ABraham Believed

The Gospel Great and Glorious  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  31:49
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Boasting- In works and in identity

Aesope tells the story of the Grasshopper and the ants.. Imortalized by disney in a early color cartoon.
First the grass hopper boasts to the hard working ants claiming his way of life is the best, Singing, “the world owes me a living!”
then when winter comes and this particularly long living grass hopper faces the frigin storm of winter the ants snug in thier burrows get to boast. Thier hard work has paid off and they are warm and well fed in the midst of the cold.
One boasted in his identity. THe other boasted in thier work.
but in my version of the story neither ones boasting protected them from the tongue of the echidna that consumed them in the end.
In the same way paul says, Before God boasting fails us as well. Our works will never be enough before an infinity and holy God, and to say I am part of the right sort of family fails entirely if our works don’t prove it.
Paul has made a huge claim in chapter three, that salvation comes not from works or family line- but through faith.
He doubles down on it is chapter 4 when he says- God Justifies the ungodly. Some of your versions say it a bit more strongly. God justifies the wicked! That is quite a claim and one that Paul isn’t idlely making. He is going to spend the rest of chapter 4 defending his position.
And he does so in a brilliant way. He goes back to the life of Abraham. The father of the nation of Isreal and he proves his point from Abrahams life.
THis is more than just and dramatic choice. This is how we should always determine our beliefs in the church. But looking at what scripture says.
There is always a danger that we could leave scripture behind and people do at times. They look to rhetorical or cultural arguments to determine what they should believe about god and then the turn around and tell scripture what it is supposed to be saying. Choosing the passages that they approve of and skipping the passages that they don’t like.
That isn’t how christians are supposed to learn about God. We are supposed to begin with scripture- god’s letter to us and learn from it. studying it to better understand who God is and what he requires of us.
So lets do that now.
Romans 4:1–12 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.” 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, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Remember abraham. A wandering aramean in the wilderness. who followed God from campsite to campsite. He left his home in Ur and ventured alway to modern day isreal trusting god along the way.
And it was that faith that Paul says, caused God to declare him righteous. Not Abram’s good behavior- not his less than perfect relationships with his many neighbors, or his failures to honor sarah as his wife.
Many times in the book of genesis We see abraham mess up. And still God spoke to him, and made a covenant with him.
Not because abraham was particularly good- no it was because Abraham believed God.
Paul also argues to that abraham couldn’t boast in the sign of the covenant that God gave to him. God told him to circumcise himself and all of his household and his sons and his sons sons. As a sign that they were god’s people. But Paul points out that God had declared Abraham righteous and made a great promise to him before he was ever circumsised.
Here paul is pointing out that they jews can’t argue that you have to be circumsized to be saved because abraham wasn’t circumcised when he was justified.
And That extends to the promise that God made to abraham as well. A promise that Paul is claiming is finally fulfilled now that the gentiles are being saved.
Genesis 17:3–8 ESV
Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Later on Paul is going to explain how Abraham is counted the father of many who are of different nations- He is our father because we share his faith. His faith that God would redeem him. Abraham trusted God.
Paul describes a very practical way that Abraham did Trust God-
God told him at the age of 99 that he would be a father-
And Abraham chose to believe God despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary.
Look at what paul says.
Romans 4:19–22 ESV
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 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. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
Paul Says that Abraham understood every reason why it was rediculous to believe that he and sarah in their old age could possible give birth to a son. But knowing all that didn’t stop Abraham from believing God’s promise.
I love the phrase, “he gave Glory to God” Abraham saw his problems not as a reason to doubt God but as an oppertunity for God to show his power and glory. Abraham understood God doesn’t do things in a way that we might consider practical or effeiciently. - he isn’t very scottish or german in that respect. Rather God does things in a way that we might not understand- but he does them to bring about the greatest revelation of his beauty and glory. Like starting a nation from a 100 year old vagabond and his 90 year old wife.
Or choosing you and me- and saving us- with all of our bad habits and brokeness and then using us to build his kingdom. One thing is for sure- God will get all the glory when we have suceeded!
Abraham understood this and so he looked to God and trusted him by faith and by faith he was declared righteous!
So what have we learned so far from Paul and from Abraham.
We have learned that Those saved by God cannot boast. God will never owe us anything. but he happily gives his mercy and love to those who live by faith.
And that includes people of all nations- Abraham is the father of many not becasue we are decended from him but because he trusted God and so do we. That means that those who live by faith are not just saved, they they are grafted into a new family tree. made part of a nation of nations. set apart by God for his Glory. Once again not because we have anything to boast about- but to show the heavens and the earth how glroious god is to save wretches like us. and like abraham.
But one thing that we have not discussed is the nature of that faith.
what are we supposed to have faith in. having faith isn’t good enough. Saving faith is a very specific type of faith. _ it was for abraham and it is for us.
Romans 4:23–25 ESV
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Abraham didn’t know about jesus as we do, but he certianly knew God. God spoke with him. Met with him and even walked with him.
Abraham’s faith was not general, it was specific, it was a trust in the promises of God who had revealed himself to him. It was a relational faith.
And our is as well. God has revealed himself to us in the bible in amazing ways! But no way is as awesome as the way he revealed himself through the person of his Son, Jesus. That is the person that we are to look to for our salvation. That person is the one who spoke the promises that we are called to believe by faith.
Saving faith is a faith rooted in the promises, crusifixion and ressurection of jesus Christ. Any other object of faith will fail.
Remember how Abraham looked at his age, his weaken body, knew that it would only be by a glorious miracle that he might have a son.
So it is true for us! We look to our lives, our works, our pasts and our continuing selfish behaviors and we must recognize that like abraham we are as good as dead in our sins. But for the new life that Christ freely offers. We put our hope in him not as a hope but as our only hope.
This is faith. As we say in our membership class faith is spelled FAITH and it means. Forsaking All I Trust in Him.
F orsaking
A ll
I
T rust in
H im
Lets pray.
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