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!! THE FAITH OF OUR FATHER ABRAHAM
*by Ray C. Stedman*
Today is a very special day!
We celebrate Marcy’s covenant of baptism through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
This morning I want to talk about faith -- a simple thing, but hard for many to comprehend.
I have borrowed some thoughts for this message from a sermon preached by Ray Stedman in 1976.
Many people are confused on the subject of faith.
Some think that faith is nothing but a mental agreement to a truth -- that if you believe a thing is true, then you are exercising faith.
But faith is more than simply believing something is true.
Some people believe that faith is a feeling, a feeling of confidence.
If you happen to have confidence, you have much faith; if you do not have confidence, then you have little or no faith.
Your faith depends on how much feeling you can generate.
But that is not true faith, and that kind of definition of faith deceives many people.
There are some who think that faith actually is a type of self-deception.
Somebody has said that faith is a way of believing what you know is not true.
There are people who actually try to believe something that they know is not true.
They talk themselves into believing it and call that faith.
If you really want to know what faith is, you have to see it in action.
That is why the Apostle Paul, in Romans 4, brings in Abraham, the man of faith.
He is by no means the only man who has faith, but he is preeminently qualified as a man of faith.
Looking at Abraham we can learn what faith is.
In the first part of Chapter 4 we looked at the righteousness of Abraham -- that gift of self-worth, that essential element which every one of us desperately needs in order to function as a human being.
We found that it comes as a gift from God when you believe.
That is what the word "righteousness" really means.
Abraham obtained righteousness by faith.
Today we are going to look at the faith of Abraham.
There are four things that the Apostle Paul points out about Abraham's faith: First, we will look at the opposite of faith -- what faith is not.
Sometimes the best way to learn what a thing is, is by learning what it is not.
Second, we will look at the effects of faith -- what faith does, what it accomplishes.
Then we will look at what faith actually is -- the nature of faith.
Last, we will consider the beneficiaries of faith, or whom faith helps.
Let us begin with Verses 13-15, which deal with what faith is not.
*It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath.
And where there is no law there is no transgression.
{Rom 4:13-15 NIV} *
Here Paul tells us that faith is not trying to obey and fulfill some kind of law.
It is not doing your best to try to live up to a standard that you think you ought to live up to.
That is the law, and no matter what the law is or where it came from, trying your best to live up to it is not faith.
In that case, Paul points out, you are not living by faith, you are living by works.
Faith is not expecting God to accept and love you simply because you have tried your best to obey some standard.
In fact, if you live on those terms, you will find that you cannot receive what God wants to give you.
Abraham is proof that this method will never bring you the gift of righteousness.
If you think that God is going to accept, love, and forgive you because you have tried hard to do what you think is right, you are on the wrong track.
It will never work, and Paul tells you why.
First, notice that Abraham received the gift, the promise of righteousness, long before the Law ever was given.
"It was not through the law," Paul says, "that Abraham and his offspring received the promise."
In fact, if you look at Galatians 3:23-29, you find that Abraham received the gift of righteousness 430 years before the Law was given.
So righteousness could not come by law, that is clear.
Second, the Law renders the promise worthless.
"For if those who live by the law are heirs [of the promise], faith has no value and the promise is worthless."
Now let me help you to understand that: If there is anyone here who is quite athletic, I would like you to do something to demonstrate this for us.
I want you to stand here before the pulpit and jump up and touch the ceiling.
If you do that, I promise I will give you a thousand dollars.
I might have to borrow it, but I will give it to you.
Are there any volunteers?
I'll even let you stand on the platform.
No volunteers?
Why? Because, you say to me, "Look, your promise is worthless!
You are asking something that no one can do.
No one can jump up and touch the ceiling by their natural strength.
Your promise is worthless."
Even though I sincerely mean it, it has no value to you because you cannot do it.
This is what the Scriptures tell us.
What does the Law require of man?
Basically, it requires something that he cannot do.
It asks us to love.
That is all that the Law asks.
It asks that we love God with all our heart and strength and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves.
That is all the Ten Commandments ask, that you act in love all the time, without fail.
Very simple, isn't it?
Jesus said that love is the fulfilling of the Law.
When you love people, you are doing what the Law asks of you.
Don't say that by not being angry with them, or not hurting them, you are loving them.
Love is a positive thing.
Love is reaching out, and the Law requires that you reach out in love.
Now, if you cannot do that, the promise that comes with the Law is useless.
The promise is: "Do this and live."
If you obey the Law, God will accept you as righteous -- worth, value, and approval will be given to you because you earned them by doing what the Law demanded.
But if you can't, then the promise is worthless.
And we can't.
We can't love everybody, and we don't.
We can't love God like we ought.
It is not only that we won't, but we can't.
Therefore the Law is worthless in obtaining the promise.
But Paul does not stop there.
He says there is another reason why you will never be able to gain righteousness by trying to meet the requirements of the Law.
The Law brings wrath.
It actually subjects you to punishment if you don't make it.
And this is what we find.
The Law brings wrath.
Wrath is defined in the very first chapter of Romans.
It is God's removal of all divine protection -- you can do what you want.
Wrath is the removal of restraints from human beings.
Three times in Chapter 1 the apostle said, "God gave them up... God gave them up... God gave them over..." {cf, Rom 1:24, 1:26, 1:28}.
That is wrath.
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