Sermon #1419 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: Standing oN jUSTIFIED gROUND
Text: Genesis
15:6-21
Subject: Things Seen Only By Faith
Date: Sunday
Evening – August 27, 2000
Tape # V-100a
Readings: Larry Criss – Merle Hart
Introduction:
(Genesis 15:6) "And he believed in the LORD; and he
counted it to him for righteousness."
“Abraham believed God.” What a
tremendous declaration that is. Though faith has nothing to do with the
accomplishment of justification, we cannot have justification without faith.
Yet, this faith which is exemplified in Abraham is a thing no man can perform.
It is not the result of man’s will, decision, or moral and mental
determination. Faith is the gift of God. No man can or will believe, except it
be by the gift and operation of God in him. We believe according to the working
of his mighty power. So, when the Scriptures assert that “Abraham believed God,” the Holy Spirit is saying, -- Here is a
miracle of grace! Here is a sinner doing what no sinner can do, doing what we
must do, doing what only the grace of God can enable him to do!
In this 15th chapter of Genesis, when the Holy
Spirit declares that Abraham believed in the Lord, at least five things are
evident.
1.
He believed the Gospel as the very word of God, as a
word directly from God himself.
Paul tells us that the word God spoke to him was the gospel of Christ preached to him. God had
said, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield,
and thy exceeding great reward.”
Upon the hells of this revelation, Abram asked the Lord to give him a son in
whom all his promised mercy might be fulfilled. “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not
be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be
thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So
shall thy seed be.”
Like Saul of Tarsus, Abraham was a man who could declare, “I certify you, that the gospel I believe is
not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The gospel came to him, not as the word
of man, but the word of God. His faith stood not in the words of man’s wisdom,
but in the power of God.
If ever a sinner believes God, he will believe because the
gospel has come to him in the demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit with
much assurance, being assured by God himself that it is the very word of God.
·
(1 Thessalonians 1:5) "For
our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake."
That faith which stands in the wisdom of man is but the
faith of a man. That faith which stands in the power of God is the faith of
God’s elect.
2.
Abraham believed the word of God concerning his Son,
the Seed in whom and by whom redemption would be accomplished.
The promise he heard from God, he recognized to be the very
same as that made to mother Eve in the Garden. Abraham understood that God’s
promise here declared went far beyond the promise of a son. It was the promise
of God concerning his Son (Gal. 3:6-16).
True faith is fixed on Christ alone. It is not the faith of
this sect or that, but faith in Christ. It is not the faith of this creed or
that. It is not the faith of emotion and fear. True faith looks to Christ,
embracing him, his person and his work, as the God-man our Mediator.
3.
Abraham believed that God could and would do that
which was humanly impossible.
Abraham believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls
those things which are not as though they were.
·
(Romans 4:18-25) "Who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations,
according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. {19} And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sarah's womb: {20} He staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God; {21} And being fully
persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. {22} And therefore it was imputed to
him for righteousness. {23} Now it
was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; {24} But for us also, to whom it shall
be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; {25} Who was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justification."
Faith believes that Christ is able to save! He can cause
dry bones to live. He can raise up the dead. He can give life to the corpse,
cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to hear, and the cursed to
be blessed.
4.
Abraham believed the promise made to him by God in
the gospel, though vast and sublime beyond calculation, to be a matter of
absolute certainty, because God had spoken it.
·
(Romans 4:8) "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin."
·
(Ephesians 1:3-6) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: {4} According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: {5} Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, {6} To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
5.
Abraham believed the gospel as the word of God to
him.
·
“Thy Shield”
·
“Thy Great Reward”
·
“Thy Savior”
He heard God speak the gospel to him as the word of his
salvation.
·
(Ephesians 1:13-14) "In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, {14} Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory."
Believing God, Abraham was justified.
By faith he received the blessedness of sins forgiven, righteousness imputed,
and immutable, perfect acceptance with God himself, through the blood and
righteousness of Christ. That is what verse 6 declares
(Genesis
15:6) "And he believed in the LORD;
and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Now, beginning at verse 7 and going
through to the end of the chapter, we see a believing sinner standing
on justified ground. Oh, what a blessed place to stand! Once a
man or woman believes God, he sees what he could not see before, understands
things which mystified and dumbfounded before, and rejoices in things that
either bored him to death or stirred his hatred of God to the boiling point
before.
Standing on justified ground,
the most uneducated, illiterate believer sees with perfect clarity what the
most brilliant and most educated unbeliever cannot even imagine, because faith
understands all things.
·
(John 14:26) "But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
·
(John 16:13) "Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come."
·
(1 Corinthians 2:9-16) "But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit
of God. (12) Now we have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things
with spiritual. (14) But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. (15) But
he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
·
(Hebrews 11:1-3) "Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a
good report. (3) Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear."
·
(1 John 2:20) "But ye have
an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things."
Now, if you will hold your Bibles open at Genesis 15, let
me show you what Abraham saw standing on justified ground.
I.
Standing justified before
God, as a sinner accepted in Christ the beloved, faith sees the value of God’s
call and prizes it (v. 7).
(Genesis 15:7) "And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur
of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it."
·
The Distinctiveness of It
·
The Blessedness of It
·
The Result of It – Faith in Christ!
When the soul is graciously
enabled to perceive its complete justification by faith, then it more distinctly discerns its calling. Now,
the believer perceives his privileged separation and discerns why he was
convinced of sin, why he was led away from self-righteousness and the pleasures
of this world, to live the life of faith; now he sees his high calling and the
prize of it, and from the one blessing of justification he argues the
blessedness of all the inheritance to which he is called. The more clear a man
is about his justification the more will he prize his calling, and the more
earnestly will he seek to make it sure by perfecting his separation from the
world and his conformity to his Lord. Am I a justified man? Then will I not go
back to that bondage in which I once was held. Am I now accepted of God through
faith? Then will I live no longer by sight, as I once did as a carnal man, when
I understood not the power of trusting in the unseen God. One Christian grace
helps another, and one act of divine grace casts a refulgence upon another.
Calling gleams with double glory side by side with the twin star of
justification.
Justifying faith receives
more vividly the promises. “I have brought thee,” said the Lord, “into this
land to inherit it.” He was reminded again of the promise God made him years
before. Beloved, no man reads the promises of God with such delight and with
such a clear understanding as the man who is justified by faith in Christ
Jesus. “For now,” saith he, “this promise is mine, and made to me. I have the
pledge of its fulfillment in the fact that I walk in the favor of God. I am no
longer obnoxious to his wrath; none can lay anything to my charge, for I am
absolved through Jesus Christ; and, therefore, if when I was a sinner he
justified me, much more, being justified, will he keep his promise to me. If
when I was a rebel condemned, he nevertheless in his eternal mercy called me
and brought me into this state of acceptance, much more will he preserve me
from all my enemies, and give me the heritage which he has promised by his
covenant of grace. A clear view of justification helps you much in grasping the
promise, therefore seek it earnestly for your soul’s comfort.
II. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees the glory of God in blood atonement (vv.
8-11).
(Genesis 15:8-11)
"And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it? (9) And he said unto him, Take me
an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of
three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. (10) And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the
midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. (11) And when the fowls came down upon
the carcases, Abram drove them away."
·
The only grounds upon which God can bless and save a sinner is blood
atonement. -- “The precious blood of
Christ.”
·
All the sacrifices point to one sacrifice.
·
Faith drives away every unclean foul of the air which would take away
or turn it from the sacrifice.
·
Faith sees itself involved in the sacrifice.
Abram, after being justified
by faith, was led more distinctly to
behold the power of sacrifice. By God’s command he killed three bullocks,
three goats, three sheep, with turtle doves and pigeons, being all the
creatures ordained for sacrifice. The patriarch’s hands are stained with blood;
he handles the butcher’s knife, he divides the beasts, he kills the birds he
places them in an order revealed to him by God’s Spirit at the time; there they
are. Abram learns that there is no meeting with God except through sacrifice.
God has shut every door except that over which the blood is sprinkled. All
acceptable approaches to God must be through an atoning sacrifice, and Abram
sees this. While the promise is still in his ears, while the ink is yet wet in
the pen of the Holy Spirit, writing him down as justified, he must see a
sacrifice, and see it, too, in emblems which comprehend all the revelation of
sacrifice made to Aaron. So, brethren, it is a blessed thing when your faith
justifies you, if it helps you to obtain more complete and vivid views of the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The purest and most bracing air for faith to
breathe is on Calvary. I do not wonder that your faith grows weak when you fail
to consider well the tremendous sacrifice which Jesus made for his people. Turn
to the annals of the Redeemer’s sufferings given us in the Evangelists; bow
yourself in prayer before the Lamb of God, blush to think you should have
forgotten his death, which is the center of all history; contemplate the
wondrous transaction of substitution once again, and you will find your faith
revived. It is not the study of theology, it is not reading books upon points
of controversy, it is not searching into mysterious prophecy which will bless
your soul, it is looking to Jesus crucified. That is the essential nutriment of
the life of faith, and mind that you keep to it. As a man already justified,
Abram looked at the sacrifice, all day long and till the sun went down, chasing
away the birds of prey as you must drive off all disturbing thoughts. So must
you also study the Lord Jesus, and view him in all his characters and offices,
be not satisfied except you grow in grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
III. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees God in covenant grace, a covenant ratified by blood (vv.
12, 17, 18).
(Genesis 15:12)
"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;
and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him."
(Genesis 15:17-18)
"And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was
dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those
pieces. (18) In the same day the LORD
made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from
the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:"
Perhaps even more important
was the next lesson which Abram had to learn. He was led to behold the covenant. I suppose that these
pieces of the bullock, the lamb, the ram, and the goat, were so placed that
Abram stood in the midst with a part on this side and a part on that. So he
stood as a worshipper all through the day, and towards nightfall, when a horror
of great darkness came over him, he fell into a deep sleep. Who would not feel
a horror passing over him as he sees the great sacrifice for sin, and sees
himself involved therein? There in the midst of the sacrifice he saw, moving
with solemn motion, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, answering to the
pillar of cloud and fire, which manifested the presence in later days to Israel
in the wilderness. In these emblems the Lord passed between the pieces of the
sacrifice to meet his servant, and enter into covenant with him. This has
always been the most solemn of all modes of covenanting; and has even been
adopted in heathen nations on occasions of unusual solemnity. The sacrifice is
divided and the covenanting parties meet between the divided pieces. The
profane interpretation was, that they imprecated upon each other the curse that
if they broke the covenant they might be cut in pieces as these beasts had
been; but this is not the interpretation which our hearts delight in. It is
this. It is only in the midst of the sacrifice that God can enter into a
covenant relationship with sinful man. God cometh in his glory like a flame of
fire, but subdued and tempered to us as with a cloud of smoke in the person of
Jesus Christ; and he comes through the bloody sacrifice which has been offered
once for all through Jesus Christ on the tree. Man meets with God in the midst
of the sacrifice of Christ. Now, beloved, you who are justified, try this
morning to reach this privilege which particularly belongs to you at this
juncture of your spiritual history. Know and understand that God is in covenant
bonds with you. He has made a covenant of grace with you which never can be
broken: the sure mercies of David are your portion. After this sort does that
covenant run, “A new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put
within them. They shall be my people, and I will be their God.” That covenant
is made with you over the slaughtered body of the Son of God. God and you cross
hands over him who sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the
ground. The Lord accepts us, and we enter with him into sacred league and
amity, over the victim whose wounds and death ratify the compact. Can God
forget a covenant with such sanctions? Can such a federal bond so solemnly
sealed be ever broken? Impossible. Man is sometimes faithful to his oath, but
God is always so; and when that oath is confirmed for the strengthening of our
faith by the blood of the Only-begotten, to doubt is treason and blasphemy. God
help us, being justified, to have faith in the covenant which is sealed and
ratified with blood.
Immediately after, God made
to Abram (and here the analogy still holds) a
discovery, that all the blessing that was promised, though it was surely
his, would not come without an interval of trouble. “Thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall
afflict them four hundred years.”
IV. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees that every trial, every trouble, every affliction, and
every sorrow we experience in this world of woe is ordained of God in covenant
mercy and comes to pass according to the purpose of God’s grace in the covenant
(v. 13).
(Genesis 15:13)
"And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not
theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred
years;"
Our
trials are as much a part of our blessedness as our justification.
·
(Romans 5:1-5) "Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God. (3) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
(4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope: (5) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
When a man is first of all
brought to Christ he often is so ignorant as to think, “Now my troubles are all
over; I have come to Christ and I am saved: from this day forward I shall have
nothing to do but to sing the praises of God.” Alas! A conflict remains. We
must know of a surety that the battle now begins. How often does it happen that
the Lord, in order to educate his child for future trouble, makes the occasion
when his justification is most clear to him the season of informing him that he
may expect to meet with trouble! I was struck with that fact when I was reading
for my own comfort the other night the fifth chapter of Romans; it runs thus—
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” See how softly it flows, a
justification sheds the oil of joy upon the believer’s head. But what is the
next verse— “and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also: knowing that
tribulation worketh patience,” and so on. Justification ensures tribulation.
Oh! Yes, the covenant is yours; you shall possess the goodly land and Lebanon,
but, like all the seed of Abraham, you must go down into Egypt and groan, being
burdened. All the saints must smart before they sing; they must carry the cross
before they wear the crown. You are a justified man, but you are not freed from
trouble. Your sins were laid on Christ, but you still have Christ’s cross to
carry. The Lord has exempted you from the curse, but he has not exempted you
from the chastisement. Learn that you enter on the children’s discipline on
the very day in which you enter upon their accepted condition.
V. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees and is assured of the fact that our ultimate salvation
and triumph in Christ is sure (vv. 14-16).
(Genesis 15:14-16)
"And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and
afterward shall they come out with great substance. (15) And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be
buried in a good old age. (16) But in
the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full."
To close the whole, the Lord
gave to Abram an assurance of ultimate
success. He would bring his seed into the promised land, and the people who
had oppressed them he would judge. So let it come as a sweet revelation to
every believing man this morning, that at the end he shall triumph, and those
evils which now oppress him shall be cast beneath his feet. The Lord shall
bruise Satan under our feet shortly. We may be slaves in Egypt for awhile, but
we shall come up out of it with great abundance of true riches, better than
silver or gold. We shall be prospered by our tribulations, and enriched by our
trials. Therefore, let us be of good cheer. If sin be pardoned, we may well
bear affliction. “Strike, Lord,” said Luther, “now my sins are gone; strike as
hard as thou wilt if transgression be covered.” These light afflictions which
are but for a moment, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
be revealed in us. Let us make it the first point of our care to be justified
with Abraham’s seed, and then whether we sojourn in Egypt or enjoy the peace of
Canaan, it little matters: we are all safe if we are only justified by faith
which is in Christ Jesus. Dear friends, this last word, and I send you home.
Have you believed in God? Have you trusted Christ? O that you would do so
today! To believe that God speaks truth ought not to be hard; and if we were
not very wicked this would never need to be urged upon us, we should do it
naturally. To believe that Christ is able to save us seems to me to be easy
enough, and it would be if our hearts were not so hard. Believe thy God, man,
and think it no little thing to do so. May the Holy Ghost lead thee to a true
trust. This is the work of God, that ye believe on Jesus Christ, whom he hath
sent. Believe that the Son of God can save, and confide thyself alone in him, and
he will save thee. He asks nothing but faith, and even this he gives thee; and
if thou hast it, all thy doubts and sins, thy trials and troubles put together,
shall not shut thee out of heaven. God shall fulfill his promise, and surely
bring thee in to possess the land which flows with milk and honey.