A Righteous Faith

Introduction

Well, good morning!

It feels so good to be back. Thank you so much for your prayers. We had an amazing time…God moved…we saw lives changed…we grew in our faith…Listen, if you can, I really really encourage you, join us next year when we go back. The dates for our 2025 trip is July 9 through July 16.

Alrighty…if you have your Bible and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to Genesis chapter 15…Genesis chapter 15. We’re gonna be in the first six verses this morning.

But listen, before I get started…I just wanna thank Larry and Ken for preaching the last two weeks as I prepared for Honduras and as I was on the trip. I really believe the stronger our men become at FBC, the stronger we’ll become as a church body. I’m grateful for these men…they encourage me…they hold me accountable…I appreciate their friendship. And so again, thank you both for your faithfulness and thank you for you’re willingness to serve God’s kingdom.

Listen, if you’ve been with us these past several weeks, we’ve been digging into the life of Abram…we’re several chapters into Abram’s walk with God at this point…and its been a rollercoaster, right? We saw God approach Abram in chapter 12, He made him some promises…to give him a new land…a new people…a new purpose. We saw Abram step out in faith, he believed God and did exactly as he was instructed. We saw Abram falter in his faith when he decided to go down into Egypt…of course, he was rebuked, he turned back to the Lord…he went back to the first place he encountered the Lord in this new promised land.

And listen, from that point on…we really saw Abram’s faith on display, right? When dispute arose between his people and Lot’s people…he allowed Lot to choose which land he wanted. Abram trusted that no matter what land he received, the Lord would honor His promises.

We saw him rescue Lot last week. And again, just this model of faith as he went into battle. Abram trusted the Lord and he took God’s Word to heart.

But listen, a lot times, when we make these bold decisions…when we take these huge steps of faith in doing what we think God wants…a lot times, when criticism comes our way…or when people start to push back, we start to think, “Did I really do the right thing?” Right? “Like I thought I was acting in faith, but now, I’m not so sure.” In the aftermath of what we feel God’s led us to do, a lot of times we become consumed by the fear of possible repercussions.

For example, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt God place it on my heart to share something difficult from the pulpit or to be bold as I preached on a certain topic. I would do the things I felt led to do and once the criticism came, once I got those emails or those calls, I’d begin to worry…I’d begin to second-guess my earlier boldness.

Maybe for you, you were challenged to step out in faith…God challenged you to trust Him for something. Maybe you gave up a financial or career opportunity because you wanted to serve the Lord in a different way. I’ve been there. People start to push back, people from inside and outside the church, they call you crazy. Maybe you step out in faith and you give this large sum of money to the Lord’s work…and then you face some kind of financial crisis. You’re thinking, “What did I just do?” Maybe you said “no” to that date with a good-looking non-Christian guy, only to sit at home for weeks on end without any other dates. You start wondering, “Did I do the right thing?”

Guys, you have to understand, that’s where Abram’s at after the things we just went through in Genesis chapter 14. His wayward nephew, Lot…he was living in Sodom, he was taken captive by four kings from the east. And in this bold move of faith, Abram leads a small group of men…nomadic men…against these kings…He took everything from these kings when he defeated ‘em. And when he returned, he gave a tenth of it all to Melchizedek…and for himself, he refused to take any of it. Abram didn’t want worldly men to claim that they had made him rich. He wanted God to receive the glory. He had given up this astronomical amount of wealth on the sole principle that God, who had promised to bless him, would meet all his needs.

And listen, that’s where we’re at when we pick up this story. Abram, he’s lying awake in his tent wondering, “Did I make the right decision?”

And so, if you’re there with me, let’s stand and read our passage together. It says this, starting in verse 1:

Genesis 15:1–6 (ESV)

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Thank you, you can be seated.

[Prayer]

Listen, if you’re taking notes this morning, our three points…number one, God knows our fears…number two, God reassures our future…and then number three, God enables our belief.

And so, with that, let’s dive into the text.

I. God Knows Our Fears (vv. 1-3)

Our first point…God knows our fears.

Look at the first three verses with me again. It says this: “1 After these things [after Genesis 14] the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

If you’re paying attention here…I just want you to notice how this account starts off. After everything Ken talked about last week, after all that happened…Abram, he’s lying there in bed and he gets this vision…and it says, “the word of the Lord came to Abram.” Now, any other time we see that phrase “the word of the Lord came to…,” its typically used to comfort, or instruct, or assure us. As I’ve said many times, the Word of God, its “living…its active,” it has the power to comfort us when we need it. We’ll find courage in fear and assurance in doubt and strength in weakness through the Word of God.

So many times throughout the Old and New Testament, we see God physically appear to people…but guys, notice here that all it takes is God’s Word to comfort Abram! He doesn’t come to him in the flesh…God comes to Abram in a vision or a dream.

And listen, I love this next part…God came to Abram because He knew Abram’s fear. He knew his heart…He knew what Abram was struggling with and God made the first move to comfort Abram…this was before Abram petitioned God…or asked God to do anything…God approached Abram and addressed his fears. God knew Abram better than Abram knew himself.

I think a lot of times, we forget that God knows us…like I mean, He really knows us. And either we just try and hide stuff from Him…like our sin…or we think we’re not gonna bother Him with this small worry or fear or whatever. Right?

But listen, I love David’s reminder to us in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:1–16 (ESV)

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

Guys, God knows you…He knows everything about you…your fears…your worries…your struggles…your sin…everything!

But look at what God says to Abram after He tells him to “fear not!” He says, “Abram, I am your shield!” Now, we can only speculate at this point…but most likely, Abram’s got some kind of anxiety over retribution from the kings and the kingdoms he just defeated…its unsettling to him. It’s keeping him up at night. And listen, God says, “Fear not, I am your shield!” He’s saying, “Abram, I’m your protection…I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

He goes on, “Your reward shall be very great!” Which actually hits on another fear Abram has, that I think really comes out in Abram’s response. He’s afraid God’s not gonna hold up his end of the bargain…that he’s gonna remain childless. It’s been years at this point…Abram’s done everything the Lord’s asked…he’s living in a tent in a foreign land, his family’s been divided…and the heir of his house, its Eliezer of Damascus. It’s not his flesh and blood. I mean just hear Abram’s response…there’s fear there…there’s frustration there. I believe God’s comforting both the physical fears of Abram’s recent events…and the spiritual fears of whether God’ll keep His Word…I think that’s what God’s addressing here.

God knew what was going on inside Abram…God knows Abram’s fears…He knew his anxieties…He knows Abram’s struggling with trust in His original promises. And with that intimate knowledge…God chooses to comfort Abram.

Guys, I just love this…our world…its consumed by sin. And even as believers today, we walk in a very dark place. I mean just turn on the news…the Trump assassination attempt…the Olympic Games…if that doesn’t show you we live in a dark place, you’re delusional. And guys, until the day we’re glorified and perfected…we’ll struggle with the flesh, that’s also impacted by sin. Like Abram, we struggle with anxiety…we struggle really believing what God’s promised will actually happen. And guys, what I love about this…its that God knows this…and over and over again, we see God coming to us, through His Word, to comfort us…to acknowledge our fears…to acknowledge our struggles.

Which moves us into the second point.

II. God Reassures Our Future (vv. 4-5)

God never stops at just comforting us…God reassures our future…over and over again!

Look at what God says in verse 4, “4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”

Guys, do you realize this is like the 100th time God’s said this to Abram? “Abram, I’m gonna bless you with a son…I’m gonna make you into a great nation…I’m gonna give you and your offspring all this land!” I mean you read this so many times and you start to think, “Was an Abram an idiot? Could he hear God? Like, what’s wrong with this guy?”

But if we’re being really honest, we can kind of put ourselves in Abram’s shoes, right? Like, we question God’s promises to us all the time. And we start to think that these promises, they’re so impossible, they can’t really happen. Honestly, that’s where I think false theology comes from…like the idea of falling from God’s grace…it comes from fear…it comes from our constant distrust of God’s promises.

But guys, if you’ve read the New Testament…a lot of it, its like a broken record, right?…Now, God, He’s not promised that nothing bad will ever happen to the Christian…but He did promise He’d keep our souls eternally safe. He promised us an eternal life connected to Him…one in which we live and rule peacefully with Him in the new heavens and the new earth. We see this same message over and over and over again…God’s no different with us than He was with Abram…which goes to show us…this passage, its less about Abram and more about who God is, right?

Donald Grey Barnhouse asked why a mother tells a child something a hundred times, and then answers that ninety-nine times isn’t enough. In the same way, that’s God with us. Even though God had told Abram this same promise like 20 twenty times, Abram’s lying there…wondering what that promise might mean now…he’s showing anxiety over the exact meaning of God’s promise…which is why God gives more detail.

God says, “No, your heir, its not gonna be someone that you’ve adopted as your own…it’s gonna be your own flesh and blood…its gonna be exactly what you’ve been hoping for.”

Guys, not only does God know our fears…but He’s patient through them. He knows the course of sin…He knows how its impacted every piece of who we are…He knows how it’s impacted our mind and our heart. He’s know why we struggle to trust anything or anyone. I mean, after all, why would we trust anyone to fulfill their word to us when we’ve been hurt and let down so many times before. God knows these things and He’s patient with us. He sees us and He grieves…He sees how sin’s impacted us and it causes Him to extend grace.

I mean, that’s the reason Jesus came, right? He saw how sin consumed us…the world…and it grieved Him. That while, we allowed sin into the world…how, without a Savior, it overcame us. He saw those things…and in His grace, He came to us through Jesus…and gave us Himself as a sacrifice…to ransom us for Himself. He did those things because He loves us, He desires us…and even now, as He sanctifies us as His people…He’s patient with us, knowing exactly how sin’s impacted us. And in that patience, He reassures our future over and over again…as much as we might possibly need it…as much as we need reminded or comforted. Why? Because that’s what a good Father does…that’s what grace and love look like. And also because He understands the true nature of sin and how it’s impacted all He loves.

III. God Enables Our Belief (v. 6)

Which moves us into the third point this morning…God enables our belief.

Look at verse 6 with me again…After God said these things to Abram, verse 6, “And he [Abram] believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Listen, when we read this…we’re sitting there thinking, “Alright, what’s gotta be going on in Abram’s heart…Like, what’s he thinking?” And so, Moses, he tells us, “And he believed the Lord and he [God] counted it to him as righteousness.”

Guys, I can’t overstate this verse more…its literally one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament. Paul, he writes about this incident between God and Abram to give us a model of faith in Romans 4.

Romans 4:20–21 (ESV)

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

When Paul says that Abram “grew strong in his faith,” we see from Genesis 15 that it was God who nurtured Abram’s faith from a place of weakness, turning it into a strength.

I mean, I can only imagine what was going on in Abram’s heart, right? Like, maybe he’s sitting there…he’s looking upward, into the sky, probably his mouth, its open…his eyes, they’re watery…he looks up into the sky, he sees all the stars that God had placed before him…and with God’s words, Abram overcame his doubt and he believed the word of the God…believing in God’s ability to do whatever He said. Abram, he shows here that faith, its in God’s Word and in His character…and that faith, it relies on God’s promises to us. God enables our belief through His Word and His character.

And listen, don’t read this and think this is the moment Abram started “believing God.” No, Abram, he’s believed God since the moment he left his homeland. The word used here for “believe,” it means to remain firm, indicating an ongoing state of trust in God. Meaning, God through His constant comfort and reminders to Abram…God and God alone builds Abram’s faith and trust in Himself to keep His word. What we’re seeing, its sanctification in Abram.

Guys, our promise today…even God’s promise to Abram here, its pointing to God’s promise to save us through His Son, Jesus. And if we doubt it from here in Genesis 15, the New Testament, it makes it clear that Abram wasn’t just trusting that a son and an heir would come from his body, but that THE Son and THE heir whom God promised since the time of Adam’s fall all the way back in Genesis 3…he trusted that that seed would be born to redeem his people from sin.

That’s why Jesus said to the Pharisees’ in John 8:56:

John 8:56 (ESV)

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Even the word here in our passage in Genesis, the word “offspring” it’s written in the plural form…meaning, God when He promised this to Abram, He had Christ in mind which Paul actually addresses in Galatians 3:16:

Galatians 3:16 (ESV)

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

As God continued to remind Abram of His promises, Abram’s faith in Christ, it was dawning, it was becoming clear…he was connecting the dots between God’s promise of his heir and the promised Savior to come. Sinclair Ferguson explains, “Abraham believed God not just in general, but with respect to the promise of the coming Savior. He trusted this coming Savior, and God counted it to him as righteousness.”

Justification through faith alone…Which, that doesn’t mean our faith, its a work by which we justify ourselves. Romans 3 and 4, Paul’s clear about how justification works…that its not through works but through faith alone in Christ alone. Romans 4:2-3, Paul says:

Romans 4:2–3 (ESV)

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Paul in Romans and Moses in Genesis, they’re both referring to the sinner’s need to be justified before the holy God.

But Paul also shows us that faith alone justifies, apart from works. He continues in Romans 4:4-5:

Romans 4:4–5 (ESV)

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

He’s giving two contrasting approaches to justification. One’s by works…and the other, its by faith. And if you’re reading it, we have to be careful, because it’s a very fine line.

In one case, justification, its our due…but by faith, justification its a gift. Paul shows us here that Abram’s faith, it was an example of how God “justifies the ungodly.” Abram wan’t justified by faith as an alternative work that merited God’s blessing…but rather, “to the one who does not work but believes in him…, his faith is counted as righteousness.” It’s sinners who are justified by faith alone, not godly people who’ve gained acceptance by their works.

And listen, you have to apply all this to Abram’s story back in Genesis. Without God’s choosing Abram…without God’s coming to Abram, over and over again, Abram’s belief in God’s promise…or His faith and trust in God, it’s impossible without God first coming to Abram. God enabled Abram’s faith…God enabled Abram’s belief.

Which also shows us why our faith justifies us, its because Jesus’s righteousness, its imputed on us through faith in Him. Genesis 15:6 ends by saying, “…and God counted it to him as righteousness.” Paul said the same thing in Romans 4:5. The word “counted” in Hebrew and in Greek…it means to “reckon” or “impute.” And so the question here then, its how does God justify a sinner through faith? Well, if you’re understanding the original language…which also shows us why studying the original language is so important…it shows us that God accomplishes those things through imputation. Imputation, its an accounting term by which a credit is reckoned like money deposited in a bank. Which causes us to ask another question…if our righteousness is imputed to us…what righteousness is imputed to me when I believe in Jesus? Jesus’s!

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus didn’t participate in your sins…He didn’t become a sinner Himself on the cross. Instead, our sins, they were reckoned or imputed to Christ by God’s gracious will…and likewise, His righteousness, it’s imputed to me at faith. I’m not justified because I fulfill the law as Jesus did or because I’m perfectly holy like Him…Rather, His righteousness, its imputed to my account through faith…meaning, the justice of God, its satisfied by His life and through His death.

Dale Ralph Davis, he told a story of him ministering to a man who was very sick and facing death. The man had been a Christian but needed help in trusting that he was really going to heaven. Davis read him John 6:37, “Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.” But still, the man wouldn’t let Davis leave until he wrote the verse down so that he could keep it with him in times of doubt. The man actually survived and later moved out of town. But years later, Davis encountered him…and when he did the man took out that old scrap of paper where Davis wrote that gospel promise down. And He said he kept it with him and he took it out and read it over and over again.

Guys, it sounds like a silly reminder here…but God called Abram to a similar remembrance when he took him outside under the night sky and repeated his promise of heirs to come and when He promised who the heir’d be. For us, we should take Genesis 15:6 and write it out our hearts…or better yet maybe even a scrap of paper to keep with us…Abram “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Closing

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?

Listen, maybe even now…you’re struggling with something…you’re facing some kind of anxiety or hardship…and you’re wondering, “Does God really care? Does God love me? Am I really His?”

Guys, if that’s you…let Genesis 15, let it remind you that He does…that you are! That by your faith…its counted to you as righteousness…Be reminded that God’s promises, they will come to pass.

But listen, if you’re here…and as you think to yourself, even now…you realize, you might believe in Jesus, but you don’t know Jesus. You’ve not motivated by the things of the Bible. Maybe you realize, you’ve not been empowered by the Spirit and so there’s really not been any life change in you. Guys, as I remind us every week…we have to start with understanding that we’re all sinners. Every one of us, we do what’s wrong in the eyes of a good and gracious God. We’ve all rebelled against Him, the One who’s created us and given us life. And because of that, we deserve nothing but death. We deserve to experience the consequences of sin. All the pain and suffering and sickness and death around us, its the result of sin. It was never God’s design for all this to happen…its our fault…our giving into sin. And we deserve death and separation because its what we chose.

But guys, you have to see this…God could’ve just allowed these things to play out. He could’ve sat back and just watch man die and be eliminated from His creation…but He didn’t. He sent His Son, Jesus…being God Himself to become like us…to become man. Jesus lived a perfect life as man…the only man to ever live without sin…all so that He could go to the cross and pay for man’s sin…but you see because Jesus was fully God and fully man…it wasn’t just man on the cross. It was God too…and so Jesus, as man, was able to fully pay for man’s sins…and Jesus, as God, was able to fully satisfy God’s justice on man’s sin. Jesus took on the consequences of our sin and died there as man and God for us. Our sin it was imputed to Him. And He rose again, to give us the confidence we have today as believers…that our God, He’s victorious over sin and death, and that He alone has the power to save.

Listen, if you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, “I want that! I wanna follow this Jesus…I wanna be changed by this Jesus!” It’s simple. The Bible says all you have to do is repent and believe…All you have to do is turn to Jesus and confess with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and that He raised from the dead. It’s that simple. And listen, if you do that…the Bible says, Jesus’s righteousness, its imputed to you.

And so listen, as the deacons come and as we get ready for the Lord’s Supper…regardless of who you are this morning…you take this time, seek the Lord…confess, repent, allow Him to cleanse your heart…and we’ll close in just a moment.

[Prayer]

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”