The Faith of Abraham

Well, brethren, if I were to ask you to turn to the faith chapter, many of you would know where to go. You would go to Hebrews 11, right? Yes, that would be a good place to go. But what if I were to ask you to go to the other faith chapter? Would you know where to go? Hebrews 11 does have a definition of faith, and it's a good one. The substance or realization of things hoped for, the evidence or confidence of things not seen. But the other faith chapter has a definition of faith as well. It's also a good definition. And that is, being fully convinced that what he, God, had promised he was able also to perform. So what is this other faith chapter, and of whose faith is it speaking, when it says he, when it says he was fully convinced, who was fully convinced that what he, God, promised he was able also to perform? Well, the man, of course, we know who he is, he's called the Father of the Faithful, the Father of all those who believe. What was it about Abraham's faith that so pleased God? Do we have that same kind of faith, the faith of Abraham? Let's take a closer look at the faith of Abraham and ask ourselves, do I have that sort of faith? What did that faith look like? How may I develop the faith of Abraham? So let's go to the other faith chapter, where we see that Abraham is known primarily for his faith. It's going to take a while to get there, though, because I want to read this in context. So let's start in verse 1 of chapter 4 of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 4 verse 1. What then shall we say that Abraham our Father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. So Paul is addressing a particular problem that was going on at this particular time in Rome and in Galatia and different places where he would preach. He says, for what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. When we work for something, we earn a wage. But to him who does not work, but believes on him, in other words, someone who isn't counting on this, he is not counting on this work, but to him who does not work, but believes on him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. And then he quotes the Old Testament, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

So this not imputing of sin means that these sins are covered, that these sins are forgiven, that God no longer sees these particular sins. Verse 9, Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? This was a huge issue at this particular time.

For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted while he was circumcised or uncircumcised?

Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. Because you see, people at that time, a lot of Jewish people, Israelites, believed that you had to be circumcised in order to be saved. In order to be accepted by God, you must be circumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.

And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith, which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. So Abraham was uncircumcised. God was calling him. God was working with him. God was revealing himself to Abraham. They were developing a relationship.

And it was before he was actually circumcised. This came afterwards. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Abraham believed. He trusted in God. He believed in God and what God was telling him. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath.

For where there is no law, there is no transgression. If there is no sin, is the transgression of the law. So there had to be a law in order to have sin. And we know that there was sin from the very beginning. So we know there had to be law, God's law. Therefore, it is a faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, not only those who were Israelites, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.

So those who were of the faith of Abraham could be anyone. Anyone can have the faith of Abraham.

And Abraham is the father of us all. Verse 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, 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. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old. So he was unable to have children at this point in his life, but he did have a child. But physically, he couldn't. It was a miracle that God performed. And consider even more the deadness of Sarah's womb. She was 90 years old.

That just doesn't happen. Verse 20, He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And here's the definition that I mentioned earlier, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform.

So what is the faith of Abraham?

Abraham became fully convinced that what God had promised he was able to perform, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Verse 23, Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, for you and for me, for those that Paul was addressing this to in the city of Rome at the time. Now it was not written for his sake alone, but it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses. So it is important to note that it was your offenses, it was my offenses, it was our sins that made it necessary that Jesus Christ would die for us. He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification, not just Israelites, but all people. Jews, Gentiles, everyone was responsible for the death of the Savior Jesus Christ, and he was raised, he was resurrected because of our justification, so that we might be justified in God's sight, that we might be forgiven our sins.

So it is important to understand what was going on at the time. If we go back to chapter 3, there's more that's said here, too, that's very important for us to consider regarding the law, because oftentimes people are confused about the law. Do we need to keep the law? Has the law been done away? Is it still in effect? What does the faith of Abraham really mean? If we go back to chapter 3 and pick up some of the context here, in verse 19 of chapter 3, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So who's really under the law when it gets right down to it? Everyone is under the law, aren't they? All mankind is subject to God and His law. Every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law tells us what God expects. God is the law giver. He's the one that gets to make the laws. I don't get to make the laws. You don't get to make the laws. God makes these laws, these overarching laws that we're talking about today. Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. There's no difference. If a person believes and has faith, has the faith of Abraham, then they may be justified through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and because of the faith that they have in that sacrifice. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So we all have to come under the blood of Jesus Christ. There's no other name given under heaven whereby a person may be saved. Only through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, may we be saved, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, set him forth to pay the penalty for our sins.

Jesus Christ was perfect. He was without sin. Only he could pay the price for your sins and my sins. The Son of God, he laid his life down for us. Through faith, it says, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood, through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. When we go under the waters of baptism, our sins are forgiven. If we have faith in Jesus Christ, we ask two questions. Have you repented of your sins? Sin, which is a transgression of God's holy and righteous law, and have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord, your Master, your soon-coming King? If those two questions can be answered genuinely, honestly, yes, when a person goes under that watery grave, they receive God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit now dwells in them. They have been sanctified, set apart by the Holy Spirit of God. They come out of the grave. They walk in newness of life. Does that mean they're perfect from that point forward? That would be nice. That would be nice, but that's not the case. It wasn't the case for me. It's not the case for you because we're still in the flesh, and the flesh presents many problems.

And so we're still sinners, and so we have to have a way to continue to be forgiven. And that is through the acceptance of Christ as that Savior that covers all of our sins, past and present, if we are repentant. God looks at the heart. He looks on the heart. If he sees a repentant heart, then he continues to grant repentance, and it is a gift from God. So we owe everything to God. Let's continue and talk about, again, the faith of Abraham. So sins were previously passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So speaking of God the Father, who might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, it's all according to God's plan. The Father and the one who became Christ, they devised this plan before the foundations of the world. Christ was slain from the foundations of the world because God knows his creation. He knew that there were flaws, in a sense, of how because of the way we were created. God understood that and took that into account.

Verse 27, where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. You cannot be justified by the law, not completely, not fully, not the way we're talking about here today. Not that the law is important, and we will see the connection between the law and also grace and works as we go along. In faith, verse 29, or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. So God truly has opened up the gates to all people. That was huge back in the time of Paul, and he had to address this issue. He does the very best he knows how, and you have to also realize that the scriptures are written in such a way that God can overlook some people not getting it. God's the one that inspired the Bible. So even though Paul, admittedly, in the scriptures is hard to understand, we can understand him through the power of God's Holy Spirit. And as Mr. Delimator pointed out, it is the Word of God that cleanses us and shows us the way. It is the light that shows us where we should walk.

So let's go to Galatians chapter 3 and read a little bit more from Paul and what he has to say about this topic. And again, we're talking about the faith of Abraham. What kind of faith was that? Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 1.

Okay, chapter 3 of the book of Galatians, beginning in verse 1, he says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?

Okay, he's saying, what's wrong with you? You need to obey the truth. Anyone who doesn't understand that is badly mistaken, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. You know the truth. You know who Jesus Christ is. 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?

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? This some mistaken idea. Have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, 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? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

You must have the faith of Abraham if you are to be truly of faith. And the Scripture foreseen that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. God revealed himself to Abraham. This was the God who became Jesus Christ. Clearly he saw, he interacted with this God-being. This was clearly the God who became the one who laid his life down for us all.

He built a relationship. We'll see that as we go along.

Verse 9, So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. We are blessed if we have the faith of Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, curse is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. For the just shall live by faith, or by faith the just shall live.

Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. It says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The wages of sin is death.

Sin is the transgression of the law. Anyone who breaks the law deserves what? Death. And, you know, we're talking about also eternal death.

So, says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

So, it is imperative that we have the faith of Abraham. So, let's continue. Let's go through this.

Clearly, there's a connection here between law and grace. Faith and grace.

Law and faith and grace. All these things are interconnected.

Some time ago, I remember reading something out of Leadership Magazine. I think it was, yes, it was 2006, so it's been a while. But an illustration of the balance between faith and works was given, and it had to do with photosynthesis. This was from Ron Jensen, who wrote this in Leadership Magazine. He said, "...an illustration of the balance between faith and works lies hidden within any tree. Leaves use up nutrients in the process of photosynthesis. As the leaves consume nutrients in the sap, a suction is formed which draws more sap from the roots. Without the sap, the leaves and the branches would die. But the continual flow of this sap comes only as it is used by the work of the leaf." Now, this is obviously an analogy, but he says, "...likewise through faith we draw life from Christ." If we really have faith in Christ as our Savior, we draw life from Christ. Christ lives in us, it says in Galatians chapter 2. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So likewise through faith we draw life from Christ, but a continual supply of fresh spiritual nutrients, again going back to the sermonette, depends on our willingness to consume the old supply through our acts of obedience, through our works, realizing that God does expect us to be commandment keepers to the best of our puny abilities. You know, Christ is the one who gives us strength, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but when I rely on myself, I don't do so well. And you don't do so well, but if you rely on Christ, then he is that continual source of strength that we all need. In James chapter 2, James's Christ brother speaks about Abraham's faith. So let's go to the book of James chapter 2.

James chapter 2 verse 23. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. This is quoted a number of times in the scriptures. It's important. Abraham believed God. It was accounted to him for righteousness. God wants us to be righteous.

You know, we're called to be righteous. We're called to put sin out of our lives. That's why we keep God's annual holy days, one of them being the days of unleavened bread, where we put leaven out, which is picturing putting sin out of our lives. It's important. He was called the friend of God. Abraham was called the friend of God.

God revealed himself to Abraham. God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, told him he wanted him to pick up roots and go to a place he had never seen before. This was a place that he didn't even know where he was headed.

So he obeyed God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. So we are justified by faith. We're justified through Christ, but we're also justified by doing what we can to obey God. And we'll see that Abraham was very much one who was faithful and obedient to God.

He says, likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works. I think it's pretty clear that this example is given. It's a stark example. If God can work through a harlot, he can forgive any of us, our sins. You know, that was a lifestyle for her. It was not a godly lifestyle, obviously.

And she repented, no doubt, of this sin. And she changed. And she was justified by works, it says, because she stopped. You know, repentance is stopping what you've been doing. When she received the messengers also, she sent them another way because God undoubtedly showed her, revealed to her, that these were men of God, that she needed to protect them and do what she could. And she understood that. She protected her family. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. We have to follow through. As Mr. Delimator said, we can read this Bible day in and day out, but if we don't apply it, what good does it do?

If we don't produce the fruit of the Spirit of God, then what good does it do? We're to read it and to live it and to apply it in our lives. So James makes reference to Abraham's faith, referring back to Genesis 15.6. So let's go back to Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. God, again, He's already revealed Himself to Abraham or to Abram at this point, and He shows Himself again in Genesis chapter 15. I think it starts in Genesis 12, where He begins to really reveal Himself. And then in verse 6 of chapter 15, it says, and it goes on talking about how God is going to give him tremendous descendants.

You know, it says, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them. And He said to him, so shall your descendants be. Now, how many children did Abraham have or Abram have at this point? None. And he was getting older by the day. And he believed in the Lord, it says, and He accounted it to Him for righteousness.

He believed that God was going to keep His promise. A certain part of Him believed, but you know, He was not perfect either. We'll see that He had a lack of faith as well. He's like you and me. He was not perfect in His faith. But overall, He had faith. Overall, He believed in God. He trusted in God. He believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to Him for righteousness. Then He told him about bringing Him out of the Ur of the Chaldees to give this land, to inherit it, and so forth.

So clearly, God is working with Abraham in a very, very special way. Why was He working with Abraham? What does the Scripture tell us about the reason He worked with Abraham? There was something about Abraham, and we find it in Genesis 26.5, because now we've moved on to Isaac. Isaac's actually born, and, you know, he was a miracle. In Genesis 26 verse 5, however, we see God working with Isaac, passing along these blessings of Abraham to Isaac. And He's telling Isaac that, verse 4 of Genesis 26, and I will make your descendants multiply.

As the stars of heaven, I will give to your descendants all these lands, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because Christ was to come of this lineage from the loins of Abraham. Because Abraham, why was it?

Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Now, I personally believe this is referring to the Sabbath. It's referring to the annual Holy Days. Those were statutes. You know, God had revealed these things to Abraham.

The Sabbath was to be observed from creation. God sanctified the Sabbath at creation. And the statutes were given, no doubt, at least I think so because of the way this is worded. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. It seems pretty complete here. Certainly whatever he revealed to Abraham, Abraham did. Abraham obeyed. Abraham followed God's instruction on these things. So it was because Abraham was an obedient servant, he became the father of the faithful through the promised seed, through Jesus Christ.

So let's go back to the faith chapter now, the one in Hebrews 11. And let's see what that chapter has to say about Abraham. Hebrews 11 will start in verse 8. Hebrews 11 verse 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. He didn't know where he was going. How many of us would be all that willing to go somewhere if we had no idea where he was sending us? By faith he dwelled 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. So this promise was being passed along to Isaac, to Jacob, who became known as Israel and the twelve sons of Israel. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So Abraham had this faith that there was a new city coming, a new homeland. By faith, verse 11, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child, again, 90 years old. She was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Now she did laugh. We know that. Abraham laughed, too. You know, who would not laugh? I mean, I would laugh if someone told me my wife, especially. I'm not so old. I'm not 100 years old yet. So, you know, but I'm not going to be fathering any children anytime soon or ever. My wife is considerably younger than 90 years of age, but we would not expect her to have a child. It would have to be miraculous. So by faith, Sarah received strength to conceive seed. And she judged him faithful who had promised. She also had great faith. So we might say the faith of Sarah, as well as the faith of Abraham. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky and multitude and numerable as the sand which is by the seashore. What do we have? Seven billion people now? We've had a lot of people throughout the years. All of them are essentially descended from Abraham. At least figuratively, you know, I don't physically. But they're descended from Abraham. So Abraham obeyed God when he left his country. Again, he sojourned in a foreign land. In a way, we are doing the same thing. This is not the ultimate, is it? We long for the kingdom of God. We long for the establishment of God's kingdom. A kingdom of peace and joy and abundance for everyone. We look forward to that. See, let's continue to read here.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having them embrace them. I'm in verse 13 of chapter 11. And confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. You know, just like the children of Israel who came out of Egypt, who longed to go back to Egypt, had Abraham had that approach, he would not be the father of the faithful. If he had had the same approach that Lot's wife had, looking longingly back, he would not be the father of the faithful. He says, But now they desire a better that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. The new Jerusalem will come down out of heaven in due time. That will be a glorious time. We will all await that, even during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, we will await that new Jerusalem. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, verse 17, offered up Isaac. Now this is huge.

I can't even imagine what was going on in his head when he was asked to sacrifice his only son. And yet I do have some idea of what was going on in his head. And hopefully it would go on in our head because if we're fully convinced that God is going to fulfill his promises, because what had God promised Abraham? He had promised him that there would be seed through Isaac, through Sarah. Sarah would be the one to have this child. So, by faith, when he was tested, he offered up Isaac. He knew that God would perform this promise. So even though he's asking me to kill my son, he will live again. And he will raise up children. I will be a grandfather through Isaac. So he said, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. So obviously this is a parallel with God the Father who offered up his only begotten son. Abraham is a type of God the Father who actually did sacrifice his son. Now, God did not require that of Abraham at the time. But he had the knife in his hand, and he was ready to follow through on that. But God stopped him. God did not require it. Because he said, now I know what kind of faith you have. You would be willing to go through with this because you're fully convinced that what I promised I will perform. So by faith, it says, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who has received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be called. In Isaac your seed shall be called. Not in Ishmael, not in anyone else. But in Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. So this was clearly in his mind when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac.

He put two and two together, and he realized that God had his back, that no matter what happened here, Isaac would live. Isaac would have children, and there would be many, many descendants through Isaac.

So he concluded that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

So this faith of Abraham is the kind of faith that, you know, we should look deep inside and ask ourselves, would we be able to do that?

Or would we compromise with God and his ways?

I mean, obviously, this was a unique situation where God had revealed himself to Abraham in special ways, but God continues to reveal himself to us through the Word of God. In many ways, we have a lot more to go on than Abraham had.

We have a fuller picture of what God is doing through the Messiah, through his son Jesus Christ, but we will be tested in the future. We've been tested in the past. We will continue to be tested, and we do need to call upon the faith of Abraham. He is the father of faithful. We are to remain faithful, and so we should think about these things. We should consider them and ask ourselves, are we developing this kind of faith? Are we really trusting in God? Are we students of the Bible? Do we know what the Bible says? Do we believe what the Bible says? Do we understand it? Do we put it together so it will give us the strength that we need, and will we rely on Jesus Christ to live in us, to strengthen us, to give us the victory whenever we need to be tested in that way?

So Abraham obeyed in his willingness to trust God. So if we go back to James chapter 2 again, let's go back to James 2 and fill in a little bit from what we've already read in the book of James. I don't know if I read all this. I might have already read it. Let's go back to James, James, though, and kind of tie this in together. James chapter 2 verse 21. Let's go to verse 21.

James 2 verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? That was a work. He had to follow through. He was ready to do it.

God provided the ram. It was a miraculous thing that was happening out there, and Abraham knew that. Abraham had faith. He trusted in God.

So was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works? And by works, faith was made perfect.

We have to have faith. We have to have works. You know, it's all important for us.

And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He was called the friend of God. So we already read the rest of that. So it is important that we understand that Abraham's faith was a living, dynamic faith expressing itself through obedience. It was a living, dynamic faith. He was not perfect in faith, but he did certainly have faith in God, and God was with him, and his faith was growing. It took years, you know, before this incident with Isaac, right? I mean, there were many years that God worked with Abraham before he actually required him to pick up the knife, and he saw that God would keep his promises.

So by revealing himself to Abraham, God provided Abraham plenty of evidence for him to place his trust and faith in God. He became a friend of God. He had a certain relationship with God, and he believed God. He believed God had his back, and God also reveals himself to us in various ways, through the power of the Holy Spirit and through his word that's preserved in the Bible for us. In Romans 10 verse 17, you don't have to go there, but it says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We do need to be students of the Bible. We need to be studying the Bible. How are you going to have the faith that you need unless you have this relationship with God? You get a relationship partially by studying the Bible, by understanding it, by believing it, by becoming a student of the Bible. Certainly, prayer is important. Fasting is important. All of these things are important. They draw us nearer to God. They help strengthen our relationship with God. They help strengthen our faith. In John chapter 20, John chapter 20, it talks about the Word of God and why it was written and why we have it today. John chapter 20.

John chapter 20 verse 29. Jesus said to doubting Thomas, remember Thomas was doubting that was this truly Jesus Christ resurrected? That's what they're telling me, but you know, I'm not sure about this. He lacked faith. So Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Now, I doubt that God has revealed himself to you in the same way that he did Abraham. He hasn't to me, but I have a good deal more than Abraham does in many ways.

I have this Word of God that's written for me that gives me a deeper understanding of what God's plan of salvation is all about, how it works.

It says, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these things are written that you may believe.

The words in this book are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. We shall be given eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Messiah. We're not saved by any amount of law keeping, but that doesn't mean we should not strive our best to keep God's law. God will look at the heart, and that brings me to Galatians chapter 5. What will God see in your heart? Galatians chapter 5. What's God looking for primarily when he looks into your heart? Galatians chapter 5 verse 6.

Well, let's read a little bit more here. Let's go back up to verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing, because again, some believe that you had to be circumcised in order to be saved, that you had to go through this physical act. But again, Abraham was uncircumcised when God revealed himself to Abraham, and when he was beginning to develop that faith, he says, indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Don't think that any kind of physical act like this is going to save you. Now, it's not talking about the Ten Commandments, is it? It's talking about circumcision. And Ten Commandments won't save us either, so we must not have that mistaken idea, but they're essential to salvation. They won't save us, but they're still essential to salvation. God wants us to keep his commandments. We are to be commandment keepers. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace, for we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. We through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. In other words, our sins need to be forgiven. We need to become righteous in God's sight. Our sins are forgiven. The righteousness of Christ is imputed on our behalf when we are repentant, when we have true repentance in our heart. And what is God looking for? Verse 6, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through what? Faith working through love. God is love. God needs to see love in your hearts. He needs to see that you are willing to lay your life down for others. That's really what God wants to see. Have you come to the point where you are willing to lay your life down for each other, for one another? That's what real love is all about. Jesus Christ had that type of love. He was willing to lay his life down, and his father had that type of love as well. He was willing to allow his son to lay down his life. So that is the love of God. And God is looking for that in our hearts and in our minds. He wants us to have faith that works through love.

So it is a tall order, but with God all things are possible, right? God lives in us through the power of his spirit. When we have the spirit of God dwelling in us, we are sealed. We are sanctified. We're set apart. And as long as we continue to trust God, to have faith in God, to admit when we've sinned, to allow God to forgive us our sins, then we are justified in God's sight. We have the love of God. We have the faith of Abraham and of Jesus Christ as well. Christ's faith lives in us as well.

So Abraham's faith is an obedient faith. Ours must be as well. But we must place our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, not being deceived that it's our works. It's not that we keep the Sabbath every Sabbath. That won't save us, but it's important that we're here because this is the day that God sanctified. And we are friends of God. And we love him. And we are going to obey him. We're going to do what he wants us to do, what he tells us to do. And so we yield to God through his spirit, and we learn to submit ourselves to God, allowing him to work in us and through us.

Obedience to God is a good work, and we were all created for good works. That's what Ephesians chapter 2 tells us. But our good works don't save us. It is God in us doing the good works. He deserves the credit for whatever good we may accomplish in life.

Now, God works in us. The things that are right and good and are genuine is because God is living in you. And if you truly are loving, it's because God is living in you. God is dwelling in you. What God wants from us is our allegiance. He wants our surrender. He wants our faithfulness. He knows we will not be perfect without sin in this life. But we do need to be willing to humble ourselves, admit when we sinned, and come under the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ is our Messiah. He is our Savior. And we have to come under His blood.

You know, Abraham's faith wasn't perfect. We know that. We know that he deceived. He deceived Abimelech, didn't he? It was certainly a half-truth. Deception is not a good thing. And he was deceiving. You should have just told him the truth.

She's my wife. And you better leave her alone. Because I got someone greater who will back me up here. Abimelech came to understand that, but kind of the hard way. So Abraham's faith was weak when he had a child through Hagar. Didn't have to do that. God still worked things out, and it became a part of God's Word. We can learn from that. In his weakness, he did suggest an alternative. Let Ishmael live. No, God said it would be through Sarah, not through anyone else.

So...

So he had this faith that was not perfect. He had a faith similar to ours, to some degree.

We can be weak at times, but overall, we need to be moving in the right direction and have the kind of faith that would be willing to lay our lives down in love for each other. That's what God wants to see us do. So we've clearly seen that the faith of Abraham is an obedient faith because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

It's an obedient faith, and it's a growing faith. We all need to have the faith of Abraham. So let's pray for the faith of Abraham. Let's pray for God's faith and Christ's faith. It's really the same faith. So we all need to have this faith. And again, why is that? Because those who have the faith of Abraham are truly the recipients of the promises made to Abraham. They will be blessed in this life, and they will also inherit eternal life. So are you faithful like Abraham? Do you have the faith of Abraham?