Now, when we mention Abraham, everyone knows something about
Abraham, even the children. One of his chief recommendations
is found in James 2, in the second chapter of James.
chapter 2, it says concerning Abraham in verse 23, in James 2, verse 23, And the
scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed, reckoned
unto him for righteousness And he was called the friend of God. I'll make that the title of this
message this morning. He was called the friend of God. You needn't turn to it, I have
it here. Isaiah said, concerning Abraham, When he quoted
the Lord God in Isaiah 41, the Lord said, But thou, Israel,
art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you are the seed of Abraham,
my friend. Abraham was called the friend
of God. Another word about Abraham over
in Galatians 3, if you want to turn there, you may. But he's
called the father of believers. God told him he'd make him the
father of many nations. And here in Galatians 3, verse
7, it says, "...know ye therefore that they which are of faith,"
it doesn't matter whether they're Jew or Gentile bond or free,
or male or female, the same are the children of Abraham. If you're
a believer, you're a child of Abraham. Verse 29 of that same
chapter, Galatians 3, says, and if you be Christ, if you belong
to Christ, then are you Abraham's Christ is called the seed of
Abraham. There in verse 16 it says, Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, to thy seed, which is
Christ. God speaking to Abraham says
the promises are to you and your seed. Christ, singular seed. And our Lord referred to Abraham
in gracious tones. He said over here in John chapter
8, concerning Abraham, John 8 verse 56, Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. He talked
about people being gathered at the end of the world and sitting
down with Abraham. in the kingdom. And when he gave
the parable of the rich man in hell, he addressed
his comments to Father Abraham. But you know, because of this,
religious people are prone to almost deify Abraham, and that's
wrong. They do that though to all of
the old fathers, they called Matthew St. Matthew, and St. Mark, and St. Paul, and St. Luke. These men were mighty men
of faith, but they are no more saints than the poorest of God's
children. No more saints. They're all saints.
But we're prone to lift these men above other believers, and
that's a mistake. Because Abraham was a son of
Adam, just like you, and just like me. Abraham was by nature
a child of wrath, even as others. He was a son of Adam, he was
a sinner. In fact, when God called Abraham, let me read you something
here in the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 24, when God called
Abraham, God called him out of idolatry. When the Lord saved
many of you, he saved you out of false religion. Well, that's
where Abraham was. He was in false religion. He
was worshiping idols. And he was a whole lot older
than most of you when God called him. He was 75 years old. And his father and his father's
family and Abraham and his brothers and sisters and all of them worshipped
idols. That's what it says here in Joshua
24, verse 2 and 3. And Joshua said to all the people,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham. the father of Nacor, and they
served other gods. Teva and Abraham and his whole
family. Verse 3, And I took your father
Abraham from the other side of the flood, and I led him throughout
all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
God found Abraham in idolatry. I don't want to minimize Abraham's
greatness. He was a great and mighty man. I don't want to underestimate
his faith. I wish that I had the faith of
Abraham to the degree of Abraham. I have the same faith, but I
wish I had it to the degree of Abraham. I don't want to underestimate
his faith or his faithfulness, but I declare this. That Abraham,
like Saul of Tarsus, and like you and me, Abraham was what
he was by the grace of God. He was what he was by the grace
of God. It was not of himself, nor not
of his works. It was by the grace of God. What
he was, God made him. He was the friend of God, but
God made him his friend. God was a friend to Abraham before
Abraham was a friend of God. And God chose him before he chose
God. And God called him before he
called God. God loved him before he loved
God. What Abraham was, God made him by his grace. And what Abraham
had, God gave him. Even the gift of faith. Even
the courage that he had. What he knew, God taught him.
And where he went, God took him. And what he has now, God gave
him. If you turn to the book of James again in chapter 5,
and the scriptures point this out to us, but we're slow learners. In James chapter 5, like I said,
we have a way of thinking of a man more highly
than he ought to be thought, lifted into planes on which he
doesn't belong. and almost deifying these old
men. And it says in James 2 verse
17, Elijah, this is Elias, Elijah was a man. Don't forget that. He was a man. And he was a man
subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed. earnestly that it might not rain,
and it rained not on the earth but in the space of three years
and six months. Well, it was not because of him,
it was because of God. The Lord's the one that accomplished
it, not Elijah. He was a man just like you and
me. Abraham was a man, that's what I'm saying. And I have five
questions that I'm going to answer from Romans 4, if you'll turn
to Romans 4. And this message will be as clear
and as simple and plain as I can make it on this subject of faith. Abraham, the father of the faithful. Abraham, man of faith, believer.
Now here are the five questions. The first one is, what did Abraham
find? That's what it asks in verse
1 of chapter 4. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? What did
he find? When he was taken from idolatry
over to faith, when he was called out of darkness to light, when
God visited him when he was 75 years old and brought him from
this state of guilt and sin into a state of friendship and fellowship
with God, what did he find? He found righteousness. He found
acceptance with God. He found holiness. He became
the friend of God. That's what it says. That's what
he found. God embraced him. God received him. Listen to it
as it goes on. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham, our father, as pertained to the flesh, hath found? If
Abraham were justified by works, he found justification. He hath
wire up to glory, but not before God. But what sayeth the scriptures? Abraham believed God. It was
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,
justifieth the idolatry, justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. And then here David describes
it. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
holiness, righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom God will not impute sin. That's what he found. He found a state of blessedness,
of happiness, of fellowship with God. That's what he found. Abraham
found acceptance with God. God embraced him. God said, my
friend, my friend Abraham. God and Abraham talked and walked
together. Abraham was accepted. received
into the bosom, into the heart, into the love, into the kingdom,
into the fellowship of God. That's what he found. Is not this what we desire? Is
this not what we all seek? Forgetting all of the religious
charisma and noise-making and emotion, experience. Is not this
what we seek? I want to know God, don't you?
I want God to know me. I want God to embrace me, and
forgive me, and receive me, and love me, and take me into his
heart, and into his kingdom, into his fellowship. I'm not
interested in fighting Satan. I'm not interested in having
a bunch of gifts. I'm not interested in making
a lot of noise in this world. I'm not interested in being known
by people in this world. I'm interested in knowing God.
Aren't you? In my simple life, in my everyday
walk, in my thoughts and meditations, in my rising up and lying down,
in my goings in and coming out, I want to know God. And God doesn't know me. Is not this why we're gathered
here today? We know that the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we may know God, the true
God, in Jesus Christ whom he had sent. Is not this why we're
here? Isn't this what's necessary to
enter heaven? What's necessary to enter heaven?
How many tithes I've paid, how many sermons I've preached, Whether
I've been baptized or hadn't been baptized, whether I'm in
the right church or not, whether I wore a hat on my head or didn't,
whether my sleeves were long or weren't long, no. You've got
to know God. Does God know me? If I'm here now, I'll be here
then. If I'm in Him now, I'll be in Him then. It's not being
in the right church, it's being in God. Abraham was a friend
of God. My soul! What else could he want? You say, why didn't he take the
planes? He didn't need them. He was a friend of God. Why didn't Abraham stay in Ur
of the Chaldees? Why did he wander out there in
the wilderness? He's God's friend! He wanted to be with his friend.
Ur of Chaldees didn't have anything left for him. Why didn't he stay
with his pappy and all those pagans? He's a friend of God! My soul! Isn't that clear? He's
called a friend of God! Oh, so-and-so is a great preacher.
Does he know God? This is what's necessary to be
holy with God, to be righteous with God, to be a child of God,
to be a friend of God. This is what Job was concerned
about. How can a man be just with God? I know how he can be just with
me and lie a lot. Cover up. Pretend to be what
he's not. Act nice in front of them and
wicked behind their backs. That's how he can be justified
with me. Ain't no problem. But God looks on the heart. Not
on the outward flesh. He looks on the heart. And I
got to be right with God in Christ. To be in Christ. How can he be
clean as born of woman? Only Christ can make him clean.
Only the blood can make him clean. How can he be righteous? In Christ. If Christ obeyed the law for
him and he's in Christ, he's righteous. That's what Abraham
found. He found God. He's a friend of God. Abraham, my friend, God says. I can't think of anything better
than that. Abraham, my friend. And I'll tell you, to be God's
friend, you've got to be in Christ. Well, how did he find this righteousness?
Well, it tells us. It wasn't by words. Boy, he must
have been something. He was. He was a friend of God. That's something. But in himself,
he was nothing. But it says here that, verse
3, it says, What sayeth the Scriptures? Abraham believed God, and was
counted to him for righteousness. Where is that in the Scripture?
Well, turn to Genesis 15. Genesis 15. Way back here in
the beginning of this whole thing, when God called Abraham out.
Back here in the very beginning of this whole thing in Genesis
15 and verse 4, Genesis 15 verse
4. It says, And behold, the word
of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir,
but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall
be your heir. He's talking to an old man here
now beyond the His wife's beyond the years of bearing children,
he's beyond the years of conceiving children. Verse 5, And he brought
him forth abroad, and said, Now look toward the heaven, and tell
the stars, if you are able to number them. And he said to him,
So shall thy seed be. Now listen. And he believed in
the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. That,
my friend, is how Abraham became the friend of God. He believed
God. That's how Abraham's sins were
all put away. He believed God. He believed Him. That's how Abraham
became holy and righteous. He believed God. That's it. That's our most difficult lesson
to learn. We want to do it ourselves. I'm
going to deal with this tonight. We want to keep special days
and pay our tithes and go to church and act nice and read
our Bible and have our devotions and do these different things
and God look down and say, well, you've been nicer today than
you were yesterday. You're making some progress. Keep on now and
you'll be holy enough to go to heaven. That's right, over there
in Romans 10, it says, My heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. But I bear them record,
they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge,
for they're ignorant of God's righteousness, God's holiness.
What is holiness? It's not an outward claim or
profession. It's a state before God in Christ. Righteousness, holiness. I'm
not holy in myself, nobody else is. All is sin and comes short
of the glory of God. But our righteousness is His,
provided for us in Christ. And it says, they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness. have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, because Christ is the end of
the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Over here in Romans 4, I want
to show you something. I've shown you this before, but
I'll do it again. In Romans 4, about 10 or 11 times,
the word imputed is used. It's used imputed, counted, or
reckoned. Now watch this. In verse 3, Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Verse
4, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned, there
it is again, counted, imputed, of grace but of death. But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth in God,
his faith is counted," there it is again, for righteousness.
Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputed righteousness without works, there it is again.
And here in verse 8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute, there it is again, sin. Verse 9, does this blessedness
come upon the circumcision only or the uncircumcision? We say
that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Verse 10,
how was it reckoned? Down in verse 11, the last line,
righteousness might be imputed. It's just on and on. You'll find it 10, 11 times. What it is, is our Lord Jesus,
we don't have a holiness in ourselves, we're sinners. And not a day
goes by we don't sin. Our Lord Jesus taught us to pray.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. That's
in the prayer the Lord gave the disciples. One writer said one
time, I wake in the morning praying God will keep me this day from
sin. I don't want to sin. Word, thought,
or deed. But at the end of the day, I
have to pray the same prayer every night. Father, forgive
me of my sins. Because I've sinned. I don't
have a perfect holiness in myself. But Christ, our Lord, came to
this earth. Man, born of a woman, made in
the likeness of flesh. He became a man. And he was a
perfect man. He obeyed God's law in perfection. Everything God required, he did.
Everything God commanded, he kept. He knew no sin. He had no sin. He was a man.
And we believe on him, and his righteousness is charged to us. It's counted as ours. It's imputed
to us. As Adam's sin was imputed to
us, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. And that's how
Abraham became the friend of God. He believed God. And what God did for him in Christ
was charged to him, was imputed and reckoned to him. As long
as a man is trying to find acceptance with God by what he does, he
can't trust Christ in himself too. He can't believe God and
believe himself too, to be one or the other. Let me show you something in
verse 17, or verse 19. This thing of faith, faith does
not look to outward conditions or circumstances. Abraham, being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was a hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sabaoth's
womb." Show you something. Faith does not look to outward
circumstances. Abraham, God said, you're going
to have a son. I can't produce a son. That's what Abraham was thinking.
Sabaoth, certainly. She's nearly 100 years old. 100-year-old
women don't have sons. So all the outward circumstances
said no. And if I look in here and look
to myself and look to my own ability, friend of God, I can't
be the friend of God. I can't be holy. I can't be perfectly
righteous. I can't produce it. Abraham couldn't
produce a son. But God can in Abraham. And I
can't produce a holiness, but God can in me, in Christ. So faith doesn't consider the
outward circumstances. Look at verse 20. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. What's the second thing about
faith? Well, it doesn't consider the outward circumstances. And
secondly, it depends on the Word of God. Abraham staggered not
at the promise. What did God's Word say? You're
going to have a son. And that's what Abraham believed,
what God said. And God says that this sinner
and that sinner, those sinners out there, if they believe me,
they're going to have a perfect righteousness. He that believeth
on the Son hath life. And I believe His Word. Faith
rests on the Word of God. Only the Word of God, not feeling.
Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. Trust
the unchangeable Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
What was Abraham's faith? How did he get this? How did
he become the friend of God, the righteousness of God? He
believed Him. He believed Him in spite of the
conditions, the circumstances. He believed His Word. That's
all he had was the Word of God. That's all under God he had was
His Word. God said, you'll have a son.
That's all he had, Ronnie. He had more than you did. He
had more than I had. The Word of God. He believed
it. Now I'll tell you something else about his faith. His faith
was in the power of God to do what he said. Look at verse 21.
"...and being fully persuaded that what God had said, he was
able to perform." There's his faith. Now, this little two-bit
God they're preaching from the pulpit today, that he'd like
to and can't, he wants to and you won't let him, that he got
a plan that man's got to give him permission to put in operation. Well, I couldn't handle that
God. I couldn't make it there. Abraham couldn't produce anything. But God said he would. And Abraham
believed God that he'd produce in Abraham what he couldn't produce
in himself. And what he believed about it,
if God said it, God was able to do it. And that made him the
friend of God. Lord, I'm a sinner. That's all I'm
ever going to be as long as I'm walking in this flesh. I'm not
going to improve very much. Like Brother Scott said, if you're
going to love him, love him like he is, because he ain't going
to change. He's still a sinner. But I believe your word. I believe
your word. I believe Christ died for sinners.
I believe Christ has a righteousness, a perfect holiness, with which
you're totally satisfied. And I believe you're able to
do it, my friend. That's what God said. This is
my friend. I want you to meet my friend. I want you to meet
my friend. He believes me. He gives me the
glory. He's my friend. He's not my friend who doesn't
give me the glory. He's not my friend who says,
well, God will if you let him. No, that's not my friend. My
friend believes me. My friend believes me no matter
the circumstances, no matter the troubles, no matter the conflict,
my friend believes. He believes I'm able to do what
I say. That's my friend. Let me ask you another question.
When was it that Abraham entered this friendship with God? We go through Abraham's life
and we see that After God spoke to him 15 years later, he was
circumcised. Here is a man nearly 100 years
old submitting to this circumcision, a token of the covenant. We see
him later when he gave his nephew Lot the best land and he took
the mountains. We see him later when he He dismissed
his son Ishmael because God said, send him away. We see him when
the kings of the earth wanted to make him rich and he said,
no, I've lifted my hand to God and I don't need anything from
you. I'll depend on Him. Oh, we see
all that and say, well, was that when he was saved? And I'll tell
you when he was saved. Look at verse 9. Now this blessedness, verse 9,
cometh this blessedness in upon the circumcision only or upon
the uncircumcision also. We say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it reckoned? Or when
was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
uncircumcision? When? When was Abraham saved? When did he become the friend
of God? When was he righteous? Fifteen years later when he was
circumcised? Ten years later when he put Ishmael out? Five
years later when he refused to be made rich by the kingdom?
No, sir. How? Well, not in circumcision, but
in uncircumcision. He received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of righteousness of the faith which he had being uncircumcised. I'll tell you when he was saved.
When God took him out that day. and showed him the stars, says,
so shall your seed be. And he said, he believed God
and was counted to him for righteous. That's what a man say when he
believes God. When he believes God. Now you listen to this.
When a person in his heart truly believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ, truly believes, in spite of circumstances, Believes His
Word, the report He has given concerning His Son. And believes
He is able to do what is said. When a man or woman, boy or girl,
believes that, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is in that
moment, in God's sight, righteous and holy, as if he had never
sinned in all his life. Right there. I'll go a little
further. He actually, in that day, is
in a better position than he would be if he had never sinned.
Because if he had never sinned, he'd be trusting his righteousness.
That's right. Adam had a righteousness and
lost it, didn't he? I have a righteousness you can't
lose. It's in Christ. And this man who believes in
Christ, though he was a sinner, believes in Christ, he at that
moment is in better condition than if he had not sinned. Because
if he had not sinned, he'd be trusting his righteousness, and
he will one day fall. But by being in Christ, he has
the righteousness of God. He has a robe that can never
be taken away. He has a cloak that can never
be lost. He has an everlasting righteousness in the Savior. See that? I believe. That's the reason the centurion
said, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. The thief on
the cross, was he saved? Yeah. When? About then. He believed God. He believed God. He was no more
saved the next day than he was then. He was saved right then. When was Abraham saved? When
he believed God. Later on, I'm going to deal with
this tonight, he was circumcised, he did all the faith that worketh
by love, but he was saved then. We're not saved by grace of God
and good works. We're saved by the grace of God.
Here's the fourth question I'll wind it up. What proof do we
have that Abraham believed God? Well, there is but one proof,
and that is he obeyed God. That's right. He obeyed God.
Faith is in the heart and of the heart. But heart faith obeys
God. He went out not knowing where
he was going. He believed God. That's what I say. He had nothing
left back here. God was his place. He expected a son, he didn't
know how, but he knew that son was coming because he believed
God. And the last question is this,
what does that have to do with us? Well, let's read it here
in verse 23. Now, it was not written for 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 raised again for our justification." The issues are not all these
things that the religious people are arguing about. The issue
is, do you believe God? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
to you. And that's the question, do we
believe Him? Do we believe Him?