If you have your Bibles, turn
to me to Genesis chapter 15. I'm going to read verses 5 through
7. The title of my message tonight
is Abram and the Resurrection. Genesis chapter 15 verse 5, And
he that is the Lord God brought him forth abroad and said, Look
now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and it accounted to him for righteousness. And he, that is the Lord, said
unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the earth,
Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. Let us pray. Our
Father, we come in the name of Jesus Christ, that blessed name
that is above every name, the only name under heaven, given
among men whereby we must be saved. We praise you and thank
you for salvation, full and free, determined before the world began
in divine election and predestination. We thank you, Father, that you
did not leave us to ourselves, but stopped us in our career,
brought us to a halt, and spoke your word to our hearts and to
our minds We praise you for that. We thank you, Father, that you've
been so kind and merciful to us. Father, we pray for our congregations. You continue to keep them in
a good measure of health. We pray, Father, for those who
are sick, going through trials and troubles. We ask your Lord's
help for them. Remember especially Brother Wayne,
Sister Ethel, Sister Peggy Lambert, my daughter Sarah, Also Debbie
who's ministering to her and Chris and the kids. Watch over
them all. Help us, Lord, to look to Thee
in all things. Give us faith to trust You, to
bow to Your wisdom, wherein we are frail and weak, often void
of understanding. We can always look to Your Word,
and there we'll find the peace and the comfort of knowing that
Nothing is happening except that which is according to Your purpose
and Your plan. And we do bow and thank You for
that. Thank You for that knowledge. It gives us peace in our souls.
Help us tonight to read Your Word and to preach Your Word. We pray in Christ's name, Amen. Now this wonderful occasion in
the life of Abraham wherein he believed the Lord and it was
accounted to him for righteousness, is seen throughout the scriptures
as the manner in which the Lord informs His people that they
are righteous in His sight, all based on the person and the work
of the seed, the son, the heir, the Lord Jesus Christ, faith,
That blessed gift from God comes singularly, as it did with Abraham,
by hearing the word of the Lord. It says in verse 1 of chapter
15, after these things, that is after the battles, the word
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward." This is how we learn of who we are and who God
is and what Christ has done for us when the Word of the Lord
finds its place in our heart. It's a blessed thing hearing
the Word of God. Scripture says faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God in Romans 10, 17. Would
you increase your faith? Then avail yourself to God's
Word. Faith is intrinsically and absolutely
bound to the preaching of the Gospel, through which life and
faith are bestowed by the will of God. God said in His book
in James 1.18, of His own will begat He us with the Word of
Truth. Thy Word is Truth, the Lord saith. It is in the gospel only that
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, according
to Romans chapter 1 and verse 17. It is incumbent, therefore,
yea, absolutely necessary for a preacher to be singularly dedicated
to the one message upon which faith flies, and that's Christ
and Him crucified. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9.16,
necessity is laid unto me, Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. This is the word of the Lord
which informed Abraham of his seed, of his son, and of his
heir, and brought faith to his bosom. And immediately upon declaring
that Abraham was righteous through faith, our Lord likewise declared
the source of that faith, in verse 7, and he said unto him,
I am the Lord that brought thee out of the earth of Chaldees
to give thee this land to inherit. If you have faith, our Lord likewise
declares the same to you. If you have faith, you were not
born with it, you did not generate it, you did not work it up. It is given to you as a gift
through the sovereign grace of God. and he said unto him, I
am the Lord that brought thee out of the earth of Chaldees
to give thee this land to inherit it. Now I had intended to go
further into this chapter tonight to deal with the sacrifices and
Abraham fighting off the carnivorous birds from the sacrifices. But just as we have passed this
day when this last Sunday when the world of Christendom and
professing Christianity celebrated the resurrection of Christ, I
remember that Abraham was tied to the resurrection throughout
the Scriptures, and it is tied to the Word of God concerning
his seed and his inheritance. Holding your place there at Genesis,
turn over to Romans chapter 4. In Romans chapter 4, God dealing
with the faith of Abraham. We know in the first part of
the chapter He said that He He was justified not by works, but
by faith, and God would not impute sin to him. And he says down
in verse 16, he says this, Therefore it is of faith that it might
be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed,
not to that only which is of the law, but to them also which
is the faith of Abraham, which is the father of us all, as it
is written. And we've already read where
it's been written several times, I have made thee a father of
many nations before him whom he believed. Even God who quickened
the dead and calleth those things which are not to be as though
they were, who against hope believed in hope that he might become
the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so
shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. and being fully persuaded
that what God had promised he was able to perform. Therefore,
it was imputed to him for righteousness. 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 for
our justification. The resurrection is applied to
every major truth in the word of God, And here in Romans, it
is tied to the moment when God caused Abraham to stargaze. and made him the promise of a
son and a seed and an heir. We also see that this incident
applies to every believer, not just Abraham, for our Lord said,
and therefore it is imputed to him for righteousness. 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 the Lord from the dead. Now in these two
passages, we see several things. all of them applying to the resurrection. The primary theme of the resurrection
is the miracle of going from death to life. Abraham's body,
though now dead, believed the transition from death to life
imperceptible. He believed, but it was imperceptible
to the eye Abraham looked the same after all was done on that
mountaintop and looking at those stars. That was imperceptible.
But revealed in faith and revealed to faith. And it is a wonder.
It is a wonder. People write about things yet
to come and they talk about great theological terms and write books
and tomes about these things. But the fact is that the greatest
wonder that is on the face of this earth is that God has given
people faith to believe the Word of God. It's foolishness to the
world. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,
they're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them nor
discern, because they're spiritually discerned. God has given men
faith, and faith is a wonder. It's a wonder. As Abraham looked
to the heavens and knew he believed, or knew he could not number the
stars, and the word of the Lord came to him, he believed. That's
what the account is. Can anything so eternal be so
astoundingly simple? Is this not resurrection from
the dead? Was not this the case of every
believer who's dead in trespasses and sins? Was it not in a moment,
in the blink of an eye, that the gospel found purchase in
our newly made and livened hearts? And we believed and we were exactly
the same except for that fact. We believed God had given us
life and given us faith with that life. It was in a moment
of an eye found purchase. One moment. I often think about
this. I pondered it for many years
since the Lord did save me. One moment we were dead unbelievers. Our bodies dead. And the next
thing, we were living believers. We believed. That is marvelous
grace. Birthing faith that is counted
to us for righteousness. And it is the Lord that brought
us out to bring us in by His Gospel. By His Gospel. In Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 4, that language is spoken concerning the resurrection
and our faith in Jesus Christ. It says in chapter 2 and verse
4, but God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace you're saved and has raised us
up and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ
that in the ages to come we might show or he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ
because by grace you are saved and through faith, and that not
of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man
boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them.
In Colossians chapter 2 and verse 13 it says, And you, being dead
in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses. I remember when I heard the gospel.
I've been in religion most of my life. I can't remember when
I wasn't with it in one way or another. And for some time I
sat under the true gospel, men preaching Christ and Him crucified,
and still remained in darkness, though I had embraced certain
theological schemes and believed what men would call Calvinism
in this day. I had all my ducks in a row,
and then one night I went to a little place in Winston-Salem
where there was hardly anybody there. Brother Moose Parks and
I were there that night, Jim Byrd and several other people,
and we heard a man named W.R. Crews, and that night he preached
the gospel, the gospel that I'd heard a number of times with
the hearing of natural ears. But that night I heard the gospel.
That night I believed. And it's still a wonder to me.
I went in there of a religious and convinced man and went out
of there a believer. And it happened in an instant.
And I'm still amazed by that. And I think of Abraham that night
looking out at those stars and said, I can't number them. That's
too many. The Lord said, so shall thy seed
be. And Abraham believed in the Lord
concerning that seed. And God accounted it to him for
righteousness. Abraham desired a son. He didn't
have one in his own house. Him and Sarah, according to Romans
chapter 4, were unable to produce children anymore. His body was
dead and Sarah was really old. They couldn't make a baby. They
couldn't have a child. But he knew that in order for
him to have that great nation, to be that great nation, to have
that one seed be many, He knew that He would have to have an
heir. He would have to have a son. He knew that. And He got one. He got Jesus
Christ. He is the Son and the Heir, and
in Him we are heirs according to the promise. The singular
seed that encompasses many envelops us according to the purpose of
God's electing grace. And it's tied to the resurrection
in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 2 and
3, it says, we are elect. Who? Those people described in
verse 1 as strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
and Bithynia. Chosen, elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience unto the Christ's obedience and the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace be
multiplied, blessed. be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a living or a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Over in the same chapter in verse
18 it says, For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your own vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but you were redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last days for you, who
by Him do believe in God, that raised Him from the dead and
gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Jesus Christ is declared to be
that seed, that Son, and He s declared it by the resurrection of the
dead. When Paul said, I am separated unto the gospel, in chapter 1
of Romans, he said Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, excuse me, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Now the next
sentence is in parentheses. That means can be lifted out
without doing harm to the context. That verse is an explanation
of what the gospel is being separated of God. But if you leave that
out and read it, it s separated of the gospel of God. Verse 3,
Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made the
seed of David, and according to the flesh and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
helped by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ is declared
to be that seed. He's declared to be that Son.
And Abraham received the promise when the Son of God came forth
from the grave having slain the sovereigns of sin and death.
The Lord has put all things in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist says God has
put all things in Christ. All things. Old Scott Rich used
to say God has put all His eggs in one basket, and they are.
Everything is in the hands of Christ. He has given Him authority
over all flesh, and He has done so that Christ would give eternal
life to as many as God has given Him. And Christ is the HEIR of
all things. So He is the SON, and He is the
SEED, and He is the HEIR. In Hebrews chapter one that's
how the Lord Jesus Christ is described it says God who at
sundry times and in divers manner spake in times past to the fathers
by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his
son actually by son or in son whom he hath appointed heir of
all things by whom also he made the worlds and we are heirs with
him that's how this one heir encompasses many heirs as this
one seed encompasses many seeds as this one son came to die and
purchase many sons. In Romans chapter 8 it says we
are heirs with Him, heirs of God and joint heirs with the
Lord Jesus Christ because we are sons of God. In Romans 8
and verse 15 it says, For ye have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, or Papa, Papa, and we're
saying that to God Almighty, the Spirit itself bearing witness
with our spirit that we're children of God. Now nobody can explain
that except someone who has faith. Someone whom God has given faith,
they can, well not necessarily explain it, but they can say
they have experienced it because they know that when the Word
of God is preached, it finds purchase in their heart and they
believe it. And they rely upon it and they have faith and they
trust the Word of God. And their spirit is the one who
takes the Word of God and puts it and plants it in their heart,
taking the things of Christ and showing it unto them. And so
that Spirit of God has a witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. And if children, if we're children
of God, then we're heirs. Heirs of God. That means God's
heirs. That means when God wrote His
will and testament, which is this book, and Christ died and
His blood sealed and ratified that eternal will and testament
and covenant. We received everything that Christ
bought on Calvary's tree. Now He's heir of all things.
We just read that. So as you, as a child of God,
as a joint heir with Him, are heir of all things. So Paul could
say to the Corinthian church, all things are yours. And you
are Christ's and Christ's, excuse me, Christ is God's. In Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 29 says if you are in Christ. You are children of Abraham.
Many verses in Galatians deal with us being heirs according
to the promise of God. We are like the prodigal son
of old. We arrive at the Father's house in grave clothes, clothes
of the world. But the Father dresses us up
in garments of salvation. puts the beskos on us, puts a
ring on our finger and shods our foot with fine sandals, and
gives us a seat at the table. What grace is shed abroad in
the heart of a dead sinner that it would have him accepted in
such a grand and glorious fashion. This all happened in time on
that night underneath the starlit heavens when God gave Abraham
faith to believe the word concerning the sea. It may not have been
a starry night for you, but when the Word of the Lord came to
you, you believed, and the Lord counted it to you for righteousness.
You received the Son, the Heir. You received the promise. For
all the promises of God are in Christ, and they are yea, and
they are amen, unto the glory of God by us. Father, bless us
to our understanding, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.