Perhaps his chief recommendation
was given by James in chapter 2, verse 23, which says, And
the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed
God. And it was imputed to him for
righteousness, and Abraham was called a friend of God. And then
over in Galatians chapter 3, this is high praise for a man. In Galatians chapter 3, verse
7, he's called the father of all believers. Galatians 3, 7, that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham." Every believer is called
a child of Abraham. And down in verse 16, it tells
us that Christ Jesus came into this world through the seed or
the lineage of Abraham. Abraham, Isaac, down to Christ,
verse 16. and his seed where the promise
is made. He saith not unto seeds, as of
many, but as of one, to thy seed, which is Christ." Which is Christ. And then this
is so interesting in Matthew chapter 8. A passage you're familiar
with, I know, but to look at it again and see where our Lord
referred to Abraham's certain salvation, certain salvation. Not a question about it. Abraham
knew God, was chosen of God, redeemed of God, and is englobed,
no doubt about it. In Matthew 8, verse 11, our Lord
said, And I say unto you, that many shall come from the and
the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." He's dying, without doubt, he's
dying. And then our Lord gave that illustration
of the rich man who died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes,
and he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, in glory. You know, when we mention Abraham,
there's a lot of good things to say about Abraham, and people
are familiar with Abraham. But if we're not taught properly,
this is a dangerous area. If we're not taught properly,
we'll set men like Abraham above other men, and that's not what
we're supposed to do. People almost deify. these prophets
and these great men, and yet our Lord continues to tell us
they are men of like passions, men of like passions. And the
apostles refused the applause and acclaim and worship of people. They were just men. Abraham was
a son of Adam, just like you and me, born and conceived an
iniquity brought forth speaking lies. Abraham was a sinner just like
you and me. God chose Abraham. God made the
difference. God Almighty chose Abraham. Abraham didn't choose God. God
chose him. God justified him just like he
justified you in Christ. God called Abraham out of idolatry,
out of false religion, just like many of you were called out of
false religion. Turn to Joshua, chapter 24. Let
me show you this. Abraham was 75 years old when
God revealed him septuagint. Seventy-five years old. Abraham
was living in a pagan country, worshiping idols. When God said,
Abraham, get thee out of our father's house and go to lay
on our shoulder, he was an idol worshiper, a heathen. A man who
didn't know God, who didn't consider God, who didn't think upon God,
didn't seek God. Totally, basically, heathen,
just like you and me. There is no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Listen to Joshua
24, verse 2. And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers, and
Israel started with Abraham. He was the first Israelite. Your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old times, even Terah. the father of Abraham
and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods. They
served other gods. Abraham, his daddy and his brother,
and all his clan served other gods. And I took your father
Abraham from the other side of the flood. I sought him and found
him and called him, delivered him. I laid him throughout all
the land of Canaan. I multiplied his seed. I gave
him Isaac. He didn't have any of these things
because he earned them, merited them, or deserved them. I gave
it to him. I don't minimize Abraham's commitment
to God. I wouldn't do that for anything. I don't minimize his commitment.
What a committed man. What a dedicated man, what a
separated man. I don't minimize his faith, nor
his works, nor his courage in the face of the greatest, most
difficult trials. God tested him as he tested few
men. But Abraham was what he was by
the grace of God. He'll tell you that. as every
man or woman in this building is an object of God's love, will
tell you that they are what they are by the grace of God. That's
what Paul said, not of himself, not of his works. What he was,
God made him. What he had, God gave him. What
he knew, God taught him. And where he is now, God exalted
him. In the first 15 verses, as I
said we're going to look at that this morning, there are three
questions dealt with and answered. The first one is asked in verse
1, What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining
to the flesh, hath found? What did Abraham find? That he
found righteousness, he found holiness. He found sanctification, he found
acceptance in the sight of God. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time,
what would you, if God would give you anything you wanted,
just name it, just almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth,
the giver of all things. If God would grant you one request,
one request, what would you want? What would you ask God to give
you? Without a moment's hesitation,
Spurgeon replied, holiness. Absolute, perfect holiness. Righteousness. Sanctification. Pure and clean in God's sight. That's what Abraham found. Righteousness. Righteousness. Is this not what
David sought? Turn to Psalm 51. Listen to David. Is this not what David sought?
In Psalm 51. We're talking about holiness
now. Without which no man will see the Lord. Holiness. Righteousness. Perfect sanctification. When
David said in Psalm 51, Verse 3, I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I am
not by nature holy. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. This thing started when I was
born. I was born with sin in me. I was born with sin in me. You
see, a man's not a thief because he steals. He steals because
he's a thief. A man's not a murderer because
he kills somebody. He kills somebody because he's
a murderer. That's the seed of sin and the nature of sin with
which he's born. And David said, I shape in an
iniquity. When my mother conceived me,
I was conceived in sin. I was the product of a sinful
seed, a sinful father. And God, you desire truth, perfect
truth, perfect holiness, in the hidden part. I'm just an outward
conformity to that bunch of rules, but inward truth, inward purity,
in the hidden part that everybody else can't see, I shall make
need of no wisdom. So purge me, purge me with hyssop. And I'll be clean, clean, clean
throughly, clean within and without, clean from the sole of my feet
to the top of my head. Do something for me, purge me
and I'll be clean, clean. Listen, wash me, I'll be whiter
than the snow. That's what David wanted, that's
what Abraham found. That's what Bildad talked about
over here in Job 25. Job 25 verse 4. How can this be? How can a man
be justified with God? How can a man be clean that's
born of a woman? Do you know what this involves?
Cleanliness? justification? Why, look at the
moon, it shineth not, the stars are not pure in God's sight,
how much less man that's a worm, the son of man that is a worm. Is this not what David desired?
Is this not what Bildad's talking about there? Clean, clean clear
throat, pure and holy. Is this not what God promised
in Isaiah 1? Listen to this. Is this not what
God promised in Isaiah 1? In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be a scarlet,
my they are, aren't they? They're very heavy, they're very
filthy, scarlet, red. God says they'll be white as
snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
This is what Abraham found, righteousness. Not a pasted on righteousness.
Not a claim of righteousness. Not a false religious holiness,
but Abraham found perfect purity in the sight of God. You turn to Colossians 1, I'll
show you what I'm talking about. Colossians chapter 1. And I tell
you, this is the holiness without which nobody will see the Lord.
That's the holiness. Our Lord said to his disciples,
they looked at these Pharisees and Sadducees and religious people
of their day, these disciples, looked at these people who wore
the broad phylacteries and their garments and their religious
signs and traditions and ceremonies and prayed on the straight corner
professed to be without sin, professed to be perfectly holy. They professed to be what they
weren't, but they claimed it. And the disciples were honored
by these men. And Christ said to them, unless
your righteousness, your holiness exceeds theirs, you won't enter
the kingdom of heaven. These are the most moral men
who live, the righteous outwardly, men who lived, the most dedicated
men, the most religious people on earth were these Pharisees
in San Hedron. And Christ said, the holiness
God requires of you must exceed theirs. And they said, well,
who can be saved? Well, he said, with you it's
impossible, but with God all things are possible. Listen to Colossians 1. This
is what I'm talking about. This is the holiness Abraham
found. Verse 21, Colossians 1, And you
that were sometime alienated enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath God reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, through the death of Christ on the cross, to present you
holy, absolutely holy, unblameable Unblameable? Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Unreprovable? Where? In his sight. In God's sight. That's the holiness we have.
And Jude, talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, said he's able
to present you faultless, faultless, before his presence
with exceeding glory. Well, go back to the text. What
should we say that Abraham had found? Righteousness. Perfect holiness. Clean in God's
sight. Unblameable and reprovable and
holy. Well, here's a second question.
Where did he find this? How did he find this? We know
he wasn't this way. when that wicked king of Bimelech
was attracted to Sarah and had sufficient power to take her
away from Abraham, Abraham's wife, Abraham said, Sarah, why
don't you tell him that you're my sister? And then he won't
kill me. He can have you, but I don't
want him to kill me. That doesn't sound like a man
who is immaculately holy, does it? Absolutely pure in God's
sight. Well, the next verse says, If
Abraham were justified by his works, he hath whereof to glory before
men, but not before God. If Abraham thinks he's justified
by his works, either moral or ceremonial, Let him boast before
men. And a lot of people do that.
They boast before men. Claim to be without sin and claim
to be without evil, iniquity. Living above sin. Claiming they
hadn't sinned in several days or weeks or months. You know
that's abomination to God for man to make a boast like that.
or a woman, it's a lie, but it's an abomination to God. Let me
show you a scripture in Luke 16. And their whole denomination
is based upon this thing that by their law and by the deeds
of the law, by works, that men are holy. They may claim a holiness on
the outside, but on the inside they're full of dead men's bones.
They're full of corruption and deceit and lies and lust. and guilt. But they still do
it. Luke 16, 15, listen. He said,
You are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knows your
heart. Don't ever forget that. Anytime
you feel holier than others and more righteous than others and
and more, and better than others. Don't forget God does, others
look on your count, your outward face, God looks on your heart. And that which is highly esteemed
among men, this religious boasting, this religious profession, this
religious claim, that's an abomination in the sight of God. Just an
abomination. But verse 3 says, well what says
the scripture? What does the scripture say?
Abraham is righteous before God. Abraham is holy before God. Abraham is pure and clean before
God. How did he get it? Not by works.
Not by religious pretense and ceremonies and deeds. He received
it because he believed God. That's right. Once there's the
scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him, charged
to him, reckoned to him, for righteousness. I'm talking
about holiness. Immaculate holiness. That holiness
that God possesses, that's essentially the nature of God. That's what
Abraham had. And that's what every believer
has. And it comes by believing. Now, there is such a thing that
we need to get acquainted with called the law of first mention.
The law of first mention. However a word is first mentioned
in the Bible, first dealt with, that's generally the meaning
all the way through. First time it's mentioned in
the Bible. What grace? Grace. Well, it's mentioned first
in Genesis chapter 6 verse 8, Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God was angry with the world.
Every imagination of man's heart was evil continually. He repented
to the Lord that he made man. He said, I'll destroy every living
creature off the face of this earth. I will wipe this world
out. I'll purge it with water. I'll drown them all. But, Noah
found grace. I'll spare Noah. I'll spare no one. I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. It could have been any number
of men, but he chose Noah. You believe that? So whether
you believe it or not. That's right. It's so whether you believe it
or not. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. First time the word hyssop is
used in the Bible. You know, David, I read while
ago, David said, Purge me with hyssop and I'll be clean. I've
got a sin problem, David said. It lays on my soul all the time. My sins are ever before me. Against
me are my sins. Oh God, purge me with hyssop
and make me clean. First time hyssop is mentioned.
Hyssop is a small plant without thorns. It grows on the walls
in Jerusalem. The leaves are limber and pliable. It's a gentle, soft, soft plant. And over in Exodus 12, God told
Israel, I'm going to pass through this land tonight and kill the
firstborn in every home. Now you take a lamb. without
spot or blemish, and you put it up and observe it, and then
you kill it, and roast it with fire, and eat the remains, and
take the blood, and dip in hyssop, that little plant. Get your little
bouquet of this plant, this hyssop. Don't you touch the blood. Don't
you put your hands in it. You take the hyssop and put it
in. Sprinkle that blood. On the doorpost,
on the lintel, on the doorpost. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass over here. My wrath will be withheld from that house.
And that's what David said, Lord, I'm filthy and guilty and I deserve
death. And you desire truth in the inward
part and it's not there. Would you take the blood of the
lamb and sprinkle me? Make me clean. I clean. White as snow. White as wool. Unblamable. Unreprovable. Faultless
in thy sight. Without which no man will see
the Lord. Write her down. I'm doing the best I can. That
ain't good enough friend. I've been a church member all
my life. A lot of the other people have too. Jesus was an apostle. Let verse 4 and 5 settle the
whole issue. Verse 4 says, Now to him that
worketh, the fellow that's got religion and he's working at
it and doing the best he can and trying to keep the law and
serving God and giving his tithe and going to church and teaching
Sunday school and doing all these things. to him that works, and
he expects some reward. Some reward for his labor, some
reward for his works. Now listen, if God does reward
him, if God does, if God takes notice of what he did, and what
he gave, and his works and labor, and if God takes notice of it
and rewards him, it's a debt. It's not grace. God owed it to
him. He thought God owed it to him.
He said God owed it to him. And that's what he says here
in verse 4. To him that worketh is the reward, not of grace,
it's of death. God owed it. Let me ask you,
is there anybody here this morning who feels that God owes you something? Come on, anybody. Is there a
flicker of a slightest glimmer of an imagination that God owes
you something? Come on now, anybody. God owes us something. He owes
us the wages of sin. The wages of sin is death. That's
what He owes us. And that's what He's going to
pay. The soul that sinned is going to die. God's going to
keep his word. He's not going to clear the guilty. But I'll tell you, if this thing,
if all these preachers go around talking about how many crowns
they're going to have on the earth, they can't even balance
them. And how many stars they're going to have, and how big a
mansion they're going to have. If that's so, this thing's not
of grace, it's of death. Well, look at verse 5. But to him that works not, to him that's not working to
earn favor with God, he's not laboring to find acceptance with
God, who does not feel that God's indebted to him in the slightest,
but he believes. He doesn't work, he works not
to gain God's favor, but he believes on Christ. He believes on him
that justifies the ungodly. Who's that? That's Christ Jesus.
He died for the ungodly. He believes in Christ who justifies
sinners. He believes in Christ who justifies
the guilty. Well, he has a righteousness,
but his faith is counted for righteousness. His faith. It's credited to him. If you'll
note, the word imputed and counted and reckoned is in this chapter
eight times. Abraham believed God and it was
charged, it was reckoned, it was imputed, it was counted to
him for righteousness. Abraham believed God. And as a result of believing
God, God made him perfectly righteous in his sight through Christ.
If you want to go through the Bible and find two men, two men
of whom you're fully, confidently, absolutely persuaded that they're
in glory. A man told me one time, pushed
his mother's funeral, and he said, I'll tell you about this,
if there's anybody in heaven my mother is. Well, I hope she is, but I'm
not confident of it. But I tell you I'm confident,
Abraham's there, I just read it. He called heaven Abraham's
bosom. And I want to be, if I'm going
to be in heaven, I've got to be justified like Abraham was.
Is that right? Like Abraham was. If I have a
holiness that enables me to stand before God someday, perfectly,
purely, holy, without spot or stain, it would be the same way
Abraham was justified. Who's the other one? David? I
don't know of anybody in the world of whom God said this twice
in the scriptures. I have found David, the son of
Jesse, to be a man after my own heart. Boy, I tell you, there's no higher claim. God
says you're a man after my heart. He's a man that loves what I
love. Thinks like I think. Well listen to what David said
here in verse 6. David also, we talked about Abraham,
how he was justified. David describes the blessedness
of the man under whom God imputed righteousness without works.
Righteousness, holiness, impeccable, impeccable. unchangeable, infinite,
holiness, without one work. Without one. And David said,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Forgiven. Whose sins are covered for the
blood. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin, but who will charge the righteousness
of Christ. That man is blessed. Now here's my third question.
Here's the fatal blow to works. Here's the final blow to works. No question Abraham was justified. No question Abraham was righteous. Perfectly holy. He found righteousness
with God by faith. When did he find it? Now it must
be admitted that Abraham was a man who obeyed God. He was
a man who served God faithfully. He was a man who endured severe
and multiple trials faithfully. He left his father's house 75
years old. He endured circumcision. Painful,
painful situation because he believed God. God said circumcise
yourself and every male in your tribe. And he endured that. That was a token of God's mercies
and grace and covenant. He gave the good land a lot. He resisted the material riches
of the kings of Sodom. He sent Ishmael, his problem
child away, but he loved Ishmael. He sacrificed his son Isaac on
the altar. Did any of these things contribute
to his righteousness? No, sir. When was he righteous? Read this. Verse 10. Verse 9. Cometh this blessedness,
it is a, let me tell you, this is a blessedness to be perfectly
holy in God's sight. Cometh this blessedness upon
the circumcision only? Upon the uncircumcision also.
We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
That's not what the Bible says. He believed God and counted him
for righteousness. When? When was he reckoned to
be righteous? When he was uncircumcised? On
down the line here, after he left his father's house, and
after he was circumcised, and after he did all his sacrificing,
was that when he became righteous? No, sir. Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He received the sign of circumcision,
a signal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being
yet uncircumcised. Genesis 15. All right. Law of first mention. Here it
is. Genesis 15. Genesis 15. Verse 3, verse 4, Genesis 15, verse 4. And behold, the word of the Lord
came to Abraham, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but
he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your
heir. Seventy-five years old now. And God brought him forth
abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, tell the stars. if you're
able to number them. He says, So shall thy seed be.
And he believed in the Lord, and God counted it to him for
righteousness. Right there. Right there. Before he was ever, before he
ever, before he ever fulfilled one act of obedience except believing. Justified. Righteous. 15 years
before he was sacrificed. 30 years, 40 years before he
sacrificed Isaac. He did these things because he
believed God, because he was righteous, because he was justified,
not in order to be. And I'm saying to you, I'm saying
this to you. The promise, whose promise? God promised who cannot lie.
What did he promise? Eternal life. The promise that
he should be the heir of the world, the heir of this world
and the world to come, was not to Abraham or his seed through
the law. Through the law of Moses, through
the law of ceremony, through the law of circumcision, through
the law of works, but through the righteousness of faith. He believed God. I believe this word, this word
is the word of God. I believe God created the heavens
and the earth. I believe I'm a sinner, I fell
in Adam. I believe God determined to have a people as the stars
of the sky and the sands of the seashore, multitude no man can
know, out of our sinful race, but we've got to be holy, spotless
righteous, immaculately so, without sin or strength. And that's not
possible with us. But Christ came down here in
the flesh. He did for us what we couldn't do. He loved God
with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. He was tipped in
all points as we are, yet without sin. He gave to us a perfect
holiness. With his spotless righteousness
on, I'm as clean as God's Son. Nearer, so nearer to God, nearer
we cannot be, in the person of his Son we are as near as he.
And he went to that cross and he purged us with hyssop, blotted
out our sins, covered our transgressions, gave us acceptance with God. And we have it right now. Believe
him, believe him, believe him. That's right. Believe in Him.