The Day Abraham Believed, Part 2

We must understand what it means to be declared right before God. Genesis chapter 15 is that passage. That's why I said last week that this is probably the most important message I ever preached. Last Sunday, and I'll say this Sunday, this is the most important message I've ever preached. Because we need to know what it means to believe in Almighty God. What it means to trust Him. As Abraham believed in God, and God reckoned unto him righteousness. God declared him a righteous man. What does that mean?

How does a man get to that point? Genesis 15 tells us. We want to cover three things in Genesis 15. First of all, a vision of God's protection.

Number two, a revelation of God's provision. Number three, a confirmation. A confirmation of God's promise. On the day Abraham believed God, those three things happened in his life. We need to understand this crucial doctrine of justification. We need to understand what happened on the day Abraham believed God, and there was a vision. A vision of God's protection. That would result in Abraham's satisfaction. And I'm convinced that most of us today are not satisfied where we're at. We're not satisfied with what God's doing in our lives.

So we need to understand in Genesis 15, verse number one, inside and out, that we might be satisfied with God and what He's doing.

So Abraham's restlessness would lead to God's rebuke. Do not fear, Abraham, which led to God's remedy. I am your shield. I am your protector. If the kings of the north come, it's all right, because I will protect you. If things around you are falling and crumbling, God says, I'm your shield.

I am your protector. And then we moved to God's reward. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, do not fear, Abraham. I am your shield. I am your very great reward. I am your reward, Abraham. I'm your satisfaction in life, Abraham. Remember what it says over in Genesis 14? Just turn back over to verse number 19, when Melchizedek came out to meet Abraham, the king of Salem. What did he say? And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abraham of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth.

God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. God is saying to Abraham, if I can possess, if I can fill both heaven and earth, I can fill your lonely soul. I am your reward, Abraham. I am your prize. God is saying to Abraham, listen, if your feet never tread on any land, if your home is silent because there are no children, if you never have a descendant, I am enough. I am your reward. That's what he's saying. How about you? Are you satisfied with God alone? You see, in order to believe in God, you must be satisfied with God alone.

Not God plus this and God plus that. The point being, and I've said this before, not recently, but in sermons past, the point being in salvation is if there was no eternity, if there was no life after death, if there was no promise of a crown and glory, if all there was was this life and that's all there was, would you give your life to Jesus Christ? Would you be a slave to him as your master? Or would you continue to be a slave of the evil one and live in wickedness? That's the bottom line. If God's enough, then I don't need eternity.

I don't need heaven and I don't need a reward because right now God is all I need. That's how you know you truly believe in God. That's how you know you truly have given your life to God. You're trusting in him for all things because he is a provider and possessor of all things. He is your reward. We need believers today who like the apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4 verse number 8, after his life had already been poured out as a drink offering, he said, now awaits for me a crown of righteousness.

But not for me only, but for all those who what? Who love his appearing. You see, Paul loved the appearing of God. He longed for the appearing of God. And Paul would say after his life had been given to God, he has done all he could as he served him. And now he sat in the Mamertine prison waiting his execution. He says there's a crown of righteousness awaiting for me, but not for me also, but for those who love only, but for those who love his appearing. Do you long and love for the appearing of God?

Is that what you want? Hebrews 9 28 speaks of our salvation being complete to those who eagerly await him, eagerly anticipate his arrival. Are you one who eagerly waits for the arrival of a king? Why? Because he is your prize. He is your possession. He is your reward. You see, Abraham on the day he believed God, his restlessness would subside because he realized that God was his reward. I know I've spent a lot of time reviewing last Sunday, but my friends, you need to understand what it means to believe in God and the results of what happens when you believe in him.

Let's move to point number two. We move from a vision of God's protection that would lead to Abraham's satisfaction to a revelation of God's provision that would lead to Abraham's salvation. Listen to what it says. And Abraham said, Oh Lord God, what wilt thou give me since I am childless? And the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abraham said, Since thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir. Listen to point number one, Abraham's reply.

Abraham's reply, which was a rationalization. You see, the word of the Lord came to Abraham, and now he would pour his heart out to God. God, what will you give me? Is it going to be Eleazar? I mean, after all, in those days, if a man was childless, then he could give his inheritance to a servant. And he could carry on the name of that family. Is this your plan, God? You see, Abraham began to think very rationally, very logically. And is it not true that a lot of times when we are waiting for God to give us an answer, we begin to rationalize and to think very logically?

The Christian life is not about thinking logically. It's about thinking theologically. Big difference. Because you think from God's perspective instead of man's perspective. And so, Abraham would come to God and say, I don't have a child. How can your promise be fulfilled if I don't have a child? It's been 10 years. Listen, folks, it's going to be another 15 years. It's going to be a total of 25 years from the first promise to the birth of Isaac.

That's a long time to wait, a long time to wait. But he would come to Him, and his reply to God would be, I'm childless. How can this happen, Lord? I mean, he's not doubting God. He's just asking a question. He wants to know. I mean, God's come to him, and God is speaking to him. He now has an audience. He says, God, how is this going to happen? How is this going to work? And there's nothing wrong with asking God, Lord, how does this happen? He would think from a natural perspective. Think about it.

All the heathen had children around him. A lot. He had children. Not very good ones, and we'll talk about them later, but he had children at least. Everybody around him was having a kid, and yet he didn't have one. God, this just doesn't seem right. Why is it the heathen who don't honor you have children, and I, who love you, who adore you, who build altars to you, who stand firm for you, don't have any children? How does that work? That just doesn't seem right. You ever been in that situation? You're looking for a job, and you can't find one, and the guy who doesn't know the Lord, and he's out drinking and carousing with all the women, gets any job he wants.

That just doesn't seem right. You say, wait a minute, God. I'm committed to you. I'm serving you, and I'm jobless. Well, what am I going to do here? And this guy over here, he blasphemes your name, and you give him a job. How can that happen? You ever been in that situation? Sure you have. You want to get married, and all your friends are getting married, and you're still single, and you can't find anybody for anything. What's wrong with me, Lord? I'm not ugly. I'm not broke. I got lots of money, but how come I can't get a wife or a husband?

When people who do not love you, they're getting married all the time. We say, this doesn't seem right, God. And we begin to interpret God's delay as a denial, don't we? But I want you to look at God's delay with me as not a denial, but a delight.

Think of God's delay as a delight for you. You see, because when God delays an answer, when God delays an answer, that's because He wants you to believe Him and to trust Him so much so that when it finally comes, it is the most unbelievable thing you've ever seen.

Maybe God is delaying an answer in your life because He wants to make your testimony more powerful. After all, when was the last time somebody wanted to kill you because you were leading so many people to Christ, right? Right? Think about it. So, you come to Abraham and the delay of God's promise has made him very restless. And God would tell him, Abraham, if you never have a child, I'm your reward. And Abraham believes that, but he's got a question, Lord, how does this promise thing work? What's going to happen here?

And then God tells him in a moment, let me read to you Isaiah 30. Listen to this, verse 18, therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you. Do you believe that? The Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore, He waits. Think about that. God wants to be so gracious to you that He's going to stand in heaven and He is going to delay. He's going to wait. Let me read on.

And therefore, He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who long or wait for Him. Isn't that good? God is so good that He wants to be gracious to you. He wants to be so gracious to you that He is going to wait to answer you. He is going to delay because the blessed man, Isaiah 30.18 says, is the one who in turn waits on God's answer. Instead of going out and trying to conjure up some kind of rationale or some kind of answer for your certain situation or problem, you learn to wait upon God and long for Him.

The text in the New American Standard says, how blessed are all those who long for Him. You see, the one who waits upon God to answer is the one who realizes that God is His reward therefore he longs for God more than he longs for the answer from God. See that? That's why God delays. God delays because He wants you to want Him more than you want an answer from Him. That's what we want with our children, is it not? We want our children to love us for who we are, not because we give them things or do things for them or take them certain places.

Right? We want them to love us for who we are, not because we're sugar daddies, not because they can get the car keys when they want the car keys or drive the good cars or the old car or get money when they need money. We want them to love us for who we are. God wants us to love Him for who He is, not because He's going to answer our every need. God is compassionate and God wants to be gracious to you. Do you believe that? That's what the Bible says.

So much so, He waits. He waits on heaven and high that He might be compassionate to you. How blessed is the one who longs for Him, who waits for Him. That's the blessed man. And so God's delays are not denials, but they are your delight if you wait for Him to answer. Isn't that good? Aren't you glad you came today? So Abraham, his reply, and I want you to notice point number two, God's reassurance.

Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, now get this point, get it good. The word of the Lord came again. Abraham's comfort would be where? In the word of the Lord. Where's your comfort? In the word of the Lord. Remember Romans 15, 4? These things are written for our instruction that through encouragement and comfort of scriptures, we might have hope. We might believe. We might trust. That's what Romans 15, 4 says. So the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Now the word of the Lord comes to Abraham again, because Abraham's comfort is in the word of the Lord.

There is no other place to receive comfort but the word of God. And so then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this man will not be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir. And he took him outside and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars. If you are able to count them, and he said to him, so shall your descendants be. Isn't that good? Here's God's reassurance. Abraham, it's not going to be a servant in your household. It's going to come from your own body.

Now Abraham's 85 years old. That's an amazing thing. And Abraham, come outside. I want you to look up. In Genesis 13, God said, look down, look down. Because as the dust of the earth, so shall your descendants be. Now God says, look up, look up, count the stars.

Can you count the stars, Abraham? Can you count them? If you can count them, you can count your descendants. If you can't count them, you can't count your descendants either. There's going to be a multitude of them. So whenever Abraham went outside, whether he walked in the dust of the ground, whether he looked up at night and saw the stars, he would always be reassured of the promise of Almighty God. Look up, Abraham. Look up. So shall your descendants be as the stars in the heavens. He would be reminded of this in Genesis 22.

And Isaac in Genesis 26 would be reaffirmed about this whole promise from God. From God's reassurance, I want you to go with me to God's reckoning. And let us touch on this briefly this morning. What's it say in verse number six? Then he believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. This verse becomes the crux of what it means to be declared righteous. What it means to be justified by Almighty God answers the question, how can man be made right with God? He believed. He believed.

This is God's reckoning. From Abraham's reply, you get God's reassurance and God's reckoning. Abraham believed what God said. The word believe means to confirm, means to trust, means to say amen. It means to lean your whole weight upon. He trusted in everything God said. You see, Abraham had to trust God amidst the impossible, amidst the improbable. He's 85 years old. What man 85 years old is going to have a kid whose wife is 75? How is that going to happen? You know, we can listen to the counsel of other people.

We can listen to or see our circumstances right about us, or we can believe in what God says. We need to believe in what God says in his word and take that as face value and trust in that alone and lean on it with all that we have as Abraham did.

If not, then we begin to doubt Almighty God. Listen to what Romans chapter 4 says. Romans 4, verse number 18. In hope against hope, Abraham believed. Against all natural recourses, Abraham believed. In order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, so shall your descendants be. And without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead. That's the point. Why did God delay? God delayed to Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 89 years old to conceive.

Because he wanted to make sure that Abraham's body was as good as dead. So, Abraham would receive no glory. That God would receive all glory. That which was impossible with man was possible with God and Abraham. Abraham. Without becoming weak in faith, that means he continued to believe in God as he progressed, as he became older, believing God. Even though his body was as good as dead. And that says since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb, yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.

How about you? When there's a delay, do you grow strong in faith because you believe in God and you wait upon him and you trust him? Verse number 21, and being fully assured that what he had promised he was able also to perform. He was fully convinced. There wasn't a doubt in Abraham's mind. How about you? You got a doubt? You got a doubt in your mind whether or not God can make your marriage work? You got a doubt in your mind whether or not God can supply your needs? Do you have a doubt in your mind whether or not God can heal your body?

Do you have a doubt in your mind as to what God could do in your family? Are you fully convinced, fully assured as to who God is? Verse number 22, therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also. Look at that.

Why was this written? Not just for his sake, but for our sake. And it says to whom it will be reckoned as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. These things are written for your sake. Genesis 15 is for you. Oh Abraham believed God and God reckoned him as righteous. God declared him a righteous individual. He became right with God because he believed in God and trusted in God. But it's recorded so you and I would understand what it means to truly, wholly lean upon Almighty God for all things that we too would not only be made right with God, but will continue to live in obedience to God.

Remember what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1, 12? I know in whom I have believed. Not what I have believed. Paul knew the doctrine. He wrote the doctrine. He wrote the doctrinal statement. He didn't say I know what I believe. He goes I know in whom I believe. Because of who he is, he is able to guard that which I have entrusted unto him until that day. I believe in my God. I trust him. Do you believe in him? Do you trust him? God's reckoning. He believed and God reckoned him. What does that mean? He'll come next week and we'll tell you.

Let's pray together.