Now, my text today is found in
Romans 4. I'll be reading several verses
from the fourth chapter of Romans if it's convenient for you to
open your Bible and follow in the reading. Romans 4, 3. The
subject is Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God. It says in verse 3 of Romans
4, For what saith the Scriptures? Well, the Scriptures say Abraham
believed God, and it was counted, imputed, reckoned unto him for
righteousness. What does the Scripture say about
Abraham? It says he believed God. He believed
God. It didn't say he believed in
God. It didn't say he believed there was a God. He said he believed
God. He believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now, it would be so wise, I know
that the majority of people won't do it. I wish they would. But it would be so wise for people
who are really interested, really interested in things pertaining
to God. Are you interested in things
pertaining to God? Well, if you are, And if you're
interested in eternal life, it would be wise for you to study,
diligently study, the life and faith of Abraham. You know why? Well, there's several reasons.
First of all, throughout the New Testament, Abraham is held
up as a picture, a pattern of true faith. That's right. Anyone
who knows anything about the Bible will agree with what I'm
saying. Abraham, over and over and over again, is held up in
the New Testament as the pattern of those who believe, the type
of those who believe. In fact, the whole fourth chapter
of Romans, this entire chapter that we have before us, deals
with his faith, with his faith, with Abraham's faith. Now, it'd
be wise to study the faith, the life and faith of a man who's
the pattern, whom God called the pattern, whom God called
the father of the faithful. That's right. All who believe
in Christ, secondly, are called children of Abraham. Yes, we're
sons of God, but here in the Scriptures, we're called children
of Abraham. Galatians 3.7 says this, they
which are of faith are the children of Abraham. It says that two
or three times. Two or three times. We're children
of Abraham. He's the father of the faithful. Wouldn't it be wise to study
the life and faith of a man whom God calls, whom God calls under
divine inspiration, leads his men to write. He's the father
of the faithful. And then thirdly, watch this.
You know, the Bible talks about the love of David. David's heart
beat with the heart of God. In fact, God called David a man
after my own heart, twice in the Scriptures. But do you know
what he called Abraham? In Isaiah 41.8, he says, Abraham
is my friend. Think about that. God Almighty,
in Isaiah 41.8, says, Abraham is my friend, the friend of God. I tell you, if I'm going to read
anybody's biography, I'm certainly challenged to read the biography
of this man, the life and faith of this man. Doesn't that give
you a desire to find out something about this man, who's the pattern
of believers, who's the father of believers, who's the friend
of God Almighty? Well, what's said about this
man? Well, in Romans 4, right here before us, there are four
statements. There are four statements which describe his faith, the
faith of Abraham. There are four statements. This
helped me a great deal. I hope it's helpful to you. In
Romans 4, verse 20, it says concerning Abraham, he staggered not at
the promises of God. You know, when a heavy blow comes
against a man, he staggers. Or if you were to say to a man,
you owe the government $4 million. That's staggering. Just staggering. But the great promises of God,
the indescribable, unspeakable promises, the wonderful promises
of God, when they were made to Abraham, didn't shock him. Didn't
stagger him. It didn't surprise him. You know
why? He believed God. Nothing too
hard for God that was Abraham's faith. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing
too hard for God God says I'll give you a land. I'll give you
a city I'll give you an eternal abode. Here's a sojourner a pilgrim
wandering in the wilderness Didn't own a foot of land and God says
I'm gonna give you a kingdom and stagger God says took him
out one time and said look up at the stars Abraham count them
I can't count the stars? Well, that's how many seed you'll
have. He didn't even have a son. Ninety years old, didn't even
have a son. And God took him out one night and told him, look
at the stars and count them, or the sands of the seashore.
And he said, that's how many seed you'll have. That didn't
stagger him. He believed God. God says, He
said, I'll give you a son, Abraham. Abraham was nearly 100 and his
wife was 90. Past the age of bearing children,
that didn't stagger him. He said, I'll come, Abraham,
and Sarah will conceive and bear a son. That didn't rock him. He said, I'll provide for you.
You see, Abraham believed God and he was not staggered by these
great promises. What about you? Do God's promises
stagger you? I'm not talking about healing
your broken arm. I'm talking about the promises
of a city. I'm talking about the promises
of resurrection. I'm talking about the promises
of holiness. I'm talking about the promises
of eternal life. I'm talking about the promises
of forgiven sin. I'm talking about an everlasting
kingdom and glory throughout eternity with the Lord Jesus
Christ. An eternal city. Abraham didn't look for a place
to live down here on the earth. He lived in a tent. That satisfied
him altogether. He looked for a city whose builder
and maker is God. Does that stagger you? That God
could, by the blood of His Son, put away all your sins, by the
obedience of His Son, give you a perfect holiness? By the resurrection
of His Son, raise your vile body and make it like unto His glorious
body? and give you everlasting life. Does that stagger you?
Didn't Abraham? He believed God. Second thing
about his faith was in verse 20 also, Romans 4. It says, but
he was strong in faith. Strong in faith. This means that
his faith was not just on paper. That's where you find most people's
so-called faith, on paper. They subscribe to a creed. to
a denominational dogma, to a theological theory. It's head faith, but
not Abraham. He so believed God, he acted
on his faith. He acted. His works and his actions,
James says, proved he believed God. He was justified by works. What's that mean? I thought it
was justified by faith. His soul's justified by faith. His faith's justified by works.
His soul justified before God by the obedience and life and
death of the Son of God, but his faith is justified before
men by his works. God said, get out of your father's
house and go to a land I'll show you. And he left, not knowing
where he was going. How did I know Abraham believed
God? He acted on the Word of God. God told him, he said, I'll give
you a son. And he believed God. God said,
I'll provide for you in the desert. So Abraham turned down a fortune.
The kings of Sodom offered him a fortune. And he wouldn't take
a shoelatch from him. He said, I've lifted my hand
to God and I believe God. And God provided. God made him
wealthy. He gave Lot the best land. Didn't hesitate because
he believed God. And he had a son called Ishmael.
You know the story. I don't have to go into that.
But God told him to send Ishmael away. And he sent him away. Put him, put a bottle of water
on his shoulders and sent him out in the desert. You know why?
God told him, he said, Ishmael will also be a great nation.
I'll take care of Ishmael. And Abraham believed God and
he acted on it. He sent him away. And then Isaac was born and God
told Abraham to take Isaac up on the mountain and sacrifice
him. He believed God. Now let me tell you something.
I've heard these divine healers tell people, diabetics and cancer
patients and so forth, if you believe God, you don't have to
take your medicine. You don't have to take your insulin.
You don't have to take this, that, and the other thing. You
wait a minute. Every act of faith, when Abraham believed God, was
based on the Word of God. On the Word of God. And you can't
find in the Word of God where it says, don't take your medicine. You can't find in the Word of
God where it says, don't take a blood transfusion or don't
take your child to the doctor. If you get a direct word from
God, then you obey the Word of God. But don't you obey your
imagination and don't you obey some preacher that's trying to
pad his pockets and build another building and gain some more fame
and doesn't give a rip what happens to you. You hear what I'm saying? Abraham believed God, and he
got his word from God, and he got his orders from God, and
he got his direction from the Word of God, not from some lame-brained
preacher. And there's so many of them now,
and they're 95% of them. And I'm weary of it. And I'm
old enough to say these things. He believed God. He believed
God. He acted on the Word of God.
Abraham acted on the Word of God. His faith wasn't in theory,
it wasn't in on paper, it wasn't just in his head, he believed
God. And when God told him to do something,
he did it. And that proved he believed God. You see what I'm
saying? And then thirdly, here's the third mark of Abraham's faith.
Verse 20, he gave glory to God. He gave the glory to God. Abraham
never praised himself. Abraham never, he never left
his name on a monument. He never praised himself. He
never took any glory to himself. He gave all the glory to God.
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Abraham
knew that. He gave the glory to God. He
believed God. He never staggered at the promises
of God, but they were God's promises, not his. He acted on the word
of God, but it was the word of God. It wasn't his word. He had
nothing to brag about. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Everything he had, God gave him.
Everything he knew, God taught him. We don't praise ourselves. Yet,
who maketh you to differ? If you've got strength, well,
don't glory in your strength. Glory in God who gave it to you.
If you've got wisdom, some people are smarter than others. All
men aren't created exactly equal. Some folks are smarter than others.
There's Einsteins and geniuses everywhere. Are you smart? Give God the glory. He made you
smart. Are you wealthy? Give God the glory. The Lord
maketh poor and the Lord maketh rich. The Lord lifteth up and
the Lord bringeth down. Give glory to God. I'll tell
you how Abraham's faith is summed up. He started up that mountain
with Isaac to sacrifice Isaac. You remember the story? You remember
it. And Isaac said, Here's the wood and here's the fire. Where's
the lamb? Now here's Abraham's theology.
Here's his faith. He just looked at that boy and
he didn't go into any great details, any great explanation. He just
said, my son, God will provide. That's it. God will provide. God will provide. He gave the
glory to God. He gave the glory to God. And
then fourthly, watch this. about Abraham's faith, and I
hope we're applying this to ourselves. The promises of God didn't stagger
him. Nothing's too hard for God. Nothing's too hard for God. He
was strong in faith. He acted. When he got a word
from God, he acted. He did what God told him to do.
And he gave God the glory, and then fourthly, he was fully persuaded. I love that word, but he was
fully persuaded. His brow wasn't furred by doubt.
He didn't have any reserve over here to fall back on in case
God didn't come through. He was fully persuaded, fully
persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to perform. Abraham
was so confident, so certain, so positive that what God Almighty
said, God Almighty was able to perform what God said. Here's four questions. I heard
a preacher not very long ago, a young man from Iowa, preached
at our church, and he asked four questions. He said, did God say
it? Now, that's an important question. Did God say it? Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God. Did God
say it? Let's find out what God said.
Not what the Pope said or what some preachers said. What did
God say? What does He say in His Word? Did God say it? Secondly,
can God do it? Can he do it? Can he redeem? Can he save? Can he forgive?
Can he raise these vile bodies? Can he make us whole? Can he
give us life? Can he? The third question, will
he? Will God do it? Is God willing? Is God able? Is God willing?
Now the fourth question, do you believe him? Abraham did. He was fully persuaded. Like one preacher I know used
to say, he put all his eggs in one basket. All of them. All his hope in one person. His
Lord. And the Scriptures declare, now
you listen to this, the Scriptures declare that by this faith, by
this kind of faith, Abraham was justified. Justified before God. Abraham was a sinner just like
you and just like me. Just, he was a man. He wasn't
some Extraordinary person, you know some some holy thing Abraham
was a man He's a man he lied one time to a king he Sarah was
a beautiful woman He's going through the country his faith
had some lapses. He didn't have perfect faith.
There's no such thing as perfect faith on this earth But he believed
God But he had his times of trouble his struggles and times of difficulty
Abraham one time a king wanted save us. She was a beautiful
woman and Abraham said, well, she's my sister. He lied to her. He did that twice. And on another
occasion, when God promised that Isaac would be born, well, the
Savior came and said, it looks like we're not going to have
a son. The years passed. You see, God will try us. He'll
try our faith, and He'll try it a lot of times with time. You see, we're always in a hurry.
We want everything yesterday. That's what's wrong. We want
everything now, now, now, right now. But God says, wait on the
Lord. Wait on the Lord. How wise a
person is to learn to wait on God. Biggest mistakes I've ever
made have always been made in a hurry. The decisions that wrecked
and ruined me, I made in a hurry. If he could just learn to wait
on God, and a savior came to him and said, this looks like
The years are going by. It's going to be too late now.
And so Abraham went into the handmaid and had a baby that
God had to send away. See, I'm not lifting this man
up as a perfect man. He's perfect in Christ. But he
believed God. The Scriptures declare that by
this faith in God, this faith he believed God, he was justified
and declared righteous, holy before God. He was called a friend
of God. The friend of God, he believed
God. God, I believe. Now this is important. Look,
if you still have your Bible, Romans 4, look down at verse
22. It says, Abraham believed God, and this faith was imputed
to him, counted to him for holiness. It's just, it's a matter between
him and God. There's too many people between you and God, friend.
You don't need to go down to the front and shake that preacher's
hand or go to a counselor or a soul winner or an inquiry room.
How about doing business with God? That's where the mercy is.
That's where the fountain of grace is. That's where the forgiveness
is. And Abraham dealt with God. And
he believed God. Now this wasn't written and it
was counted to him for holiness, for righteousness. God accepted
him on the basis of his faith. It's the only way he could come.
He didn't have any works, he didn't have any goodness, he
didn't have any morality that God could accept. But God can
accept you on the basis of faith because that faith's in his Son.
Now, he said, this was not written for his sake alone, that it was
imputed to him for righteousness, but for us also, for you and
me, to whom this righteousness shall be imputed. The same righteousness
Abraham had. The same relationship with God.
I can be a friend of God if I can believe like Abraham believed. Why not? Why not? This was written for us also
to whom righteousness shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Do you believe?
The faith of Abraham is the same kind of faith that you and I
have. It's the faith of all of God's people. That's why we're
called children of Abraham. Because it's the same faith. Well, preacher, can you give
us what you believe to be the secret of Abraham's faith? There has to be. Now, here's
a man that believed God. He believed God. Most people
don't. Or they believe in God, or they
believe there is a God. The devil believes there's a
God. In fact, he's quite sure of it. But there has to be a
reason for such assurance. There has to be a reason for
such confidence, such great faith. On what basis did Abraham believe
God? Well, yeah, I can answer that. I can tell you. Our Lord tells us in John 8,
56, listen, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, my day,
the day of the Redeemer. He saw it and he was glad. Oh, Abraham, the sinner, believed
God, the Holy One, could accept him because he saw the Savior.
He saw the Redeemer. Abraham believed that the Holy
God could forgive his sins and make him righteous and take him
to glory because a Redeemer, a substitute, a Savior, whose
day he saw, fulfilled all that God required for him. That's
it. That's it right there. Abraham
saw all the promises of God toward him and his seed fulfilled in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. Listen to Galatians
6, Galatians 3, 16. Listen. Now to Abraham and his
seed where the promise is made. Listen. He did not say unto seeds
as of many, but seed as of one, and that to thy seed which is
Christ. The promise was made to Abraham
in Christ. Through Christ, the promises
were made to Abraham of life, of joy, of a city, of hope, of
glory, not on the basis of what Abraham did, but what his seed,
his Savior did for him. Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. When did he see the day of Christ's
preacher? When he stood there and watched Savior give birth
to that boy, that miracle child Isaac, Sarah was 90 some odd
years old and gave birth to that child. That's a miracle child. That's a miracle of God. And
Abraham right then saw the miracle birth, the virgin birth of Christ
Jesus. And then when he took Isaac up
on the mountain and put him on the altar to sacrifice him as
God had commanded him, And the Lord told him to look over there
and in the thicket there was a ram caught and he took Isaac
off the altar and put the ram in Isaac's place. He saw Christ,
our substitute. And then when he cut the throat
of that ram and the blood ran out over the altar before God,
the cleansing blood, he saw Christ on the cross. He saw my day. He rejoiced to see my day. He
saw it and was glad. I'm not telling you that you're going to have any
confidence and assurance and certainty of your relationship
with God by anything you find in yourself, or in your church,
or in your duties, or in your religion, or in your doings. But if you can see, if you can
see, He that seeth the Son and believeth on Him hath everlasting
life. And Christ said, Abraham saw saw my day. He saw Emmanuel incarnate. He saw the righteous Redeemer. He saw the bloody sacrifice. He saw the risen Justifier. Can you see Him? If you can see
His day, if you can see by faith. I'm not talking about these eyes.
Don't ask God for a vision. Wasting your time. He has spoken
thus by his son." See, this was a faith of all Old Testament
believers that based on Christ. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. Moses said, God will raise up that prophet like unto
me. David said, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand. Isaiah wrote, unto us a child
is born, a son is given, his name's called Wonderful. And
Jeremiah said, he's the Lord, our righteousness. That was Abraham's
faith. He saw Christ. He saw my day. And I'll tell you, I can rest
not on my... I know what's going to happen
tomorrow. Not on my strength, not on my works. There's filthy
rags. But I can look and see Him, the
perfect Savior. And I can say, God, be merciful
to me. Be propitiatory in Christ toward
this sinner. All right, now, if you want these
messages, this one, Abraham Believed God, and the one I brought last
week, I preached last week on faith worketh by love. These
are two messages on faith I'd like for you to have. Faith worketh
by love and Abraham Believed God. Both messages on one tape. We'll send them to you for what?
Less than what it cost us to produce them, $2. Here's the
address. Until next week, God bless you,
everyone.