From Fear to Faith

It's great to see all of you here this morning and what a privilege it is for us to be able to gather together, to worship the Lord, through song and through prayer, and now to, continue our worship by hearing. the Lord and being prepared to follow what he teaches and to love God more and worship Him more deeply. Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 15 for Our time of study in, in the word this morning, Genesis chapter 15, we're continuing in our study of the Book of Genesis and, we're in the life of Abraham right now, and this morning we're gonna pick up in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 15, and if you want to give a title to the message today, it would be from Fear.

To faith From fear to faith.

If you have ever felt in your life like God was slow in keeping his promises to you or that maybe God had changed his mind about keeping his promises, to you, then you will appreciate what we see in our passage, today. If you've ever heard God speak to you a promise, through His word, And allowed your hopes to be built up. By those promises, only to see those hopes dashed with disappointment and delay, then you will appreciate what we see in our passage here today. If you've ever been so frustrated with God perhaps, so frustrated by God's slowness to move on your behalf, so frustrated By that, that you actually found the sound of his promises to be provocative.

Rather than assuring or encouraging. Then you will find. What's in this passage today very helpful to you. If you've ever been disappointed with God's plan for your life or with how God is working in your life circumstances, then this passage will be a help to you.

Today. Last week, I preached through 24 verses. I was proud of myself for that. today, we will cover only 6, and it will be all that we can do to do justice, to what God has for us in Genesis chapter 15 verses 1 through 6.

1st of all, just a little bit of review in order to set the stage for what we'll see. In these first few verses of Genesis, last week we studied Genesis 14. And we saw how Abraham's nephew Lot got taken from Sodom by some armies that were from the kingdoms of the east. And we saw how Abraham and his 318 trained men went and made war with these kings from the east and defeated them and got Lot back.

We saw how Abraham returned from battle with many spoils from his victory. In the form of many goods and persons, including his nephew Lot. In the end, we saw how Abraham, we saw what he did with those spoils. We saw how he gave a 10% of those spoils to the priest of the Most High God, Melchizedek.

We saw how the king of Sodom offered to Abraham all of the spoils beyond that, but we saw how Abraham declined the offer and insisted. That his neighboring tribesmen who fought with him be allowed their share in the spoils. As for the rest of the spoils that would have gone to Abraham, we saw how Abraham let the king of Sodom take the rest of the spoils back with him. To the valley of Sadim.

Chapter 14 actually ends with Abraham, a victor in battle, but it ends with Abraham empty handed, probably with even Lot and his family quickly saying their goodbyes. As they rush back. To Sodom. The commentator, John Phillips, does a good job of capturing this moment that Abraham finds himself at the end of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15.

It's a little bit lengthy, but let me just read to you what he says by way of describing Abraham. Lot had just departed on his merry way back to Sodom, leaving Abraham shaking his head. And wondering whether all his efforts to rescue and restore his backsliding brother had not been totally in vain. The king of Sodom had left, rubbing his hands over the recovery of all of his goods at no cost to himself and no doubt discussing with the secretary of his treasury.

What particular form of insanity possessed Abraham so that he refused his share of the spoil? Melchizedek had gone, leaving Abraham with only a memory and a new appreciation of God. Anna and Eschol and Mamra had gone, congratulating one another on their prowess in war and gloating over the rich profits they had reaped. And Abraham was left alone, somewhat depressed and a little fearful, less perhaps.

His unexpected display of military power might not stir the Canaanites into a league against him. Moreover, he had probably been listening to the excited chatter of Lot's children, which reminded him He had no child of his own. It was at that point that God in His love and care came to talk with Abraham about the building. Of his family Genesis 15:1 begins with the words after these things.

in other words, after these events, chapter 14. This makes sense because there's, there's a sense in which Genesis 15:1 could actually serve as the concluding verse of Genesis chapter 14. What God says in Genesis 15:1 is the perfect thing for him to say to Abraham, who is probably suffering a bit from post-traumatic stress and some depression after the euphoria of his victory had worn off. But what God says in chapter 15, verse 1 also serves to push the narrative forward.

Because by saying what he says to Abraham, In Genesis chapter 15 verse 1, God draws out an agony that is in Abraham's heart. And we see Abraham having a dialogue with God for the first time. In the Genesis narrative. Speaking of, of dialogue, what's interesting is that up to this point of the Book of Genesis, God has spoken to Abraham 3 times.

In chapter 12 twice, and in chapter 13 once. And these 3 earlier occasions were essentially monologues in which God spoke and Abraham just listened. But when God speaks to Abraham in verse 1 of Genesis 15, Abraham cannot remain silent any longer. He must unburden his heart and let God know what's bothering him.

In this conversation between Abraham and God, we learned a lot about Abraham and how he related to God. We learn a lot about God and we learn a lot about how God relates to those who are his people, who are hurting. We also learned that in our moments of deep frustration with God, God is up to a million things. And he's doing something far grander than we can imagine, even through our groanings.

We also learn here that in our moments of discouragement and fear, God is gracious, and God knows how to move us from fear to a better informed faith. And that's what God does in these verses. The way we're gonna break this passage down is we're gonna observe six developments in the account of Abraham literally being moved by God from a place of fear. to a better informed faith in God.

And the first development is that God speaks and God promises Abraham. He assures Abraham that he is his shield and reward. Look at verse one. It says after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, do not fear Abraham.

Do not fear, Abraham. Realize, guys, that God doesn't just normally show up. And tell a person, do not fear unless that person is in that moment fearing. So whatever the context for this vision from God is, it comes at a time when Abraham is struggling with fear.

Maybe it is now that Abraham is waking up at night and experiencing the the fears that he had repressed in the heat of battle. That happens. Some commentators suggest that Abraham is now wondering at the magnitude of what he did in chapter 14 and going to war and how his actions might now cause The people in the land of Canaan to fear him and form alliances against him politically. What are the ramifications of all of that?

But more than anything else, The subsequent verses here in chapter 15 indicate that the fear that Abraham is struggling with the most is the fear of remaining childless. The fear of not having a son before he dies. We don't know exactly how old Abraham is at this point, but he is at least 80 years old. By the time we get to the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 16, he'll be 85 years old, so he's 80, 81, 82, 83 years old here.

In this chapter. But whatever Abraham's reason for fear is, God is speaking to him and telling him to stop it. And God is going to speak to those fears by giving Abraham two assurances. Why does Abraham need not fear?

Well, look what God says. God points to himself and says, do not fear, Abraham. I am a shield to you, your reward shall be very great. there's two different ways of translating that last expression.

Your reward shall be very great. it could be the way you see on the screen that the New American Standard translators translate this, but I think I would lean a little bit in favor of the King James and the New King James and the NIV that basically translates the sentence with God as the subject of the sentence, of the whole sentence. And the words shield and reward are the predicate nouns. basically, it's what you see at the bottom of the screen.

Understanding it that way, which some translators do, the translation would be as follows. God is speaking to Abraham and saying, I am your shield, your very great reward. Understanding the passage in this way, we see that God is not just promising here that Abraham will be shielded and that he'll receive a great reward, even though that is true, God here is telling Abraham that he, God Himself, is Abraham's shield. And that he himself is and will be.

Abraham's very great reward. In just a moment, God is gonna promise Abraham a son. That's what's on Abraham's heart, but that's actually not the primary thing and that's not what God wants to start with. The primary thing that Abraham has is God.

who will be a shield and a very great reward for Abraham. Even if Abraham never has anything else, he has God, and God is all the protection and all the reward that Abraham will ever really need. And saying to Abraham, I am a shield. To you, God is doing a couple of things.

First of all, he's telling Abraham that he is many things to Abraham, but among the things that he is to Abraham, God is saying, I will be a shield to you. In other words, I will protect you. Nothing will ever happen to you that I won't allow to happen to you. And for that reason, Abraham, you never have anything to fear.

Because I am your shield. But God is also instructing Abraham in what he's saying here. he's, we can understand it this way, God's saying, I am your shield. I am the one who is your shield.

In other words, he's saying, Abraham, you don't need to look to anyone or anything else to be your shield. Sarah is not your shield. Your wealth is not your shield. Your reputation is not your shield.

Your 318 trained men are not your shield. Your alliance. With your neighboring tribesmen is not your shield. Even your future son is not your shield.

I am your shield. Just ask you this morning what I've been asking myself this week. What is your shield? Let me ask it this way, what is the thing that you are most dependent on.

To protect you from the fate you fear the most. Whatever your answer to that question is, that's your shield. Is it your job? That shields you from feeling worthless?

Is it your money that shields you from the poverty that you fear? Is it, is it a relationship, a husband or wife that shields you from loneliness? Is your diet? And your fitness plan.

The thing that shields you from disease is the approval of others your shield, is having a child your shield. All of these things are good. But as well as I do that we get into trouble in our lives when we look to other things to be our ultimate shield, right? The truth is none of the things I've just mentioned, as good as they are, are sufficient to be our ultimate shield.

They're vulnerable and can be taken away in a heartbeat. None of them are immutable like God is. None of them are all powerful like God is. None of them can bear the weight of our expectations like God can.

So God comes to Abraham and he comes to you and I this morning and he says, I am your shield. God makes another promise to Abraham. Saying your reward shall be very great, and we're translating this as I am your very great reward. God is telling Abraham here that he will experience a reward, but at the core of his promise is that God himself is Abraham's.

reward. And the language here is, is about as strong as the Hebrew language would allow. Literally, the word that is translated great is a verb in the Hebrew. it's the verb for multiplying or abounding.

Literally, God is saying, I will be your multiplying or abounding reward. And even that doesn't capture all that God is wanting to say to Abraham. The word multiplying is not satisfactory to God. So God literally says, I will be your very much multiplying reward.

In other words, I will be your reward. That keeps on giving and ever expanding, exponentially multiplying layers. God is here promising Abraham. That he himself will do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that Abraham could ever ask or think.

And honestly, that's, that's where Abraham's heart seemed to be in the second half of Genesis 14, which is why he was so bold in battle and why he comes back with all of the spoils and just so freely gave it all away. Because God was his reward and Abraham. was content to lose it all and be left empty handed. Let everyone else have this stuff.

I have God. But in this moment, Abraham's in a little bit different of a place. He's been brooding over something and God knows this. That has Abraham feeling fearful and not so rich anymore.

God says what he says to Abraham here in verse one, and rather than it comforting Abraham, it serves to break the dam and open the floodgates of his heart. As one Jewish commentator says, Abraham's recurring disappointment and prolonged frustration has reached its limit. The bonds of restraint are broken, and the patriarch bears the bitterness of his soul in a brief, poignant outburst bordering on utter despair. You see, Abraham As wealthy as he is, as accomplished as he is, is childless.

And his wife is barren. And Abraham is at least 80 years old here and his wife is about 70. We can't imagine what a frustration this had to have been to Abraham and to Sarah over the years. And God's promises would have actually made the problem even more frustrating.

God showed up when Abraham was 75 years old and said to him, I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you. Back in this day, when you hear someone say, a deity say I will bless you, first thing that comes to your mind, especially if you have no children, is, I'm going to get children. And I'm sure this promise got Abraham's hopes up.

He leaves Harran and comes into the land of promise and obedience to God's promises and call, and yet, No child comes. Once Abraham was in the land. In Genesis 12:7, God appeared to Abraham again and said to him, to your descendants, I will give this land. I'm sure that got Abraham's hopes up again.

But no child came. Some more time goes by and in Genesis chapter 13 verse 16, God speaks to Abraham again and says, I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. And still no child came. And now here, God comes to Abraham again.

Promising Abraham saying. Your reward. Shall be very much aboundingly great. The people of this day viewed one of life's ultimate rewards as having children.

In fact, you guys are familiar with Psalm 127 3 where the psalmist says the fruit of the womb is a reward that's the exact same Hebrew word. that God uses here in Genesis chapter 15, speaking to Abraham and what he's promising him. Perhaps the word reward is the trigger word for Abraham. And Abraham cannot remain silent any longer.

He unburdens his heart and gets honest with God and even wrestles with God. In a sense, and this leads us to the next development in the story of God taking Abraham from fear to faith. And that is Abraham questions God's promise. Abraham speaks back to God and questions his promise.

Abraham starts off saying, oh Lord God. Literally, this reads, O Adonai, Jehovah. In other words, oh sovereign master, Jehovah. Abraham is addressing God in a way that acknowledges God's right and God's ability to do anything he wants as the sovereign Lord, and Abraham is speaking to him as a slave would speak to his master.

He speaks as a surrendered man. Who's bewildered. And he says In verse 2, what will you give me since I am childless? Basically saying, what could you possibly give me, Lord?

That would match the gift of a child which you have chosen not to give me. Without a child, nothing you give me will really mean all that much to me. We know Abraham is thinking in this, this way because of the way that the statement literally reads in the Hebrew text. Listen to the literal rendering of the Hebrew.

Abraham says to God, what will you give me since I am going stripped? Or destitute. The word Abraham uses here speaks of someone who has been stripped of their clothes or to speak of a house that has been stripped of anything of value. If someone broke into your house and stole everything of value from your house, you would use this Hebrew word to describe the condition of your house as being stripped.

And that's the word Abraham uses here to speak of his condition, and he says, I am going stripped. I am going stripped. Commentators are divided on how to interpret this. Abraham could be saying, I am going through life stripped.

Or he could be saying, I am going to death, stripped. We can put both ideas together and paraphrase Abraham to be saying, I am going through life and getting ever closer to death. Stripped of one of the things that my heart wants most. We can understand an 80 year old man thinking this way.

And speaking this way, right? This is the way we feel when we've lost a loved one. We feel stripped and destitute. Of one that our heart craves and longs for.

This is how Abraham is feeling. And it's amazing to hear him speak this way. We learned in Genesis chapter 13 verse 2 that Abraham was rich in cattle and livestock, and silver and gold. He has 318 men on his security team.

Imagine how huge his holdings. His possessions and his encampment were. He has a wife who is so beautiful. At the age of 65, that the pharaoh wanted her for his wife.

Abraham is a blessed man. Melchizedek pronounced blessing over him. In the previous chapter, and yet in this moment, Abraham, subjectively speaking, is being raw and honest with God, and he's saying I am going through life. Destitute.

Stripped. He talks this way because though he had gold and silver and livestock and cattle, Abraham would have happily given all of that away. In exchange for a son. So Abraham says to God, what will you give me since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer?

Of Damascus. Abraham saying, what could you give me, Lord, that would be of any value because anything that you have given me or will give me is merely going to go to Eliezer, who is not even my offspring. As one commentator says in asking this question, we learned something about Abraham's mindset, which is this, no gift, whatever its nature, would be adequate compensation for dying without a son, nor would it be useful or meaningful. Because Abraham would have no one to share it with, no one to pass it on to.

So in verse 2, Abraham is asking God a question and perhaps God did not answer immediately. Maybe the response for a moment was silence and so Abraham speaks into that silence and says in verse 3, it says, and Abraham said, since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir. Back in this day, it was customary that when a couple was barren, that they would adopt a household servant to be their son, and it would be this adopted son's responsibility to take care of the couple and their elderly years and bury them and mourn them when they die.

And then all of the possessions of that couple would pass.

To that servant who had become an adopted son, and Abraham may not have acted yet on this plan. He may have already adopted Eliezer. Thinking God's not gonna give me a son, or maybe it's just a plan in his mind and he's telling God what he intends to do. It's clearly a plan that he's been thinking about.

And he's willing to set it in motion soon if God never gives him any offspring. In other words, God's not acting the way I want him to act. He's not acting as quickly as I would want him to act. So I will settle for 2nd best.

I have another plan. I will do this instead. Now before we criticize Abraham for what he's saying here, let's at least appreciate the fact that Abraham is bringing his complaint to the Lord, right? Rather than suffering silently under his circumstances or just going ahead and acting on his own without talking about it with God.

What Abraham is doing here is a sign of spiritual life. He's wrestling with the Almighty. A spiritually vigorous person does that thing. They come to God with their complaints, and they wrestle with God rather than distancing themselves from God and sulking in silence, or just setting about to doing some other thing because God is not acting the way that they want.

Abraham has a complaint, and he's even got a plan, but to his credit, he voices his complaint and his plan to God. His complaint and his need drives him to God rather than away from God. And that's the way it's supposed to be. Also, to Abrahams's credit, he doesn't just vent and then walk away.

He sticks around after he complains and gives God a chance to speak to him in his hurt. And his example teaches us that, yes, it is OK to come to God and voice the burdens of our hearts and our complaints to him, so long as we stick around when we're done and give God a chance to speak to us. And this brings us to the 3rd development in the story of God moving Abraham from a place of fear to a more informed faith. Abraham will be all the better because he voiced this to the Lord and then stayed in his presence and let God speak to him.

Development number 3 is God promises Abraham. That his heir will be a son who comes from his own body. God promises Abraham that his heir will be a son. Who comes from his own body.

In verse 4, the text says, then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this man will not be your heir. The fact that the word behold is used here probably indicates that God's answer came swiftly and suddenly after Abraham said what he had said. And God says, this man will not be your heir. Maybe Abraham had not acted on his plan to adopt Eliezer.

And God is stopping it, saying he will not be your heir. Maybe Abraham had already set that plan in motion, and God speaks into that and says, this will not happen. This man will not be your heir. Because I have a better plan for you.

He says, but one will come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir. In saying what he says here in verse 4, God is actually making an advance on His earlier promises. God says in verse 4, but one will come forth from your own body, and guys, he's even more specific than that.

Literally, one will come forth from your own Bowels. Your own internal organs. Your own belly. The word that is translated body is actually A Hebrew word that is a euphemism for Abraham's reproductive organs.

How's that for being specific? This is actually the first time that God makes this specific promise to Abraham. He's told Abraham that he will have many descendants. But here he is specifically promising two things to Abraham.

First of all, he's promising that a son will come forth from Abraham's body. And secondly, he's promising that this son will live to adulthood and be the heir. To all of Abraham's wealth. This is wonderful Abraham has wrestled with God and he wrestles from God a further and more detailed expansion on God's earlier promises.

which he would have robbed himself of. If he had never poured out his heart to God and just went off and acted on his own with his own compromised plan. But God is not done making promises to Abraham. Look at what happens next in this account of God moving Abraham from a place of fear to a more informed faith.

That is, God promises Abraham that his descendants will be a noble multitude. God promises Abraham that his descendants will be a noble multitude. In verse 5, the text says, and he took them outside and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them. And guys, when you think about the starry sky that Abraham was looking at, don't think about the sky that you see here in Riverside.

the city lights that emanate from, the city of Riverside wash out our night sky so that we really don't see very many stars. At all, usually, but I'm sure you've all been camping out in the woods far away from civilization. far away from city lights or you've been driving on an interstate road, far away from any city lights and you've looked up into the night sky. And you've seen the stars in a way that you never see them here.

How many of you has that happened to? take yourself back to that moment and that's what Abraham is looking at. And as Abraham looks up at the stars, God gives to Abraham a command, and he says, go ahead, count them. If you're able To count them At some point during Abraham's counting effort, God speaks up and he said to him, so shall your descendants be?

So now God's promise to Abraham is threefold. 1, you will have a son, 2, the son will reach adulthood and be your heir. And 3, your descendants will be so vast and so numerous and so spread out that they will be impossible to count. God is almost literally saying to Abraham, what you see when you look at the stars is merely a mirror that's being held up to the future.

And as you look into that mirror in the heavens, you are seeing the reflection. of the blessing of descendants that I will lavish on you in the coming generations. Some commentators also suggest that in pointing to the stars, God is Not just saying that Abraham's descendants will be numerous. But also that they will be noble.

Earlier, God compared Abraham's descendants to the dust of the earth. In terms of not being able to count, but one commentator says that here in this passage in Genesis 15, the comparison with the stars now stresses not only numbers, but a noble multitude. that God will bring into being. And using the stars in the night sky as his metaphor, this time, God is telling Abraham that among his descendants will be an uncountable number of luminaries.

That will bring light. To an otherwise darkened world. How does Abraham respond? He had his own plan.

And had he followed that plan, he would have cheated himself out of something far grander than he ever imagined. God says, here's my plan. This man will not be your heir, but this is what I'm going to give you. And here's the blessing to follow.

How does Abraham respond? God is making this promise to a man who is in his 80s and whose wife is in her 70s, and she's barren. He's promised to be Abraham's shield and very great reward. He is promising Abraham a son from his own body and descendants as numerous as the stars, and Abraham now responds, which brings us To the 5th development in the story of Abraham's journey from Fear to faith.

That is Abraham believes in the Lord. Abraham believes In the Lord Verse 6, then he believed. In the Lord Abraham here doesn't even speak anymore. He is silent and this is the silence of faith.

No protest, no holding on to Eliezer. He believes in the Lord. No more complaints, no more questions. He doesn't say, Lord, before I choose to believe in you, when exactly will you give me this son?

Who will be my heir. No, he just accepts what God says. And the text says he believed. And the Lord And I love the way this is worded.

The text doesn't say then he believed in the Lord's promise. Even though Abraham did believe in the Lord's promise. Instead, the text says that he believed in the Lord. It's not so much that Abraham is merely believing the promise that Jehovah has given to him as much as it is the fact that Abraham is here, looking at Jehovah and believing in him who made the promise.

And we should do the same. We should not. Simply be a people who merely believes the promises of God. We should believe in the God who makes the promises.

And that makes all the difference. Think about it, if you don't really trust the Lord, Then that means that whenever God makes promises to you, you have to examine each promise to decide if it is worthy of your trust. And this is why it often happens that we believe some promises of God and others we don't believe. Because We're choosing the promises we think are believable.

Rather than simply believing in the God from whom those promises come. But when we stop believing merely in the promises of God, and start believing in the God who promises, then any promise. That falls from his lips is believable. And that's exactly what Abraham is doing here in verse 6, and it's a wonderful thing for us to witness.

What's also really neat here is that Abraham doesn't do what we sometimes do. When there's something we really want and God gives us that thing, we tend to start believing in the thing that God gives and we take our eyes off of God. God has just told Abraham that he will give him a son. And the text doesn't say, and Abraham believed in his son.

That would have been an easy thing to make an idol out of. Now, the text says that Abraham believed in the Lord. Abraham doesn't put his faith in his coming son. He doesn't put his trust in God's gifts, he puts his trust in God, who is the giver of all good gifts.

Abraham is not standing here in this moment so much. Staring into the future and dazzled by all of the possibilities. As much as he's standing here actually staring at Jehovah. And believing in him.

That's what's happening here. Abraham believed. In the Lord. The Hebrew word translated believed is the English translation of the Hebrew word amen.

From which we get our English word. Amen. In fact, whenever you say amen, you are speaking Hebrew. This word means that Abraham is believing God to be truthful.

And willing And powerful enough to carry out all of his promises. To him And he considers what God has promised a done deal. Also, the way this is worded in the Hebrew makes it clear that the narrator is not merely describing a sequence of events. On the surface, we might be tempted to read the passage this way that God speaks and utters a promise to Abraham.

And then the next thing that happens in the sequence of events is that Abraham believes in the Lord. but the Hebrew of this is not worded in the way that conveys a simple sequence of events. In fact, the way that this is worded indicates that verse 6 is a pause in the narrative and serves as an explanation about the believing man that Abraham was, not just in this moment, but even prior to this moment. So let's paraphrase the first half of verse 6 in this way.

Moses is saying, now let me explain something about Abraham. Abraham believed in the Lord. In other words, Abraham is a believing man already, and he now greets this additional promise from God with the same faith. Because that's the man that Abraham was.

Does that make sense? I'll tell you why this is important, because we, if, if, if we just look at this as a sequence of events, we'll think, oh finally Abraham believes. And the Lord. But we all know that this is not the first moment of faith for Abraham.

In fact, in Hebrews 11:8, we're told that as far back in the timeline as Genesis chapter 12, that by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going. God's made promises to me. I don't know where he's leading me. I don't know what the future holds, but I believe in the Lord, I believe his promises, and the writer of Hebrews says, by faith, he did that.

That's years prior to Genesis 15. Even after arriving in the land, we've seen Abraham building altars, worshiping Jehovah on at least 2 occasions after God had spoken to him. We have seen Abraham doing bold and generous things in Genesis 14 that demonstrate great faith in God. So coming back to Genesis 15:6, Moses wants us to know that Abraham is already a man of faith, and he wants us to know that here in this moment, Abraham is believing yet again.

Because that's the man that Abraham was. With each unfolding clarification of God's revelation and promises to Abraham, Abraham greets it all with a faith that is unfolding right with those promises. A faith that unfolds and takes further shape around. The advancing promises of God with each new detail.

And the same should be true of us, right? We don't just believe in Jesus on the day of our conversion. The day of our conversion is merely the first day that we believe in Jesus. It's the day we begin a lifestyle of believing in the Lord and our faith keeps growing larger and stronger with every fresh, deeper understanding of God and His promises to us in the gospel.

How does God respond to Abraham believing in him this way? Look at what God does, and this brings us to the final development in our story of God moving Abraham from a place of fear to a Better informed faith and that is God reckons Abraham's faith to him as righteousness. says, and he reckoned it, the faith to Abraham. As righteousness This is one of the great verses in the Bible.

It's quoted a handful of times in the New Testament. And here we're told that God looks at Abraham's faith in him, and he takes that faith and he reckons it to Abraham as righteousness. The word reckon means to credit something to someone's account. On the basis of some factor.

In this passage, we're told that Abraham believes in the Lord and God responds to Abraham's faith by taking his faith and counting it. As righteousness. At the very least, this means that God views Abraham's believing in Him as a righteous thing. This is good.

It's unrighteous to disbelieve in God. It's a righteous thing to believe in Him. But there is so much more that's being said here. This passage here does not say that God reckoned Abraham's faith as a righteous thing, but that he reckoned it as righteousness, period.

By definition, righteousness is the full performance of obedience to God. To all that he rightfully expects of us and commands of us. Or as one writer says, righteousness is measuring up to the demands of God in total. And based on that definition of righteousness, what's happening here is what's being described here is really amazing.

Let's piece it together. Abraham is an imperfect man. Who falls short of always behaving righteously. He's sinned and fallen short of righteous behavior on countless occasions throughout his life, as we all have, and we've seen one of those occasions.

In Abraham's life, and there will be other moments of failure still to come. Abraham was a flawed, sinful man. But we're told here, Abraham believes in the Lord. We're also observing here that God sees Abraham's faith, and he credits righteousness to Abraham's account.

In other words, God is deciding here to look upon Abraham. As if he has always performed in complete obedience to all that God would rightfully expect of him. God is now viewing Abraham as a fulfiller of all of his commands. This means that Abraham is now being viewed by God as innocent of all of his sins.

It means that God gives him the verdict of not guilty and that God harbors no wrath in his heart against Abraham for his sins. So we can say, therefore that Abraham attain to this righteous status. This righteous standing with God. By faith and not by his works.

Abraham has done many good works. Throughout his life. But he did not obtain the righteous verdict from God on the basis of those good works. He obtained that righteous verdict from God.

Because he simply believed in the Lord. Listen to what Paul says in the book of Romans referring to this very moment in Abraham's life that's being described in verse 6. And by the way, Abraham's justification is not necessarily happening here. In chapter 15, but it happened in response to Abraham's faith whenever that was first exercised in his life, which may have been as early as chapter 12.

Paul says, what then shall we say that Abraham, Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. And we all talk to people, right? Who are very quick to boast about what they've done and what they don't do.

That is their ticket to get into heaven and why they think they are righteous enough before God to be saved. But Abraham, Abraham was not justified by works. That he would boast about. Verse 3, for what does the scripture say?

And now he quotes this verse, Genesis 15:16 or 15:6, and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And then Paul goes on to say this, now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, and that word favors the Greek word for grace. If you work and earn something, it's not a grace. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Do you guys hear what Paul is saying there, even about Abraham's faith? Paul is telling us that Abraham obtained his righteous standing before God, not by his works, but by faith, and that the bestowal of this righteousness that God gave to Abraham was a grace that Abraham did not earn. But was simply received. By faith I ask you this morning, have you received The righteousness.

That's graciously given to the undeserving. That's the only righteousness through which one can get into heaven is the undeserved, graciously given righteousness bestowed by God. If you try to justify yourself by your works, you will never succeed. But if you're willing To come to God and believe in him and lay aside those works in terms of putting your trust in them and believe in the Lord.

There's righteousness that's graciously given. No man has ever been declared righteous by God because they attained to that status by virtue of their good works. Giving to charity, abstaining from sins, or being a little bit better than 50% of the people in this world. Anyone who's ever been declared righteous by God has attained to that righteous status by simply believing in the Lord.

Believing In the Lord, when the Lord speaks to us in our helplessness. And promises to do what we cannot do on our own. This is no more true than we when we believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot save ourselves.

That's the message of scripture. We are as impotent to save ourselves as Abraham and Sarah were to have a child. But God has done the impossible for us. He sent His Son into the world, the seed of Abraham, and Jesus lived the life of righteousness that we all failed to live, and he died the death that we deserve to die, and God raised him from the dead and God ascended Jesus to his own right hand.

And when we, as sinners, come to God in our helplessness and say to him, oh sovereign Lord, what will you give me? Since I am going through life and going into eternity stripped of the thing that I most need. And when we believe in Jesus, when we believe in God's answer to that question. And believe in Jesus Christ to save us, that God has provided for us.

Then God graciously credits complete and utter righteousness. To our account That's the message of the Bible. And when we do that, we enter into the very blessing of Abraham. In Galatians 3:6, Paul says, even so, Abraham, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, quoting from this verse we're looking at today.

And in verse 9, he says, so then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. And we get to be believers right along with him. Let me close with this real quickly. When, guys, when you think about the timeline In Abraham's life, you realize that, God's making this specific promise to Abraham.

how long it's gonna be until God actually fulfills this very promise? It's gonna be another 2 decades. It's still about 2 years away. And yet, Abraham is responding with faith.

A faith that gets reckoned to him is righteousness. It turns out that God is up to something far more than just giving to Abraham a child. Abraham wants a son more than anything in this world, and he views himself as destitute until he gets that. Yet God is giving to Abraham so much.

He's building out Abraham's faith. And he's giving Abraham righteousness, and he's deepening his work of salvation and Abraham's life. Guys, when God does not seem to be giving to you the thing that your heart most wants, and the timing that you would want it in. Realize that that doesn't mean that God is passive or that he doesn't love you.

Or that he doesn't care. He's working. He's working in your heart, he's deepening your faith, he's shaping your character, and he's wanting to teach you to look to him. He holds your face in his hands and says, look at me, I'm your shield and I am your exceedingly great reward.

And on top of that, God says to you, I'm up to something that's so much bigger, so much bigger. In the grand scheme of things and your particular situation of longing and groaning and need. is a part of that larger plan. I need you to look to me and believe in me.

Will you do that? Let's, let's pray together. Lord, we are by nature compromisers. By nature we run from you.

But even when you stop us from running, we so easily settle for our own plans. You're not acting the way we think you should act and so we're like, well, I'm gonna do this instead. And whatever those other things that we would choose to lay hold of, those other plans. May we hear you today say this will not be.

Your heir This is not my plan. I have something so much better for you. Give us hearts of faith. Give us hearts of trust.

To believe in you, Lord. As our Adonai, Jehovah, our sovereign. Master Jehovah. I pray that if there's any here today, Lord, that had never put their trust in you and believed in the Lord that you would touch their hearts, that they would do so right now where they're seated.

See that they're stripped and destitute and And that they would believe in you as the sole provision. For their destitute stripped condition through Christ. Save people right now, Lord. Bring them to life through your spirit and help them to call upon you.

And for the rest of us, Lord, we our hearts and our needs. Make us a surrendered people who believe deeply. Because we understand how good you are. You are our shield.

And are very much multiplying reward. If we would just trust you. We thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to give up our offerings to you. We ask that you would receive these funds and do much with every penny that is given, Lord, for the glory of Jesus.

In whose name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.