Romans
4:17-25,
"Abraham Kind of Faith"
Romans
4:17-25. "As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many
nations.' [Genesis 17:5] He
is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the
God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not
as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and
so became the father of many nations, just as it has been
said to him. 'So shall your offspring be.' [Genesis 15:5]
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that
his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred
years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the
promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave
glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to
do what he had promised. This
is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written
not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit
righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead. He
was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to
life for our justification."
"This
morning I would like us to open our Bibles to Romans chapter
4. We'll begin with the 17th verse of
the book of Romans 4, and we'll end the chapter today. We saw last week how Abraham was saved by grace
through faith. Not
by rituals, not by ceremonies, not by religious deeds that
were done to him. Remember he was saved over here at the point
of faith. Years later
he went through a rite of circumcision.
And then 430 years later, the Law was given.
So circumcision couldn't have saved him, because it
didn't happen for many years later.
The Law couldn't have saved him, because the Law hasn't
even been given yet. He
was saved by grace through faith.
And now the apostle looks at the "Abraham kind of faith". And his gives us highlights of Abraham's faith,
as if the apostle is saying 'Look, this faith that saves,
this wonderful grace of God, that is claimed to ourselves
by faith, it's not just something for heaven by-and-by, but
it's something to help you live today, right here and now.'
And he gives us insights into Abraham's faith.
Let's look at verse 17, we'll read the portion of Scripture
first, so follow along if you would. Chapter 4, verse 17, "As it is written, the
father of many nations have I made you."
That's what God said to Abram, but he said it to Abram
before he even had a child, before he had any children whatsoever,
and they were having in infertility problem in their home. And God said 'Don't worry, I'm making you the
father of many nations. It
goes on to say "In
the sight of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life
to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
Or as another translation has it
"and calls into being
that which does not exist."
This is one of my favorite definitions of the living
God whom we serve and love.
He is the God who is able, he says, 'to give life to
the dead, and who calls into being that which does not exist.'
Isn't that what has happened to us when we were justified,
when we were declared not guilty--didn't he credit us with
righteousness that wasn't in existence a moment before?--"
But then he called into being that which did not exist".
He's the God of the miraculous, he's the God of power,
the God of provision, whether it's salvation, whether it's
food, or it's a shelter, or it's a life, Jesus Christ (Yeshua
haMeshiach) is the one who has the life, the truth, and he
is the one who is able to meet your needs. Verse 18, "And hope against hope, he believed."
Now I hate to keep interrupting, but I just want to
give a definition here of what hope is.
Now, hope, we can say 'I hope that it snows tonight.' And, you know, really, it's August in Phoenix Arizona. 'I'm not so sure, I hope I win the lottery,
I hope I win the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes' (my wife keeps
sending all that stuff in--I hope she wins, I really do, because
we're married [laughter]). There's a lot of things we hope, but when we
throw that word around in the secular usage, you know, we
know there's not a chance, forget it man.
But when the Bible uses the term hope it has an entirely different meaning.
So you might want to write it down.
It means "confident expectation",
"a confident expectation". In other words, it is not "I hope so", it's
"I know so". OK? That's the way you should translate the term
"hope" in the Bible. So
it says "in hope against hope", in other words, "he confidently
expected, he believed, in order that he might become the father
of many nations, according to that which had been spoken,
'So shall your descendents be.'"
Verse
19, he had a problem, he was an old
man. The Scripture
seems to indicate, you know, we're getting a little personal.
I don't know what it is that God doesn't mind giving
his saints' personal details, but here we find out from God
that Abraham looked at his body and his reproductive capacity,
and he discovered that, 'Hey, I'm an old man, and not just
an old man, I'm an impotent old man. I can't father a child, I'm too old. Biologically I don't function anymore like I
did when I was younger.' And
the Scripture says, "And
without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body
which was now good as dead"--and then he looks at his wife and says, 'and she's
been infertile forever, you know, and now she's an old woman. I mean, if she couldn't have a child when she
was young and infertile, she's not going to have a child when
she's old and infertile. Verse 20, "Yet, with
respect to the promise of God, HE DID NOT WAIVER IN UNBELIEF, but grew strong in faith, giving
glory to God"--I don't know how you're going to do it Lord,
but praise your name--"and being fully assured that what he
had promised, he was also able to perform.
Therefore also it was reckoned as righteousness, not
for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him
(or credited to him), but for our sakes also, to whom it will
be credited as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead. He
who was delivered up because of our transgressions, raised
because of our justification." Now we
spent weeks and weeks and weeks talking about justification,
and I want you to see now that the faith God accepts, that
justifies, is a faith that gives you life.
The grace that saves you is not just a saving grace,
it's a living grace. It's
going to help you get through life.
There's power in Christ (Messiah).
There's power in Christianity.
There's a difference when you're a Christian (or Messianic
believer).
Let's look at the highlights of Abraham's faith that
are given here in the latter part of the chapter. I see three things. First of all I see that Abraham's faith was
a faith in God himself. You
say, 'Oh, you really think we're dumb, don't you Mark.'
I know that sounds like Theology 101 or something,
but it's important today to nail this down.
Abraham had faith in God. God was the
object of Abraham's faith.
Verse 17,
it says, "He believed in him, the God who gives life
to the dead, who calls into being that which does not exist." The virtue
of Abraham's faith was in the object of his faith--God himself. It was the Lord Jesus Christ that Abraham placed
his faith in. And how
do we know? In John 8, let's look at it for a moment.
John chapter 8, keep your finger here in Romans.
In John chapter 8 Jesus was having a little discussion
with the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders, and he was telling
them, 'You know, it would be really nice if you guys would
be like your father Abraham, you claim him to be your
father.' In verse 39
they said, John 8:39, "'Abraham is our father.'
Jesus said to them, 'If you're Abraham's children,
do
the deeds of Abraham.'".Well what are the deeds of Abraham
that he wanted them to do?
Look now at verse, jump down to verse 56.
And he gives us a revelation that we wouldn't have
known without Jesus giving it to us. This is a revelational proof that is given to
us in the Word of God, right from the mouth of our Lord. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and he saw it and was glad."
He just there declared Abraham "saw my day".
'Abraham, in the spirit, saw me coming to die, to be
buried, to be raised from the dead, to be your savior.'
And of course they [the Jews listening to Jesus] don't
like this. "The Jews therefore said to him, 'You're not
yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?'", you know,
real put-down. 'You
haven't even reached retirement yet, and you have seen Abraham?'
And Jesus shocks them by saying to them, "'Truly, truly
I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.'"
Of course, classically, he's claiming to be God.
They knew he was claiming to be Deity, because in verse
59, "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but
Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."
You see, the name "I AM" was a name there in the early
chapters of Genesis that God had told Moses, when Moses asked
him, 'Lord what's your name?--You're going to deliver your
people, but they're going to say, 'Who is this God?--gotta
have a name, give me your name.'
And it's interesting, what he gave them.
Of all the names for God, he said 'Tell them I AM has
sent you." "This is
the name I am to be known by throughout your generations,
this is the name I'm to be known by forever, I AM."
Woe, someone should start a church, you know, make
that their distinctive, you have to call God I AM in order
to be right. Because that's what he says, "that's my name
forever." You know,
the interesting thing here, is, then Jesus claimed to be I
AM. They know what
he was doing, that's why they picked up stones to stone him.
'You're claiming to be God.' Well, back in Romans then, chapter 4, Abraham's
faith was in God, it was actually in the Messiah to come.
There's a major error in some of the churches
today. There's such
an emphasis on faith, that they even call themselves Faith Churches. But faith itself is not as important as
the object of our faith-Jesus Christ.
'But Mark, doesn't God say 'Faith pleases him'?
Well, my answer is Yes and No.
You see, faith all by itself is not necessarily pleasing
to God. Faith, to be
real saving faith, has to have Jesus Christ [Yeshua haMashiach]
as its object. Faith
in faith doesn't please God.
Faith in Buddha doesn't please God.
Faith in Mohammed doesn't please God.
Faith in a false religion doesn't please God.
There's only one place faith can be that pleases God,
and that's in Jesus Christ. And so it's not the faith that is as important
as it is the one your faith is in.
Faith in yourself doesn't please God.
And so, faith, faith, faith--positive, positive, positive,
people say 'I'm trying to keep positive.'
Well that's OK, but the Bible says you got to have
faith in Christ, you got to have faith in Jesus Christ.
And then if your faith is in him, who cares how much
faith you have, because you have faith in the Mighty God who
can do what you can't do for yourself. I look at it this way, faith is like something
that conducts electricity.
It can be a huge cable, or it could be a little tiny
wire thread. They both can conduct the electricity, they
both can make contact, you know.
And so, some people they act like, 'You've got to increase
your faith.' I don't think so, I think you've got
to increase your knowledge of who your faith is in. I'm not
a person with great faith, I think you know that. I guess that's not good, I wished I was the
kind that--I'm more of 'Show me, Lord.'
You know, I want to see the plan for the next five
years. 'You want me to do WHAT!? But what if you don't come
through, Lord?' I know
that's stupid, but that's sort of the way my nature is.
And what I've learned is, I don't have to increase
my faith, to each is given a measure of faith, Jesus said. But
what I need to do is just relax and rest in my Big God, the
one in whom my faith is. You see they're
all backwards, to be Faith Churches, they ought to be God
churches, they ought to be JESUS churches, where they talk
about this awesome God they have--not, get humanity out of
it. I mean, the guilt-trips
that some of us get put on. 'Well if I only had more faith, I'd be healed.'
Remember the guy who came for healing for his child
to Jesus? And he says,
"Lord, if you're able"-the disciples hadn't been able to cast
the demon out of the child, you know-"Lord, if you're able,
could you do something here?"
And Jesus said, "If I'm able!?
Excuse me?-If I'm able?" He said, "If you can believe, all things are
possible." And then
the guy fell down and says, 'Lord, I believe, but help my
unbelief.' I think that's where most of us find ourselves.
[Tongue in cheek] And then Jesus said, until you reach
this level of faith, until you read brother Hagen's books
[laughter].No, he didn't say that.
This guy said, 'Lord, I don't have any faith, really,
I got that much, but I'm looking at you.
I believe, now make up the difference Lord.'
So, don't fall into the error of making faith some
kind of a mystical kind of a thing.
It's trusting God. It's believing Jesus Christ. It's resting in him, and whether your faith
is great or little, you've got a big God.
OK? And little
faith, great faith, he'll save you, he'll deliver you, provide
for you.
Second thing I see about Abraham's faith.
First of all, his faith was in God, secondly,
his faith was in God's Word.
God had given Abraham his word, and he promised Abraham
that he would be the father of many nations, and Abraham believed
that. God's word is
powerful. In Isaiah 55, the Lord says in verses 10 and
11, he says, 'You know, you see the rain coming down, and
you see how when it falls down it won't evaporate without
first having watered the earth, and it provides nourishment
for the plants, and helps the seeds to sprout.' He says, 'Well, that's the way my Word is.'
He says, 'My Word, when it goes forth from me, it will
succeed and accomplish what I send it out to do.' You can trust God's Word [i.e. for us now, the
Bible, for Abraham at that time, it was God's literal spoken
word, right out of his mouth.]
Abraham said 'God told me I'm going to be the father
of many nations. I believe him. I believe his word, I believe God is going to
do what he said.' Do
you? That is essential in a Christian life, you've
got to believe God's going to do what he said he'd do. Like in Philippians 1:6 where he says, "He that
began a good work in you is going to complete it until the
day of Christ Jesus." That
ought to make you secure in Christ.
If he began something in you, he doesn't stop his work,
he finishes it. Amen?
And so you say, 'Well, I don't know, I think we're
on hold right now.' You,
don't make him a liar. God
is not a man that he should lie.
The Scripture says in Romans here, "Let every mouth
be shut up, and every man be found a liar, but let God be
true." You believe
his Word. When young
Jeremiah the prophet, Jeremiah in chapter 1 of Jeremiah, God
said, 'You're my man, I've called you from before you were
born. You're going
to preach to great multitudes. You'll pluck up kings and you'll tear down nations
[and build others or plant others].'
And Jeremiah is going, 'No way, I'm just a kid! What am I going to say?' And God said, 'See, I've put my words in your
mouth.' And then the
Lord says in verse 29, in that same conversation to Jeremiah,
he says to young Jeremiah, he says, 'Hey Jer, what do you
see?' And he says,
'I see that you're watching over your Word to perform it.' Isn't that awesome? God right now is watching over this Word to
perform it. There's
some things the Lord wants to speak into your heart today.
And this is a living thing. The Bible says in Hebrews 4 that this is a living,
living sword, it's alive, it's
powerful, it's able to do a work in your life that
no human being can do. It's
powerful, it's supernatural.
God says, 'I don't care what kind of blockades you've
got. He says, 'Is not
my Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that
shatters a rock?' Jeremiah
23:29. Jesus said, of course, "Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my Word will never pass away."
Never, ever-you can believe what God's Word promises. I read the greatest book awhile back, it was
called "Seeds From the Sower", and it was about Michael and
Audrey Guido. I hope I'm pronouncing their Italian name correctly,
if it's something else, I don't know. But Michael and Audrey for years have had a
radio program that originated I believe from Georgia or Florida,
called The Sower--a very popular little devotional program. And when they began their ministry years ago,
they came into many times of financial need.
We all can relate to that.
We've all had times when, you know, we wonder where
the money's going to come from to take care of what we need
to take care of. And
I was reading this one instance in their life that they share
in the book. And I
want to share it with you because it's so cool.
These guys, early on in their ministry, decided we
are not going to blab around what our needs are.
We're not going to come and say, 'You know, we're about
ready to lose our house, etc.' Instead, they said, 'God knows it, and we're
going to let God provide.
And if God doesn't provide, then he doesn't want us
under the bondage of this thing.' And they never, ever let their needs be known
to any man. Oh, they
spent some time on their knees.
[cf. George Mueller, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prayer/mueller.htm.] And they went to this one church, they held
a revival, God really blessed, and they were really looking
forward to the love offering they were going to receive, because
they had no money, they were penniless.
They had a little bit of gas in the car, and they had
to drive from San Jose down to Hollywood. And they had no money for gas. They were broke. And so they were thinking, 'You know, every
church, they take the love offering at the end, and they count
it out, and they give it to us, and we'll be on the road!
Right, God provided.'
And so let me read you what happened to these guys.
"We went from that meeting to the First Baptist Church
of San Jose, California for a revival.
The Lord really blessed at the revival.
And just before the last service, the pastor there
said, 'You know on Sunday night my men usually count the love
offering right after it's taken, during the sermon, but your
preaching is so good, they don't want to miss your preaching,
do you mind if we count it Monday morning, and we'll mail
it to you?'" (Oh, no! You
know, the temptation now, 'Oh, well, we really need it) He didn't say a word. He says, "'No, ah, I don't mind.' After the pastor and his wife joined us for
breakfast the next morning, we left for Hollywood. On the way, I asked 'Dear, do you know how much
money I have right now?' She
said, 'No, but I'd like to.'
He says, 'I'm broke.
I gave my last dollar to the bell-hop.'
'How much money do you have, honey?'
She says, 'I'm broke too. I gave my last dollar to the maid.' I suggested that while we drove, she close her
eyes and asked the Lord for ten dollars for food while I kept
mine on the road. Closing
her eyes, Audrey prayed, 'Dear Lord, the Bible says, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. We are in want. We need $10, please give it to us.' Just then a truck [going] about seventy miles
an hour passed us-whoosh, shaking the car.
'What's that, Audrey asked?
Nothing, it's just a truck that passed us. Keep on praying, we need the money.' Suddenly that truck that swooshed around them
came to a sudden halt, screeching onto his brakes, and he
jumped out of his truck and he went like this to try to get
Michael to pull over. And so Michael pulled over, and this is what
he reports. "Suddenly
the same truck ahead screeched to a stop and the driver jumped
out and came running right down the middle of the freeway
toward our car. I pulled
over and the driver came along side Audrey, and she asked,
'What shall I do?' And
Michael said, 'Roll down the window.'
And so she rolled down the window just as the man pushed
his head into the car, and he said 'I don't know you, you
don't know me, I've never seen you before, I'll never see
you again, but as I passed your car, something said 'Give
them ten dollars.'" Awesome! He threw the money in Audrey's lap, ran back
to his truck and drove away.
"And we just sat there crying and thanking God."
What an awesome story, man!
Praise the Lord! That's
the power.Look, believe his promises.
Believe his Word. Now
of course, how are you going to know what he's promising you
if you're never in his Word?
'Oh well, I'll soak some up by osmosis, I'll watch
TV, I'll see what they say.' You'd better be careful watching TV, because
they're going to claim things that God never promised. [In the church that raised me spiritually, we
called those programs "The Sunday Morning Comedy Hour".] You'd better get back and make sure that what
you're claiming is something that God promised.
But I'll tell you more about that in a minute. So Abraham's was a faith in God's Word.
Thirdly,
Abraham's faith was a faith that was a tested faith.
When I was in college I worked for one of the
religion professors, one of the theology professors, and I
was his reader, which meant I did everything but get his check.
OK? I got paid
minimum wage, he made me his slave, I taught his classes,
wrote his tests, I graded his essays, I wrote the report cards.
At the end the kids came and argued with me about their
grades (because I'm the one that gave them their scores, you
know, their grades), while he, you know, collected his money,
I guess. But I'll have
to admit, just sort of a mean thing I did, when I would write
some of those tests, I decided, I'm gonna get these freshmen.
And I would write some hard tests. Sort of tricky questions,
the kind of test you hate. I have to confess, that was my
former life [laughter]. But
I wrote a test to show them up.
I later relented, after arguing with too many of them
about what a stupid test it was. But the thing was, I have taken many tests that
I believe were written to show me up, too.
But when God tests you, he doesn't test you to show
you up, he tests you to show you off.
When he tests you, it's not to show you how ignorant
you are-'stupid, how dumb they are. Look at how they worm through this! Look at how they grovel!' That's not why he puts you through tests.
It's to show you off, 'Look at my kids, they trust
in me, there's gold in them or I wouldn't put them in the
crucible, I wouldn't put them in the fire to refine them if
there wasn't some real raw gold ore in there.'
And so God puts us in the fire, he puts us in the tests,
not to show us up, but to show us off!
Abraham's faith was tested, it was tested by hardships,
it was tested by impossible circumstances, and by many bad feelings.
Think about it, Abraham was 75 years old when the original
promise was given to Sarah and him-'You're gonna have to be
the father of many nations.' He was 75, she was 65. I would say 'Lord, you missed it by a few decades.' I mean, I know some of you men, you're virile,
and you're retired. But I mean, come on, a father of many nations. Then a period of 24 years went by. That's almost two and a half decades! And Sarah still is childless. Abraham now is impotent. And then the Lord comes down, and in Genesis
18 he renews his promise to Abraham.
He says 'Abraham, you're 99 years old?--yes, you're
unable to father a child now?--yes, Sarah's still infertile?--yes.
This time next year, you're gonna be a Daddy, get the
crib ready, get the room ready, get the diapers ready.'
Sarah's listening on the other side of the tent flap,
laughing to herself--'me
in granny shoes, pregnant--I'm sure.'
And those granny boots that little old ladies wear,
I'm sure [laughter]. Now, the Lord said, 'Why's Sarah laughing?'
Again, she's in the area where the Lord is talking
[but kind of out of sight]. He pulls back the curtain, 'I'm not laughing,
I'm not laughing, oh no, not me.'
A year later, she had a baby in her arms.
I believe that God probably did an awesome job of restoration
in both of their lives. He
probably rejuvenated them physically.
I think it was a miracle of God's, not just a miracle
of conception, but probably they were rejuvenated with youthful
looks and the whole nine yards, and there's some evidence
(and I'm not getting into that).
But the thing is, can you image how weird that would
seem? What an impossible situation that is. 'I mean, come off it God, we've tried everything,
every way, I've even made a big mistake with Hagar, remember?' 'My word's coming true. What I say I mean. What I say, I'll do.' But Abraham's faith clung to God's promises
despite discouragement, despite ridicule.
That's hard to take sometimes.
And sometimes walking in faith, you're going to have
people laugh at you. This
guys' name, you've got to remember, is Abram to begin with,
which means "exalted father"--what an embarrassing name to
have when you're childless. 'What's you're name?' 'Ah, Abram.' 'ABRAM, ah, exalted father, oh, well how many
kids do you have?' 'I
don't have any, shut up, I don't want to hear any father jokes.' And then, to make matters worse, after an impotent
old man--and there's no possible way that there's going to
be any kiddies coming along the way--God comes to you and
says 'Ah, Abe, I want to change your name.'
'Good! Call me Wonderful
one, call me anything but Exalted
father.' The Lord
said, 'I got a new name for you.'
He said, 'What is it?'
'ABRAHAM.' 'Oh no! That means father of a multitude!' I kid
you not, Genesis 17:5 and 6, "The Lord came to Abraham said,
'No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name
shall be called Abraham, father of a multitude, for I will
make you the father of a multitude of nations, and I will
make you exceedingly
fruitful.'" Here's a shriveled up old man. "And I will make NATIONS
of you, and kings shall come forth from you."
Now it's really weird, you're at the bank, filling
out the papers for name change, and everything, and people
say 'What's this new name on your checks?
What are you filling out all these papers for, you
got get a new drivers license.' 'Well, I'm changing my name.' 'What's your new name?' 'Abraham.' 'What!?' 'Abraham.'
'What?' 'ABRAHAM!' '(Oh,
senility has set in, you know.)'
Hardships and ridicule come and test our faith, but
they in the end are there to strengthen our faith--not to
tear your faith down. I mean, as Matt shared his testimony, and he
was involved in a business.
And some of you need to think about what you are involved
in. What are you supporting with your life? He was involved in a business that did most
of its money in booze. And
as people go to the bars and pick each other up, and they'd
sleep around, and they were destroying marriages, and people
were getting killed on the freeway from alcoholic drivers
and everything else, and he was involved in that. And the first time, he gave me that stupid excuse,
'Well, I'm the light in the darkness.'
I said, 'You're a light were you're not even supposed
to be.' I said, 'Don't you think they're going to say
to you, you're a Christian, what are you doing here?-managing
of bars, ordering the booze, getting the disco music going.
And God got that to him, 'What am I doing with my life? I'm supporting something that's destroying people.
I'm supporting something that God hates.
God hates sin. I'm supporting it with my life. [Now the Bible does not forbid the consumption
of alcohol in extreme moderation.
But extreme moderation is not practiced in most bars,
and Pastor Martin is correct in his diagnosis of where most
drinking in bars leads.] 'Oh but Mark, it's his livelihood, Mark, Mark!'
Don't Mark at me. Some of you need to face, 'What are you doing?'.
You say, 'This is not the church for me.'
Maybe it's not. Maybe
it's not. Because if
you can be comfortable here, working for the things that destroy
people's lives, I'm not sure it's the place for you.
May God not allow you any comfort.
But you see, Matt stepped out.
Oh, I remember, 'What are we going to do, man?'
Here I am, great faith again.
'What are we gonna do, how are we going to support
a family of one, two, three, four, five or six?' Of course I had great faith in God, didn't I?
No. But I did
have a little faith in a Great God. And like Matt said, he stepped out, and said,
'Well, I got three months salary, you know.
I'll have this job in no time, and money in the bank.' It was interesting, every month I'd go "Matt,
how's it going?" "I've
used up all my savings." "Oh
no. Well I guess God really wanted you to step out
in faith." And then
the other day I was over at their house, you know, at the
end of all of this. And I said, "Man, this is neat, to have a new
dining room set." And
they're not rolling in the dough, but I mean, not only does
he have a new job, but they're able to get a new dining room
set? I mean, you may
have to step out in faith, you may have to leave something
where you're influence is supporting something that is bad,
it's wrong,
and you're a Christian!-not just on Sundays.
You're a child of God all
the time. God may call
you to leave, to step out.
You may be laughed at, people will say "You're crazy."
Your relatives may say "Oh but your retirement plan,
Oh but your children's education, Oh it's your house."
I'll tell you what. God called Abraham to leave everything and follow
him. God called him
to leave everything, and follow him.
Don't worry about timing.
If God's promised something in his Word, he'll do it,
in his time. He's never
been late, I've told you that before.
And he's never early, he's right on time. And even though all the natural physical laws
and evidences were against Abraham, Abraham said, "I don't
believe what I see, I believe God can do what he's going to
do." Look at verses 19 and 20, "Without becoming
weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as
dead"-Since he was about 100 years
old-"and the deadness of Sarah's womb. Yet with respect to the promise of God he didn't
waiver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory
to God." That said he was an impotent man as far as procreative functions were concerned,
his body had died. And
on top of that Sarah was still infertile and past menopause. There's something we need to see here in the
middle of all of this too, is that Abraham looked honestly
at his situation. He
didn't ignore it. The Bible says, "and without
becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now
as good as dead." He didn't say 'I don't confess this!' 'I
am virile, I'm a young man, I'm father, I'm father, I'm a
father.' He didn't
go around like some kook, lying.
And sometimes, you know, from this 'faith camp', I
get this stuff, you know, 'You don't say, Ah, my allergies
are just really bothering me.'
'Well, brother, if you just confess it.'
Well, what am I supposed to do, as my nose is running
down to my chin, what am I supposed to do?!
'Oh, this is not here.'
'Why is your nose running down your neck Mark?'
'What nose?' [laughter] 'I
don't confess this [snort]', you know. He didn't ignore his problem, he said "I got
a problem." "Me, I'm
impotent, my wife is infertile, and I'm 99 and she's 89.
We got a problem."
He was honest, he faced it.
He didn't ignore the facts.
And God doesn't want us to lie about our situation.
'How you doing?' 'Praise, Haliluya, I'm doing fine.' He doesn't want that. You don't have to be that way. 'Well, don't you get what you say?' I hope not.
I hope not. There
is no power in words. That
is metaphysics, gang, that is New Age occultism.
That is old fashioned witchcraft.
And it snuck into the church through Hagin and Copeland,
and the writings that they've read, they've read writings
of guys who were trained in New Thought which we would call
New Age philosophy today--the roots of which are in religious
science and Christian Science.
And that's a fact that can be proven, books have been
written on it. And
the whole church has just swallowed it, you know, because
they're nice guys, they look nice, they sound nice, and it
sounds good. I'm telling you, it doesn't work. What do you do when you don't get healed?
Oh it was your faith, right, you didn't have enough faith, so it's your fault.
You know, the Bible does say there is a "sickness unto
death". Yeah, 1 John
5, 1 Peter-Peter says that 'If God should will that you suffer." 'Oh, no it's never God's will that we suffer'.
"If God should will that we suffer"-just put yourself
in the hands of God, trust him to do what's right. The apostle Paul says, "Through many afflictions
we must enter the Kingdom of God."
Man, there are financial afflictions, physical afflictions,
spiritual afflictions, emotional afflictions.
Don't buy into it [this name it claim it stuff], you'll
become a very discouraged Christian if you buy into that nonsense. What you need is a faith that doesn't fail you
when everything else around you does fail you. You need a faith that stands fast when everything
else falls apart. And
so Abraham looked honesty at his situation, and he said 'Hey,
we got a problem here. I
admit, we got a problem here, I don't know how God's going
to do it, but he's promised to do it.' He did consider the reality of his problem,
the impossibility of his situation-and yet he hung onto God's
promises with a hand of faith.
Another important thing to do, gang, is, when you talk
about faith and hanging onto God's promises-and I always get
the people who say 'Amen brother Martin, Amen, Praise the
Lord, I'm claiming my Cadillac!-my Lexus by faith!'
You better make awful sure that what you're claiming
by faith God has really promised.
He hasn't promised that everybody's going to be rich.
In fact, to the rich the apostle Paul says 'Hey you
who are rich, don't put your trust in riches.'
Why? Because they take wings and fly! But doesn't the Bible say Mark that it is God's
will that you be in good health and prosper. No, that's a greeting to 3rd John.
He says "Beloved", he's opening his letter, he says
"I wish above all things that you might be in good health
and prosper." But that's
not a doctrine, it wasn't a command, it wasn't a positive
confession-it was just 'Hey, I hope you're doing OK, hope
God's blessing you right now, hope you're OK, hope you're
feeling good, we're OK.' All
doctrinal errors are made from pulling text
out of context. Then somebody says it becomes a proof-text. Has he really said what I'm claiming for my
self in his Word? Hey,
what has God said? You
better read it and find out. God has said "I'll never leave you or forsake
you", you can claim that one.
He said "I'll give my peace to you", you can claim
that one. "I'll provide all of your needs out of my riches
and glory", Philippians 4:19, you can claim that. Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you", you can claim it. There are tons of promises that you can claim
that really do apply. But
when you begin to force God into what you want, you're in
trouble, because God won't give. God is sovereign, God is in control, we need
to get into what he wants our lives to be.
Finally, Abraham's faith was a faith that acted on what God said. Real faith can be defined as believing
God, and acting upon
it. He believed God, and he acted on it. The great missionary, Hudson Taylor, when he
first went to China, he was sailing there on a ship, and the
ship came near this island that everybody new on the map was
marked "cannibals". And wouldn't you know, with a sailing ship,
the wind stopped. Not
a bit of wind, not a speck of wind.
And their boat began to drift toward the shore of this
island. 'They saw the
cannibals sharpening their knives and forks.' They saw them filling big pots, lighting fires,
smacking their lips, 'Ah Mmm, roast missionary, they're always
tender.' And as they
drifted closer to the shore--this story has been embellished
slightly--as they drifted closer to the shore the captain
of the ship came to Hudson Taylor and said "Pray for us, man!
pray!--that God will give us wind."
And Hudson Taylor says, I will pray on one condition. And the captain said, "What's that?! What's that?!" "That you drop the sails, let down the sails."
"Why should I let down the sails?
I'm not going to let down the sails, there's no wind."
Then Hudson Taylor said, "Then I'm not praying.
Why should I pray if I don't expect God to answer?"
The captain finally said "OK, we'll let 'em down." About half an hour later, nock, nock, nock,
nock "Taylor!" "Who
is it?" "It's the captain!"
"Taylor, are you still praying?!"
"Yes I'm still praying." "Well, stop!
We've got more wind than we know what to do with!" God is so good. You see, if you believe and act on that belief,
do what God is telling you to do.
If he's telling you to step out in faith, he may tell
you to leave a job, then leave that job.
He may tell you to leave a relationship, you'd better
leave that relationship if it's not pleasing to God.
The Scripture says you can't be unequally yoked to
an unbeliever. (I mean
this is before you get married.)
If you're dating someone who's an unbeliever, you've
got the choice in front of you, to follow God.
Abraham acted upon what God said, he believed God,
but he showed his belief-he moved out of Ur [of the Chaldees],
which would be like the L.A. county of the ancient world.
He was told to leave! He had to leave his family, he had to leave
his security, he had to leave his inheritance, he left his
culture, he left his family's religion-all to follow God.
And then he left it all, not knowing where
he was going. You may
step out in faith, just like Abraham did and it will cost
you, it always costs to follow the Lord in obedience.
Don't let that surprise you.
The cheap gospel we preach sometimes, we don't let
people know, 'Hey, you're family may get up tight with you.'
Your children may reject you. You may lose your house. You know, they'll look at you like you got the
plague, or they'll totally turn their back on you. You leave some groups today, and they shun you.
[Jews being called by the Lord, stepping out in faith
and believing in Yeshua as their Messiah get shunned by parents,
family and the whole Jewish community.] Jesus, Yeshua said don't be surprised. He said "Truly I say to you, there is no one
who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children
for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many
times as much at this time and in the age to come."
Look at what Jesus said in.Well first of all I want
you to look at two more passages in Hebrews 8 and Hebrews
11, and one more passage.
But this is important, gang.
Hang tight for this, OK?
Hebrews 11, verse 8.
"By faith", "by faith", the faith we've been talking
about, "Abraham when he was called"--what's that next word?--"obeyed."
You see, there's a call, and then there's your response.
When Jesus called his disciples, they had to make a
decision, he'd say "Follow me" and they had to either followed
him or not follow him, right? "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"--what?--"not
knowing where he was going."
May I just tell you that sometimes living by faith,
you don't know where you're going. Here at the church, people come by now to look
at the church to find out what's making it work--to find out
why it's growing. They
come and they attend a service, and they cannot figure out
why it's growing.And they say "What is your five year plan,
Mark?" And I said "We
don't have a five-year plan."
"Well, what's your one-year plan?"
I said, "I'm just trying to get through this week,
I don't have a one-year plan." [laughter]
"Well, what's your budget?
"We don't have a budget."
"Well, how do you do it?"
I said, "Well, the elders and me, we pray."
We don't know where we're going, necessarily, it's
just sort of week to week. I've got an eye on some future things, but I
mean, really, that's a walk of faith.
That is most of a walk of faith.
OK? "I don't
know, point me in the right direction."
And really, why should he tell you any more until you
leave earth? "I never hear from the Lord." That's because you haven't done what he told
you the last time he talked to you.
Last verse, Matthew 10, verse 34. "Don't
think that I came to bring peace on the earth, I didn't come
to bring peace, but a sword."
Hey, wait a minute.
What is Jesus saying? He's saying, 'Hey, sometimes when I come into
a life a war erupts, not because I cause it, but because you're
either with me or against me.
Right? And if you're not with me, you're against me.'
And so when Jesus comes into your life and begins to
move in your life or into your family, into your situation,
there may be those who aren't with the Lord and they'll be
against you. And he
goes on to say "For I came to set a man against his father,
and daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. And
a man's enemies will be the members of his household." He's saying, 'Look, don't be surprised when
you accept me, a war erupts even at home, and the members
of your own family who don't understand the gospel, they say
'Forget it, you're out of here. We don't have anything to do with you.'' He says, 'That's part of what my coming will
do, when I come into
your life.' But then he says something very important, he
says, "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me." And
you could say, 'he who loves his job more than me is not worthy
of me, he who loves his relationship more than me isn't worthy
of me.' Or you fill
in the blank. "And
he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not
worthy of me, and he who has found his life"-like the world
says, 'you've got it all man-he says, no they'll lose it.
But the person who's willing to walk away from it all,
that's what it takes, like Abraham did-"shall find it."
Earlier I said, you know, 'If you're not willing to
leave, then maybe this isn't the church for you.' What I meant was, if you're defiant, if you're
saying 'I'm not going to do it', you've got a hard heart. That's what I'm talking about. You're going to have trouble. But if you're in that struggle right now, trying
to know what God wants you to do, step out in faith. It's not until you step out that the waters
part. And when you
do you'll see God is a God who delivers.
Not always the way you think, he doesn't tell you what
he's going do three months from now, he doesn't always tell
you how he's going to do it. But if you're involved in something that you
know, you know God wants you out of, I would encourage you
to obey. Mary's words to the servants at the wedding
feast [Yeshua's first miracle], "hey guys, whatever he tells
you to do, Do it.' "
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