I received a letter a few weeks
ago from a friend, someone I've loved dearly for a long time,
wrote and said, I've made a mess of my life. I've ruined everything. Can God ever forgive me? And after some other things,
I concluded my letter to her. Our God is a great forgiver. Our God is a great forgiver. When David had been confronted
because of his sin in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, his friend
whom he murdered to cover his adultery and Nathan God's prophet came
to him and confronted him thou art the man and David confessed
his sin he went to his closet and called
on God and pleaded with him to forgive his sin. Nathan had already
told him it was forgiven. But he went to God and asked
God to forgive him his sin. On the basis of his righteousness. Isn't that amazing? For thy righteousness
sake. And believing God, this is what
he wrote. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Our God is a great forgiver because
he forgives upon the ground of strict justice. He forgives absolutely
and he forgives forever. Turn with me if you will again
tonight to Romans chapter 4. And I want to pick up right where
I left off this morning. in this matter of justification.
Romans chapter 4 and verse 3. Abraham believed God. What a statement. Abraham, a
sinful man, a man raised In the darkness of gross idolatry, a
man taught in the way of the heathen, Abraham, being called
of God, believed God. And it was counted to him. The word is imputed. It was imputed
unto him for righteousness. Not his act of believing God,
but the object of his faith was counted to him for righteousness. Now faith, as I have repeatedly
told you, and I keep sounding it as clearly and as often as
I can because it needs to be understood, it must be understood. Faith has nothing to do with
the accomplishment of justification. But we can never have, we can
never enjoy, we can never know anything about justification
apart from faith. Yet this faith that is exemplified
in our father Abraham is a thing no man can perform. Some years
ago I read a brief article by Mr. Graham. He said man has a
sixth sense. Man has a sense with which he
can believe God. Not so. Faith is not something
that can be mustered from within. You try it. Even you who are
believers try it. It's not something that can be
mustered from within. You can't talk yourself into
believing God. You can talk yourself into acting
like it. You can talk yourself into saying
it. You can't talk yourself into believing God. Faith is not something
that another man can get you to do. Men can get you to make
a profession of faith. Men can get you to say what's
called the sinner's prayer. Men can get you to join the church
and be religious. A man can't give you faith. Faith
is not something that is a moral character. Faith is not something
that can be produced by psychological manipulation. Faith is not the
result of man's will, man's decision, or man's determination. Faith
is the gift of God. I want so much for you to believe
God. Your sons and daughters, our
sons and daughters, I want you to believe God. Oh, I want you
to believe God. Believe God. And I'm fully aware the only
way you will ever come to believe God is if God by the preaching
of his word is pleased by the power of his omnipotent spirit.
to reach down with a long arm of omnipotent mercy and rip open
your heart and drop in your soul his amazing grace. We believe
by the operation of his power. Abraham believed God by the working
of God's mighty power. So when the scripture says here,
Abraham believed God, and it, the object of his faith, was
counted to him for righteousness, the Holy Spirit is declaring,
Abraham stands before us as a miracle of grace. Here is a sinner doing
what no sinner can do, doing what we must do, doing what only
the grace of God can enable him to do. Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now put your bookmark
here because we're going to come back to Romans 4, but turn over
to Genesis chapter 15. This is a direct quote from Genesis
chapter 15 and verse 6. It refers to Abraham's experience
here in Genesis 15 when the Lord God revealed himself to him. Genesis 15 and verse 6. And he believed in the Lord. He believed God. That's what
it is to believe in the Lord. Somebody says, well, I believe
in God. Believing in God is believing God. Every man knows that God
is. That's not believing God. Every
man does. Some folks scream and say they're
atheists and try to convince you they don't believe in God
and they scream real loud because they know deep down inside they
can't get it out of their heads. They know God is. They know God
is. But knowing that God is, is not
faith. Faith is not believing that God
exists. Faith is not believing that God
is out there somewhere. Faith is not some kind of a sincere
notion about serving God. Faith is believing God. Believing God. In this 15th chapter
of Genesis, the Holy Spirit declares that Abraham believed the Lord. Believed God. But what does that
mean? What is it to believe God? What is this faith? Abraham is
held before us in scripture as the example, the prime example
of what this thing called faith is. He's called the father of
them that believe. Now here in this 15th chapter
of Genesis, there are at least four or five things by which
Abraham's faith in God are clearly identified and defined. Number
one, He believed the gospel. He believed the gospel as the
very word of God, as a word directly given, a revelation directly
given by God himself. Now Paul tells us that the word
which God spoke to Abraham was the gospel preached to him. You
can read that in Galatians chapter 3 verse 8. Abraham had the gospel
preached to him. Here? In Genesis 15? What's he
talking about? Abraham had the gospel preached
to him? Back here in Genesis 15. God said to Abraham in verse
1, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield. I am your protector. I am your deliverer. And I am your exceeding great
reward. I am yours. I am your shield,
and I am yours. And upon the heels of this revelation,
Abraham asked the Lord God to give him a son, a son in whom
his promised mercy might be fulfilled. And then we read in verse 4,
Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall
not be thine heir. Ishmael, he'll not be your heir.
No, Ishmael's the work of your flesh. Ishmael's the produce
of your effort. Ishmael is what you've conceived,
and Ishmael is what you've brought forth. He's going to be a constant,
constant pain to you. It's still that way. Just go
over and read the newspaper this afternoon when you get home,
see when you get home. Ishmael will not be the heir. But he
that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine
heir. And he brought him forth abroad
and said to Abraham, Look up to heaven. Look up there in the
cloudless night. Look at the stars. Count them. I can't do that. I know it. Count them. Do the best you can.
Speculate a little. And tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, that's
how many children you're going to have. So shall thy seed be. What? But Lord, I might be a
hundred years old. And this woman I'm married to,
she's a woman! I'm going to have more sons than
the stars of heaven? Bless God, I will. I shall indeed
have more sons than the stars of heaven. Like Saul of Tarsus,
Abraham was a man who could declare, I certify you that the gospel
I believe is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of God.
The gospel came to him as God spoke to him, not as the mere
word of a man, but as the word of God himself. His faith stood
not in the words of man's wisdom, but rather in the power of God. That's where faith begins. Faith
receives a word from God and believes it. These days folks
talk about faith. Keep the faith. You want to win
a football game, boys, keep the faith. What blasphemy. What blasphemy. We're going to
overcome this thing, keep the faith. Faith in what? Faith is the response of the
believing sinner, the response of a heart renewed by grace,
the response of one in whom God has wrought the wonder of his
grace, to God's revelation in his word. You got that? It is not just believing something.
Or if I'm just being strong enough. I forgot the name of it. I watched
one of the movies where... Oh, Maverick. There's a new Maverick
movie. I watched it a while back. Mel Gibson. I think it's the
fellow who played the part of Maverick. And he's just convinced
if he just believes enough, he can pull up any card he wants
out of the deck. And so he kind of magically focuses. Got the ace of spades. Because
my daddy always told me to just believe. That's not faith. That's witchcraft. That's superstition. It's not faith. Faith is the
response of my soul to God's word given to me by his spirit. Faith is the answer of the heart
to God's revelation. Now if ever a sinner believes
God, if ever you who now have no faith, if this very moment
you begin to believe God, it will be because the gospel of
God's free grace comes to you in the demonstration and power
of the Holy Spirit with much assurance. You will be assured
that the word you hear It's God's word to you. This is what Paul
said to the Thessalonians. He said, our gospel came to you,
not in word only. Not in word only. If the only
voice you hear tonight is my voice, you're going to go out
of here just like you came in, maybe worse off. But oh, if God Almighty
speaks through these stirring, stammering, thick lips of clay
to your heart the word of His grace, what you hear, you'll
go out of those doors fully convinced is God's word to you. God spoke to me. I don't think
God spoke to me. Maybe God spoke to me. God spoke to me. Abraham heard
God speak and he believed Him. And when God the Holy Spirit
speaks by His word to your heart, it comes to you, the gospel of
His grace comes to you in much assurance. That faith, however,
which stands in the wisdom of men. That faith which is the produce
of man's effort. Most of you have been there.
You know what it is to be talked into saying I believe in Jesus.
You know what it is to be scared to death to make a profession
of faith. You know what it is to be psychologically massaged
until you finally make a profession of faith. And you spend your
whole life, you spend your whole life, well I was told I believe
in God so I guess I did. I was told I believe in God so
I guess it's so. No. I know I don't believe God. I know God never spoke to my
soul. I know there's no faith in me because God never spoke
to me. Ah, but when God speaks his word,
you walk away knowing God spoke. God spoke. That faith which stands in the
power of God, that's the faith of God's elect. The faith that
a man gives you is always timid, it is always shaken, it is always
without foundation, and it will crumble and you'll move to something
else. Here's the second thing. Abraham believed God's word concerning
his son. Remember Paul spoke about the
gospel, he said in Romans 1, it is the gospel concerning his
son. Abraham believed God's word concerning
his son, the seed in whom and by whom redemption would come
and be accomplished. The promise he heard from God,
he recognized. Because he had heard about it
all his life. He had heard that word of mouth from one person
to another. Right up to this day, he had
heard about what God said to Mother Eve. I'm going to give
one who is the seed of woman, and he will crush the serpent's
head. There is hope for fallen sinners
through one who needs to come, the seed of woman. And Abraham
associated the two. He said, well, how did he do
that? I don't know, but maybe I'll be interested enough to
ask him when we get to glory. But I know he did. He believed God
concerning his son. He understood that God's promise
here, that which God here declared to him, went far beyond the promise
that he was going to have a son. It was the promise of God concerning
redemption by Christ. Well, Pastor, how do you know
that's what this is talking about? You read the third chapter of
the book of Galatians, and the Apostle Paul tells you plainly,
this is exactly what Abraham understood by the revelation
that God gave him. You see, true faith is fixed
on Christ alone. Christ is the object of faith.
It is not the faith of this sect or that, but the faith of Christ.
It is not the faith of this church or that, it's the faith of Christ.
It is not the faith of this creed or that creed, it's the faith
of Christ. It is not the faith of emotion
and fear, but rather faith based upon the revelation of God concerning
His Son. I don't try to scare folks into
a profession of faith. shortly after I came to Danville,
all the churches got together, the liberal and the conservative
churches, independent churches, southern baptist churches, Methodist
churches, Catholic churches, I mean all got together. And
they had a big sin group out here at the high school. Showed
a movie called The Burning Hell. I hadn't heard about it in a
long time. Somebody wrote to me just last week and asked about it. Back in those days, they didn't
know any better, so they called me and asked me to join up. Not
a chance. Not a chance. Well, why not?
Because you can't scare the hell out of folks and scare them into
heaven. It ain't gonna happen. All you can do is scare the hell
out of them. That's all. That's all. And they show the
movie, and folks are terrified, and oh, all these children especially,
scared to death of going to hell, join church next week. But no
faith. Which you mean none of them will
say? Not a one. Not a chance in this world. Faith
is not the result of fear. It's the result of revelation.
Did you get that? Faith is not the result of God's
judgment, but rather of God's grace. The goodness of God leads
thee to repentance. True faith looks to Christ and
embraces him, his person, his work, as the God-man mediator.
Here's the third thing. Abraham believed that God could
and would do that which was utterly impossible with men. Come back to Romans 4. This is what Abraham believed.
Lord said to Abraham, we'll cut and count the stars. Now that's
how many boys you're going to have, that's how many children
you're going to have. And Abraham believed it. Here's
a man whose body was dead, married to a woman whose womb was dead. And Abraham believed God could
call life out of death. Abraham believed God could call
those things which are not as though they were. Romans chapter
4 verse 18. Now Paul's explaining to us Abraham's
faith. Who against hope believed in
hope. In other words, there were many bases for him to believe
in what he had to believe. Except God said it. No basis at all. No foundation. Except God said
it. who against hope believed in hope, that he might become
the father of many nations. According to that which is spoken,
so shall thy seed be. I'm going to bless you and you're
going to be a blessing to folks everywhere. In thee and in thy
seed shall all nations be blessed. You mean, Lord, you're going
to take from my body a seed? that shall produce countless
seeds that shall produce countless seeds that shall produce countless
seeds until the seed comes that you promised to mother eve in
whom all the blessings of god for his people through all the
nations of the world are that's what i'm going to do okay do
it do it he believed god verse 19 And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body, watch it now, now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. Verse 20. He staggered not at
the promise of God. He staggered not at the promise
of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. He said, Sarah, honey, Let's
go to bed one more time, see if we can't get us a son. One
more time. God said it was going to happen.
God said it was going to happen. And he wasn't weak in faith.
More than that, the Lord God, just a few years later, commands
Abraham. Abraham, you remember I told
you, I'm going to give you a son. And out of him is going to come
your Savior. Out of him is going to come the
Redeemer of my people. Out of him is coming salvation. Now I want you to take your son,
your only son Isaac, whom you dearly love, your son, whom I
promised would give you a seat as countless as the stars, and
take him to a mountain I'm going to tell you about. in sacrificing
to me. What? But Lord, if I kill that
boy, how are you going to fulfill your promise? That's not my business. But Lord, if I kill that boy,
how on this earth is the Redeemer going to come? That's not your
business. Lord, if I take that boy and
slaughter him on the mount as an offering to you, how on earth
will your people be saved? That's not up to you. Abraham,
take him to the mount and slay him. And you know what he did?
He didn't bat an eye. He believed God, didn't he? believing
that God was able to raise him from the dead. And in a figure,
he received exactly the whole of the gospel. Isaac, taken to
the mount, laid on an altar, stretched out with a hand of
death over him, and then a ram caught in the thicket. And Abraham takes Isaac. Invades
him on the altar. He said, boy, I told you God
was going to provide himself a sacrifice. He's going to provide
himself a land for a burnt offering. And Isaac is raised from the
dead. And Abraham said, this place
is called Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide. God will provide. Read on. Verse 21. And being
fully persuaded. Being fully persuaded. Didn't
batter up. Didn't break. Didn't stagger.
Being fully persuaded. What he had promised, he was
able to perform, no matter what looks like it stands against
him. Fully persuaded. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now, this was not written for
his sake alone, that it was imputed to him. But for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed. And frankly, that's a very, very
poor translation. And I don't know of a better
translation that's given in any of the other translations. But
this is what it ought to read. But for us also, to whom it has
been imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead. This faith has been imputed to
us, or this righteousness has been imputed to us, 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. Faith
then believes that Christ is able to save. He can cause dry
bones to live. He can raise up the dead. He
gives life to a dead corpse. He gives sight to the blind.
He causes the lame to walk, the dead to live, the deaf to hear,
the cursed to be blessed. Faith believes God. Here's the
fourth thing. Faith believes God's covenant. Abraham believed the promise
that God made to him. in the gospel, though vast and sublime beyond
measure, was a matter of absolute certainty because God had spoken
it in a covenant. Abraham believed the gospel to
be the very word of God's salvation to him. He said, I am thy shield. I am thy great reward. I am thy savior. He heard God
speak the gospel to him as the word of salvation. Now, I'm not
sure I can explain this, but I want to give it one more shot.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. This is what happens when a sinner
is made by grace to believe God. This is what happens when God
saves a sinner. This is what happens. He causes
you to hear from him the word of your salvation. When He, the
Spirit of Truth has come, He convinces the world. That is,
He convinces His people throughout the world. Time came when He
convinced you. I couldn't convince you. Mom
and Daddy couldn't convince you. The whole world couldn't convince
you. But when God by His Word speaks, He convinces you of your
sin, of His righteousness, and of redemption accomplished for
you. Forget about everybody else.
For you. For you. Ephesians 1.13, in whom ye also
trusted, that is, you trusted in Christ, after that you heard
the word of truth, not a word, the word of truth. Now watch
this, the gospel of your salvation. The gospel, the good news of
your salvation. Not a good proposition, not a
good offer, not a good suggestion, good news. The good news of your
salvation accomplished by a substitute at Calvary. In whom also, after
that you believed, that is, having believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. This is what happened when God
saved the sinner. You've heard, you've heard, you've
heard. You've heard, you've heard, you've heard. And I preach this
gospel to you three times a week. Been doing it now for about 23
years. You've heard, you've heard, you've
heard. You hear it at home. Hear it from mom and dad. Listen
to the tapes. Watch the videos. Listen to the
radio. You've heard, you've heard, you've heard. And you've never
heard. You've just never heard. Brother
Ron Tradebent, who I had preached at at Franklin today, he and his wife were in Pollard
Church in Ashton before 13th Street Church was started. And
when the church there kicked Brother Mahan out and they started
the 13th Street Church, Ron and Trish's family went over 13th
Street. And Ron sat back just, you know
Daddy, he sat back just about where you're sitting. for 20
years. He told me one time, he said,
Don, I can tell you exactly how many tiles there are in that
ceiling and which direction they run. This way, that way, this
way. He said, I sat there for 21 years
and counted those tiles and I wasn't at all interested and never missed
a surface. There every Sunday morning. Every
Sunday morning. That's the thing to do. And then
one day he heard. He heard God speak, the word
of his salvation accomplished, and nothing has been the same
since. He heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and then having believed, You were sealed, sealed. This day is sealed to you. And you are sealed in this day
with that Holy Spirit upon us. Sealed by God the Holy Spirit.
which is the earnest, the day of payment, the foretaste, the
pledge of our inheritance. Sealed with the Spirit until
the redemption of the purchased possession. Sealed with the Spirit
until God raises you from the dead. What you read in Psalm
60. Till God raises you from the
dead. The purchased possession. He has redeemed me body, soul,
and spirit. One day he's going to bring me
up to glory. unto the praise of his glory. Believing God, Abraham was justified
by faith. By faith he received the blessedness
of sins forgiven. By faith he received the blessedness
of righteousness imputed. By faith he received the blessedness
of immutable, perfect acceptance with God himself through the
blood and righteousness of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what verse 6 declares.
Genesis 15. He believed in the Lord. He believed God. And it was counted
unto him for righteousness. And now, standing here, standing
here, he sees everything clearly. He sees everything clearly. Go
back to Genesis 15 again. Let me show you what he sees. Paul speaks in Romans 5 in verse
2, of us standing in this grace, this grace of free justification,
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Here we stand. This is where Abraham stood.
Once the sinner believes God, everything unfolds. Everything.
We have something built into our proud flesh that makes us
really think. But if we just argue enough,
and we're logical enough, and we have historic data enough,
we can somehow reason people into believing God. It ain't
gonna happen. It ain't gonna happen. You don't
understand and then believe. Ron, as you believe, you understand. You got that? Faith does not
come as the result of our understanding, but rather, understanding comes
as a result of our faith. Watch what happened with Abraham,
beginning in verse 7. Once a man or woman believes
God, he sees what he could not see before, understands things
that mystified and dumbfounded him before, and rejoices in things
that either bored him to death or stirred up his hatred of God
before. Standing justified before God,
Abraham understood God's work. Standing justified before God,
justified in Christ, believing God, believing sinners, may be
uneducated, may be illiterate, but they understand what the
most brilliant, well-educated unbeliever can never understand. These things are just confusing
to the whole world around them. I have a very dear friend. One of the dearest friends I've
ever had. He's with the Lord now. Brother Elmer Harrell. He's a deacon at Church at Lookout. His parents died when he was
seven years old. And so he finished the second
grade and went to work. Going from one place to another
in cotton fields out in Oklahoma. And finally wound up in West
Virginia. Hard working man, built a business, was a grown man. God caused his path to cross
with a gospel preacher. And Brother Elmer would never
allow me to call on him to read. But he knew God, and he understood
the things of God. How come? Because he believed
God. He believed God. You see, when
he, the spirit of truth, has come, He guides you into all
truth. And he causes he that is spiritual
to have the mind of the Lord. And we discern all things, but
the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God,
for the foolish discern, and he can't know them, because they're
spiritually discerned. But those who are justified see
clearly the work of God. Look in verse 7 of Genesis 15.
Abraham clearly understood clearly perceived and cherished God's
gracious call of him. He said unto him, I am the Lord
that brought thee out of earth to Calvary, and I brought you
out to give you this land to inherit it. believe God. And God counted
it to him for righteousness. He believed everything God said
concerning his son. God said, I accept you. I accept
you. Now understand this. The reason
back yonder I separated you from your father and called you out
to this place alone with me was to cause you to inherit this
land. I called you. I called you. Oh my soul. There was a day when God Almighty
visited this center in his mercy and he called me alone. He always calls his own alone. These days folks talk a lot about
massive angelism. Well, the religious world gets
excited about it. Ron, God calls his elect alone. Alone. But weren't there 3,000
converted on death pentecost? Yep, he called every one of them
alone. Alone. I called you. Zacchaeus, come
down, son of Abraham. I'm going to your house today.
Today. You see, believers and sinners
understand that salvation is God's work. It is the result
of God's call. An irresistible call. And aren't
you thankful? It is an irresistible call. A call you cannot resist. A call that overcomes your will
to resist. A call that brings you out to
Christ Jesus the Lord. Then to the verse 8. Abraham understood, because he
believed God, he understood the necessity and blessedness of
blood atonement. He said, Lord God, whereby shall
I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me
an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years
old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a
young pigeon. Isn't this interesting? The very same sacrifices required
in Levitical law. The Levitical law wasn't beginning
for 400 and something years later. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against
the other. Let me see if I can picture it
for you. He takes these sacrifices. and he divides all of them except
for the birds, he divides them and lays this piece here, this
piece here, this piece here, this piece here and he's standing
right in the midst of the sacrifices surrounded by the sacrifices and when the fowls came down
upon the carcasses he drove them away now here's the picture Abraham
believed in God understood that the only grounds upon which a
sinner can ever stand before God accepted is blood atonement. Blood atonement symbolized in
these sacrifices by which men and women worshiped God in the
ceremonies of the Old Testament, pointing to one great sacrifice. That great sacrifice was Abraham's
seed through whom all nations of the earth shall be blessed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith cherishes that sacrifice. Faith clings to Christ. Faith
holds steadfastly to Christ. My only hope is blood atonement. My only hope is that Jesus died
and died for me. That's it. And when the fowls
of the air come down and would steal away the carcasses. The
fowls of the air would come down and steal away the sacrifice.
The fowls of the air would come down and steal away our only
hope! Abraham drives them away! This
is my hope! And I'll have nothing to do with
anything else. And faith recognizes, I'm involved
in this sacrifice. I don't understand the wondrous
mystery of it, but somehow I am so thoroughly one with Christ
that when he died, I died. When he was accepted of God,
I was accepted of God. And this sacrifice, and this
call of grace, faith understands to be God's covenant work. Look
at verse 12. When the sun was going down,
A deep sleep fell upon Abram, and moan and horror of great
darkness fell upon him. Verse 17, And it came to pass,
when the sun went down, that it was dark, behold, a smoking
furnace, and a burning lamp passed between
these pieces. And in the same day the Lord
made a covenant with Abraham. That is, the Lord revealed to
Abraham his covenant. saying unto thy seed, I have
given this land, not unto thy seeds, unto thy seed. He says to Abraham, Abraham,
you see my son coming forth from your loins. My son represented
in these sacrifices. My son, your redeemer, your shield,
your savior, your exceeding great reward. I've given everything
to him. I've given everything to him.
You reckon Abraham really perceived that much of it? I expect he
perceived more of it than we do. I expect he did. And Paul
declares so in Galatians 3. He says this is all talking about
redemption. Covenant redemption. A covenant God made with Abraham.
A covenant that was symbolized in Abraham's natural seed. A
covenant that was symbolized in all that took place in the
nation of Israel. But it wasn't talking about them. It was talking
about Christ and his seed. and redemption by him. And Abraham
understood that God in covenant gave everything to his son, and
giving it to his son, gave it to him. Now, standing before
God, justified, faith sees something else. Faith sees, understands,
and rests in. the mystery of God's providence. Look at verse 13. And he said
unto Abram, now don't forget all I promised you. I told you
you're mine. I told you I'm going to give
you this land. This land of Canaan which symbolizes
heavenly glory. Abraham never possessed a spot
on that land. Not one. Not one. He possessed something
greater. Heavenly glory. That's what it's
all talking about. You understand that Abraham?
Yes sir, I understand that. You understand? Heaven is yours. Acceptance with me is yours.
Free justification is yours. Righteousness is yours by the
blood of my darling Son. You understand? You shall be
blessed to me forever and possess me forever just as I possess
you. Yes, sir. I understand that,
Lord. And he said to Abram, verse 13, Know of a surety. Know this as a matter of absolute
certainty. that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they
shall afflict them four hundred years. Before Abraham, you possess what I promised you.
You're going to have a long time of trouble. And you're going to have to have
it proved over and over and over again that you believe me. But understand this long time
of trouble is appointed by me. It's appointed for your good,
and it won't last one day longer than I've appointed. For unto
you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
him, but also to suffer for his sake.