to Romans chapter 4. And while you're turning there,
that passage you were reading out of 2 Samuel 24, I was looking
for it, and I couldn't find it, but it's in the Bible. I wish
I could give you the chapter, verse, and book. I think it's
somewhere in Exodus. But the Lord said, when you take
a census, make sure you collect. the atonement money, the half
shekel atonement money. And David had a census without
collecting the atonement money. And he was considering people
as the people of God apart from the atonement. And that's why
that was so bad. And God said, if you take a census,
And if you don't collect the atonement money, and this atonement
money was the same everybody had to pay. Whether you were
rich or poor, everybody gave the same thing. We're all saved
the same way, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because
he took the census without the atonement money, God actually
said a plague will come. And that's exactly what happened.
Romans chapter four, I've entitled this message, The Faith of Abraham. By way of introduction, I would
like to make this statement and I want you to hear it. I am not saved because of my
faith. I'm saved because God elected
me. I'm saved because Christ put
away my sin and gave me his righteousness. I'm saved because God the Holy
Spirit came and gave me life and gave me faith, gave me grace
to believe. I'm not saved because of my faith. I'm saved because of what God
did for me. And this is just as true. I am
not saved apart from faith. Nobody will be saved who does
not believe the gospel. No one will be saved apart from
faith. Faith in Christ, Jesus the Lord. Now, look with me in verse 19
with regard to Abraham. The faith of Abraham. and being not weak in faith. He considered not his own body,
now dead, when he was yet about 100 years old, neither yet the
deadness of Sarah's womb. And notice there's something
he didn't consider. There's something faith does not consider. Verse 20, 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, God, had promised he was able also to perform. Look down in verse, or up in
verse 16. Therefore it, righteousness. Verse 13, for the promise that
he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to
his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of
faith. Therefore it, referring to righteousness, is a faith. that it might be by grace to
the end that 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. When it's said that Abraham is
the father of us all, The all refers to the elect. He is the
father of all the elect, all who Christ died for, all who
believe. And they all possess the same
faith as their father. If I'm one of Abraham's spiritual
children, If you're one of Abraham's spiritual children, you believe
exactly what he believed. No difference. If I'm a child
of Abraham, and believers are called children of Abraham, aren't
they? If I am a child of Abraham, the spiritual seed, I will possess
the exact same faith that Abraham. Now this is something that helped
me quite a bit. In verse 19 and 20, being not
weak in faith. And look in verse 20, last phrase,
strong in faith, giving glory to God. Now all my life, when
I've read that, I've thought about the strength of Abraham's
faith. We read of weak faith, and we read of strong faith.
And I think I could never have the strength of Abraham's faith.
I'm more in the weak sector, and Abraham had strong faith.
But you're going to find this helpful, I believe. The word
weak is not an adjective. The word strong. is not an adjective. Now, an adjective is a description
of a noun, a big plane or a small person. These words are not adjectives,
but they're verbs. What does that mean? He being
not weakened in faith, but him being strengthened in faith. Big difference. It's not talking
about, well, there's weak faith and then there's strong faith.
No, he was not weakened in faith, but was strengthened, divinely
enabled in faith. The word is enabled. He was enabled
by God to have this faith. Now, What that lets me know is
the same grace that enabled Abraham. He was strengthened. He was enabled
in the verb. There is actually in the passive
voice. He was acted on. He was acted
on. God did something for him that
caused him to be strengthened in faith. That's where that strong,
he wasn't just talking about strong faith and here's a fellow
with weak faith and here's a fellow that's strong in faith. No, your
faith can be weakened. We're gonna see how that works
from this passage of scripture. And your faith can be strengthened
by the grace of God. Now, In Romans chapter three,
before we get to chapter four, in Romans chapter three, we have
the glorious gospel defined. I love Romans chapter three.
And after preaching the gospel so clearly, the gospel of how
God can be just and justify the ungodly, he says in verse one
of chapter four, what shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? How does Abraham measure
up to what I just said in Romans chapter three? Now Romans chapter
three, let me remind you what it says. Look in verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. No excuse. Guilty as charged. I can't charge God with injustice. I can't say he's being too strict.
Guilty as charged. Have you ever been there where
you're guilty? Your mouth is stopped. You don't
have any excuses. You don't have any, you got nothing
to bring. Guilty as charged. Let's go on reading. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. If you have any understanding
of God's holy law, the Ten Commandments, you know what that means? That
means you have broken every commandment non-stop. Do you believe that
much yourself? You have broken every commandment. Nonstop, you've not kept one
commandment. Now if you believe you've kept
one commandment, you prove by that you don't really understand
God's law. You haven't seen the breadth of it, the holiness of
it. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Every time I think of
the 10 commandments, I go over each one of them and I know All
I've done is broken them. Every minute of my life. I mean,
even while I'm preaching, I'm sinning. I'm telling the truth. But even when I tell the truth,
I'm gonna make some kind of slant that makes me look better. I'm
not going to be honest, as I should be. I never am, even when I'm
quoting scripture. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And if you don't believe what
I'm saying, it's because you have no understanding of the
law of God. Now let's go on reading. But now, verse 21, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. Don't miss that. He didn't say,
by faith in Jesus Christ. He says, by the faith of Jesus
Christ. You see, somebody had to believe God perfectly. Jesus
Christ did. He said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. He believed God perfectly. And it's by his faithfulness. His faith. I got so much more
confidence in His faith than my own. I'm justified by the
faith of Christ. Christ did everything in salvation,
didn't He? Right down to the faith. I'm justified by the faith
of Christ. And that's what the Bible says. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all
them that believe, For there's no difference. I love that passage
of Scripture. There's no difference. You know,
there's no difference between one man and another. There's really
no difference between me and you. There's no difference between,
in God's sight, the most moral man and the most immoral man,
in God's sight. Oh, we make differences, but
we're talking about what God sees. God looks on the heart.
And there is no difference. For All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now
listen to what this is saying. Being justified. Now, you know what it means if
you're justified? That means you stand before God sinless. Absolutely sinless. And this
is most real. You really are sinless before
God because you were justified freely, not by what you did,
but because he willed it through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. When he said, it is finished,
The sins of all of the elect were made not to be. Now, if you're a believer, that
sin that you've got on your heart right now, that you've confessed,
it's not. Yes, it is. You confess it. We're
told to every day to pray for the forgiveness of sins. Scripture
says that. But what justification is, is a state of sinlessness
before God. You're justified. You are perfectly
righteous in God's sight. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth or foreordained to be a propitiation. Now that
is a word we don't use much, but it means a sin-removing sacrifice. He was manifested to take away
our sins. In him is no sin. If I'm in him, I have no sin. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say it this time, his righteousness
Now, in this thing of the forgiveness of sins, when God forgives me
of my sin, yes, He's merciful. Yes, He's gracious. He's righteous. He's absolutely righteous. I
don't have any sin to be condemned for. His righteousness is declared
in the gospel. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law works? Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. There's the gospel. Now where
does Abraham fit in to all this? That's what Paul asks in chapter
four, verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath fact? Where does
he fit in into this thing of justification by faith? And he's gonna tell what justification
by faith means in this chapter. And if you wanna understand what
justification by faith is, if God is pleased to teach us, we'll
know. He says, four, if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. He could take credit. At least I did this. At least
I quit doing that. At least I believed. At least I received Jesus Christ
as my personal savior and somebody else didn't. At least I, you
put an I in it, you've destroyed it. If Abraham were justified by
works, by something he had done, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. For what saith the scripture,
and that's always the appeal, the authoritative word of God,
what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness That's all about what took place
in Genesis chapter 15 verse 6 where God had told Abraham See the
stars sand seashore. Can you number them? So show
your seed be and Do you know Abraham did not yet have any
children? As a matter of fact, his name means Father of Multitudes.
And I bet that was difficult for him to take. All of his life,
why'd they call me Father of Multitudes? I never even had
a child. And yet, God says, you're gonna have this multitude of
descendants, and thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
And he believed God with no evidence that he could see only what God
said. That's what faith is. It doesn't
look for evidences. If I say to you, are you saved? Are you sure? Do you know you'll
go to heaven when you die? What does that make you do? Start looking within. You start
looking for evidences. Well, if I'm saved, would I be
this way, or would I be that way, or would I start doing this,
or would I quit doing that? That's the first thing you do.
Whenever somebody asks you that question, and really, If somebody
asks you that question, understand, they don't know the gospel when
they're asking you that question. Are you sure you're saved? Do
you know you're saved beyond the shadow of a doubt? You know,
if somebody asked me that question, I'll start thinking, I hope,
I hope I am. But I'll start looking within,
and I'll start thinking, well, maybe I'm not. You know, that
question, you know, the Bible doesn't. It says believe on Christ.
It doesn't say believe you're saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. But... what this thing of what
say the scripture Abraham believed God with no evidence but the
word of God and was candid to him for righteousness now to
him to work if salvation is caused by something you do is the reward
heavenly glory not reckoned of grace it's not the gift of grace
but of death if you do something for your salvation I don't care
what it is if any of your salvation is dependent on what you do God,
you're debtor. My dear friend, God's nobody's
debtor. He is nobody's debtor. Here's the gospel Abraham believed,
but to him that worketh not. This person is convinced that
he cannot be saved by works. to any measure, to any degree. He worketh not. That's not talking about some
lazy, indifferent attitude toward the things of God. It means that
you know that if salvation is dependent upon you in any way,
you will not be saved. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, on him that justifieth the ungodly. Now this is the gospel. God,
through what Christ did on Calvary's tree, actually justifies the
ungodly. He makes the ungodly to be absolutely,
perfectly just. And this justification we're
talking about, when you're in heaven, You know, God's not going
to say, and I want to say this reverently, but God's not going
to say, I remember what you did. I remember what you thought.
No, He's going to see you as one absolutely having never sinned. And if He sees you that way,
you know what? Because that's the way it is. What about that
publican who went home from the, who left the temple and what'd
the Lord say about him? That one who was crying, God
be merciful to me, the sinner? Christ said, I say unto you,
that man went down to his house justified. He didn't use the
word forgiven or shown mercy. Justified. Absolutely without
guilt. Standing before God sinless.
And listen to me, if you're justified, that means right now, present
tense, you are before God without sin. Completely without sin. This is the glory of the gospel.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. This is what
David believed, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man under whom God imputeth righteousness. Well, that works. God says, you're
righteous. and it didn't have anything to
do with your works. Say it, verse seven. Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. What greater blessing is there
than that? For God to not impute your sin
to you. It never happened. and to impute
his righteousness to you so that you stand before God with the
very righteousness of Jesus Christ. What could be better than that?
What could be more blessed than that? Now, verse nine, cometh
this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the
uncircumcision also? Is this just for the circumcised
Jew? Or may Gentiles have this? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. When God said this, it was in
Genesis chapter 15. Circumcision didn't come around until Genesis
chapter 17. So when God said this to Abraham,
Abraham had never been circumcised. Verse 11. And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith,
which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe. That's me and you if we believe.
He's my spiritual father. I'm a child of Abraham, I'm the
seed of Abraham. Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness
might be imputed unto them also. And the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
circumcised for the promise that he should be the heir of the
world. That's a high honor, isn't it? the heir of the world. I
know Christ is the heir of the world. And I know that everybody
in him, whatever Christ has, they have too. As he is, so are
they in the world. That's what scripture says. Now,
this promise that Abraham is to be the heir of the world,
and that's because of who he is in Christ. But this promise
of being the heir of the world make Bill Gates and Elon Musk
and all those people look like paupers. The promise that he
should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his
seed through the law. It wasn't, I'll give you this,
if you keep this law, but through the righteousness of faith. For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
it's absolutely meaningless. And the promise made of none
effect, it won't save anybody. Because the law worketh wrath,
that's all it does. The law worketh right. The strength
of sin is the law. Now if you're under law, if I'm
under law, I'm never gonna love God. I'm gonna be resentful. I'm gonna think he's too hard
on me. I'm gonna wish he wasn't so strict. I'm gonna think he,
I'm just gonna have all kinds, I will not love God under law. The only way you'll ever love
God is if you're completely under grace. Now that produces a true
love. The law worketh wrath. The strength
of sin, I love that scripture, the strength of sin is the law.
For where no law is, there's no transgression. Therefore,
it, speaking of righteousness, is a faith. That it might be,
by grace, to the end, that the promise might be sure to all
the seed. Now, righteousness is by faith. I'm not righteous apart from
believing the gospel. And that faith, only through
faith can it be by grace. Faith is the gift of God's grace.
And the only way the promise is sure to all the seed is if
it's by grace. If salvation is not all of grace,
you and I don't really have any hope. There's nothing sure, but
it is by grace to the end that 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. Now we're gonna get into what
Abraham's faith actually was. The title of this message is
The Faith of Abraham. Well, here it is. We begin with,
as it's written. Now here's where we must begin.
As it's written. We're not saying something because,
believing something because the preacher said it, or because
some theologian said it. The only authority is the word
of God, isn't it? The scriptures alone. As it is written. I, and this is God speaking,
I have made thee a father of many nations. Salvation is what God does. I have made thee. Now if you're
a believer, you know it's what God's made you, don't you? You
know he did it all. I have made thee a father of
many nations. Now what is interesting, notice
the way this is said. This is said before he had the
children. I have made thee. Now, he doesn't
have any kids yet. Yet, I have made thee a father
of many nations. And he said this, as I said,
before Isaac was born. And the I have made is in the
perfect tense, perfectly completed, never to be repeated, before
it took place. Now, that's just glorious. Hebrews
4.3 says, all the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. Now, this is how complete my
salvation is. It was already completed before
I was ever born. That's what the Bible teaches. Before him, whom he believed,
Even God, and here's what he believed, God who quickeneth
the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. He believed the God who quickens
the dead. Now, only God can give life to
the dead, amen? I mean, it doesn't even make
sense to think of anything else. I mean, only God can give life
to the dead. Jesus Christ, this is one of
the great mysteries of the gospel, Jesus Christ died. They took
a corpse off of the cross and they put him in a tomb. He was
dead. His heart was not beating. His
lungs were not heaving. He was dead because the wages
of sin is death. He was dead. But at some point,
as he lay in that dark tomb, his heart began to beat. He took a breath of air. He got
up. Why? God raised him from the
dead. And do you know why God raised
him from the dead? Because he was completely satisfied
with what he did. You, at one time, maybe you still
are, but you at one time were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead! No ability. And God gave you life. You were raised from the dead. And now you believe on Christ. Now you see the beauty of the
gospel. There was a time when you didn't.
You do now, why? You were raised from the dead.
Isn't that amazing? And one of these days, We're
all gonna die, and then the trump of God is gonna sound, and the
dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible. Now we believe
on him who raises the dead, quickens the dead, and look at this next
phrase in verse 17. He calleth those things which
be not as though they were. Now, I am sinful. I am unholy. I am ungodly. God says you're holy. You're justified. You're without
sin. You stand before me without guilt. If God said it, you know what?
It's so. It's so. Well, how can you say
that? How can you? How is that? Because Christ took my sin to
himself. That's why I died. And he put
that sin away. And he didn't go through the
process of decay the way you and I will, because the moment
he died, God was completely satisfied. God's elect were completely justified. and he was raised from the dead.
And when God says to me, reckon yourself to be dead indeed to
sin, but alive unto God, it's because I am dead to sin, and
I am alive to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God
calleth those things which be not as being. That's the way that reads, as
being. When he says, I'm justified, you know why? I'm justified.
I'm without sin, I'm without guilt. This is the glory of the
gospel. Let's go on reading. What did
Abraham believe? 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. Now, Abraham
was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. She was past the
time of being able to give birth. It was impossible. There was
no hope for them to have a child. It's impossible with men. But
the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. If God said you're going to have
a child, you're going to have a child. You see, when God says
something, it's not like he has the limitations we have. Well,
I'm going to have a child. Well, I can say that, but it
doesn't even happen. But when God says something,
it's absolute because of who he is. And he said, you're going
to have descendants as the sand by the seashore. You know what
Abraham did? He believed God. Now, let's go on reading. Verse
19. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead. Now, Abraham lets us know about
what not to consider when you believe. Being not weak, and
like I said, that word weak is not an adjective, it's a verb. Not weakened in faith. Did you
know that you'll never find faith described with the adjective
weak in the scripture? See, faith is the gift of God.
He doesn't give weak faith, He gives faith. I tell you, by grace
you say through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, our faith
is weakened when we do not do what Abraham did. Abraham did
not consider his own body. He didn't look within. He didn't
consider the deadness of Sarah's womb. Now, if he would have,
he would have been weakened in faith. And I guarantee you, every
time you look within, your faith is weakened. Every time you look
at something in you to try to convince you you're saved, your
faith is weakened. As a matter of fact, if you find
something, you don't have any faith in the first place. If
you find something, yeah, I must be a believer. I passed the test. That's not faith. Faith is not
in yourself. Faith is in Christ. He being
not weakened in faith by considering not his own body, when he was
yet about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
he didn't consider those unsurpassable things. He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith. Not just strong in faith, he
was strengthened. And that same strength that strengthened
Abraham strengthened me and you. He was strengthened in faith,
giving glory to God. And that's all that gives glory to
God, being fully persuaded. And you know why he was fully
persuaded? God fully persuaded him. That's why he's fully persuaded. If you're fully persuaded of
this, you know why? It's because God fully persuaded you. He's
been your teacher. Being fully persuaded that what
he had promised, he was able also to perform. Now here is the faith of Abraham.
He was persuaded of this, that whatever God promised, he was
able also to perform. Now this is the very heart of
saving faith, believing His ability. 2 Timothy 1.12 says, I know whom
I have believed, and I am persuaded that, what? He is able to keep
that which I have committed to Him. Now, the word committed,
this is the only time in 2 Timothy 1.12 that that word is used in
the New Testament. And it means deposited. Deposited. It's the word we would use when
we deposit our check in the bank. And he deposited. When you make
that deposit, after that point, you know the security of your
money is out of your hands. It's up to the bank to keep it.
You have nothing to do with it. It's up to the bank. Now, when
Paul says, I know whom I believed and persuaded, and persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him,
Paul committed the entire salvation of his soul to Christ. He had nothing else. He was putting
all of his eggs in that one basket. He didn't have a plan B. He didn't
have mutual funds strung out all over the place. He, this
was his only hope. If Christ doesn't do it all,
I won't be saved. And he committed that to Christ,
believing his ability. Listen to this scripture, Jude
verse 24. Now unto him the table. There
it is. Now unto him that is able to
keep us from falling. and to present you faultless, faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy." Now that is the very heart of
our faith, believing His ability. I think one of the most beautiful
illustrations of that is found in Daniel chapter 6 where Daniel,
he's the top dog at that time under Darius and he's been promoted
to much honor and the people under him get jealous. So they
come up with an idea to get him in trouble because they knew
he was going to not, they said the only way we can find a fault
with him is if it has something to do with his God. And so they
came to Darius, the king, and they had this brilliant idea.
They said, let's make a decree, according to the Medes and Persians,
a decree that can't be changed. Once it became law, it couldn't
be altered. Let's make a decree that nobody
in the whole kingdom is allowed to pray to any god but you for
30 days. And old Darius thinks, well,
that sounds like a good idea to me. So he goes ahead and signs,
according to the Medes and Persians, this is law that cannot be altered.
And so what do these fellas do? They see Daniel opening up his
door, looking to Jerusalem and praying. And they go to the king,
Darius, and they said, Darius, this man has no regard to your
law. Now, Darius thought highly of Daniel. And he sought from
the rising of the sun to going down to find a way to keep him
from being thrown into that den of lions. Because it was said
anybody that prays to any other God but you, he's gonna be thrown
into a den of lions. And the law couldn't be changed. And so he said, Daniel, your
God's able to deliver you from the lions. And Daniel was thrown
into that lion's den. And a rock was put on it. And
the scripture says Darius couldn't sleep that night. He got up early
in the morning and said with a scripture says a lamentable
voice. Oh, Daniel, is thy God able to
deliver thee from the lion's mouth? And Daniel said from the
pit. King live forever the Lord has
shut the mouth of those lines thy God is able to deliver the
first 22 And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness and Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. February, March 29th, whatever the date
is. Today is what I'm talking about.
I can't remember what the date is, but whatever that date is. 3,500
years later, then when Abraham said this, 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 raised again for our justification. Now, I want to ask you a question. I'm not asking you if you know
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you know you're one of
the elect. I'm not asking you if you know for sure that you've
been born again. I'm asking you this. Do you believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead? Do you believe that God raised
him from the dead because God was completely satisfied with
what he did? You see, verse 25 says, he was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Now, do you believe that God
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead? That, my dear friends, is the
faith of Abraham. Chapter five, verse one, this
is our last verse, therefore, Literally, having been justified. Having been justified. By faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, take your word. and apply
it to us for Christ's sake. And Lord, let us believe on you,
who raised your son from the dead, and we believe that he
is our grand assurance. Our assurance is not in ourselves,
but in that you raised him from the dead. and we need nothing
else. We thank you for the gospel.
In Christ's name we pray, amen.