against the flesh. It's a fight against sin. It's
a fight against the world. It's a fight against that awful,
depraved nature we've got. It's a fight. And I finished
my course. I got to the end of my race. And all listened to it. And I
kept. I guarded. This faith was so
vital to me, and so real to me. I kept the faith. Oh, now watch
what, "...has laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord," and listen to this now, "...he's the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but also unto
all of them that love his appearing." Huh? When all those disciples
walked away, he turned to the twelve and said, will you also
go away? Lord, to whom shall we go? You've got the words,
the words of eternal life. All right, so that's saving faith.
It's the work of God. It's a gift of God. It's a living
principle. It's a just live by faith, not
an isolated act, producing principle. It produces works, and grace,
and faith, and love, and gentleness, and goodness, and preserving
principle. I mean, beloved, we are not of
them that draw back unto perdition, but we believe to the saving
of the soul. So how do we know? How do we
know Abraham believed God? How do we know that we believe
God? How do we know we have this saving faith? Well, I tell you. It's very simple. You can't get
any simpler than this. How do we know Abraham believed
God? How do we know we believe God? Well, his faith was revealed
by trial. Abraham, typical of believers,
he's the father of us all, he had a life that was full of trials,
and a life with trials in him. And how he reacted to them, and
how we react to them, tells whether we have saving faith or not.
When God puts a trial in our life, really tries us, like He
did Abraham, how we react to those trials tell whether we
have saving faith or not. Now, we're going to go to Genesis
and we're going to be over here for a while. Genesis chapter
12. We're just going to see what God says about Abraham over here
and how God dealt with him and all the things that shows that
he has saving faith. The first thing, how do we know
Abraham believed God? How do we know it? His faith. The first thing about his faith
is it separated him from unbelievers. It brought him out from unbelievers.
Genesis 12, 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country and from thy father's house unto
a land that I will show thee. If a man loves his father and
his mother and his brother or sister more than me, he's not
worthy of me. If he finds his life in this
world, he shall lose it, but if he loses his life for my sake
and the gospel, he shall find it. Abraham said, I ain't gonna
leave mommy. I'm not gonna leave daddy. All
my brothers and sisters, I tell you what, if you don't save him,
I ain't gonna go. No, and he says, and I'll make
of thee a great nation, and I'll bless thee and make thy name
great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. Now what happened with Abraham?
God told him that. Get out! Get out! Abraham departed. Listen to it. As the Lord had
spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abraham was seventy-five
years old when he was called and when he departed out of Herod.
You see, this faith that God had worked in Abraham was a sovereign
call. Abram! Didn't call anybody else.
Abram! And that was a sovereign call.
Didn't call anybody else. It was a personal call. Called
him by name. Abram. And it was a separating call.
Depart. Go out. Go out. And I tell you,
beloved, his faith and Paul's sacrifice turned away from your
present way of life. Turned away from it. And I tell
you, if you come to true faith, you know who you'll experience
trouble at? The first place you'll experience
trouble is in your own family. That's the first place you'll
experience trouble. He said, you think I came to
send peace? No, I came to send the four.
I was going to send a father against his son, a mother against
her daughter, a mother and father against their daughter-in-law
and their son-in-law. That's what's going to happen.
Everybody's not going to rejoice in the fact that you got saved.
Everybody's not going to rejoice in the fact that you've been
given grace. In fact, they'll say, well, what in the world
makes you so special? We've been going to church all our lives.
Why do you do this? Why do you do that? Why do you
believe this? Why do you believe that? God said, go out. Abraham
says, well, daddy, I'll see you. Mother, I'll see you. All these
brothers and sisters, I'll see you. Where are you going? I don't
have any idea. Why are you going? God called
me to go. You mean to tell me you love God and you're going
to leave us and you're going to separate yourself from us
because a God you've never seen called you and told you to go
out? That's what I'm telling you.
And I'll tell you, saving faith has to do with total commitment
and a new goal. He says, you go to a land that
I show you. I'm going to show it to you.
I don't even know where it's at now, but I'm going to go.
And that's what we do. We're looking for a land that
we've never seen. They sung about it. Emmanuel's
land. Emmanuel's land. That's what
we're looking for. We're looking for that place. And Abraham departed. That's
the response of true faith. He got up and left. And I'll
tell you another thing about Abraham's faith. And if we have
saved his faith, it's this way. Abraham's faith delivered him
from selfishness. Now look over here in Genesis
13. Delivered him from selfishness. Oh, here in Genesis 13, 5. Look
what happens. Now remember, Lot went out with
him. Lot was his nephew. And Lot also, which went with
Abram, had flocks and herds and tents, and the land was not able
to bear them, that they might dwell together. For their substance
was so great that they could not dwell together. And there
was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen
of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite
dwelt in the land." And listen to what happens now. And Abraham
said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between
me and thee, and between mine herdmen and thine herdmen, for
we be brethren. Is not the whole land before
us? Separate yourself, I pray thee,
from me. And if you'll take to the left
hand, then I'll go to the right. If you depart to the right, then
I'll go to the left." Abraham, he's the eldest. He's the one
called of God. And what did he say? He could
have said, Lot, you take this desert, I'm going to go down
there where the well-watered plains are. No, no, that's not
what he said. He said, you choose. Whatever
you choose, I'll take what's left. Whatever you want, I'll
take. You know, you pick out what you
want, and I'll take. Oh, that's a true faith, like
love, she's not her own. And giving God His choice, you
know what He did? He fulfilled God's choice. He
fulfilled God's choice. And our beloved age delivered
Him from selfishness. You go your way. I'll let you
choose. I'll let you choose. Don't want
no strife. Don't want no argument. Don't
want no trouble. Don't want no trouble. Don't want no trouble.
Look what else happens. And look over here in Genesis
14. Abraham's faith delivered him from Selfishness and also,
beloved, it made him look to God to supply all of his needs.
Look here in Genesis 14, verse 27, I believe it, 20, 21. You remember Abraham here came
and got locked and all of his brethren back and all the stuff
back that the king of the dead had come and taken away. And
the king of Sodom said unto Abram, and the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the persons and you take the goods to thyself.
Give me the people that you saved and you take all the goods. And
Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand to
the Lord, the most high God, listen to him now how he describes
him, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. And I will
not take from a thread even to a shoelace, and that I will not
take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have
made Abram rich." What's he saying? I'm not going
to let a heathen king supply my need. I've lifted my hand
to God Almighty. I'm not going to let a heathen
king say, you know, Abraham got all he got because he got it
from me. Because here I am, I'm a heathen
king, and I don't believe in his God. I don't have no faith
in his God. I don't have nothing to do with
him and his God. But boy, look what he's got,
because I gave it to him. I supplied it for him. He wouldn't
have nothing if it hadn't been for me. And Abraham said, I'm
not going to take a thread, not a thread, or not even a shoelace. He looked to God to supply all
of his needs. That's why Paul said, God shall
supply all your needs according to His riches in grace given
us in Christ. Now you listen to me right here.
This is something we all need to face. This is something we
all need to deal with because we are so materialistic. And
we have so much possessions now. We really need to listen to this.
He said, I've lifted my hand to God, and I'll not take a thread
or a thumbnail. I look to God. Now, listen to
me. Money and possessions are not the root of evil. Money and
possessions are not the root of evil. The love of them are. Love of them are. And there's
three areas. Now, I want you to pay attention,
because I think we really need to hear, I need to hear this.
There are three areas where care, really care, needs to be exercised
in regard to what we possess in this world. You see, God,
and here's the first one, three areas, God cares how you acquire
your possessions, how you get what you get. Now, if you get
it by extortion, if you get it by lying, if you get it by deception,
If you get it by charging something more than what it's worth, God
cares how you get your possessions. I heard a fellow say the other
day, he said, you know, you reckon McDonald's is hiring? Listen,
if it's an honest living, I don't care where you work. If it's
an honest living, I told my son and my daughter both, I said,
if it's an honest living, I'd rather see you dig ditches and
make minimum wage, and know God is to have everything in this
world and not know Him. Huh? God cares how you get it. And if you get it by hook and
crook and lot... And not only that, beloved, here's
the second fact that we need to pay attention to. Now, Abraham
said, I'll lift up my hand To God, He's the possessor of heaven
and earth. What in the world could you possibly
do for me? He owns it all. Not only does
He care how you get it, but He cares how you look on your possessions. How you look upon them. How you
consider them. They're not to be our gods, and
they're not to be our goals. Huh? You remember when the Lord
Jesus says, you know He says, that seed that fell among thorns?
He says, you know how it didn't bring forth fruit? The cares
of this world came upon it. The deceitfulness of riches.
Riches always promise you what it cannot give. If I could just
get enough money to take care of this, get enough money to
handle that, get enough money to do this. Money always, all
promise you, if you get enough, you can do this and that and
the other. But you never get enough to do it all. Now, isn't that right? Riches
will lie to you. I know. I'm telling you the honest
God's truth. That's why the Lord said, let
a man deny himself. People go out here and spend
They'll walk in a store and lay down a $20 bill or a $50 bill
and say, give me this many lottery tickets. You know why they do
that? That it'll make me rich, and when I get rich, I'll be
able to do this, that, and the other. And they're spending all
their wealth trying to get rich. They can't be content with what
God gives. Oh, listen. And then, not only
does God care how you look on your possessions, and I'll tell
you this much, and this is the truth. God help us, God help
us, God help us. We live in a moment of materialistic
society, and here's the thing about it. There ain't a soul in this building,
not anybody you've ever known, not anybody you've ever went
to a funeral, not anybody you've ever went to the gravesite, That
took one thing with them when they left here. Ruby told me the other day, said
when she goes and they have her in her casket, she wants to have
her jewelry on her. But she says, when they get ready
to close it, I want my kids to take it off of me. Don't worry, she'll take her
jewelry with her. So, you know, I won't be laying
there in my casket. I want it on me. I want to look
nice. Before they close the lid, take it all off and give it to
them. God help us. And I'll tell you,
let me show you this. You keep Genesis in your left
hand. Look with me over in Luke chapter 12. That's what our Lord
said. He said, lay not up for yourselves
trashers on the earth. Don't lay them up for yourself.
We're maws and rust and thieves, corrupt and steel, and get it
from you, look in with me in Luke 12. Now, I said God cares how you
get your possessions. He cares how you look at your
possessions. They shouldn't be your gods or
our goals. And then thirdly, here's the
third thing about Abraham. He said, I've lifted my hand
to the Most High God. God cares how you use your possessions. How you use them. How you use
them. Look here in Luke 12, 15. And he said unto them, Take heed,
and beware of covetousness. Now listen. For a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. You see, beloved, a man's life doesn't consist in how long he
lives, not how much he possesses, not how much we know, and not
who knows me. A man's real life is like Paul
said, I know whom I have in me, Christ, who is my life. And, beloved, when that happens,
faith looks squarely at the material things of this world and says,
you know, all this is fantasy. It's going to all fade away.
And I'm going to be like Abraham. I'm going to trust God. And whatever
God gives me, that's what I'll take. And I'll, by His blessed
grace, I'll use it to His glory and the good of His people to
support the gospel. All right, let me show you something
else. Genesis 21. You know, his faith not only
was revealed by trial, separating
from unbelievers, delivering from selfishness,
from materialism, But also, his faith was willing
to part with his works and look to grace alone. Look at Genesis
21.9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son. Now
this is Abraham's child. This is Abraham's flesh and blood. And cast out this bondwoman and
her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with
my son, even with Isaac. And Bethang was very grievous
in Abraham's sight because of his son. I mean, it hurt him
deep. And God said unto Abraham, Let
it not be grievous unto thee, in thy sight, because of the
lad and because of the bondwoman, in all that Sarah hath said unto
thee, hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac shall thy seed be
caused." You see, beloved, Abraham, I mean Ishmael, was a child of
his flesh. He was a child of his works.
He was produced by him. And a bondwoman, a slave. And that's typical of the works
of flesh. And he had to go. Abraham, he's
here. He's evidence of your depravity,
of your flesh, of your own works. And he can't stay here. He's
got to go. But Isaac was the son of promise.
He was born supernaturally. He was the son of grace. He was
a fulfillment of God's promise and God's power. And that's why. That's why. We have no confidence
in this flesh. And then let me show you this
in Genesis 22. Genesis 22. And his faith, his faith yielded
and gave up to God his most prized possession. Genesis 22, 1 through
5. Look at it here. And it came
to pass after these things that God did tempt or try Abraham
and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, I'm here. And he says, take now thy son. And oh, God just keeps drawing
it closer and drawing the noose closer. Thy only son, Isaac. Not only is he the only son,
but he's the son who you love. Get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
which I will tell thee of. Abraham rose up early in the
morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with
him, and Isaac his son. And he claimed the wood for the
burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which
God had told him. Then on the third day, they had
been walking up that mountain three days, Abraham lifted up
his eyes, and he saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto
his young men, Abide ye herewith, I ask, and I and the lad will
go yonder and worship, and will come to you again to you. Now
I tell you what, that takes some faith. Go and offer your only
son. Offer him. Make an offering out
of him. For a burnt offering. Now look
down at verse 12. And the Lord said, Lay not thine
hand upon the lad. Now you reckon God, this is where
Abraham's faith was justified by works. He did what God told
him to do. And he, but God knew he had faith.
God gave him the faith and he knew that God knew exactly what
he had to do. Lay not thine hand upon the lad,
neither do thou anything unto him. For now I knowest that thou
fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son, from me. The most prized thing, the thing
that you love more than anything in this world, he says, you're
willing to give it to me. In your heart, you're already
done. God tried him, and then it says in verse 13, and Abraham
lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram. and offered him for a burnt offering
instead of his son. Oh, God tried him. Look with
me in Hebrews 11 and I'm through. You know, God revealed Abraham
and tried him here and revealed him the doctrine, the blessed
truth of substitution. But he also revealed the faith
of this man who was willing to give his son to God Almighty,
willing to give him up. Hebrews 11, 17. Whatever is your most prized possession,
whatever you count to be most precious, God said in his heart,
he already gave it up. Hebrews 11, 17. My faith, when
he was tried, Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac, and he that received the promises offered up his only
begotten, of whom it was said, this is what God told him, that
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now here is where his faith came
in. He accounted, believing that God was able to raise him up
even from the dead, from which also he received him in the future. Now, here's what Abraham believed.
He says, since God made me a promise that in my son the Messiah would
come, who would save Jew and Gentile, that if I offer my son
up as a burnt offering, God, in order to fulfill His
promise, will have to raise that boy again from the dead. Now, he believed. He went up
there believing that if I offer him, God will raise him up from
the dead. Because before he went, he says, I'm the last. Go go
yonder and worship. And we're coming back again.
And sure enough, he did. Huh? Saving faith. Have you got
it? Have you got it? Our blessed, blessed Savior,
O gracious, eternal God, Oh, we bless You for Your Word
that's so powerful, so gracious, so affectionate, so edifying,
so strengthening, so comforting. Father, bless this Word to understand
it. Bless this Word to the heart,
the mind, the soul. Dispel darkness and bring light. Put that new heart, that new
spirit. And some gathered here today
who ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.