Trusting the Promises of God leads to Righteousness

Open: College basketball conference tournaments have been played this past week. Your team may win 2 games in a row and and they can look unbeatable. In the very next game, however, the momentum is missing and the doubts start to appear on the faces of the players. The fans in the stands are fearful and discouraged as they sense the real possibility of a loss.

Transition: In the final analysis, it is just a game for the fans. Whether your team wins or loses is not relevant to your life in the scope of Eternity.

What is important, however, is the emotional roller coaster some of us are on concerning our fears and anxiety concerning what may happen in our lives. We can be spiritually successful one week and the next we can be asking God if we are even making a difference! Abram had just come off a high point but was starting to entertain doubts and fears. God has a remedy for that and we will encounter it in today’s passage:

READ the TEXT: Genesis 1-6

God reassures us by reminding us of Himself and His promises (Genesis 15:1)

Explanation: Following the events of Chapters 13 and 14, God appears to Abram in a vision. We read that “the Word of the LORD came to Abram” and then, just a few words later we read where God says, “I am your shield.” The Word of the LORD is personal - God Himself came to Abram in the vision. God initiated this process; Abram did nothing to make God appear.

God came to Abram to follow up on His previous promises. In Genesis 12:1-3 we read that God promised Abram that He would make him a great nation and that through Abram God would bless the entire world. God is letting Abram know that He has not forgotten what He promised. He tells Abram two things.

First, God tells Abram that He, God, IS (present tense) Abram’s protection. Abram has already been through some difficult situations, and God is letting him know that He will protect him so that the promises will be fulfilled.

Second, God reminds Abram that He Himself is Abram’s great reward. [This CAN be a source of great contentment for us when we understand & accept this - we can get caught up in pursuing what God give us that we can neglect the truth that He Himself is our reward!] In this statement is also an echo of the Promise that God made to Abram about having children and becoming a great nation. (This is seen in Abram’s response about still being without a child).

So how do we respond to God when it does not appear that He is fulfilling His end of the deal?

Argument: God is NOT a genie in a bottle who responds to the commands of people; rather God is a personal being who comes down to where we are. God is the One who starts the process - If He had not chosen to reveal Himself, we would remain in the dark. If He had not chosen to pursue us, we would never even seek after Him (Rom 3:10-11)

Application: We can praise God for being a personal God who not only reveals Himself to us through Creation and, more importantly, through His Word, He is a God who is actively seeking us out!

Luke 19:10 KJV 1900

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

In Genesis 3:15 we first read of God’s promise to send a Savior. God made that Promise and He fulfilled it approximately 4,000 years later! God WILL fulfill His promises, but He does so according to His timing, not ours.

Trusting in the Promises of God is NOT possible through physical or material means (Genesis 15:2-3)

Explanation: Abram’s response to God is one of frustration. Abram is aware of what God promised him, and he is telling God that it is His fault that he is still without child (v. 3). Abram is looking at his physical circumstances and what he sees is that he and Sarai have no child of their own and that one of his men is going to inherit all of his stuff.

Illustrate: Paul was contacted by Duke late last Sunday night. They told him they had a liver donor and they would call him Monday afternoon with a time for him to arrive in Durham for the surgery. He contacted several people to spread the world and to pray. Late Monday they informed him that the donor liver had some issues and was not suitable - no liver transplant!

Argument: God’s people are called to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Believers are aware of this truth, but we need to be reminded from time to time. Just as Abram was following God and doing the right things, he still became frustrated when he was unable to “see” the promise being fulfilled.

Application: Are you continuing to pray for someone or something that has not yet come to pass? We live in a world of instant gratification and it is possible to “give up” when we do not see it (see Gal 6:9)

Trusting the Promises of God by faith leads to Righteousness (Genesis 15:4-6)

Explanation: God responds to Abram’s questioning of not having a child by clearly re-affirming the Promise. God tells Abram that Eliezer will NOT be his heir and that indeed, Abram & Sarai WILL have a child - just as God promised. God took Abram outside and told Abram to number the stars - if he could. (God knew that Abram could not as it is an impossible task!) God compared the uncountable stars to the multitude of descendents that would come from Abram. God makes another Promise to Abram - we could even say that God “doubles down” on His ability to bring His promises to completion!

Abram’s response of faith to God’s promise contains one of the bedrock principles in the entire Bible. By faith, Abram believed God and God reckoned it to his account as righteousness!

NOTE: Abram was already a believer, as he had encountered the Glory of God when God called him out of Mesopotamia. Many commentators are of the opinion that this statement reflects some type of revelation of Christ that Abram received. Jesus spoke of this in the Gospel of John when He told the Pharisees, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (John 8:56)

Argument: This statement is powerful! When the Apostle Paul is systematically laying out the doctrine of Justification by faith in the Book of Romans this is the statement he uses. Let’s turn to Romans chapter 4 and look at this passage: READ Romans 4:1-3

Romans 4:1–3 ESV

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 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.”

Trusting God is THE factor that leads to right standing before God! In and of ourselves, we have NO righteousness that is capable of pleasing God. In our fallen state it is impossible for us to please God (Romans 8:8).

This is where a lot of people misunderstand the importance of the quality (nature) of saving faith. The reality is that Jesus did come to earth on a rescue mission and He did accomplish His mission (It is Finished! John 19:30) Jesus was the perfect atonement and His death satisfies the wrath of God. The Crucifixion, however, does not save automatically. Lost sinners only have the imputed righteousness of Christ credited to their account when they repent and surrender to Christ through faith. It is only when we believe that God counts it as righteousness on our account.

No one is ever reasoned into the Kingdom, and no one is ever getting in by telling God that ‘the good outweighs the bad.”