My subject this morning is justification
by faith. We see this doctrine illustrated
for us plainly in Genesis chapter 15. Now, understand the importance
of this doctrine. No man knows God who does not
know how it is that God justifies the sin. No man understands the
word of God or anything spiritual. No man understands anything concerning
the word of God or the things of God who does not begin knowing
how it is that God justifies the sinner. No man has any apprehension
of Christ and his glory who does not know how it is that God justifies
the sinner. justification by faith alone,
through Christ alone, is the foundation of all gospel doctrine. It is the foundation of all Christian
truth. Now here it is stated in Genesis
15 and verse 6, And he, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and he,
the Lord God, it to him, imputed it to him for righteousness. Now, Abraham's faith is here
set before us as being that great example of faith which is set
forth throughout the Word of God and is experienced by all
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His faith and his justification
before God are stated here in verse 6, but it is the subject
matter of this entire chapter. So I'm going to ask you to just
hold your Bibles open as we look this morning at verses 1 through
6 and see what the Holy Spirit here teaches us concerning this
matter of justification by faith. May God the Holy Spirit inscribe
his word upon our hearts. It's my prayer that you who are
here without faith may today believe on the Son of God. and
go down to your house like the publican of old, just divine.
And for you who are believers, for you who have been given life
and faith in Christ, I pray that God will both strengthen your
faith and comfort your heart in the edifying knowledge of
this great, great event here in Genesis 15. Now, Abraham is
set before us in Scripture as the father of all who believe. Why is that? Why is he described
as the father of all believers? First, he is described as the
father of all who believe because he is the first man spoken of
in scripture as one who believes God. As a fellow who is the first
plumber, is described as the father of Plymouth. The fellow
who's the first one to go into space is considered the father
of space exploration. Well, Abraham is the first man
recorded in Scripture to believe God. Now that doesn't mean there
were not others before him who believed God. Clearly there were.
Adam and Eve clearly believed God. God promised that he would
send his son through Eve, the seed of woman, and when Eve had
her first son, she said, I've gotten the man from the Lord.
She thought she then had the Redeemer. They believed God.
Abel clearly believed God. He was a man who worshipped God,
worshipped his son, and offered a sacrifice of faith pointing
to his son. Enoch believed God. Noah believed
God. But here, for the first time,
it is written in Scripture that a man believed God. The first
time. It doesn't occur anywhere until
we get to Genesis 15 and verse 6. And this word is used in reference
to Abraham, and thus shows us that he is the father of all
them that believe. But it's also true in this sense.
Abraham is the father of all believers in that he's held before
us in the scriptures as the preeminent example of faith. He's held before
us as the preeminent example of what it is to believe God.
from the time of his calling until the time that God called
him home. As long as he lived in this world, Abraham is set
before us as an example of faith in Christ. Now, that which is
here written concerning him and his faith is written specifically
for our instruction in the matter of faith and in the matter of
justification before God. This is exactly what we read
in Romans chapter 4, verses 23 and 24. The Holy Spirit there
tells us these things were not written for his sake alone, but
for us also, who believe on Jesus Christ, whom God raised from
the dead. And with these things in mind,
let's look at this text before us, beginning in verse one. Here
is the revelation of God to Abraham. After these things, after these
things, just go back in your mind now. Abraham's an old, old
man. He's nearly a hundred years old.
He has been walking with God now for a long time. He was 75
when he came out of Haran into Canaan. But after these things,
after the Lord God had appeared to him in Ur of the Chaldeans,
after he had lost his father Terah, after he had gone down
for a while in Egypt and saw by experience how weak his faith
is when left to himself, after he was brought back up into Canaan
and settled in the land there arose a strife between his herdsmen
and Lot's herdsmen. A strife which caused a permanent
separation between Abraham and Lot. Lot went down to Sodom and
he stayed there. He would not leave Sodom, his
heart was just engulfed in Sodom and the riches of this world.
And yet though Lot forsook Abraham and forsook his family and forsook
the land of Canaan, Lot was still Abraham's nephew, but more importantly,
he was still Abraham's brother. And Abraham never forgot it.
He was always magnanimous toward Lot. There came a time when the
kings in the plain had a falling out, as kings are wont to do.
And they went to war with one another. And they took the king
of Sodom and Sodom into captivity. Now that didn't bother Abraham
any. That wasn't no concern to him. I suspect he read that kind
of like I'd read the newspaper and they'd tell me they got a
new rule over in China. So what? But then somebody came
and said they took Lot and his family and his goods. And Abraham
didn't hesitate. I mean he didn't hesitate. Next
thing we read, he called 318 of his servants. Lad, these are
shepherd boys. These are fellas who carry a
shepherd's staff in their hands. He called them together and he
said, find whatever weapons you've got, we're going to war. Going
to war against four kings and their armies with 318 shepherds. But he went to war in the name
of God, for the glory of God, for the people of God, and he
didn't even make a surprise attack. He just rushed them. and defeated
them, all four of them, all four of the armies, all four of the
kings, the ones he didn't kill, led away to the mountains. And
he brought them back and brought Lot back to Sodom, back to his
house, brought back all of his family and all of his goods and
the king of Sodom and all the people of Sodom and all their
goods. Oh, what a blessed thing it was for them that Lot was
among them. He brought him back because Lot was there. He brought
him back because there was a man there upon whom God had set his
heart, upon whom Abraham had set his heart. And then the king
of Sodom, that little pimple of a man, that poor excuse for
a man, he comes to Abraham as Melchizedek meets Abraham. And
Melchizedek brings a sacrifice of bread and wine, picturing
the sacrifice of Christ by which we are redeemed through his blood
and through his righteousness. By the incarnation, obedience,
and death of God's darling son, Melchizedek comes and spreads
a feast before Abraham. Abraham there worshiped God,
and he heard Melchizedek speak, and he called on the name of
the Lord, and he gave Melchizedek tithes of all that he possessed.
as the priest of the most high God, he was blessed of him. Now this pimple of a man, the
king of Sodom is standing by and watches it all. He hears
it all. This thing that was, it's one
of the most overwhelming mysteries in all the scriptures to God's
people to this day. Melchizedek. Man, what happened
there? I haven't, I preached on it a
lot and I haven't begun to even scratch the surface yet. I'm
overwhelmed with it, and I'm living way yonder this side of
it. But this king, this king of Sodom,
had absolutely no interest. He saw it, he heard it, kind
of like those folks who would fall on the road to Damascus.
They saw a light and heard a voice, but they said, I don't know what
in the world is going on, and don't really care, just hope
we get over soon. That's the way the king was. See, he had
no interest. He was unmoved by the appearance
of the Son of God. He was unmoved by the gospel
of God's grace. He was unmoved by the worship
of God. He was unmoved by the glory of
God. He was unmoved by anything except
himself and his lust and his wants. He's standing there watching
this whole thing go on. As soon as it was over, he says
to Abraham, he says, I tell you what, Abraham, I'm going to give
you, I'm going to give you this and this and this and this You
take the goods and I'll go my way." As if somehow, as if somehow,
Abraham is to look at him and pay homage to him, this man whom
Abraham had just saved his bacon. He said, I'll tell you what,
this is what I'll do for you. And Abraham looked at him for
the glory of God. And he said, I want you to understand
two things, Mr. Pimple King. I want you to understand
two things, you little piece of flesh. Number one, these things
are mine and you're in my hands because you're in God's hands. I'll do what I want with them. Number one. Number two, I don't
need them. You can have them. I'm God's servant and I
wouldn't allow you ever to point at me and say, there, see Abraham. I've made him what he is. After these things, the Lord God appeared to Abraham. The word of the Lord came to
Abram in addition. Now this one who appears to Abram
is the word of the Lord. He is Jesus Christ, the essential,
eternal word. In the beginning was the word.
That's what it's all about here. The word of the Lord came to
Abraham and said to That means it's not just that Abraham heard
a word from God, but rather the word of God is standing before
him talking to him. You see, God only deals with
men. God only speaks to men. God only makes himself known
to men through the God-man mediator, Jesus Christ the Lord. And it
was true from the beginning, just as it is true today. All
revelation of God, all knowledge of God, all experience of God
comes through Jesus Christ the Mediator. The word of the Lord
came to Abram, stood right in front of him. And this is what
he said, fear not Abram. What a strange word. Why is he
saying Abraham stop being afraid? Now, the universal consent of
the commentators is that Abraham, after he went down there and
whipped those fellas, just whipped the tar out of them, he realized
what he'd done and he began to tremble. Somebody made a good
observation. They said, they say cowards tremble
before the battle and brave men tremble afterwards. And so they
said, Abraham's here looking at this thing over. Wow, these
fellas are gonna get, they're bound to, they're bound to retaliate
and say he's fearful. Not that at all. Not at all.
Oh no. I'm of another opinion. Abraham
trembled because God stood before him. Now that's trembling. That's
trembling. If ever you meet God Almighty,
you'll tremble before him. Here is a man who knows himself
a sinner. A man head over heels in debt
to God for his grace. A man standing before the God-man,
the glory of God incarnate. Here he stands. And the Lord Jesus speaks to
him. He said, there's no need for you to be afraid. Kind of
like he did John when he fell at his feet as one dead on the
Isle of Patmos. He said, I'm Alpha and Omega. Stand up boy,
I'm here for your good. He trembled. in reverence before
God, trembled in the acknowledgement of his sin before God, trembled
recognizing he stands before that God who is a consuming fire
and he deserves to be consumed. And so the Lord said, now don't
be afraid. I'm your shield. I'm your shield. Who or what can harm me? if the eternal God is my shield. You talk about giving a little
backbone to a spineless fellow, this will do it. I'm your shield. I'm your shield. Thus intended
grace, Arthur Pink said, did Jehovah quiet the troubled heart
of one whom he is pleased to call And then the Lord says, I am
thy exceeding great reward. Abraham, for the glory of God,
forsook all. He said to the king of Sodom,
take this, I don't need it. I don't need it. And the Lord
God says, that won't cost you anything. That won't cost you
anything. He said, I'm your reward. I,
your God-possessor, most high God-possessor of heaven and earth,
I'm your exceeding great reward for time and for eternity. If
I got hungry, I wouldn't ask anybody. I own the cattle on
a thousand hills. You don't need two either. You're my son. If I were thirsty, I wouldn't
ask anybody for a cup of water. You don't need two either. You're
my son. Possessor of heaven and earth
says, I am your great reward. So it is to this day and so it
shall forever be. If you would follow Christ, you
must forsake all and follow him. Mainly there's no other way to
follow him. Can't be done. Go sell what you
have. Come follow me. You can't follow
him otherwise. Abandon father, mother, brother,
sister. Yes, your own life also to me. Or you cannot be my disciple.
You must forsake everything. But it'll cost you nothing. You
remember what our Lord said to his disciples? They said, Lord,
we've forsaken all that bothered you. Look, man, we give up our
fishing business. We gave up our careers, we gave
up all that future prospect of all we knew we were going to
be and our great success and our high opinion of ourselves.
We gave it all up and followed you. And the Lord Jesus looked
at him. After three and a half years
following him, he said, like to you anything? Tell me what
you gave up. Tell me what you gave up. Lacked ye anything? I ask you,
sons and daughters of God Almighty, have you ever lacked anything
following him? Lacked ye anything? The Lord
appeared to Abram. He said, I am thy shield and
thy exceeding great reward. Now this is certainly applicable
to us, to all who, like Abram, are strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. The Son of God is our shield of faith. He is our
shield and our defense. Christ is the refuge behind whom
faith hides. He is the shield whom faith holds. He is that one in whom we find
safety. And he who is our shield, our
Savior, is also our exceeding great reward. The Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him.
All right, now look at the next line, verse 2. And Abram said, Lord God, what
will you give me? Seeing I go childless, and the
steward, the servant of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus,
fine fellow, but he's not my son. And Abram said, behold,
to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house
is my heir. Abraham made a connection. that
we ought to connect and the connection we ought to make. He said, now
God has promised me that he would give me all things. God has promised me that he would
make me a blessing and bless me. God has promised me that
he would make me a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
Now if that's God's promise, and it is, I've got to have a
son. I've got to have a son. How am
I going to bless all the nations of the earth forever if I don't
have a son? How is my seed going to be a
blessing to all if I don't have any seed? And so we ask the Lord,
give me a son. That's the essence of what these
two verses are all about. Here I am. You say I'm your heir.
And sonship and heirship go together. I don't have a son. Shall Eliezer
be my heir? God give me a son. Here's an
old man. An old man. A withered up old
man. He's nearly 100 years old. With
a withered up old wife who's always been withered up in her
womb. He said, God give me a son. Now that's not a question of
unbelief. That's a question of faith. He said, give me a son,
give me a son. Abraham asked God for a son,
reasoning on the basis of God's revelation and God's word. Now, look what God says to him.
Verse four, and behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying,
all right, Abraham, this Eliezer He shall not be your heir, but
he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your
heir. And he brought him forth abroad
and said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if you may
be able to number them. And he said to him, so shall
thy seed be. You remember back in chapter
In verse 15, the Lord said to Abram, he said, now your seed,
your seed shall be like the dust of the earth. If a man can count
the dust of the earth, then he can count your seed. And now
he takes him, apparently well before daybreak, while the stars
are still shining, the Lord Jesus takes him by the hand and leads
him outside. He says, Abraham, look up yonder.
Now number the stars. Men are still trying to do it.
They get bigger telescopes, find new stars. Still can't number
them. Number the stars, your seed will be like the stars in
heaven. An earthly seed, yes, but a heavenly
seed. One seed, but a multitude of
seeds. What's he talking about? Be sure
you understand the meaning of this as it's given in the scriptures.
Without question, The seed he has referenced to includes all
of God's elect. We are all described as the seed
of Abraham, whom Jesus Christ laid hold of to save in Hebrews
2 verse 16. But the primary significance
of this promise Is that God here declares to Abraham that he would
send the seed of the woman whom he promised in Genesis 3 15 The
seed of the woman the great redeemer who would crush the serpent's
head and thereby save his people He would send this seed through
his loins Turn to Galatians 3. Let's see if that's not so Galatians
3 verse 16 Now this is not something I just
poured off the top of my head. This is what God says right here in
his word. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ. All right, now then, in response
to this revelation, In response to the Lord God declaring to
Abraham, through your loins, through your wife's womb, I'm
going to send my son, my servant, your Redeemer, my Messiah, my
King, my Savior, to my people to redeem and save you! I'm going
to send my son to establish righteousness and to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And through him, you and all
your seed shall be saved. Wow, what a word. Now look at
verse six. And he believed in the Lord. Abraham said, God can do it.
God can do it. And he said he would. I know
he will. He believed in the Lord. and God counted it to him for
righteousness. Now, there is no single text
in all the Old Testament which is so thoroughly expounded in
the New Testament as Genesis 15.6. The Apostle Paul was inspired
to give us commentary on it, an extensive commentary, both
in Romans 3, 4, and 5, and in Galatians 3. is here declared to be justified,
and he's declared to be justified in this place and not before
this, because the reference here is to the work of Christ. Now
be sure you understand this. Abraham was justified before
this. When God called him out of Ur-Chaldees, Abraham went
out by faith. Hebrews chapter 11 says so. He believed God way
back then. When he walked in Haran, he was
a believer walking before God. When he sojourned in Egypt, he
was a believer sojourning in Egypt. When he came up out of
Egypt back to Canaan, he was a believer. When he said to Lot,
you take whatever you want to son, I'll take the rest, he was
a believer walking with God. When he went out to defeat the
kings, he went out in faith and conquered the kings and delivered
Lot and all his goods back into safety. Abraham was a believer
beforehand. But here he is said to be justified
before God Almighty by faith. How come here and not back there? Because, Larry, justification
has no connection with our experience. Listen to me now. Justification
has no connection with our experience. Justification has no connection
with our calling. except as the basis of it. Justification
has no connection with our feeling. Justification takes place in
the court of heaven, not in your nervous system. Justification
takes place altogether outside us. Justification can only be
understood in the light of the person and work of God's darling
son upon the cursed tree. Now, this is what God preached
to Abraham. His faith was counted to him for righteousness. It
must be that faith which has connection to the promised seed
and the work of the promised seed. There is no justification
before God apart from Jesus Christ. This is the only way God has,
the only way God does, the only way God ever will justify a sinner,
the only way he can justify a sinner. is through his Son, through the
sacrifice of his Son. It's only by justice being satisfied,
by the obedience and death of the incarnate God that God can
be a just God and a Savior. Only by punishing our sins as
well as establishing righteousness for us of infinite value and
merit can God Almighty forgive our sins and declare us righteous
before him. He is now set forth to be a propitiation
of sin through faith in his blood to declare God's righteousness,
God's righteousness in the forgiving of sin. Justifying faith, then, is directly
connected with Christ. And there are three things I
want to show you this morning, and I'll wrap this up. I'll wrap
it up real quickly. Number one, the gospel was first
preached to Abraham. Turn back again to Galatians
chapter 3. Again, this is not a matter of
speculation. This is exactly what God the Holy Spirit tells
us took place here in Genesis chapter 15, verses 1 through
4. You see, God's method of grace
never changes. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. If God makes himself
known to a sinner, If God reveals himself to a sinner, if God is
pleased to show any sinner the way of life and faith, it will
be through the preaching of the gospel. Look here in Galatians
chapter 6, or Galatians chapter 3 rather, and verse 8. And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, that's
you and me, Gentiles, through faith, preached before the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now look down in verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. That the blessing of Abraham. Why did Christ die? Why was he
crucified? Why was he made to be sinned?
Why was he made to be accursed? Why did he bear the horrible
wrath of God Almighty as our substitute? For this purpose,
that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. Might come
on the Gentiles. Through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. that
we might receive eternal life, all the blessings of grace. Verse
16, now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. The Lord said, I'll do this through
him. Abraham said, I believe him. I believe him. I rest my soul
on him. As a matter of fact, when the
scripture says here, he believed God, the word might better be
translated, he stayed himself on the Lord. Abraham heard God's
word of grace, he heard the promise of redemption, and he said, I'll
stay myself on him. He believed God. How was he justified? He believed in the Lord. Now,
he was justified by grace. through faith in Christ. By grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He was not justified
by religious ceremonialism. He was justified before circumcision
had been invented. No religious ceremony is done
here. He was not justified by his works. Though he had done
many noble, good things, those things have no connection with
his justification. His magnanimous generosity to
Lot, his bravery in pursuing the kings, his confidence before
the king of Solomon. Those things have no connection
with the justification. They are only the evidence of
it. He was justified not by keeping the law. When we're told that
he gave tithes to Melchizedek, not a word said about justification,
not a word about it. And the ceremonial law and the
moral law had not yet been given. Notice this too. He believed
in the Lord, not he believed in facts about the Lord. There's
a huge difference. You see, Christ himself is the solitary
object of our faith, not facts about him. Now you cannot believe
in him. You cannot believe the Son of
God and not believe the facts revealed concerning him. There's
no question about that. But you dead sure believe the
facts and not believe him. It doesn't say he believed in
the doctrines of the Lord. You cannot believe in him without
believing his doctrine. Nobody believes on the Son of
God who does not believe the doctrine of the gospel. Nobody.
Nobody. Nobody. Not you, not me. Nobody. Nobody. But you can dead
sure believe the doctrines and not believe him. Believing in predestination never
saved anybody. Never even did them any good
until they believed on Christ. Believing in election never saved
anybody. Never did them any good until
they believed on Christ. Believing in limited atonement
never saved anybody. Never even did them any good
until they believed on Christ. I wouldn't spend five seconds
trying to convince some babbling Armenian he ought to believe
in election. I wouldn't spend five seconds doing it. My concern
is not that you believe election. Believe the Son of God, you'll
get election straight. Believe Christ, you'll get predestination
right. Believe on Him who reigns on
the throne of heaven. You'll understand something about
God's sovereignty and grace. But all doctrine without Him
is nothing. He believed in the Lord. The solitary object of His faith
was Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, and he counted it to him
for righteousness. What on earth does that mean?
I read a number of commentaries, good and bad, on this passage
the past week, and most commentaries, most preachers jump on this like
a duck on a June bug and they say, there you see, it was Abraham's
act of faith that made the That's what made the difference. It
is the sinner's act of faith that makes the difference between
him and the unbeliever. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no. You see, that would make
God save sinners not on the basis of righteousness and justice,
but rather on the basis of a sort of gracious compromise in which
he throws his law away. in which he throws his truth
away, in which he throws righteousness out the window, he throws justice
out the window, and he says, well, I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll forget about righteousness
and sin and judgment and justice. I'll forget about my word and
my truth and my honor, and I'll just accept your faith. Find
me something like that in the word of God. It's not there,
buddy. It's not fair. God's not going to bend his law
to save you or anybody else. He's not going to bend his honor
to save anybody. He's not going to bend his justice
to save anybody. Oh, no. God Almighty saves sinners
in consistency with his character in absolute truth and justice. This is what the wise men said.
By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. by justice and by
grace. Well, if God did not impute the
act of Abraham's faith to him for justification, what did he
impute to him? The object of his faith. It's
not our faith that justifies us, but Christ, whom we believe. When the Scripture talks about
us being justified by faith, it is not in any way implying
or suggesting that we are somehow accomplishing justification by
believing Christ. Our believing Him doesn't change
a thing. Our faith has nothing more to
do with the accomplishment of justification than the act of
sinning does. I'll repeat that. The act of
faith has nothing more to do with the accomplishment of justification
than the act of sinning. Gary, our faith, our best faith,
is just sin. To say that faith is the grounds
of justification is to say that sin is the grounds of justification. That's absurd. But rather, we're
told that our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, and bowed his head, and said,
Into thy hands I commend my spirit, and gave up the ghost. He was
delivered because of our offenses, and was raised again because
of our justification, therefore being justified by faith we have
peace with God." Now this is what it means, David. Christ
accomplished it at Calvary. Indeed, it was accomplished back
yonder before the world began in the purpose of God as God
looked on us in His Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And Paul says so in Romans chapter 8. But it's
experienced in time. And we know nothing about it
until we believe. And now, believe in God. I have peace. Peace with God. Peace with God. Peace with God. Believe in Him. What does it mean to be justified?
It's what it means. It means my sins are all forgiven because Christ put them all away.
It means I'm accepted in the beloved. accepted in the beloved. It means
that God Almighty in the court of heaven declares I have no
sin and I'm perfectly righteous. That's what it means to be justified.
Justified. It means I'm complete in Christ
and nothing will ever change Him. Now preacher, that's impossible.
It is with me and with you. Kind of like the deadness of
Abraham's loins and the deadness of Sarah's womb, but with God. God said it. And he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
being fully persuaded that what he promised he was able to perform.
And I'm here to tell you, I am fully persuaded that what God
promised he's able to perform. He will present me at last, all
of us, before the presence of his glory with unspeakable joy. Would you be justified? Would
you walk out those doors today? with your screaming conscience,
silenced, with never again a reason for your conscience to condemn
you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have peace with God. Amen. All right, you can leave
us in a heel place.