Let's look for a moment at Romans
chapter 4, verse 3. Romans 4, verse 3. It says, For what saith the Scriptures,
Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God. Now, this
is my subject. This is my topic. And this is
the truth that I wish to get across to you today. Abraham
believed God. It does not say Abraham believed
in God, though he did. He believed on God, though he
did. He believed there is a God, though
he did. It says he believed it. He believed
it. He believed God. I believe you.
I believe God. was counting, charge, reckon,
imputed, given unto him for acceptance, holiness, righteousness, forgiveness,
justification, sanctification, everything God had for sinners,
required of sinners, required from sinners, that sinner needed. God gave to Abraham, reckoned
to him, imputed to him, charged it to his account, simply on
the basis, of course, of Christ's work, of Christ's fulfillment,
Christ's purchase, but on the basis of faith and faith alone,
plus nothing. Now, we'll give you an illustration
that I heard. I don't know where I heard it
or who said it, but someone said not long ago, in a sermon that
a sparrow can sit on a telephone wire, a telephone wire. He can
have a firm grip on that telephone wire. And his position can be
totally supported by that telephone wire. And he can stay there a
long time and never understand to always be totally ignorant
of the message going through that way. Plum ignorant. And millions of people, and I
know there's some preachers included, and preachers of people, sometimes
they think they're not, but they are. Sometimes people think they're
not, but they are. But there are millions of religionists
who are sitting on the Word, rebelling on the Word of God.
I hear them say that. standing on the Word of God,
that's where that sparrow is standing too on that telephone
wire, standing on the Word of God, who have a firm grip on
their doctrines and their catechisms and their creeds, and who are
totally supported in their position by the Word of God. because men
rest the Scriptures and twist them and take them out of context
to make them say what they want them to say. And just like that
sparrow, though they're standing on the Word of God, and though
they have a firm grip on the Word of God, and though their
position is supported by the Word of God, they're totally
ignorant of the message going through this Word. There's a
message, there's a message in here, there's something being
said, besides what most people think. There's a theme, there's
a message going through, there's a central theme in this book.
And to many, it's a book of proverbs, it's a book of history, it's
a book of good sayings, it's a book of morality, it's a book
of religion, it's a book of whatever. and they're totally ignorant
of the central theme. There's a message going through
this book. It's a message that's called
a mystery. It's called a mystery. It's a
message which is hid in Christ Jesus. It's a message which some
people have heard by God's grace and some have never heard. It's
a message that takes anointed eyes to see and anointed ears
to hear and an enlightened heart to understand, but it's a message.
And you can stand on it and sit on it and have a firm grip on
it and be supported by it and never know what that message
is. Well, if there's one man in history, if there's one man
in all recorded history, in all the Word of God, if there's one
man, And I thought a lot about this one man. And I know about
Paul and Peter, James and John. I know about Moses and Isaiah
and the rest of them. But if there's one man in all
of human history whose life in relationship with God we can
study, whose life in relationship with God we can study, look at,
look over, and determine the theme of this book, the message
of Scripture. And like him, like that man learned
to know God and to walk with God, who would it be, Cecil? It had to be Abraham. Now, I
really, when I was working on this, I really gave that a lot
of thought. Now, it has to be Abraham. It has to be Abraham. And I pulled down my concordance
and I found that Abraham's mentioned over 300 times in this book.
Abraham's name is called over 300 times, 300 times. Abraham is dealt with in 29 of
the 66 books of the Bible. Abraham. God himself named him. Let me show you that in Genesis
17, 15. I'm trying to show you the importance
of looking at this man, his life, his faith, his relationship with
God. God Himself named him. God named him in Genesis 17,
5. And God said, verse 4, let's
read verse 4. Well, let's go back to 3. Abram fell on his face, and God
talked with him. And God said, as for me, behold,
my covenant's with you. Boy, I'm telling you, that just
makes cold chills run down my back. My covenant's with you.
And you shall be a father of many nations, and neither shall
your name any more be called Abram. Thy name shall be Abraham."
That means father of a great multitude, for a father of many
nations that I may be. Boy, I tell you, it's worthwhile
to take a look at him. It's worthwhile. Not only that,
but God called him his friend. Turn to Isaiah 41. God called
Abraham his friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, special, special. Isaiah 41, verse 8, But thou,
Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed
of Abraham, my friend, my friend. And then our Lord
Jesus Christ is called the seed of Abraham. He said over there
in Galatians, and I'll move quickly, but in Galatians 3.16 he said
this, and the promise was to Abraham and his seed, not the
seeds as many, but the seed which is Christ. And then in Hebrews 2.16 he said,
Christ took not on himself the nature of angels, but he took
on him the what? Seed of Abraham. And then over and over again,
he's called the father of believers. Turn back to our text in Romans
4. You may have it still open there
in your lap. But he says here in Romans 4,
11, right in the middle, that he
might be the father of all them that believe. In the middle of
verse 12, but who also walked in the steps of that faith of
our father Abraham. Abraham. Well, we've talked about Abraham. How would you describe Abraham?
Here's a man who was 75 years old when God called him, out
of idolatry, out of heathenism, paganism from his father's house,
75 years old. And from that time, he walked
with God. God named him. God said he befriended
him. God sent him a covenant with
Abraham. God said the Messiah will come as the seed of Abraham.
He'll take upon himself the seed of Abraham. God called him the
father of everybody that believes. How would you describe this man?
Three words. And these three words occur repeatedly
in the Scripture. And nearly every time that these
three words are used, it is added. And this payment was imputed
to him for righteousness. Let me show it to you four times.
In Genesis 15, verse 6, listen to this. 15, verse 6. And I hope you'll hear this. There's so many voices today.
There's so many sounds going forward. There's so many things
to do in order to be saved. There's so many things to do
and not to do and to keep doing. And there's so much fear and
so little confidence and so little assurance and so little glory
to our God. And like I said, our music is
evidence of our spiritual poverty. Our writings and our music, our
books, the trash that's on the religious book store shelves
is evident of our spiritual poverty and our ignorance of God's grace.
There's nothing great being written or preached or sung, not much
anyway. But here, and the reason is,
we just don't understand this message. Look at Genesis 15,
Genesis 15, 6. And he believed in the Lord,
or he believed the Lord. He counted it to him for righteousness.
He believed God. And then in Romans, you read
Romans 4, 3. Now turn to Galatians 3, 6. I
read it in Romans 3. That was my text. Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now look at
Galatians 3, verse 6. Galatians 3, 6. Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness, he believed God. Then in James 2, 23. In James 2, 23. Listen to this. It says practically the same
thing. James 2, 23. And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God. And it was imputed." What does
this word imputed mean? When you say imputed, what do
you come up with? Well, they use the word charged
or reckoned. But simply stated, it simply
means that it's mine. It belongs to me. It's considered
mine, as if I had done it myself. In other words, the righteousness
of Christ, his obedience to the law, was imputed or charged to
my account before the Father, so graphically and literally,
realistically, it's as if Christ didn't do it at all, but I did
it. It's mine. That's what it means to me, imputed.
I'm saying the same thing about Adam's sin. In Adam, I died. And Adam's sin, Adam's fall,
is as realistically, Ron, mine, as if I had taken that fruit
myself and eaten of it, whatever it was. Imputed, charged, reckoned,
as if Adam didn't do it at all, but I did it. Joy did it. Scott did it. Carla, you did
it just, you, you fed for God off his throne. That's imputation. That's imputation. You say, well,
I can't take that. Well, that's where the salvation
is. Now, whether you can take it
or not, it doesn't matter whether you can take it or not, it's where salvation is. It's
the righteousness of Christ has got to be so graphically and
realistically mine that that there's no question in heaven
as to who did it. In other words, if I stand before
the throne and they drag out the books, and they say there's
nothing on here against him, and somebody says, now really,
is there nothing against him? Well, it says here that, you
know, that he did a whole lot, but a substitute died for him,
so really he didn't do it, so we'll have to hang him. No, it's
got to be so personally mine, as if I did it. I am crucified
with Christ, I am buried with Christ, I am risen with Christ.
I have a righteousness imputed. And that's what it means now.
It can't mean anything but that. That before God, I am holy. And
here's where our doubts and fears, this is what gives birth to our
doubts and fears, really. You say, I'm trusting Christ.
I believe Jesus died on the cross. I believe Christ lived a perfect
life. I believe his blood was shed for sinners. I believe it!
But I'm not sure about, you know, I'm scared. And I think things
I shouldn't think, and do things I shouldn't do, and say things
I shouldn't say, and boy, I'm just afraid I'm going to come
up short at the judgment. Well, what gives birth to that?
Well, you say, well, I don't doubt him. He's able. It's myself I'm doubting. But
you're not on trial. Not anymore. You're not on trial anymore.
There is therefore no condemnation, no judgment. You're not on trial.
The trial's over, isn't it? Well, in my head I believe that.
I wish in my heart I did. Well, you better start believing
it in your heart. It's to believe Christ. Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? That's what Paul says in Romans
8. If God be for us, who can do it? I've already been tried
and found not guilty. The law has been satisfied. It's
imputed. Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed to him for righteousness. And Abraham Let me show you something
over here. Let's look at a few things here.
Genesis 12, 1 through 4. Now, Abraham was, as I said to
you before, he was an idolater, he was a pagan, he was a heathen.
God called him out of idolatry. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord, just like you and me. He might have found you in religion,
but you're still in idolatry. That's right. You might have
found you in moral ceremonialism, but you're still in idolatry.
He that is not for me is against me. He that loveth not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. And he said, avoid covetousness,
which is idolatry. Be content with what you have.
A lot of things like that. The Lord said, Abraham, get thee
out of thy country. from thy kindred, from thy Father's
house unto the land, I'll show thee, and I'll make of thee a
great nation, and I'll bless thee, and make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing, and I'll bless them that bless
thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed, every tribe, nation, tongue,
and kindred." So Abraham departed. He prayed to God. Just that plain. Well, he packed up. Where did
Abraham go? Don't know, don't know, I just believe God. Wait
on me until you get there. Don't know, but I believe God. I don't have the answers, and
I know, boy, I tell you, it's hard to explain to his father.
It's hard to explain to his neighbors, and hard to explain to his friends.
They didn't get this revelation. Abraham did. He believed God. And he went out. Well, turn to
Genesis 13. In the meantime, he believed
God in reference to this child. See, he'd never had a son. Sarah
was his wife, and Abraham had never had a son. He didn't have
an heir, a daughter either. And he was pushing 90. Sarah
was about 85 or so. And God said he was going to
have a son. And he believed God. A son by
Sarah. He believed God. You say, how'd
this Hager deal get mixed in? That's Salah's idea. That's impatience,
you see. Now, here's our problem. He never
says that Abraham was impatient with God. He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say he was impatient with God. And that's where we
get in trouble. Instead of waiting on the Lord,
we get in a hurry. And Salah said, well, God said
we were going to have a son, but it's been ten years now,
or five years, or four years, or whatever. And let's just take
Hagar to be your wife and have a son by her and let that be
the heir. But God said, no, Sarah. And
Abraham believed him. All right, in Genesis 13, what's
this mean? Verse 8, And Abraham said to
Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen. We're brethren. Lot was his nephew. And he said, Let's not have any
strife between us. Is not the whole land before
thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If you'll take
the left hand, I'll go to the right. And if you go to the right
hand, I'll go to the left." Here's a man who believes God. Here's
a man who's not out to defend his position, who's not out to
defend his possessions, who's not out for himself. In honor of preferring one another,
he says he believes God. God said, I'll bless you, Abraham.
I'll bless you." He believed him. And when Lot, he and Lot
had this conflict over the land, he said, Lot, you go where you
will. You take that land down there,
then I'll go up here. If you take this land up here,
I'll go down there. I'm not going to meet my needs. So Lot, he
chose the well-watered plains of Sodom. They looked best. Lot
took the best. And Abraham said, God bless you,
and headed for the mountains. He had no problem with that.
Something else in Genesis 14. Some of these heathen kings,
the king of Sodom was going to make Abraham rich. Look at verse
21 of Genesis 14. And I'm just giving you some
examples in the life of this man. He believed God. He believed
God. Look at Genesis 14, verse 21. And the king of Sodom said, Abraham,
after he had rescued all his people and brought them back
from the hand of the enemy, he said, Abraham, you give me the
people. And you take the goods, now you think about the riches
that were included in their possession, gold, silver, precious stones,
rubies, diamonds, precious. Abraham said to the king of Sodom,
now listen, I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the most
high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. And I'll not take
a thread from you, even to a shoelatchet. I'll not take anything that's
yours, lest you say, I've made Abraham rich." Abraham's sitting
over there in the lap of luxury and possessions, and the king
of Sodom said, I gave him what he's got. Abraham said, you're
never going to say that. God gave me what I had. I was not made wealthy by this
word of God. If I'm wealthy, God made me wealthy.
If I'm poor, God left me poor because it's of the Lord. That
man believed God. You see, he just believed God.
Well, he had that son. He had that son. Turn, if you will, to Genesis
21. He had that son by Hagar. See, there's an allegory here.
There's a picture here. There's a picture here. Sarah is the wife. She's the
free woman, the free woman. And that free woman is the covenant
of grace, the everlasting covenant of grace in Christ. There's the
bondwoman, Hagar. And she's not the heir, she serves
a purpose. She's a slave, she's a servant,
she's a bondwoman. And God said, Abraham, you're
going to have a son, Isaac, to see by grace. It'd be a miracle child, a man
too old to sire children, a woman too old to beget children, to
conceive children. But Abraham, in that arrangement
Saber made, went in to Hagar, took her to wife, and she had
a son, his name was Ishmael, and he grew up, big, strong,
fine lad, about 13 years old. And along came Isaac, the child
of promise. And one day Ishmael, who was
14 then, and they winged Isaac, Isaac the son of the free woman
Isaac, the child of promise, Isaac, the miracle child, Isaac,
the child of grace, was weaned and had a big celebration. And
old Ishmael over here, he was King B for 13 years. He was Abraham's
only heir for 13 years. He had the run of the mill, the
run of the place. He was B-boy. Well, he made fun
of Isaac. He ridiculed Isaac. little snotty-nosed
brat, you know, getting weed. He really made a lot out of that.
And Saber said to Abraham, get rid of that boy. Get him out
of the house, off the property, out of the country. That's pretty
tough, isn't it? That's pretty tough. Get rid
of Ishmael. And the thing, look at verse
11 of Genesis 21, and the thing was grievous in Abraham's sight
because of his son. He flat loved Ishmael. I understand
that, don't you? I understand that. He was his son. He begat him.
Don't care who he was begotten by, he was still his son. And
he loved him. And he'd sit on his lap and make
slingshots for him and whittle wood for him, been hunting with
him, farmed with him for fourteen years. That kid over there and
his mama's lap, Isaac, he's just a year old. And you want me to
get rid of this boy? That's tough. Everybody talks
about him taking Isaac up to slave. To me, this is just as
tough. God said, Abraham, verse 12,
Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, because
of the bondwoman, in all that Sabaoth hath said unto thee.
Listen to her voice. For Abraham and Isaac shall thy
seed be called. Salvation's in Christ. Salvation's
through Christ. Salvation's a miracle. Salvation
by grace. Salvation through the covenant.
The bondwoman works, ceremonialism, circumcision, can't live with
grace. The tithes, the Sabbath, the
Passover, all these things, got to go. He take it the way of
the first. Ishmael was the first born. But
so was Adam. Second Adam is the one. And he
said to Abraham, he said, verse 13, and also the son of the bondwoman,
I'll make a great nation because he's your seed. But he has to
go. He has to be put off the place.
He cannot. And I'm telling you this, take
your baptism, your gifts, take your prayers, take your studies,
take your preaching, teaching, take your witnessing, your working,
your going, take everything in religion, your heritage, ancestry,
your Christian mom and daddy, all of it. And it has to go. Now, in reference to salvation,
in reference to acceptance with God, it can't live on the place.
It cannot! Works and grace can't exist together. He's preaching just to let him
have the corner lot down there. Now Lord, just let old Ishmael
have it. We'll just put him up a little
old place down there he can call his own, you know. No sir, put
a bottle of water on his shoulder and tell him goodbye. Well look at that next verse.
Verse 14, Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread
and a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar and put it on her
shoulder with the boy and sent her away. And she departed and
wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. He said, God is cruel. Let me
tell you this. Hang on to your seat, Hannah.
In reference to his grace, to the honor of his beloved son,
to the glory which is Christ alone, to the mercy of God which
is in Christ alone, the salvation which is a gift of God alone.
God's not only... God is ruthless. He's ruthless. And I'll tell you, in human language,
Tom, now I'm using that, in human, it's like the Bible says it repeated
God that he made man. God doesn't repeat that. But
that's human language. So you can understand. They said
streets of gold. All these folks singing these
songs about walking on gold. That's just human language. So
you can sort of make some kind of comparison. Some kind of comparison. Let me tell you something. You
get a view of God at Calvary. That's His Son on that cross.
That's His well-beloved, only begotten Son. That's the Son
of His love. That's the Son of His bosom.
That's God Himself. hanging on that cross, and he
turned his back and left him in hell. That's how ruthless
God is in reference to salvation by grace. And you think I'm tough? I ain't tough at all. Some of
these preachers think I'm tough. I was sitting at a table the
other night, and there's a half a dozen people sitting around,
most of them preachers, and the preacher at the end made this
statement. He said, well, he said, a lot
of you grace preachers were saved in Armenian under Armenian preaching. I said, I question that. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that at all. And you may say, well, that's
being tough. God's a whole lot tougher. If grace, free grace,
sovereign grace, and grace alone to the point where He said to
Abraham, take your son and send him away, because he is the son
of the bondwoman He's a type of works. He's the covenant of
long. He's a Levitical ceremony. Go! And don't come back. Now when
Abraham died, Ishmael came and helped bury him. But there's
the illustration. Abraham believed God. And then
the greatest trial of all, Abraham, God came to him in Genesis 22
and told him, take that son whom he loved and sacrifice him. And three days and three nights
he went to that hill called Moral. And he put that boy on the altar.
He believed God. Abraham was not a perfect man
in the flesh. He was perfect in Christ. Abraham
was not without flaw, not without fault. But Abraham believed. There's one thing about this
man that God called him his friend. Abraham believed God. Can you
understand that? He believed God. He believed
God. Oh, he had his moments of fright
and fear when he was down there in that heathen land. And boy,
I'm telling you, he was impressed with the power of that army and
that king. And he said, the Savior said,
if that fellow gets interested in you, don't tell him you're
my wife. Tell him you're my sister. I
don't want to get killed. He wasn't without fault. But
he bled God. He bled God. Sometimes he tried
to help God out, but he bled God. He bled God. And I'll sum it up, and I'll
quit, with something I wrote down here yesterday. I'll give
you the sum of it all in a few words. God is God. Eternal, holy, righteous, just,
immutable, unchangeable, and infinite. He's God. And men are
sinners, including this man, by birth, by choice, by practice,
in word, thought, and deed. But God Almighty, in his eternal
covenant of grace, has been pleased to choose a people and give them
to Christ and make Christ their servant. And Jesus Christ himself assumed
and obligated himself to redeem every last one of them. And he
came down here to this earth, bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh, and perfectly walked upon this
earth in total harmony, in tune with the heavenly, heavenly holiness. In my place instead, went to
that cross, and there is a sacrifice for sin. He died under the judgment
and wrath of God, but he arose again. He ascended to heaven
and sat down, having finished his work on the right hand of
God. He is my high priest and his assessor and advocate and
mediator, and there is no other. Jesus Christ stood, stands, and
will stand in my place and stand before God. I am a child of wrath,
doomed to die eternally, but Christ my Lord took my place
and died. So before God, in my surety,
I am holy. Before God, as far as the law
is concerned, in Christ I am righteous. Before justice, in
Christ I have a perfect substitute. He lived and died in my stead,
and I ask the question, then how can I perish? How can God
punish me for sins that have already been paid for? How can
God require of me a righteousness that is already perfect? God
says, He that believeth on the Son hath life. I believe, therefore
I have life. Huh? God says, He that believeth
on Christ will never be condemned. I believe on Christ and I'll
never be condemned. God says, All that my Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in
no wise cast out. Lord, I come in heart, mind,
soul, and body, and I don't believe I'll be cast out. Somebody wrote
a hymn one time and said, I'll go to Jesus though my sins act
like a mountain raised. I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone
without his sovereign grace. Out to that gracious King approach
whose scepter mercy gives. Perhaps he will receive my touch
and this old sinner will live. I can but perish if I go. I am
resolved to try for I know If I stay away, I must forever die.
I'm going to Christ, and I'm not taking any rags with me.
I'm going naked, empty-handed, not even with a thought of past
accomplishments. I'm going with a rope, Charlie,
around my neck, and I'm saying, If it be your will and can bring
glory to your name, then throw the trapdoor, but I sure would
like you to cut the rope and receive me. And I believe He
will. I don't want to believe, I know
He will. And you can rest on that. If you can believe God,
you can believe God. Just believe Him. Believe Him
for today, believe Him for yesterday, believe Him for today, and believe
Him for tomorrow. And believe Him for death, and
believe Him for judgment, and believe Him for eternity. It
pleases Him for you to believe Him. But without faith it's impossible
to believe Him, to please Him. Huh? It pleases God. No, I don't,
you know there's no honor you can pay God, the living God,
no greater honor than to believe Him. And there's no, listen to
me, and there's no reproach you can bring on Him that's greater
than not to believe Him. If I die tonight, I'll preach
what I believe. That's the gospel. I'll stake
all that I ever hoped to be on that right there. The greatest
glory, the greatest honor you can bring to God is this. And
he that believeth not, make God a liar. And I don't want to be
charged with that.