Last Sunday, my collar was flipped
up and nobody told me about it. So now I'm paranoid. I'm up here
doing this, trying to get it. I'm glad it doesn't matter about
collars. You ain't here to see me anyways. We're here to see
him and I hope he reveals himself this hour. Let's turn to Romans
chapter four, if you would. Romans chapter four. I have a simple question this
morning. I hope and pray the Lord gives
us the answer to and this is what I titled the message as
well. Why did Abraham believe God? Why? Did Abraham believe
God? And I'm getting this answer.
I hope the gospel becomes clear. And answers clear to us throughout
Scripture, we know. But men in religion somehow want
to credit to him like he was some great guy or he was something
special in his flesh, something good about him. But if you look
at the men that the Lord called, the Lord saved, there was nothing
good about those men. David, King David, the man the
scripture says after God's own heart, what was he in the flesh? He was an adulterer. He was a
murderer? Does that sound like the Lord's
gonna look at him and say, well, I'm gonna overlook those things
because you did this. That outweighed the bad. No,
no, God's justice is, it demands because of his holiness, justice
is demanded that it must be executed. Judgment must come upon sin.
We know the wages of sin is death and God cannot lie. So what of
Abraham, was he a good guy? Well, he didn't believe God whenever
he and his wife went before, two separate occasions this happened.
They go before kings, and Sarah was an attractive woman. His
wife was a beautiful woman, the scripture is clear on that. And
the king said, who is she? And he said, this is my sister.
Why did he do that? He was afraid of getting his
head chopped off being her husband. And it wasn't but for the grace
of God that the king didn't take her and make her his wife. The Lord gave a vision, said,
this is Abraham's wife. You can't have her. Well, what
about on another occasion, Abraham, God came to Abraham and said,
you're gonna have a child in your old age. And he was in his
90s, wasn't he? Sarah laughed in her heart. She
says, I'm past the time. How am I going to have a child?
She was up in years as well. And so what did they do after
the time had started going? I don't know how much time had
passed, but they said, we got it. We're going to take matters
into our own hands. Isn't that what we do so many
times? And man, is it ever good when we do that? No. No, we always
mess it up, don't we? Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
we are. But mercy and grace, the Lord
brings us back to Him, causing us to seek His face, begging
for His salvation all over again. Lord, save me. Well, what did
Abraham and Sarah do? Sarah said, here, Abraham, here's
my handmaiden, Hagar, take her. And she conceived and bore a
son named Ishmael. And those two, later on, the
Lord honors his word and Sarah conceives and has Isaac, and
he's the one of promise. And Ishmael represents the works
of the flesh, not being a child of the promise. And they're still
over there in the Middle East fighting over whose land that
is, all because of Abraham's unbelief. That's what it all
comes back to. So why does it say Abraham believed
God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness? Now with whatever belief he had
of God, we have to make certain that we have that same belief.
If that's what God accounts unto us as righteousness, we've got
to have that belief, don't we? Whatever he had, we gotta have
it. We got to have it. So I want to answer that question
this morning, if the Lord would be willing to do so and cause
us to see why did Abraham believe God? Most men, especially in
religion, use words that they do not understand. They don't
know the meaning of, and even us, we have to, it has to be
revealed, doesn't it? The meaning of some of these
words, what, what is justification? What is righteousness? What is
redemption? What is faith? These things men
talk about exercising their faith. Well, they don't know what faith
is. By definition, faith is not a work, is it? Not a work at
all. You don't exercise it. It's not a work. No, we have
to know the definition of some of these words to understand
why, and I hope I can get out of my own way this morning and
not, I have a bad problem of going down rabbit trails, and
I don't mean to do that. Me and Rob were just talking
about that. I don't want to do that this morning. as clear as I can
be and pray that he would reveal his truth. And in hearing and
believing his truth, it's a work of grace in the heart, isn't
it? Now look with me in Romans chapter
four, if you would. Romans chapter four and verse
one. Romans deals with Abraham's justification, Abraham's righteousness.
Romans four, verse one. What shall we say then that father,
that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. What does it mean when it says
Abraham believed God? What does it mean? If it is the
belief whereby God sees righteousness or God accounts right, it's imperative
that we have that same belief, isn't it? It's futile to not. We're desperately needing it. Those that oppose the truth say,
well, that belief, it's something you are capable of choosing to
do. That's something that you decide. You choose to believe
God. That's the lie, isn't it? That's
the lie. You can do something. Well, that
entices this flesh, doesn't it? Well, men, when they hear of
this, they'll get books out. They'll get the Bible. I've read
the Bible this many times. You ever heard that before? I've
read it front to back. I know this much about the Bible.
And they're ever learning, the scripture says, and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's what doing does,
is it doesn't point to Christ. No, God's gospel says one thing
very clearly. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
says one thing very clearly. It is finished. Done. It's over. The Lord did
it himself. He by himself, when he hath purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
He did that. We didn't have any part of that, did we? The only
thing we contributed was our sin and we couldn't even contribute
that. He had to take them from us, didn't he? And he did, for
all of his people, he did. Now, but this believing can't
be a work where it's not of grace. It can't be a work where it's
not of grace. And the scripture is very clear,
by grace, you are saved through faith. Paul was clear on this. He said, if it's of the law,
if it's of works, and it's no longer of grace, and if it's
of grace, it cannot be of works. That's simple, isn't it? So what
are we to do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, if it's not a work, how do I do that? He's got to make
me. He's got to make you. And how
does he do that? By sending his spirit of holiness
and revealing his truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
he does it, isn't it? The word believe here, is glorious
in its context and in its definition. Believe is the word pistouya,
pistouyo, pistouyo, that's the Greek word, pistouyo. It means
to be persuaded of. Well, that doesn't mean what
I thought it meant at all, does it to you? To be persuaded, Abraham
was persuaded of God. See, who does the persuading
in salvation? Is it a man? Well, if one man
can talk me into it, another man can talk me out of it. You've
heard me say that many times. You've heard Greg say that many
times, haven't we? No, we're persuaded of God. Paul said,
I am persuaded. I am fully persuaded, neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers.
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Why? Because of the source
of it. It's His love. We are kept by
the power of God, by His faith, by his faith bestowed. That's
how his people are kept. We're persuaded of him. God does
the persuading. We've been made to trust wholly
and completely. That's what the other definition
of that pistullo means, that word believe. Made to trust in
wholly and completely because of saving faith. That's the result
of it. We believe God because of saving
faith, not for saving faith. We don't believe so that God
will give us faith to believe. Abraham believed God because
he was given saving faith, period. That's why. So what do we need? We need saving faith. It's evident,
isn't it? Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Isn't that what the scripture
said? I've got to have his faith. Now this thing of faith is very
controversial, but it shouldn't be. It's very simple. Ask yourself
this, where does faith come from? Who gets all the glory for it?
Who gets all the glory? If it's me, then it's not saving
faith. Who's the source of saving faith?
Christ is. No, it's his faithfulness that
the father saw and was pleased with, isn't it? It's not my faithfulness.
God didn't see that Abraham was faithful and said, I'm gonna
count that as your righteousness. That's not what he's saying.
It was because he was given the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
to believe God. It was counted unto him for righteousness.
Faith by definition. By definition is not a work.
It's not something we do. It wasn't Abraham's good deeds.
Faith is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved. This is quoted so much in religion,
isn't it? We quote it here often too. I love it. For by grace
are you saved through faith in that not of yourself, not of
yourself, It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. You hear somebody talking about
their faith, that's boasting, isn't it? That's not saving faith. No, we don't boast in our faith
because we know the source of it. He gets all the glory for
his faith, everything required in salvation, everything he must
provide. And God only accepts that which
he provides. He's provided everything in the
Lord Jesus Christ for his people, hasn't he? God's people know what that verse
means, for by grace are you saved through faith in and out of yourself.
And you know who else did? Abraham did. Abraham knew what
that meant. He knew that it wasn't in himself.
He was like Paul. He's like every believer that
has ever lived or ever will live. In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. Do you remember whenever the
rich young ruler came to the Lord and he said, good master,
what must I do? Well, that was the worst thing
to ask to begin with, wasn't it? What must I do? But that's
what we think by nature. There's got to be something I
do. No, he won't accept it. He's holy. No, he's holy. You
got to come to Christ. You can't come to the Father.
You have to come to Christ. And the only way we can come
to him is if he draws. The young ruler said, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord said, why callest thou
me good? First of all, your perception
of good and bad is wrong. There's none good but God. Abraham knew that. Abraham believed
that. Abraham saw the representation
of saving grace whenever he took his son up to Mount Moriah. And
the picture of Christ bearing the wood and the father having
the fire and the knife, going to sacrifice his son by the command
of God. He believed God. And right as
he was about to proceed, the Lord stopped him, didn't he?
What did Isaac ask him? Lord, I see the fire, I see the
knife, I see the wood, but where's the sacrifice? God will provide
himself a sacrifice. Is that the gospel, isn't it?
That's the gospel. God provided himself what was sufficient for
him to be pleased with, that which was required. He provided
himself with that, and he provided himself as the Lord Jesus Christ,
literally himself. God provided himself. God provided
everything in salvation. Abraham believed that. Abraham
believed that, didn't he? That is why That is why it was
accounted unto him for righteousness. He believed God. Now, none of this that I'm mentioning
about with Abraham, Abraham produced. It was all by grace, all by the
faith of Christ. These are the gift of God bestowed
by his choosing. I wanna repeat that. This is
all by grace and all by faith, by his choosing to bestow it. That's the only hope that we
have. He's God. And if we see him as
God, we'll see that it has to be by grace. It cannot be by
works. There's nothing I can do that
pleases him. Thanks be to God. He gives the
faith. He's not looking for my good deeds. He's not looking
for my will, my want to, my tries. He's not looking for my best
intentions. No, if the Lord's looking at my best intention,
my best prayer that I've ever prayed, it's still polluted with
the sin that I am. Do we see that? The sin that
I am, not just what I do. He's looking for one thing, the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has to bestow that upon
his people. It's not by our doing, it's not
by our law keeping, but by his choosing. Turn with me to Galatians
three. We looked at this Wednesday,
but I think I told you Wednesday
that we would be looking at this again Sunday. I already knew
that this would be the case, but God's word is inexhaustible
with his gospel and with his gospel. And here in Romans three,
it's the same subject, Abraham believing God. And we're still
asking the question and answering, why did Abraham believe God?
Well, in Galatians three, verse five, it says, he therefore that
ministered to you, the spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by works of the law or by the hearing of faith, even
as Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Now that word accounted right
here is the same word as imputed, imputed. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen 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. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. under the curse, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law. Now what is the issue here that
he's dealing with? They've been taken away from
the gospel, the true gospel that Paul preached to them, and now
they've implemented one thing. It's not a whole bunch of things
that they were doing. It's not a whole bunch of different works
that changed the gospel. It was just one thing. That was
the only thing that Satan had to do in the garden, to change
the truth into a lie. It had one word, wasn't it? One
word, thou shalt not surely die. He called God a liar, didn't
he? What is the thing that they were doing here? Circumcision
according to the law. According to the law. Now what
he's doing is he's explaining to them that circumcision has
nothing to do with salvation. Nothing. Nothing. It's the circumcision
of the heart and God's got to be the operator of that. He's
got to be the one that does it. He's explaining to them that
it's not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be circumcised.
That's just, that's what he says. It's very, he's being very clear
about this. It's not what we do because as
soon as we do one thing in trying to keep the law, as soon as,
as soon as we do one thing in trying to please God, we're a
debtor to the entire law and we've broken every commandment,
every commandment. And there is no escape. of that
trespass, that transgression, it must be punished. God will
not acquit the guilty. And the scripture's clear in
this, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
and the wages of that sin is death. But the good news of the
gospel is the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. See, Christ fulfilled the law. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. Now let's read on, verse 11.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. 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 might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we, that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. Abraham believed God because
he, the Lord gave him a promise, but there's no way you and I
can believe God unless he causes us to do so. Abraham believed
God because God said, believe. Do we see how simple that is?
Oh Lord, I need you to say that to me. I need you to say that
to us. Lord, cause me to believe. See, the command that goes forth
to the Lord's people is not an offer. When God says believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a command. That's a command. And if he makes it effectual
in the heart, we just find ourself believing. I love the thought
a believer cannot not believe. You just have to believe. Why? Because of the faith that he's
given to believe on him. Faith looks to Christ. Who does it come from? It comes
from Christ. Who gets all the glory for it? Christ does. Who does it always look to? It
looks to Christ and never to self, never to flesh, but it
looks to Christ. Why did Abraham believe God?
Because God made him to. He said in Genesis 12, get thee
out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's
house unto a land I will show thee. He didn't, it wasn't an
offer. It wasn't an offer, was it? He didn't say, God doesn't
talk this way. He doesn't say, hey, Abraham,
I have an idea. How would you like to do this?
God doesn't use that terminology, does he? You'll never find that
in the scripture. How would you like to do this? Or would you
mind doing this? God don't talk that way. We do.
We're trying to persuade people. When God persuades you, it's
because he's commanded it. We're persuaded because we see
him through eyes of faith. He says, get thee up out of this country,
away from your brethren, away from your kindred, and go to
the land I'm going to tell you to. Abraham said, okay, Lord,
yes, truth. I'll do that. Why? God gave him
faith to do so, to believe him. He gave him the promise of a
redeemer. And it was all of Abraham's hope, all Abraham's hope. Notice what God And I love this
in chapter three, verse eight of Galatians here. I don't want
to miss this. In the scripture foreseeing God
would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel
unto Abraham. Did you see that? God preached
the gospel to Abraham. What gospel? Well, there's only
one. There's only one. That's how God calls his sinners. It's his gospel. We're not gonna
hear the truth. We're not gonna be called of
the Lord. God's not gonna reveal that we're saved because of songs.
He's not gonna be revealed by books. He's not gonna be revealed
by us reading the Bible. It's through the foolishness
of preaching. That's why it's so important to be here as often
as we can be. That maybe I'll hear his voice.
Maybe he'll call me. Lord, have mercy on me. That's
why we got to have it, isn't it? And we do that because of
his faith, because he did the work. And that's why Abraham
believed God. God gave saving faith. Because of what faith does, looking
to Christ, Abraham believed God. Well, men will hear that, and
they'll say something like, so all we have to do is believe. You're saying all we have to
do is believe. I wish we could not use the word do at all, that
would be, it would alleviate a lot of confusion, wouldn't
it? When it comes to the gospel, we don't do, it's that simple,
God does. And he did it, he's already done
it, it's already finished. But remember Abraham's character,
it wasn't that Abraham had to do one more good thing and finally
those scales were tipped and the balance was good and God
was pleased with Abraham, that's not what it's talking about.
No, remember his character. You say, okay, well, so if I
believe God, I will be made righteous. Is that what it's saying? No,
if we believe God, it's because we've been made righteous. See
the difference? The cause and effect's totally
different. We don't believe to be made righteous, we believe
because we've been made righteous. When did that happen? Before
time. Before time ever? That's what 2 Timothy 1-9 tells
us clearly. You can look on the, we're down
on the front of your bulletin. That's the one the Lord gave
to pick. God called us, and then he saved us. Not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and will. Given to
us by grace in Christ before the world ever began. I can't wrap my brain around
that, but you know what faith does? Faith says truth, Lord,
I believe. I believe, help my unbelief. If we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's because we've been made the righteousness of God
in him. That, that's what it's saying here. Look at verse six
again, and we're going to go right back to Romans four after
this, but in verse six, he says, even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's the same
word also as reckoned reckon, and I'm going to speak to us
on that. Turn back to Romans four first. Verse three says, for what saith
the scripture. Now that you, if we find the
answer to that, if we find Christ in the scripture, it has to be
by the revelation of him. What did he tell the Pharisees?
He said, search the scripture for in them. You think you think
you have eternal life, but they are, they, which spoke of me.
These are, they, which spoke of me. It all speaks of him.
Doesn't it? Abraham didn't think he knew God. He was fully persuaded
of God. Do you remember the Jews? And
I'm going to talk, we're going to talk about reckoning in just a moment.
I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but the same Pharisees came to
him to came to Christ and they bragged about being Abraham's
seed. Do you remember that? They looked at him and said,
we'd be of Abraham's seed. We'd be of Abraham's seed. And the
Lord said, you're not of Abraham's seed. If you were, you would
rejoice. Abraham saw my day and was glad. Abraham believed God. He said, you're not of Abraham's
seed. You're of your father, the devil. That's what he told
him, wasn't it? That's what he told him. Now let's look here at Romans
four. Let's read verse three. He says, for what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God and it was counted, counted unto him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness, of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered." Faith in no way, shape, or form
is a work that we do. Faith in no way, shape or form
is a work that we do. That's what he says in verse
five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth. Somebody
said, I have to believe, but believing is not a work that
we do. That is the gift of God, isn't it? That's exactly what
faith is. Believing is the gift of the Lord. It's very different
than all of the religions. Most religion says there's something
to do, but God is the imputer of this gift. It's his righteousness.
If we find ourself believing, it's because of his work. I'm
going to keep saying the same thing over and over again, probably,
and I don't mean to do that, but it's the truth, isn't it?
He has to do it all. He's the imputer of righteousness.
We find ourself believing because of his finished work, him choosing,
not ours. That's the only hope a believer
has, isn't it? Because if it's left up to me to keep the law,
I'm in debt to the whole thing. I can't keep the law. No, we
got to be like Abraham. We must believe God. That's our
only hope. Now, I want to clarify something
here. When he says counted for righteousness
in verse five, that's the same word as impute. That's the same
word as counted. And that's the same word as reckoned.
Those are the exact same word. They just chose to use, um, They
chose to use a different word to describe the same word. Now
this is a word God chose to use to clear up everything about
him being the doer in salvation, the doer of salvation, the doer
of imputation, the doer of regeneration. To reckon, here's the definition
of reckon. To reckon is to establish by counting or calculation a
bill or account or its settlement. The example I would give us is
this. If I was to reckon my account, if my account has been reckoned,
I have counted every penny that is in that bank account, or I've
counted every penny that's in a piggy bank, and that has been
reckoned to have this exact amount in it. It's not reckoned like,
I'm from East Tennessee, as most of y'all know, and we down there
say, yeah, I reckon we can do that. I don't know if y'all see
that up here or not, but that's not what he's talking about.
That's not what he's talking about at all. No, he's saying that he's
100% positive. It is certain. It is certain. It is certain that everything
God did is finished. Everything regarding salvation
is finished. God has reckoned it. This is
not based upon suppositions ever. This word reckoned is never based
upon suppositions, it's only based upon facts. I thought of
this example, we have chairs up here and I don't know what
for, we don't use them, but if I say I reckon this chair will
hold me, that's not what it's talking about. It's not guaranteed
to hold me. Now, if I get steel bars and
reinforce it, I mean, and make it just, exactly sure and steadfast,
and I know I can say at that time, yeah, I'm pretty sure it'll
hold me at that point, but that's still not reckoned, is it? That's
still not guaranteed. See, that's what we're, we're
talking about a God of absolutes. We've got to understand, He doesn't
try. To reckon is not just to know,
it's to make certain of. And in this great design of grace
called salvation, God made certain that every single person that
he went to the cross to die for in the covenant of grace has
been redeemed back to him. They've been counted. They've
been reckoned. They've been brought to him.
He's sure and certain. God made certain in redemption
Because God's people have been made the righteousness of God
in Him, because they have been sanctified, because they have
been glorified, in time He gives faith. And it reveals one thing,
the righteousness of God. That's what it reveals in us.
He sees the righteousness of Christ in His people. Why? It's
bestowed. It's bestowed in every single
one of His people. God gives his faith, the faith
of Christ, reckoned unto his people, reckoned unto his people
because of his righteousness bestowed. I wanna show us this. Look at the end of verse nine. For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. Now, This word for, I love this,
this word for is the word ice. It's pronounced ice in the Greek. And what it means is, is wanted.
Or the example I would give is it has two different meanings,
the word for, okay. So if you saw a billboard poster
that said this outlaw is wanted for robbery. Well, it can mean
two things. Is he wanted for, Robbery that he's committed?
Or are you looking to get a partner and go commit a robbery? Which
one is it? What are we wanted for? Does
that make sense? He's wanted for robbery. Has he already committed
it? Or is he wanted because you want to commit a robbery with
him? He's wanted for robbery. I want to make him my partner
in crime. He's wanted for robbery. Do you
see the difference there now? He's not saying Abraham's faith
was in order for him to be righteous. He's saying it was because he
was righteous. He was the righteousness of God in him. He didn't give
faith and then said, okay, you've been made righteous. No, he was
made righteous in the covenant of grace and eternity passed.
And in time, the Lord gives faith, revealing that very righteousness. Faith was reckoned to him. Do
you know why? Because he was justified in God's
eyes. He was justified in God's eyes,
all God's elect, are righteous, they are justified, given faith
in time. Now in closing, I want to look
at verse 20. I'm gonna read the remainder
of the chapter. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. I love that because we know good
and well he took matters into his own hands multiple times.
How can that be possible? Because he was seen in Christ.
There's our hope, isn't it? Lord, let that be said about
us. Lord, don't allow us to stagger and waver. Staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised
he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake only, or his sake alone, that it was imputed to him. but
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed. If we believe on
him that raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Now you see the word for in verse
25. who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. This is not the
same word as ice. This is the word dia, dia. It means because of, because
of. You can go ahead and change that
if you want to in your mind. He wasn't raised for our justification. He was raised because, because
of our justification. His blood is our justification
before God. If we look at ourself in any
way, shape or form, anything that we possess, anything that
we do is our justification. We are not looking to Christ.
God was pleased with the faithfulness of Christ. That's where our justification
lies. He was pleased with his son,
his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his blood,
his sacrifice. That is justification before
God. That was Abraham's justification.
Justification is prior to our natural birth. It's eternal. God's people were eternal. God
doesn't do something temporarily, does he? I've never read in the
scripture where God did something temporarily. When they talk about
spiritual matters now, what about spiritual matters? No, it's always
been. He's always seen his people in Christ. He cannot change his
mind. He has always loved his people. He's always loved them. There's no time in eternity,
so you can't say time or moment. There's never been, he's always
loved his people. He's always seen them in Christ.
And nothing about us justifies us. God does that. Nothing about
us being in Christ is because of what we do. God did that.
It's not our faith, but the object of that faith that is our justification. It's not our faith, it's his
faith that's bestowed. It's the object of faith that
is our justification before the Lord Jesus Christ. If I can make
this as simple as I could, Jesus Christ is justification, period.
Jesus Christ is salvation, period. It's that simple. Creature cannot
be justified by his doing, working, performing, or anything. God
justified his people. Listen to Romans 8.33. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. God does that. God did the justifying,
didn't he? You and I didn't do the justifying.
It wasn't Abraham that decided to believe God and then became
justified. Abraham believed God because
he was given faith, because he was justified, because he was
righteous. Do we see the... It's totally different than religion,
isn't it? No, God did it all. God did it all. Romans 3 says,
to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth. in Jesus. A sinner's not justified by their
anything, are they? Men say that they have a faith,
that they use the verse that God's given up to every man the
measure of faith, and all you have to do is exercise that faith.
Faith, by definition, looks to Christ. Don't miss that. That's
what faith does. That's what faith, it believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It looks to the Lord Jesus Christ
as all, that's what Abraham had. That's why he believed God. And
it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. God saw that,
saw him as righteous, saw him as justified. That's what it
does, it's glorious, isn't it? If a sinner could be justified
by what they possess, what they do, If any sinner could be justified
by his faith, it would be the work of faith for justification,
but it's not, it's God's work. God said he's the one that justifies.
It's not anything we do, it's what he done. He's declared us
as righteous. He's declared us justified by
the blood of Christ. And that faith that he sees,
that he requires, just looks to Christ, doesn't it? By definition,
faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. I'm going to give us the three definitions there and
I'm coming to an end. Faith is the substance. The definition
of that word substance is a person. I love that. Faith is the person. The person. Firmness that has
foundation. That's the definition of substance. Christ is the substance of faith.
The substance of things hoped for. The word hope is waiting. for salvation with full joy and
confidence, being fully persuaded. That's what hope is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that word evidence means proof or conviction. God's faith demands God's people
to do one thing, look to Christ and believe. Being fully persuaded,
being fully confident, just as Abraham, that's why Abraham believed
God, he was given God's faith. Oh, I need his faith, don't you?
Desperately, if we don't have it, if we don't have it, we're
not we're not made right. We're not righteous. If you don't
give us faith in time, we're never going to. We must have
his faith. Faith is the it reveals Christ,
doesn't it? It reveals our righteousness
is hidden him. It reveals our justifications in him alone,
in him alone. That's why Abraham believed God
as he was given faith. I love the thought that Abraham,
without working, without trying, without doing, he believed God. And that's exactly what God requires.
It's not by working, not by doing. God makes us believe him by the
faith Christ bestowed. It was counted, it was reckoned
to Abraham because of his righteousness. Because of our justification
before God, we are given his faith. And he says justified.
Justified, perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, redeemed. just as much as Christ, just
as much as Abraham here. Therefore, if anyone asks, how
are you justified? If anybody ever asks you, what
is your justification? Christ is, his blood alone. No, it's nothing I do, it's what
he done. That's my justification. It's
his faithfulness, it's his blood, it's his obedience. Therefore,
when somebody asks, what's your wisdom? What do you know? What's your
righteousness? What's your sanctification? What is your sanctification? What's your redemption? What
is our response? Christ Jesus, the Lord, he's
all, he's all. This is what was revealed to
Abraham, and it's what was revealed to all of God's elect. And because
of this, look in verse one of chapter five, Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, whom also we have access by faith into the grace where
on we stand and rejoice, rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Look in verse nine, but God commit
his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath,
from wrath through Christ. Do you believe that? By his blood,
we've never sinned one time. Can you explain that to me? How's
that? I've never sinned one time. That's what he said. That's what
justified means. We've been justified before the
Lord by his blood. Never sinned one time. It's not
just as if I had not sinned. We've never sinned. I love that. I don't understand it. I still
see the sin that I am, but he said, no, you're justified. What do we, what shall we say
to these things then? God before us who can be against us. If
you believe, If you believe that, come to Christ. Don't move a
muscle. Don't do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through the eyes of faith that he's given, believe him just
like Abraham. Why did Abraham believe God?
Because God made him do so. God gave him the faith to do
so. And if you and I believe God, if we can, we will. If we can, we will. Because he's
made us do so.