Sermon 12/07/03 am

Jim Huskey, The Faith of Abraham

We're going to continue this morning our look into the book of Romans.

In the book of Romans, Paul, as the apostle Peter would suggest, has

some things to say that are difficult to be understood, some of which

'some who are unlearned and unstable, wrest to their own destruction

as they do also the other scriptures.' II Pet. 3:16.

In the fourth chapter of the book of Romans, Paul began to talk about

salvation by faith as typified by Abraham in the Old Testament. There

are some, I fear, who have a gross misconception with respect to what

is actually said. "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as

pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by

works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the

scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for

righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of

grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him

that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

Rom. 4:1-5. Now if we back up into the third chapter, Paul was saying

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in

Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through

faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of

sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say,

at this time his righteousness; that he might be just and the justifier

of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is

excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the

deeds of the law." Rom. 3:24-28. If we lose sight of the law of which

the apostle is speaking, then we get a rather confused picture as to

what is actually being said. Paul was pointing out that Abraham was

not justified, nor is anyone, by the deeds of the law. Well, Abraham

couldn't have been because the law had not been given when Abraham was

on the earth.

Someone has said that the best interpreter of the Bible is the Bible,

itself. I believe that's true, and I think we will find that to be

the case with respect to Abraham's faith. So let's turn to Hebrews

chapter 11. Beginning in verse 8, we read, "By faith Abraham, when he

was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an

inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By

faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,

dwelling in tabernacles with Issac and Jacob, the heirs with him of

the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations,

whose builder and maker is God." Heb. 11:8-10. Well, let's just go

back over into the Old Testament, Genesis 12, and see what happened

and what followed. "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out

of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house,

unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great

nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt

be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him

that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be

blessed." Gen. 12:1-3.

Now there are those who say Abraham didn't do anything, that it was

all because of his belief, and they look at that

a mental assent to the things God said, that Abraham had said, 'Now

God, I believe you're able to make all those things happen, but you

can make them happen right here just as well as you can with me out

running around like a nomad carrying all my family and my possessions

with me.' Question!!!!!!! Would we ever have read about Abraham's

faith!!!! NO!!!! Not the first time!!!!!! "So Abram departed, as the

Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy

and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took

Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that

they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and

they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of

Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of

Sichem, unto the plan of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the

land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will

I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who

appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the

east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and

Hai on the east; and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and

called upon the name of the Lord." Gen. 12:4-8.

What did Abram's faith do for him? There is no way under the sun that

an intelligent person can read what is said in the book of Hebrews and

in the book of Genesis and decide that Abram's faith didn't cause him

to do anything!!!! But let's just leave that right there and go a

little further. Let's go back to the book of Hebrews. Beginning in

Hebrews 11:17, we read, " By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered

Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only

begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed by

called; accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the

dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. 11:17-19.

Now wait a minute. Abraham must have DONE something. In Genesis 22

we begin reading in verse 1. "And it came to pass after these things,

that God did tempt (test)Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he

said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only

son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and

offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which

I will tell thee of. (Well, now God, wait a minute; we need to talk

about this. You told me that it is through Isaac that my seed will be

called. Now if he's going to be put to death now, how are there going

to be any seed? Now why don't we put this nonsense aside and get on

with this. NO, that's not what he did. God said take thy son, thine

only son Isaac whom thou lovest and go to Moriah and offer him on one

of the mountains I'll tell thee of.) And Abraham rose up early in the

morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him,

and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose

up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the

third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And

Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and

I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his

son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both

of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abrham, his father, and said,

My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire

and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham

said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering; so

they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God

had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in

order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the

wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay

his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and

said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not

thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now

I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,

thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked,

and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and

Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offring

in the stead of his son.....And he angel of the Lord called unto

Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I

sworn saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast

not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless

thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed and as the stars of the

heaven, and as he sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall

possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations

of the earth be blessed, because THOU HAST OBEYED MY VOICE."

Gen. 22:1-15.

Question!!!!! In doing what he did, either when called to leave his

homeland and get out of that country to a place God would show him, or

when he was called to offer up Isaac, did Abraham have the concept

that he was earning anything? NO!!!! Why? Because the record says

Abraham believed God. The Hebrew author explained it a little further

with respect to the slaying of his son, Isaac. "Accounting that God

was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he

receivedhim in a figure." Heb. 11:19. That was the FAITH of Abraham.

Now the tragedy is, that those who want to run and talk about the

faith of Abraham, that there's nothing else for man to do, want to

leave all this out and say there is nothing for man to do. Just believe

and it's all over. Well, let's go back now to Romans and go to chapter

5. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through

our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this

grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Rom. 5:1,2. Did you get that? 'BY FAITH WE HAVE ACCESS TO THIS GRACE.'

Let me ask you a question, now. Just because we have access to

something, does that mean we've availed ourselves of it???? I'll

guarantee you "that ain't true." Now many people have the privilege

of approaching the Father in prayer, but don't pray anymore? We

have access to the Father - how? By Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit,

being there to bring our petitions before the Father. There's a song

we sing sometimes called "The World Has Lost the Right of Prayer."

"The world has lost the right of prayer and saints have failed to

pray. What loss sustained beyond repart! How blind of heart are they!

What does that mean? Just because someone has access to something

doesn't mean they HAVE it. Now let me ask another question. It it's

by faith that we have access into the grace that saves, how then will

some say 'At the point of faith you already have it.' No, you just

have access to it. If we let the Bible be its own interpreter,

going back to John 1, we read John saying regarding Christ, "He came

unto his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as

received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to

them which believe on his name." John 1:11,12. Just because someone

has the power to do something, do that mean they have done it? How

many people carry around the burden called "potential"? They have the

ability to do things, they just won't do them. They just won't do

them!!! Well, just because they have the ability to do them, do you

reckon by that, they've already done them? NO!!! It doesn't work that

way. Paul said it is by faith that we have access to this grace.

Well, how does faith faith access that grace? When it does what God

says do!!!! In regards to Abraham, do you suppose God didn't know

enough about this creature He had made to know that he would do what

He commanded him do? Remember, it was said of Jesus that he needed

not any should testify him of man, for he knew what was in man.

John 2:25. Then why do that to Abraham? You see, God knows the story,

not from the beginning to the end, but from the end to the beginning.

Abraham's faith had to be expressed. We read all way through the 11th

chapter of Hebrews, counted the greatest chapter on faith in the

Bible, and every time we read, it is "by faith" somebody did something,

Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Rahab the harlot, etc. Every one of them "by

faith" acted, then they received the blessings that had been promised;

but not until. So it is by faith we have access to this grace. People

say 'there's nothing for man to do, there are no commandments, no

obedience necessary.' My Bible even says faith is a work. How so?

It has to find expression in obedience. We'll notice this in even more

depth tonight when we take a look at Romans, chapter 6, and put this

thing together more completely.

Now let's look at one more thing. There were then, as there are now,

those who said there was one gospel for the Jew and another gospel for

the Gentiles. Paul raised the question in verse 9 of Romans 4, "Cometh

this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the

uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for

righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision,

or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And

he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of

the faith which he had yet being uncircumcisied; that he might be the

father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that

the righteousness might be imputed unto them also; and the father of

circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also

walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had

being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir

of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but

through the righteousness of faith.....Therefore it is of faith, that is

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 that also which is of

the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written,

I have made thee a father of many nations) before him whom he believed,

even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be

not as though they were." Rom. 4:9-17.

Faith - we need to understand it involves more than just saying, "Oh,

Lord, I believe." Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7? "Not every

one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of

heaven; but he that DOETH THE WILL of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied

in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name

done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never

knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:22,23.

Now would you say that those who cast out demons, those who did many

wonderful works in His name didn't believe? When you want to get right

down to the bottom line, no they didn't!!!! Had they believed, they

would have done what the Father commanded. That same principle is

true when we talk about the faith that saves as Paul did in great

depth in the book of Romans. We need to understand that when he

brought these characters up and said 'here's the pattern', we need to

understand what the pattern really is. Abraham believed God. Well,

what did that make him do? It made him obey God. He didn't earn

anything in doing that; he just trusted God to provide the blessings

God said he would provide. Here he takes is son out and is ready to

kill him as an offering. That's earning something!!!!! NO!!!!!!

He believed that God was able even to raise him up from the dead. His

faith in Jehovah was such that whatever God told him to do, he believed

that that was the thing to do, so he did it. He obeyed, whether it be

leaving his homeland, whether it was with respect to the child that

would be born to him and Sarah, whether it be with regards to slaying

Isaac in an offering on Mt. Moriah. If we believe God, if we have the

faith of Abraham, then we'll do what God has commanded we should do.