Faith of Our Father Abraham
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Romans 4:17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed; God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
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Faith in God makes the impossible possible. Promises dead and lifeless, promises forgotten and put to rest can be brought into reality and fulfilled by the goodness of God. Faith in God’s Word can make the unclean clean, the common thing holy, and the vilest sinner pure with the imputed righteousness found in Jesus Christ. Be strengthened in your faith; your faith is what you have been called to live by.
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Genesis 15:2 But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." 5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
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Abram was questioning God about the promise. Abram was telling God, you promised me an heir and right now it is all going to my servant. God reassured Abram an heir was coming. Abram believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Remember Romans 4 said Abraham wavered not?
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Genesis 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
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God had promised, Abram believed but now we see him waver. His wife talks him into going into her maid and having a child. God had a plan and it was through Sarah the promise was to come. Yet Abram and Sarai circumvented the plan of God and tried to gain the promise by their own works. A child Ishmael came through the flesh but it still was not the promise or the blessing God had in mind. And yet Romans 4:20 declared that Abraham did not waver.
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Genesis 17:16 "And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her." 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" 19 Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
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In spite of Abraham and Sarah mistakes God reinforces the promise. Abraham is 100 years old and his body as good as dead, and Sarah is well beyond child bearing. Isaac will be born, God’s promises can be counted on. Yet Romans 4:20 says Abraham did not waver.
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Genesis 18:9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent." 10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' 14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh!"
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If the proof is in the pudding, we have a wavering Abraham and an unbelieving Sarah when we read the Genesis account. Yet Romans 4:20 says Abraham did not waver and Hebrews 11:11 says Sarah’s faith judged God faithful who had promised.
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Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude; innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
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Romans 4 says Abraham did not waver and Hebrews 11 points to unwavering faith with both Abraham and Sarah. Imputed righteousness and sin not imputed is a package deal. The record before the cross shows wavering faith; the record is clear post the cross of Jesus Christ. Abraham did not waver and Sarah counted God as faithful; the sin had been removed from the record as far as the east is from the west. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. The depth of the greatness of Jesus pouring out His soul as an offering for sin is so great; it makes the unclean clean and the common thing as holy and a sinner is left justified through imputed righteousness. What a wonderful Savior.
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Just as Romans 4:16 says Abraham is the father of us all.
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Romans 4: 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
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The just shall live by faith. If the object of your faith is in Jesus Christ and His atoning work at the cross righteousness is imputed to you. This truth about Abraham being justified by his faith and not by works was written for our benefit. The promised seed that Abraham received is Jesus Christ Himself.
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Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.
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Sarah, Abraham’s wife, consider God faithful! Abraham had to make a choice not to consider the deadness of his own body or the deadness of Sarah’s womb. It is so important what we should consider. Consider the greatness of our God and the Word that He has spoken! Consider exalting His Word over your circumstance. Give glory to God who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all you think or even ask.
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Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
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Imputed righteousness and sin not imputed came through Jesus Christ. If you want to walk in victory it must be in considering Him. Here in Hebrews 3 it commands us to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Consider His greatness. Moses was faithful as a servant but Jesus was found faithful as a Son. We belong to the Son’s house if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Our High Priest is so good He saves to the uttermost. Our High Priest is so good He ever lives to make intercession for us. Our High Priest is so good we can call Him our Advocate. Jesus is so good.
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Like Abraham and Sarah we can never receive the promises with an act of the flesh; if we persist we will give birth to our own Ishmael. Abraham and Sarah started with faith and in the end they also ended in faith. You and I are birthed into the body of Christ by faith and God has called us, the justified ones, to live by faith.
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Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain; if indeed it was in vain? 5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?; 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
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Did you start by faith exclusively in Jesus Christ crucified? It is not the works of the law or the works of your flesh that can or ever will justify you before God. We have begun by faith alone. Having begun in the Spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh? It is the hearing of faith that started this work in us and it is the hearing of faith that will take us all the way home. It is foolishness to try and continue in the faith by your own works or the works of the law. He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Again there is only one correct answer, by the hearing of faith. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness; it is not your works it is believing in God that will bring the imputed righteousness and the no imputing of sin.
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Galatians 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
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Abraham is the father of all who are justified by faith. Those who are claiming justification by their doings are leaning back to the law. The law is not of faith but the man who does them shall live by them. Trying to be justified by your own doing is to reject Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law.
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