Podcast appearances and mentions of faith now

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Episode 764: Praying the Prayer of Faith - Now! It is God's will for you to be healed. Join your faith with Greg's and pray the prayer of faith with him on this episode of Good News with Greg Fritz. Download or request your FREE Study Notes for this series at https://gregfritz.org/study-notes/. Greg Fritz is on a mission to get the truth of the Good News to as many people as possible. The truth is God has a plan and a meaning for your life. You are extravagantly and deeply loved by God, and you were created for a purpose.  Receive a free CD and our newsletter: https://www.gregfritz.org/free-cd/   Follow Greg on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregfritzministries/  Follow Greg on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregfritzministries/ Watch more videos: https://www.gospeltruth.tv/   Learn more on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrR9Rsx4h_RqYigda2PysZQ  Email us: info@gregfritz.org  Partner with us:  https://gregfritz.org/partners/ Donate: https://gregfritz.org/donate/

PART TWO:6. Believers suffer as a testament of faith to others (Hebrews 11 – Living by Faith: “Now without faith, it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him”). 7. God allows people to suffer so they will turn to Him in repentance and not perish for eternity (Luke 13:1-4 – Two Options…Repent or Perish: Jesus said in verses 3 & 5 – “I tell you, unless you repent, you will perish as well”). 8. Christians suffer so they can be conformed more closely to the character of Christ (Romans 8:28-30, James 1:2-4 – “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing”). 9. Believers suffer so they can know Christ more fully (Philippians 3:10 – “My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead”). 10. To prepare followers of Christ for the glory of Heaven (2 Corinthians 4:17 – “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory”). 

Life can be hard. What do you do when life isn't fair? We all handle our struggles differently. In today's Faith NOW podcast Pastor Toby offers some encouraging scripture we can use to battle our day-to-day struggles and win the war against the difficult circumstances you may be facing.

Yesterday and tomorrow are important, but what matters most is TODAY. You are creating your future today, and you'll never change your life unless you change today. On today's episode of Faith NOW, Pastor Toby encourages us with 5 ways to change today. Get your notes ready and let's get to it!

Focus on Faith Overview ● Introduction - Faith is an amazing and vital part of Christian life ● What is faith? ● What is the foundation of faith? ● What is the outcome of faith? Part 1: What is Faith? A Definition of Faith “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1 KJV “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Heb 11:1 NIV “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Heb 11:1 NLT Faith is living as though what you believe is real. (Because we have the truth.) Part 2: What is the foundation of Faith? Faith to take God at His word. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb 11:6 Part 3: What is the outcome of Faith? For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (New American Standard Bible) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 NASB1995 For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 1 John 5:4 NASB2020 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful4103 servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Matthew 25:21

1st Samuel 1:1‭-‬28 ☆"Hanna, a Woman of Faith"☆ Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord , were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord , that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat. Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord . And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord , that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” But Hannah answered and said, “No, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord . “Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord , and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord .” Now the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “ Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.” So Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord establish His word.” Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, “O my Lord! As your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord . For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord ; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord .” So they worshiped the Lord there. In His Care, Reno aka L. R.

Talking about Faith exercised before we became Men & Women of Faith ❣Now just think back for a moment, remember when you went to the Doctor's Office, after you sign in you turn and look for a chair to be seated, you didn't take one look at that chair and say can that chair hold me! No you didn't even think about it, you walk right in and sit right down as you wait to be seen! This is the lesson that we were exercising Faith without realizing it. Please take note of this & begin to acknowledge the need to build or reconstruct Faith and begin to purposely exercise the kind of Faith that Heals and Delivers❣

Talking about Faith exercised before we became Men & Women of Faith ❣Now just think back for a moment, remember when you went to the Doctor's Office, after you sign in you turn and look for a chair to be seated, you didn't take one look at that chair and say can that chair hold me! No you didn't even think about it, you walk right in and sit right down as you wait to be seen! This is the lesson that we were exercising Faith without realizing it. Please take note of this & begin to acknowledge the need to build or reconstruct Faith and begin to purposely exercise the kind of Faith that Heals and Delivers❣

Followers of Jesus Should Let Difficult Circumstances Draw You Toward God Rather than Pulling You Away from God and Your “Faith” – God Walks with You MESSAGE SUMMARY:       Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”. Today’s Message – Exercising Your Faith: The Writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Followers of Jesus, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 11:1-3,5-6, the Writer of Hebrews defines “Faith”: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible . . . By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.". From this text, we can see that “Faith” involves: 1) confidence and conviction; 2) looking ahead – “faith is the ‘Hope’ that we mix into cement to harden it” {Charles Swindoll}; 3) what is not seen; {faith speaks to two of our human uncertainties: knowing the future and seeing the unseen}; 4) pleasing God; and 5) focusing totally on God. “Faith” is like a muscle in that it needs to be used or it will grow weak through atrophy, and “Faith”, like a muscle, needs resistance to grow stronger, as we see from the Writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 10:32,36: “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings . . . For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.". As directed by the Writer of Hebrews to the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, we should let our difficult circumstances draw us toward God rather than pulling us away from God and our “Faith”. In the remainder of Hebrews 11, the Writer of Hebrews is telling the Followers of Jesus, in Rome and us, about all the great men and women that did great things derivative of their “Faith” in their lives that drew them close to God in their difficult circumstances. Also, their lives pointed toward the promised coming of the Christ, whom they never saw; but their “Faith” saw them through. However, as today’s Followers of Jesus, we have the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. Additionally, we know that God, through the written Gospel, is faithful; and our “faith” can be strong in our difficult circumstances as we draw our lives and actions, in our difficult circumstances, toward God. In your difficult circumstances, God will not leave you. Through the Holy Spirit, God will walk with you. He may not fix your situation, but God will give you a way to see you through. Stay out of personal pity parties driven by your circumstances. Instead, look to God. In many cases, the “lead” of difficult circumstances may result, ultimately, to “gold” in your life. As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).   TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 11:1-6; Hebrews 10:32-39; James 1:2-3; Habakkuk2:3-4; Hebrews 11:7-40. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch  A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Followers of Jesus Should Let Difficult Circumstances Draw You Toward God Rather than Pulling You Away from God and Your “Faith” – God Walks with You MESSAGE SUMMARY:       Introduction to the Bible's Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible's book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew's writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew's, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”. Today's Message – Exercising Your Faith: The Writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Followers of Jesus, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 11:1-3,5-6, the Writer of Hebrews defines “Faith”: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible . . . By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.". From this text, we can see that “Faith” involves: 1) confidence and conviction; 2) looking ahead – “faith is the ‘Hope' that we mix into cement to harden it” {Charles Swindoll}; 3) what is not seen; {faith speaks to two of our human uncertainties: knowing the future and seeing the unseen}; 4) pleasing God; and 5) focusing totally on God. “Faith” is like a muscle in that it needs to be used or it will grow weak through atrophy, and “Faith”, like a muscle, needs resistance to grow stronger, as we see from the Writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 10:32,36: “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings . . . For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.". As directed by the Writer of Hebrews to the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, we should let our difficult circumstances draw us toward God rather than pulling us away from God and our “Faith”. In the remainder of Hebrews 11, the Writer of Hebrews is telling the Followers of Jesus, in Rome and us, about all the great men and women that did great things derivative of their “Faith” in their lives that drew them close to God in their difficult circumstances. Also, their lives pointed toward the promised coming of the Christ, whom they never saw; but their “Faith” saw them through. However, as today's Followers of Jesus, we have the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. Additionally, we know that God, through the written Gospel, is faithful; and our “faith” can be strong in our difficult circumstances as we draw our lives and actions, in our difficult circumstances, toward God. In your difficult circumstances, God will not leave you. Through the Holy Spirit, God will walk with you. He may not fix your situation, but God will give you a way to see you through. Stay out of personal pity parties driven by your circumstances. Instead, look to God. In many cases, the “lead” of difficult circumstances may result, ultimately, to “gold” in your life. As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).   TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 11:1-6; Hebrews 10:32-39; James 1:2-3; Habakkuk2:3-4; Hebrews 11:7-40. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch  A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Megan Di Martino is a New York girl deep in the heart of Texas! A lifelong creator of beauty - with a serving, mentoring spirit. She has started, scaled, sustained and sold 2 seven figure businesses in the Skin Care-Spa Industry. Her purpose is to build teams that in turn build businesses. In January 2020, her book, Hope and Possibilities: Just Over the Horizon, went to number one on Amazon. In April 2020, her award-winning skin care line, Novita Spa Clinicals, was nominated in the Product Innovation Category, for the Austin Women's Way Awards. Now, Megan speaks, writes, coaches and consults with businesses and individuals to help them reach their dreams, goals and desires. Contact or Connect with Megan:www.megandimartino.com www.novitaspa.com facebook.com/officialmegandimartinolinkedin.com/in/megandimartinoResources:The BibleThink and Grow Rich, Napoleon HillOg Mandino's Greatest Salesman in the WorldThree Feet From Gold, Sharon Lechter and Greg ReidThe Tongue A Creative Force, Charles CappCall to Action:Hope is the Fuel for Faith - Now faith is the substance of things Hoped for, the evidence of things not seen Take the First Step..The Second and Third Step will be Revealed To You! But.. must Start..and Never Stop!3-My Mission is Bring Encouragement to the World!4-Compassion is the radicalization of our time Dali Lama

Today is part 2 in You’ve already Got This! God knew all our needs before he even put us on this Earth, and our biggest need was a savoir, so God sent his only son to live and die for us. Now our only need is to have faith in that truth. Hebrews 11:1 says Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You have to have Faith NOW...not faith tomorrow, not faith one day but faith now! Let's have a break thru today with Pastor Duane’s message; What you need.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

"Faith" is not some spiritual exercise created for humans on the earth. Heaven operates in Faith ("Now these three remain: Faith, Hope ane Love..."). Faith is the currency of heaven, as much as money is the currency of earth. We use money on earth to obtain things - exchanging one thing of value to obtain another thing of value. When you go to a foreign country you exchange you money into the local currency. To obtain things from heaven we must use heaven's currency: Faith.

To Live by Faith Now

Faith - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Meditate on these words. -                                               Jesus is a Freedom Doors Ministries, spreading the Good News of Jesus. Here on Jesus in The Morning we bring information in many different ways to our listeners, but mainly through a different speaker daily with a fresh word

The Westminster Confession of Faith Mid-way through the 17th century, some of the greatest theologians that ever lived assembled to put together a statement of faith, the Westminster Confession of Faith. In my mind, one of the greatest doctrinal writings ever. Section on God I can scarcely read without being moved to my heart. I want to begin by reading some of it to you. There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; ... most just, and terrible in His judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. God has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, not deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them: He is the sole fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever He Himself pleases. In His sight all things are open and manifest; His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them. Now, that last line is why I read the whole thing. I struggle believing that, but I know in my heart it's true. That God is worthy of anything that He requires of me. Even if it would be my own child. Sometime 4000 years ago, God did in fact command one of His choice servants Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. And this God that we have discussed, that we have worshipped this morning is worthy of whatever worship He may require of you. And my only desire in preaching this sermon is to free you up from any restrictions, so that you can obey Him more fully than you have ever obeyed Him before by faith alone. That you may imitate the faith of Abraham. He will not command you to do what He commanded Abraham to do, but he will command you to do difficult things. And my only desire is to build up your faith so that you may obey Him and do those difficult things He commands you to do. I. God’s Test of Abraham’s Faith: The Sacrifice of Isaac Now, we're right in the middle of Hebrews chapter 11, this great faith chapter. The whole pressure, the whole press of the chapter is to build in the hearers, the readers a growing faith, to strengthen our faith that we may realize that we are not only justified by faith, but we are to live by faith, moment by moment. And the same faith that justifies is the faith that we must live out day by day. And so the author has given us these marvelous examples, and this is one of the pinnacle examples in all redemptive history, what I call today, the second greatest act of faith in history. And what is the test? What was Abraham asked to do? What was he commanded to do? In verse 17, "By faith Abraham, when God tested him offered Isaac as a sacrifice." The command comes very plainly in the Genesis account, you know it well I know. Genesis 22:1-2, there it says, "Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am, he replied.' Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'" Now, who is this man who is so severely tested, this is Abraham who is called our father in faith, this is the one that God commanded to leave all of the Chaldees and go to the land He would show him. In Genesis 12, saying that through his offspring all peoples on earth would be blessed. This is the one who in Genesis 12, built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. This is the one who, in Genesis 13, God spoke to him after Lot left Him and said, "To your descendants I give this land." This is the one who blessed... Who was blessed by Melchizedek, and who Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. He who is priest of God most high, after the defeat of the kings in Genesis 14. This is the one to whom God had appeared in a vision in Genesis 15. And said, "Do not be afraid Abram, I am your shield, I am your very great reward." And then God took him out under the starlet sky and said, "Look up at the stars, count them if you can... So shall your offspring be" This is the one with whom God had made a very serious and solemn covenant in that same chapter, Genesis 15, and God represented by a smoking fire pod appeared when a dreadful darkness had come over Abraham, and he moved through the pieces of the sacrifice as if to say, "If I don't keep this promise, this covenant of mine, may I cease to exist, may I be exploded as this... The bodies of these sacrifices have been laid aside. May I be also destroyed if I don't keep this promise, this covenant." This is the one to whom God had given the covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17. The one who had said, "I am God almighty, walk before me and be blameless." The one to whom God appeared in Genesis 18, in the heat of the day and with two other angels, and the one who had made a promise "About this time next year, I will return, and Sarah will have a a son." This is the one who said within himself, "Shall I hide from Abraham. What I'm about to do?" (to Sodom and Gomorrah). And who opened up His counsel to Abraham and drew him in and the two of them had a discussion over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. And therefore in two places in scripture, Abraham was called God's friend. Both in Isaiah and in James. This is the one whom God severely tested. And so, I just want to stop right here at this point and say, just make this observation. It is not at all a sign of God's disfavor when he lays on someone a severe test or trial. Not at all a sign of His disfavor. The one he loved the most was His only begotten son, and He laid on him the greatest trial of all. And so what's going to happen when God tests your faith, and when God crushes you under some trial and some affliction, Satan is going to whisper to you that this is plain evidence that God doesn't love you. Don't listen to it. Those whom He loves the most He tests most severely. And so He tested Abraham his friend. And at what stage of life did God tests Abraham? When was this? Well, this was toward the end of Abraham's life. After many trials, after many step. Step by step. God building Abraham in his faith. It was not the raw recruit that God threw into the front line of test. But it was a seasoned veteran. This is graduate school. This is his doctoral dissertation of faith. This is at the end of his life, not at the beginning, like a skillful potter, God had been shaping and molding Abraham's faith all along. So this was not a beginning trial. This was more of a consummating trial. At What Stage of His Life Did He Test Him? And so after a long time at the end of his life after he'd been built up step-by-step, God tested him. And also notice it was in the middle of a very peaceful placid good time in his life. If you look at Genesis 22:1, it says, "And it came to pass after these things." After what things? Well, after the... At least the events of Genesis 21. Well, what happened in Genesis 21? Well, finally the miracle baby was born, the son of laughter, Sarah marveling over it saying, "Am I really going to nurse a child at this age?" And just the joy that Isaac the son of laughter brought into their lives. It was a happy time. And then despite Ishmael mocking and then he was cast out, and there were some family turmoil, but that was over now, God had made it plain that the bond woman and her son must be cast out. And so there was nothing but peace and harmony at that point in Abraham's family life. Furthermore, he was in a comfortable position with the people around him, he had made a covenant with Abimelech at Beersheba. A covenant of peace. And he planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord the eternal God. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. So it was a time of peace, of prosperity, of comfort and ease. And like a bolt from the blue comes this command. When all was right with his world. "Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love." And you may ask why did God test him? Why? "Sometime later, God tested Abraham." Why Did God “Test” Him? Why Does He “Test” Us? Why does He do it? Well, first of all, God never tempts anyone. I want to make a distinction between temptation and testing? From James Chapter 1. "When tempted no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." So there must be a distinction in scripture between what James says God never does, and what Genesis 22, Moses says that God did do. So there's a distinction then between temptation and a trial. A temptation, the image in James is being seized and dragged away to do evil. And God never does that. He never puts a magnetic force on your soul, dragging you to do wickedness, that would never be God, God hates evil, everything He's doing in our lives and sanctification is to get us to hate evil as much as He does. But God never tempts anyway. But he does test us. So it's like an assayer office, a testing or a proving the worth of... So the assayer is going to find out whether this chunk really is gold or silver, or something valuable or something that's not. So why does He then test us? First, He does it for His own glory, because God is the one who gave you the faith he then wants to show you how powerful is His gift. And so he gives you the faith and then he puts testing circumstances around you to show that His faith will not fail. The faith that He gave you. And so for his own glory to the glory of God. So you realized it was God that gave you the faith, it is Jesus at the right hand of God, interceding for you concerning your faith, it's Gods work in you from beginning to end, and to God be the glory. And none of that can be proven if you never have any difficult times. If you never have any testing, no trials. No none of that can ever be proven, God cannot be glorified in that way. Secondly, he tests us for our own good for greater assurance. We must imagine that Abraham had a far greater assurance of God's sovereign love for him after this experience, than he did before. And so God test us, and tries us to bring us to full maturity and to greater assurance. The assurance language, I get from Romans 5:3-4. It says, "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope." Now hope equals assurance to me. They're the same thing. And so we have assurance, a greater hope, a greater sense of servitude about the future after those trials are over. And so God does it because he loves us. I want to add another one right here. And that is to purify our faith, not just to test us and show it, but also to purify our faith. This is the one that was added to me as I was sitting in the pew. The fact of the matter is, we are still in danger of idolatry. Is it possible for Abraham and Sarah to idolize Isaac? Certainly, it's possible. God is a jealous God, and He will not have Abraham love Isaac more than he loves Him. And so He strengthens our faith by purifying it of all of his good gifts, so sometimes he's going to take away a good gift to show that the real blessing in it was the giver who's still here. God is still here, He still loves me just as much. Even though the gift has now been taken away. And so we must have our faith purified because we're still in danger. And realized Faith is temporary, anyway you won't need it in heaven. And so it makes sense that it's not a perfect thing, it needs to be purified, it needs to be strengthened all of those things. And then fourthly, God tests, our faith for the good of others. For the on-looking world, for the on-looking audience so that others may be blessed by the way that you are strengthened through your trial in your test. So we know that this is how it works in a local church. When you see someone else suffer well through a trial, you are strengthened. We are all sitting in the school of Abraham today, we're sitting at his feet and learning from him our father in faith, how to trust God. And so we are on the outside looking in, and we are strengthened by the testing that happened to another person. Those are four reasons why God does it. How Could Abraham Morally Obey Such a Command? Now as you read this you may be troubled, you may wonder about this, "Take your son, your only son… and sacrifice him..." How can Abraham morally obey such a repugnant command, it seems repugnant to us. I mean, we already knew from Genesis 9:6, Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. Story of Cain and Abel confirms that God is against murder. So clearly, again, we must make a distinction between murder and what God's commanding Abraham to do here. Just as we made a distinction between temptations and trials. How can he morally obey this command, is it immoral for him to do this? And the key answer, and this must be God's absolute sovereignty, that God as the king of the universe, is alone, the standard of righteousness. Whatever God commands is righteous and whatever he forbids is wickedness. He is the standard in the universe. He has an absolute right to do whatever He wants with what He's made. That is the very lesson that we struggle with our whole lives, our rebellious self-struggle with that. Does God really have the right to do that. Yes, he does. God has infinite rights as the creator, the sovereign, the king. He is allowed to command Abraham to do this. It is not immoral, for him to do it, it would have been immoral for him not to do it. So we just have to get our minds around that. Whatever God commands is right? Just like the angel in Revelation 16, when He's pouring out wrath on the rivers, all the fresh water. And the angels celebrating it and worship. The angel in charge of the water is saying, "You are just in these judgments you who are and who were the holy one, because you have so judged." It's really just that simple to the angel. "You told me to do it, it must be right". And so the angel has that attitude, and we should pray in the Lord's prayer, that God's will will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven. With the same kind of trust in the King. So no, it is not immoral for him. Now, let's weight, if we can the greatness of this test. II. The Greatness of the Test This was a great test. What was actually commanded? Well, we've said it, but look at it carefully. "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Maria, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering." I just ponder those words. Who was it that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice? It wasn't one of his beasts, it wasn't all of his beasts, wasn't one of his slaves, it wasn't even Ishmael, son whom he definitely loved, the son of the slave woman, it was the son of the promise, it was the one that he and his barren wife had waited for it for a hundred and 90 years respectively. They had waited for this miracle baby, and now the miracle baby is there, the one who is crafted in the womb in Sarah's barren womb by the supernatural power of Almighty God. This is the one through whom all peoples on earth will be blessed. This is the promised baby, this is the seed of Abraham. In Isaac, your seed will be reckoned. This is the seed of Abraham through which the whole world is going to be blessed. Look what it says about him, this heightens in Verse 17 and 18, Hebrews 11:17-18, "He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, of whom God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." This is the one that he loved, the son that he loved, the son of his affection. It's amazing how children can wrap parents around their fingers, they just do it from the time they come home from the hospital. And oh, how we dote on them, and we should, we should cherish them, and we should love them. It's a great picture of God, the Father's love for us, when you have a godly father who loves you that same way. And so there's nothing wrong with it. And He said, "Take your son whom you love, the one you cherish." Matthew Henry put it this way, "And being called to offer up his Isaac, he seemed to be called to destroy and cut off his own family, to cancel the promises of God, to prevent the coming of Christ, to destroy the whole world. To sacrifice his own soul, and his own hopes of salvation, to cut off the church of God at one blow. It was a most terrible trial." Another commentator said, "When God commanded Abraham to leave Ur, the Chaldeans, He was commanding him to turn his back on his past. With this command, He was commanding him to turn his back it seemed on his future." A severe trial. Now, what was it in Abraham's nature that made this such a test? Well, look at Abraham just as a man, what kind of man was he? Was he a cruel man who delighted in cruelty? Did he liked being vicious? Not at all. Look at his reaction to the whole problem with Ishmael, he wanted to find some way that they could all get along, he didn't want to send his son Ishmael away. Had to be told directly by God to do it. So he's tender-hearted, Genesis 21:11 concerning Ishmael, "The matter distressed Abraham greatly, because it concerned his son." And that's speaking of Ishmael. That's a tender-hearted man. Now, what was it in God's dealings with Abraham that made this such a test? Well, it seemed to run contrary to everything God was doing. Talk about connecting the dots, "Now, what's God been doing in my life?" You connect, connect, connect, connect, and then suddenly, this command comes, it doesn't make any sense at all. It seems to be contrary to the very nature of God, this tender-hearted and loving God, the God who is merciful and compassionate, slowed to anger and abounding in love and kindness. It doesn't seem to make any sense, the kind of thing you would think would have come from a demiurge, a demon, Satan himself, not God. Let's be honest, if you had a friend who told you they had heard from God that he was commanded to do this, wouldn't you worry at least? You might go so far as to turn him in to the authorities. This is a strange command, it doesn't seem to line up. It seems difficult to accept that God would command him to do this. And so we are led into the inner workings of Abraham's faith and the nature of his relationship, God's relationship with Abraham. There was no doubt at all, no doubt at all in Abraham's mind, that it was God who was commanding him to do this. God by his pattern of communication, in various ways... And I was tracing over it this morning, as I was looking over it again, God came to Abraham at many times and in various ways as well, sometimes a vision, sometimes just speaking, it says God took him out of the tent to look at the stars. I don't know how that works, how God the Father did that, but there's this walking in it, walking with God there is a sense of incredible relationship between God and Abraham. There was such a closeness, an intimacy, sometimes, like I said, a vision. I don't know what that looked like. However God spoke to Abraham concerning Isaac, he knew it was God, there was no doubt in his mind. III. The Inner Workings of Abraham’s Faith And I find it amazing that Scripture gives us... I would say, no glimpse whatsoever, into Abraham's inner turmoil, or his psychology concerning this command and the three-day journey and all that, none, there's not a word anywhere. Many artists who let's say, painted or who write poems about it, or Michael Card who'll write a song, beautiful song. Three days journey to the sacred place. Boy and a man with a sorrowful face stop probably, but there's nothing in Scripture about it. Tortured, yet faithful to God's command. Stop. Probably, but again, nothing in Scripture about it. John Owen delves into this, he says, "What now must be the workings of his heart towards Isaac, a son whom he’d so long waited for; the only child of his dear wife who was the companion of all his wanderings; this boy who was now growing up, as is most probable, unto the age of sixteen or seventeen years, and had engaged his affections by all ways possible; the security of his old age, the life of his family—his only hope and comfort in this world? And how was he to deal with him? Not to send him out of his family with some provision and a guide, as he sent Ishmael; not to part with him for a time in a foreign country; but to take him himself, bind him, slay him with a knife, and then to burn him to ashes. Who can conceive what convulsions of nature must have happened at that time? Who can put himself into these circumstances without trembling and horror?" Well, that's John Owen, one of the greatest theologians of the Puritan era, he is delving into the psychology of Abraham. I think it's only natural to do it, I just find it fascinating. The Scripture doesn't do it at all. It seems in the end, to have been irrelevant and a material if there were these kinds of torture, and wrangling and all that sort of stuff, what mattered is that he did it, that's what mattered. In the end, he obeyed, that's what mattered, not the wrangling, and all of the torture, and the facial expression. I'm thinking he probably had to control his facial expression during that three-day journey, don't you think? He's got to get the boy there. And so I don't know that you could have seen much on his face, that's just me surmising, I really don't know. Martin Luther, in a family devotion, went into great detail over this, Genesis 22, lots of detail about the sacrifice, Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. He went into a such great detail that finally, his wife Katie couldn't bear it anymore, and she blurted out, "I do not believe it, God would not have treated His own son like that." "But Katie," said Luther, "He did." It's an amazing thing, and yet, for all of that, for all of the wrangling that Owen said, went on, that Luther said went on, that Michael Card said went on, there's nothing at all. I find that significant, because what really matters in the end is faith and obedience, faith and obedience. I think he probably did with this, the same that he'd done earlier concerning Isaac's conception to begin with. "He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully convinced that He who had promised had power to do what he had promised." That's what I think was going on. And so in compliance set along with the command of God, he shut his eyes as it were, against all difficulties and consequence, resolving to venture Isaac, posterity truth of promises, to venture everything out on the authority of God. In the end, it was for God and not Abraham, to reconcile this command with the promises. Wasn't Abraham's business to work it all out. Life really is ultimately simple for bond-slaves, amen, just do what you're told. Now you may say, "That's not that easy," believe me, I know what you mean when you say it's not that easy, believe me I know. But in the end it really is that easy, you obey or you disobey. And so the inner wrangling, and the psychology, even all that is just noise really, in the background. Do you have faith and will you obey? Abraham Reasoned by Faith Now, Hebrews 11:19 tells us a little more, it tells us that Abraham reasoned by faith. It actually gives us a glimpse into the workings of his mind on the rational side, not so much the emotional side, not at all actually, but on the rational side, Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. Now, this is really astonishing because at least in the record of Scripture, it's never happened before, this would be the first time ever that a dead person had been resurrected. Do you not see what a great thing faith is? Because our God is a great God, God can do anything, faith connects with that, and therefore, God can raise the dead. It's really astonishing, but there'd been no precedent at all. Genesis 22:5 gives us proof that he was expecting this. He said to the servants that were with them, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." What a big difference between we and I? Alright, "We will worship and I will come back to you," that's a whole different sentence, amen. "We will worship and then we will come back to you." So, as I figure it out, not only did Abraham fully expect a bodily resurrection of Isaac, he expected it immediately, not a year later, five years later, but right there, he'd get him back. God can do anything, God can do anything except break His promise, that He cannot do. Titus 1:2 speaks of "the hope of eternal life which God who does not lie promised before the beginning of time." And so I believe Abraham for that three-day journey, his total focus was on God, not on difficulties, but on the goodness of God, the omnipotence of God, the faithfulness of God, completely on God, and this is the key to everything. The promise of God in Genesis 21:12. Genesis 21:12, remember how... Going back and forth over Ishmael, he doesn't want to send Ishmael out. And God makes something very, very clear to him, which is the key to everything in the next chapter. Genesis 21:12, "But God said to him, Do not be so distressed about the boy, [Ishmael] and your maid servant, [that's Hagar] Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." That is the key to everything, do you not see it? Isaac was with that word, indispensable to the plans of God. It had to be Isaac and no one else. Suppose God had said, "It is through one of Sarah's sons that you're offspring will be reckoned," now that's different, isn't it? Maybe Isaac will die and another son will be raised up. Very, very tough at that point. Now here, I hope gently, take a little thought with the NIV, second time in this chapter. But I just am bewildered by it actually, I don't understand it, it doesn't make much sense to me. What the NIV says is, "He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." So it's like, despite the fact of the promise, he went through with it, does that make any sense to you? Please look puzzled and shake your head. It make no sense to me, I have... "Despite the promise, he still went ahead and sacrificed his son." That's what, "even though" means, despite. And the Greek doesn't require at all, none of the other translations have it, it's just "of whom it was said, in Isaac, your offspring will be reckoned." That's all. Friends, it's hard to translate Scripture, and I'm not trying to find faults with those that had labored hard on it. I'm just saying, we're not bound by any of these translations. We have to do our best to understand, and that's why it's helpful to know the original language Psalm. The bottom line is, there's no concussive here at all. It's precisely because God had made this promise that he was able to do it. The Combination of Faith and Reason This is the ground of the reasoning that he's doing it, do you not see it? He's reasoning it out, how does he reason? Well, fact number one, God has promised me that through my offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. So I have to have some offspring. Fact number two, God has promised me specifically, it's through Isaac that my offspring will be reckoned. Okay, fact number three, Isaac needs to have a body in order to have a child for that whole thing to keep going. He didn't have a son yet, and so he is indispensable at least until he gives birth to a son or conceives a son. Fact number four, God has commanded me to burn his body to ashes. Well then, God's going to raise his body from the dead. I think that's how he reasoned. I don't see any other way. And so right from that, he reasons. So it's amazing how much faith and reason actually do go together. All that happens with faith as faith just accept facts that the pure rationalist doesn't accept, we accept revealed facts and then we reason from them. And so he reasons, and so he obeys. He doesn't merely obey the command, I don't want to go beyond this, I want to add a different verb that we don't usually use with commands, he believed the command. Usually, we think obey the command, believe the promise. And that's fine, that's the usual way we speak. But here it seems like he goes beyond, he just embraces the command, he steps into it, he swims in the ocean of the command, he loves the command, it becomes him because God gave it. And so there is one verse that teaches this connection, Psalm 119 and Verse 66 says, "Teach me knowledge and good judgement for I believe in your commands." That's a wonderful verse, isn't it? "I believe in your commands. I trust them, they're not burdensome. I love them, whatever you command to do is right, I embrace it." So he loved that command. So what was the outcome of Abraham's faith? Well, early the next morning, he got up and saddled his donkey. There is no evidence he told Sarah anything. Can you imagine what that conversation would have looked like? I think that Abraham did in fact, imagine what that conversation would have looked like. "We're not going there, it's not her trial, this is my trial. I'm not going to lay that burden." And am I feeling the same thing with any friends or a circle of people that hold him accountable and pray for him, all of those things are beneficial, but he would have thought, "I think this is not helpful at all. All they're going to try to do is what? Talk me out of it, or they're going to confirm what I've already resolved to do by faith, so there's no point." And so he just gets up immediately the next morning, he saddles a donkey, he gets ready and makes that three-day journey. And for three days, he trusted God. And they get there, and Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "'Father.' 'Yes, my son,' Abraham replied. 'The fire and the water are here,' Isaac said, 'But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' Abraham answered, 'God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son.' And the two of them went on together." They have that conversation, then they go up the mountain, just the two of them as I already said, "Stay here…while I and the boy go over there. We will go up and worship, we will come back to you." And then "they reached the place that God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood on it. He bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood, and then he reached out his hand and he took the knife to slay the son." Abraham's will was entirely given over to the deed. His affections were entirely committed to the deed, it was done. Luther in his devotional said, "If God had slept but a moment, Isaac would have been killed." God waited to the last possible moment. And that's just instructive for me, God isn't going to take you out of the oven until you're done. And some of these trials are going to go on a lot longer than you'll want them to go. So God goes the whole way with Abraham, and only at the last possible moment. He could have stopped him there for one day, said, "I noticed that you saddled your donkey, and you've traveled one day, won't you just turn around?" He didn't do that. Or two days, or three days or half way up the mountain, no, he goes right to the end and then He stops. The deed was done. Abraham’s Commendation by God And he obeyed and in effect, sacrificed his son, though God stopped him. And you know how God stopped him, what a marvelous moment that is in redemptive history. The angel of the Lord called out to him from Heaven, "'Abraham! Abraham!' 'Here I am,' He replied, 'Do not lay a hand on the boy,' he said, 'Do not do anything to him. Now, I know that you fear God.'" Oh the mystery of that statement, this infinite God, saying, "Now I know." You know what it means to me? He wants to see it lived out in life, then He'll say the same thing. "Now, I know that you trust me. Now I know that you fear me. Now I know that you love me. Now I know that you obey me, because you've done this." "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me, your son, your only son." And then comes this marvelous commendation. "The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, 'I swear by myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand on the sea shore.'" Incredible commendation, commended by faith. Without faith it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. He is commended here for his faith, as a righteous man. And the text says he received Isaac back from the dead. You got him back. You can imagine what kind of hugging and trembling went on at that moment. Got him back. And it says, he did so figuratively and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. I think it's just, at one level, just simply, he didn't actually kill him. And so, in some figure of sense, it goes deeper than that. I think it's pretty clear that this is a type or a symbol of Christ, His sacrifice, and His resurrection for us. "Because I live, you also live," and the whole issue here in Hebrews 11 is to get us to stop fearing death. So that we're not afraid of death anymore. We've already been told in Hebrews 2, that Christ has destroyed forever him who holds the power of death, and freed us from it. We don't need to be afraid of death. And so much of Hebrews 11 is to liberate the readers from fear of death to know you're going to reach the end of your life, and not receive the things promised, but you're going to die in faith, and be gathered to your people and then you're going to go into your inheritance, and you're going to live forever with me. Don't fear death. And so, we're taken from one death bed to the next. In the next few weeks we'll talk about that. To Isaac's death bed, Jacob's death bed, Joseph's death bed, one after the other, so that we can embrace a life totally free from fear of death. As it says in the Book of Revelation, "They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." You're going to live a certain kind of life if you don't fear death. You're going to die every day, like Paul says, "Brothers, I die, daily, I die all the time. I'm a kernel of wheat falling to the ground and dies. It's what I do, I die, and I die, and I die some more, so that God can work life in me." IV. The Significance for Us Today What is the significance for us today? Well, the name of the sermon I entitled it "The Second Greatest Act of Faith in History." You may want to debate with me, you may know some missionary that did some great thing, you may know some other Biblical figure. I've been through the whole Bible in my head quickly. I just can't think of any other greater example of faith ever done, except one. Now, you know what I have in mind. The question you may have is, was Jesus' obedience to his father, was His death on the cross, an act of faith? And I think it was, because in Hebrews 2:13 it says, "I will put my trust in Him," and that's Jesus speaking to the Father. Here, am "I and the children God has given me," I will put my trust in Him. And we see that kind of entrusting language. 1 Peter 2 says that, "He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly." He said, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit." He said that on the cross. He entrusted His death to the father though there was almost no evidence that anything had come of, looks like, three years of miraculous ministry and a group of women and one Apostle at the base of the cross, and that's it. It's like, "Alright, Father, would you do something with this? If I die, will you make it great? Yes, I will. You sit at my right hand and I will make it great." So by faith, He entrusted himself to his father in His humanness, was the greatest act of faith in history and from that, like Michael Card says, "What Abraham was asked to do, God the Father has done." He's offered his only son and through the blood of Jesus Christ, sinners like you and me can be forgiven. If you trust in Him, if you just look to Him, and look away from your good deeds, look away from your own convictions, and what a good person, you are, and you look away from all that, and you look to this one act in history, you look back 2000 years as Abraham looked ahead 2000 years, you look back to Jesus, and you realize God has provided the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God whose death takes away the sins of the world. All you need to do, as you're sitting and listen to me, is just in your heart, trust in Him. Look to Him by faith. And your sins will be forgiven. Turn away from wickedness, turn away from sin, and simply by faith, you will be forgiven of all of your sins. And secondly, if you've already done that, did it years ago, you have a faith that cannot perish, God opened it up in your soul, He has sustained it all these many years and He wants to test it, and He will test it. He's going to test your faith day after day, year after year, to show you that it's not from yourself but from Him. He's going to put you in trying and testing circumstances and by them you're going to grow, so simply expect to be tested. Don't act like it's a strange thing when you're going through a trial of faith. And thirdly, be willing to offer up your own Isaacs, whatever they are. Thomas Mann preached, a Puritan that preach a great sermon on this offering up your Isaac. What does it mean to give up your Isaac? Well, it means, don't murmur against God, when He takes a loved one out of your life. Don't murmur against God, when He takes a beloved husband or beloved wife or a beloved mom or dad or a beloved child even. Don't murmur against God, at that time. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I want to read what Sarah Edwards said when she found out that Jonathan, her husband, had died of a smallpox inoculation very surprisingly, wrote of it in a letter to their daughter Esther, who herself would be dead in a short amount of time. And so frankly, with Sarah, all of them, all three of them. But this is what Sarah wrote to Esther. "Oh, my very dear child. What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may all kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness that we had Him so long, but my God lives and He has my heart. My heart didn't die when Jonathan Edwards died, God has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your Father has left us. We are all given to God, and there I am, and there I love to be." May I commend that kind of faith to you next time you go through a serious trial. Kiss the rod. Say, "Praise God that the hand that holds the rod loves you and is only doing it to train you and prepare you." What else does it mean to give up your Isaac? Well, deny yourself. Self-denial for the cause of Christ. You give up your Isaac when you're willing to turn your backs on earthly comforts and advantages for the sake of the Gospel. In a small way, when you risk ridicule at work, or at school, or in your neighborhood, to share Christ, you're giving up your Isaac. What are you giving up? Well, you're giving up a reputation is a good guy, or a fun person, or how it is they look on you. I've talked about Workplace Evangelism, as the trading in of an inconsequential temporary assessment for one good opportunity to share the Gospel. Trade it in. It's not worth much anyway. They won't sacrifice much for you, I'm telling you they won't. If they even think about you, they have their odd thoughts anyways. Trade it in, trade it in, trade it in with love by prayer, look for an opportunity, and share Christ. Trade it in. How much more, if you were willing to go overseas on a short-term mission trip, or to go to the South Durham Church Plant. Say, you know, I love First Baptist Church. I love being here, but I think God's calling on me to do something challenging, and to leave a church I love, and to go work with a new church. I think God's calling me to do that, by faith. You're also giving up your Isaac when you mortify the members of the body that are leading to lust. When Jesus said, "If your right eye cause you to sin, then gouge it out and throw it away," that's like giving up your Isaac. It's something precious, that could lead you to sin, just like Isaac could have been an idol for Abraham. It's a precious thing. Your right hand caused you to sin, then cut it off and throw it away. It's something valuable, something precious, something God gave you, but it's just leading you to sin. Give it up. Learn to reason by faith, learn to think through what you believe. Get to know the Bible better. Root everything you think on specific commands and promise in Texas scripture, and then reason from it. Let a city of truth, a whole metropolis of truth grow up inside your heart by Jesus, and by the biblical interpretation, and by reasoning, so that the world view of the Bible, just grows within you. Reason by faith. They are not enemies, they're not separate domains, not at all. That's what Stephen J Gould and other unbelievers will tell you, they're just separate domains. They have nothing to do with each other. That's not my world view. Put them together. Faith and reason, reason by faith as Abraham did, and learn the pattern of un-questioning obedience to God. God is telling you to do something, then do it. Do it. You may have some wrangling, you may have a tortured-looking face, but in the end, all that matters is, did you obey God or not? And finally, put all of your hope in your future bodily resurrection. We are decaying, we're in a decaying orbit physically, "All men are like grass and all their glories like the flower the field." Your body is wearing out. But someday you're going to have a resurrection body. Don't fear death. Look ahead to it. Look forward to it. Look forward to the resurrected body, in the resurrected world. Live for that. And don't cling the things. I'm not saying, don't do what you need to do to stay healthy and be ready to serve God do that, stay in good shape. If you need surgery, get it, if you need chemo, get it, if it will heal you. But the fact that matter is these bodies are wearing out. Use the time you have to serve Christ, and look ahead to the glorious resurrection. It's coming sooner and sooner, Amen. Close with me in prayer.

Introduction: There are three thoughts that bring me joy every day of my life, and all three are focused on the person of Christ. One of them has to do with the past, one of them has to do with the present and one of them has to do with the future. Concerning the past, it brings me constant delight to know that all of my sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, much as a candle has been extinguished in an ocean of grace. Just to know that my sin can't even compare with the provision for it, that brings me great joy today. And in that I stand right now up to this very moment, all of my sins in the past are forgiven through the blood of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Concerning the present, it's a magnificent thing for me to know that Jesus has given me work of eternal consequence to do today, and He will give me everything I need to do that work today. And concerning the future, that someday I will see Jesus face-to-face, therefore all of my best things are yet to come, and nothing, no power in heaven or earth or under the earth can take that from me. Those three things bring me great joy to today. Amen. And so you've had your three-part sermon. I'm done, and so we'll just close in prayer. No, there are some practicalities as we look back at that second one. Today God is calling on me and you to live supernaturally for His glory, He's calling on us to do things we ordinarily couldn't do, and He's calling on us to live by the power of the Spirit of God. Now, unlike I mentioned last week, like Peter walking on the water, that's not likely to be something He's going to call you to do today, although if He did call you, He would give you enough power to do it, as He did for Peter. But rather the truth of the incarnation, the truth of Emmanuel, God with us, the truth of Jesus coming down from heaven to earth is that Jesus cares about everyday, ordinary life. He cares how you and I eat our food, He cares how you and I interact with each other in the hall, He cares how you and I deal with brothers and sisters in Christ, how we deal with strangers. He cares about these things, and He knows that only by the power of the Holy Spirit of God can we lift those ordinary encounters into something sublime, something supernatural of eternal consequence, and that's what He's calling on us to do in Romans 12. Now, last week, I'd set the context for you. We've had 11 chapters of doctrine. These ethical commands in Romans 12 are not coming out of nowhere, but rather they are the fruit of all of the doctrine that we have learned in Romans 1-3, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God that we apart from him, can do nothing good, that our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, and our feet are swift to shed blood, all those things in Romans 3, that's what we were apart from Christ. We also learned in Romans 3 that through the blood of Jesus Christ, our atoning sacrifice, all of our sins have been forgiven. Through faith in his blood we stand cleansed, as I just mentioned a moment ago. And how we are in Romans chapter 6, no longer slave to sin, we're called to a whole new realm of existence. We're in a whole new country, as it were, with new rules and new ways of living. And yes, we still struggle with the body of death, Romans 7, but through the indwelling spirit, Romans 8, we can live as more than conquerors, and that this sovereign grace that God is giving us, Romans 9-11, it's so irresistible, so powerful that it will have its way with us, and that we can hold firm to it and nothing can steal our hope, and so therefore we can get busy in the Christian life on that solid foundation. If I can speak a little more directly, this supernatural life that we're talking about this morning can only be lived by Christians. It can only be lived by people who have trusted in Jesus, who have the indwelling spirit, but if that's you, if that's you, today, he's calling on you to live like this. Now, last week, we talked about the supernatural life. It begins in the heart with un-hypocritical love, a genuine love. It also begins with a burning zeal for the glory of God, there's a fire inside us and that we must stir that fire up, we must never be lacking in zeal, but keep our spirit’s of fervor serving the Lord. And a dear brother this week said, "Did you miss verse 10? I just wanted to know if you were skipping it or whatever," and I, "No, I didn't, I just wanted to combine these two heart elements of an un-hypocritical love and a burning zeal together." It starts in there, but it's hard to make a strong delineation between what's inside and what's outside here. It begins with the heart, we saw last week. Now, this morning, we're going to look at three other aspects of the supernatural life that God through the Apostle Paul is calling on us to live. First of all, the supernatural and very practical love for the family of God. And secondly, we're going to talk about a supernatural hospitality and generosity, and third, supernatural joy in trials. I. Supernatural Love for the Family of God Let's look at the first, a supernatural love for the family of God. Look at verse 10, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourselves." Upon being saved, you and I, as we are trusted in Christ, we entered into the worldwide family of God through faith in Christ. It's an international family, there are people from almost every tribe and language and people and nation, and some day it'll be every tribe and people and nation. Amen. I'm looking forward to that. But it's a worldwide body of Christ, it's made up of people in every station of life economically, made up of both genders, of all ages, it's made up in a beautiful way of people from all walks of life. That's what you entered into. Now, this family, this supernatural family, is supernatural in origin. You enter it not in the natural way, but supernaturally. We're not all children of God in that sense. You have to be born again into the family of God, and so it says in John 1, "Yet to all who received Him [Christ], to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." That's the supernatural origin of my connection with the family of God, and it's happened to people all over the world, that's how we enter. God, therefore, is our eternal Father. Every other Christian is my brother or sister in Christ. Jesus is our head, he's also our elder brother. You could put it that way, for it says in Hebrews 2:11, "Jesus is not ashamed to call them [and us] brothers." Isn't it amazing, then, sometimes how we are ashamed of Jesus. How could we ever be ashamed of Jesus? He's not ashamed of us, and he's not ashamed, it says to call us brothers. This family is united by the Spirit and by truth, we all believe the same things about God and about Christ, about sin and hell and death, about heaven, about justification, about the blood of Christ. We believe these same things and so doctrine unites us, and also the indwelling Spirit unites us. By the Spirit we are one family. Love for the Family of God Inevitable Fruit of Faith Now, love for the family of God is the inevitable fruit of true saving faith. Let me say that again. Love for the family of God is the inevitable fruit of true saving faith. Let me turn it around. Basically, if you don't love other Christians, you're not a Christian yourself. And first John tells us that very plainly in a number of places, first John 5:1 says, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child as well." You can't love the father and not love the father's children, and so therefore you've got to love the family of God if you're a Christian. Turning it around more negatively. First John 4:20 says, "If anyone says I love God and yet hates his brother, he is a liar, for anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." Now, this love is the very thing that Paul is commanding here in verse 10. "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourselves." Now, sadly, it doesn't always happen this way, does it? I actually was reading a book this week about a conflict in a church that ended up in an open fist fight right in front of the communion table. Can you imagine that? I can't, but I know that that kind of extreme fruit, actually trace it back, the roots of it are in our hearts, aren't they? We can have conflicts, we can have divisions with each other, even though we're better mannered than that so we don't end up in someone's Christian book as an illustration. But the divisions are there, we can disagree and it's an old problem too. The Corinthian church was rife with strife and conflict and factions. In Philippians, Euodia and Syntyche couldn't get along, couldn't agree with each other in the Lord. Even our author here, Paul, had a problem with Barnabas over John Mark, right, so I'm not saying he didn't practice what he preached, it's just what he preached is difficult to do, and there are going to be times that there's going to be disagreements, conflicts like between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. But yet in the Book of Acts we see a contrast, we see local churches actually living this kind of thing out. We see them devoting themselves every day to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and a prayer. We see the way they used to sell their possessions and their goods and give to anyone as he had need. They didn't consider that their possessions were their own, but they shared everything that they had, even to the point of selling houses and real estate and putting at the apostles' feet. An amazingly generous collection was taken up among Greek believers for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem, and so we see a Jew-Gentile unity there through the sacrificial giving that went on. That's what the church was like in the Book of Acts. And we see a church that's characterized by supernatural boldness in dealing with the outside world, boldness in preaching the Gospel, boldness in facing persecution. That's what the church was like. And so here in verse 10, it was lived out, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourself." Now, as we look at that first half, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." Paul combines two Greek words for love, and one of them just has to do with an open display of affection, of genuine affection, and the other just has to do with a family connection, like the love of a brother, a sister, for one another, because they're in the same family, and he combines the two of them together. This is pictured so many times in the Book of Acts toward Paul. You remember how Paul, at the end of Acts 20 when he's with the elders from the Ephesian church, they're all weeping that they would never see Paul again, then the very next chapter, there's the church at Tyre and they all go to the beach and they're begging him not to go to Jerusalem, and when they see that they can't persuade him not to go, they kneel down on the beach, all the wives and the little ones in the church, and they're just all huddled together praying. And then he gets up from there and goes to the next community and he stays at the home of Philip the Evangelist, who had seven daughters, who prophesied and he opened up his home in hospitality to them, and he goes from them and stays at the home of Mnason, and he opens up his home, Acts 21. One household after another, one local church after another displaying this brotherly love and this devotion. It's a beautiful thing. Now, I think a beautiful picture of this in the Old Testament is Joseph, whose brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt, and then after their father died, they were afraid that he was going to take his revenge finally, he was waiting for Jacob to die, so they thought, and so they come basically crawling in on their knees begging him not to punish them. And he is deeply moved, he weeps over this, Joseph, and he says, "Am I in the place of God? You meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good." And then it says so beautifully in Genesis 50, that he spoke kindly to them and reassured them and he said that he would provide for all of their needs. That's a good picture of the brotherly love here. We don't always do well by each other, do we? But we've got to have that theological perspective that Joseph had, you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. And I love you and I'll provide for you, I'll do what I can for you to help you. That's a picture of his brotherly love and his devotion. The Scriptural Emphasis on Humility Now, I think the scripture here emphasizes humility, it's a foundation to this. Honor one another above yourselves. Prefer others ahead of yourself, think of them as better than you are, seek to meet their needs ahead of meeting your own. Think of issues from their point of view rather than from your own point of view. I think foundational to this is seeing other brothers and sisters as they will be someday, while you see yourself as you are right now. And Bunyan pictures this so beautifully in Pilgrim's Progress part 2, when Christiana is there with her children and Mercy, and they're in the interpreter's house and he gives all of them clothing, representing their right standing with God, their purity in God's sight. But what's so interesting is they cannot see their own clothes as glorious, but only those of the others. And so they're kind of... Bunyan said that the clothes were a terror to each one of them, because they only saw the other as glorious and not themselves, and so it is in the Christian life. We know our own sin, don't we? We can see it. And it's hard for us to imagine that some day we'll be perfect and glorious and we will be. But in terms of our humility and dealing with one another, we say, "Some day this brother, this sister is going to be glorious in Christ." And you see them that way. Lewis points us out in his great sermon, Weight of Glory, "We treat each other as though some day they will be glorious in Christ." And you look at how the apostle Paul dealt with this in 1 Timothy 1, he said, "I am the greatest of all sinners," and he's talking about how he persecuted the church, but notice the tense of the verb. He didn't say, "I was the great, the chief of all sinners," he doesn't say that. "I am the chief of all sinners," that's the way he carries himself, the way he thinks of himself. We honor each other above ourselves. Interestingly, the ESV emphasizes almost a holy competition here. "Outdo one another, in showing honor." That's one translation, like, let's have a contest and let's see who can honor the other more, let's see who can serve more. Churches divide over some of the strangest things, decorating schemes, colors of things; even more significant things like worship styles or evangelistic strategies or things like that can be sources of division. But here we are to prefer one another above the others. That doesn't mean we sacrifice truth for unity. That's not what we're talking about, but there's a sense of, "I want to see things from your point of view, I want to try to understand your convictions because they matter to me." And so we should try to see who can be the most humble, let's outdo one another, as the ESV gives us, "outdo one another in showing honor." I love the illustration. I've talked to others about this before, of George Whitfield, who was in a controversy with John Wesley over the doctrine of predestination. And someone came and asked Whitfield, "Do you think you'll see Wesley in Heaven?" And he said, "No, I don't, he said, "I think he'll be so close to the throne of Christ and I'll be so far away that I don't think I'll catch a glimpse of him there." You have to know Whitfield to know that that wasn't just an act. That's the way he really thought. There was a genuine humility there. Outdo one another in honoring others ahead of yourself. II. Supernatural Hospitality and Generosity The second aspect of the supernatural life is supernatural hospitality and generosity. Look at verse 13, there it says, "Share with God's people who are in need and practice hospitality." This is going to be a big part of how we are devoted to one another in brotherly love, this issue of hospitality. The word that Paul gives us here is one of pursue, pursue generous hospitality. Make it your business to find ways to be hospitable. Think about it, think about how you can open up your life, open up your home, open up your heart to others, pursue it. Now, the word for hospitality literally means love for strangers or outsiders. And the foundation's in the Old Testament, when God says, for example, in Leviticus 19 verse 33 and 34, it says, "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." Isn't that marvelous? Don't you remember how it used to be for you in Egypt, how you were aliens? Do to others in effect what you'd have them do to you. Treat them the way you would have wanted to have been treated in Egypt, not necessarily the way you were treated, but the way you wish you'd been treated when you were an alien, an outsider. It gets even stronger in the New Testament, when Jesus in the sheep and the goats teaching says he's going to gather all the nations before him, and separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he's going to put the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. And he'll say to those on his right, "Come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in." In other words, people's eternal destiny will be put on display by how they treat other Christians. because at the end, he says, "Anyone who does one of the least of these things, to the least of these brothers of mine, you do it to me." There's a connection to the church of which he is head, and if you treat somebody like this, it's like you're treating Christ that way. Very strong teaching. An even deeper concept is the idea that when it comes to heaven, we are all aliens and strangers, aren't we? I mean, naturally apart from Christ. Ephesians 2 tells us we were at that time, aliens and strangers and outsiders. That's what it says in Ephesians 2:12-13, it says, "Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." We were aliens, were outsiders and now God has opened himself up and brought you in. And so it says in Ephesians 2-19. So you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you're fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household. We're going to Heaven on the basis of God's hospitality. He's opening himself up to aliens and strangers through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and he's opening up his home, he's opening up his table, he's saying, "Come sit with me." And one of the sweetest things ever is the idea of God and man at table are sat down, someday we're going to sit down at the table with God. Now, that's hospitality, it's the foundation of what he's calling on us to do, to welcome the stranger. Hospitality in the New Testament Now, in the New Testament, it's very practical and foundational. The basic concept is when you're traveling, you're on the road, there's not many other places to stay. Now, I'm not going to say not any places, because you know that there was no room in the inn for Joseph and Mary, so there were inns. And you know the parable of the good Samaritan, he puts him up in an inn, and they were there but there were not as many as we have today. Certainly no Holiday Inn. There's no Tom Bodett leaving the lights on for you at Motel 6, that wasn't happening. Certainly no Hyatt or Ritz-Carlton. For the most part also, as Christians, they didn't want to stay at the homes of unbelievers. And so you really wanted to stay, in a very practical way, you wanted to stay with believers as you're on the road. Well, Christ's first missionary instructions in Matthew 10, he sends them out without any extra bag or tunic and sandals or staff, without any extra money, nothing, just sends them out. And if there's an immediate practical problem on this mission trip, where are we going to stay? And he says, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. If the home is deserving let your peace rest on it. If it is not, let your peace return to you." So the idea is you find a base of operations in a town, and based on hospitality, you stand and you do your ministry there. And at the end of Matthew 10, Jesus pronounces eternal rewards for the people who put them up. "Anyone who receives a prophet because he's a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward. Anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man, will receive a righteous man's reward, and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones that I'm sending out, [he says] I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward." That's an eternal reward for hospitality as we're helping God's servants that are going out to do his work, Matthew 10. Now, later on, the apostles are totally dependent on it. Peter was staying at the home of Simon the Tanner who lived by the sea in Acts 10 when the messengers came from Cornelius' house, he was a Gentile, that's how the whole Gentile church began, and so it's at Simon the Tanner's house that he's staying. It was his base of operations there. And then he's willing to go with a bunch of other Jewish brothers and he is actually willing to enter across the threshold of a Gentile home and share the gospel with them. And afterwards, Acts 11 applies, they sat down and ate a meal together. So he was willing to receive hospitality. Sometimes that's hard, it's easier to give it than receive it. Have you ever felt that way? But so it is. Here's the apostle Peter and he's willing to receive hospitality from Simon the Tanner, who gives it to him, and he's willing to receive hospitality from the first Gentile convert, there in Caesarea, Cornelius. Even here in the Book of Romans, the Book of Romans is written by a man, the apostle Paul, who is at that moment, receiving hospitality. As it says in Romans 16:23, "Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings." The whole church is based there. House churches were foundational. Lydia opens up her home in Philippi and after she's converted and baptized, she said, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord Jesus, please come and stay at my home." And that became the start of the Philippian church. House churches were big in hospitality. Foundational, then. 2 and 3 John, the foundational issue of those two books is hospitality. Don't take in a false teacher and show him hospitality or you'll share in his evil works. 3 John, he's thanking them for taking in good teachers and sharing in their good works. And so he says in 3 John 5:8, "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you're doing for the brothers even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought…" listen, this is 3 John 8, "We ought therefore, to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth." They needed a base of operations and they gave it to them. And so hospitality is huge. The most intriguing one is, of course, Hebrews 13: 2, which says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it." Wouldn't that be exciting? Find out on Judgment Day. Oh, he was an angel? You know, I had no idea. Now, I think this is talking about Abraham's hospitality in Genesis 18, but there it is. Now, what is the situation today in the American church? How are we on hospitality? How are we on hospitality? Well, first of all, just societally, we have certain problems. First of all, there's the problem of affluence. One of the problems with affluence is that it breeds isolation. You know what you get for your affluence? You get to be away from people. And you might say, "Why would I want to be away from people?" Well, people are complex. People can be a little messy, people can mess things up, like your living room. And so as a result, you get to have isolation, a kind of a perfect and neat world, and that's a problem. Another problem is the fluidity of our society, we're a very fluid society, and therefore very few people feel the need to welcome the newcomer, because they themselves are newcomers, and nobody in takes ownership for the neighborhood. That happens especially in churches where people transfer their membership so frequently that they don't necessarily feel a sense of ownership for the community to then be hospitable to visitors. They're asking instead, "Who's being hospitable to me?" And I always find a way of saying, "Oh, it's not a very friendly church." I'm trying to think, "How do I turn it around," so I ask, "Were you friendly? How do I do that?" I want to think about that. Oh, the church just wasn't very friendly. And I have found that people who are friendly receive friendliness back, and so it's a matter of you don't look inward anymore, and say, "What am I getting from this church?" But rather, you're saying, "I want to be open to the visitors, I want to be open myself." Little by little you find you don't have a problem with friends at all. So it's an issue. Alexander Strauch wrote a book called The Hospitality Commands, and he was talking about an elderly single woman who had to travel more than an hour by bus to a suburban church that she wanted to go to, and she was there for four years, and no one ever invited that lady out or to their home after worship, four years, until the very end when she had announced that she was leaving the church, another elderly lady took her in and they had a meal together on her final Sunday. Alexander Strauch himself said, "I would go around and I would preach in other places, some two, three, four hours away from where I live. I would get done with the service," Strauch said. "People would come up, shake my hand, say it was a good message, maybe give me an offering, something like that, invite me back if I'd ever like to come, and then they'd all disappear and there I was, nobody would invite me to their home or give me a place of rest before I had to go back, or maybe there was even an evening service and in between the two services, I had no one to invite me over." It can happen, it's a problem. Now, here at First Baptist Church, I have personally seen and experienced incredible hospitality from members of this church. When we first came here, we stayed at a wonderful Christian family's home, and I enjoyed that time, that week together, with them. I'll never forget it. It was an incredible time. Or then there's the ice storm, 2002, when many people had to get out of their homes because the power went down, for sometimes as much as a week. And it was wonderful to see the way homes were being opened up to widows and the elderly and just people that had to get out of their homes. And we ourselves stayed at two different homes at that time. I'll never forget, it was beautiful. So we've seen that kind of hospitality. One family I know had a ministry in Pennsylvania of hospitality opening up their homes to really undesirable, poverty-stricken people and seeing many of them come to Christ, because they cared more about the people than they did about the quality or the status of their possessions. They were willing to open their home and they've done the same thing here, with International Ministry. I've seen many of you open your homes for meals, extended grace to our family and to others. It's a beautiful thing. I've seen it again and again, so there is a wonderful spirit of hospitality here at FBC. But I think we could do even better, I really believe it. And the more I thought about hospitality, the more I think this is strategic for our future ministries. It's very important, it's important for developing a sense of community and fellowship. We are very much a commuter church. People drive long distances to get to this church. As a matter of fact, if you went east-most or west-most to the extremities you're at least a 90-minute travel from one side to the other. And so it's very, very difficult for us to have community here if people don't show hospitality. One of the things we've seen develop in the last year are the home fellowships, and people have opened up their homes and they're willing to have fellowship in their homes, and that's made all the difference of developing community and fellowship. I think if we don't keep working at it, though, it's easy to slip through our fingers. We want to have a community here. We'll just have a little time on Sunday morning then you go, you go away. There's got to be hospitality to make it happen, fellowship. It's also essential to generosity. Here, we're commanded to share with God's people who are in need. I think one of the best ways you can do that is open up your home and share your home and your life and your food and other things with people, share with them. Now, obviously, for you to a write generous check and send it to needy Christians in other countries is in obedience to this verse. But I like to combine them. It's almost like share with God's people who are in need by pursuing hospitality. You combine them. Hospitality Fosters Evangelism Thirdly, also hospitality is strategically vital for evangelism. The gospel itself is weighty, heavy cargo that travels best over a well-built bridge of trust from one person to another. Now, I'm not saying that you can't do contact evangelism or that it's not valuable. What I'm saying is, it works best when you really know the people. And so, how about inviting people over your home and having them, I'm talking unbelievers, share a meal with them, reach out to them, in that way. We've seen fruit from that even quite recently. It's a beautiful thing. I think this is especially true for internationals. My goodness, nowhere do you see the need for hospitality as much as in international ministry. A lot of these folks come from countries where hospitality is ingrained in their nature and they come over here, and they're amazed at how difficult it is to get into an American home. Some of them study at Duke for two or three years and go home, never having been invited to the home of an American. Never. Now, this is amazing, I found out about a month ago that we have the possibility through Duke University of being a host family for an international student for the first week they spend in the Triangle region before they get situated at Duke. Do you see any possible strategic ministry there for the gospel? Do you think there might be the possibility that during that week, you could build a friendship that would last for a lifetime? That they would get to know you, and that you might actually be able to share the Gospel? Hospitality, essential to evangelism. If you're interested in doing something like this with internationals, talk to me or to any of the others are involved in international ministry, if you say I want to be a host family for one of those internationals for the first week that they're here in the Triangle region. What a strategic ministry that could be. Imagine seeing some of them come to Christ. Or the host ministry, talk about evangelism, people bring visitors to the church, and Tony is going to be saying at the end more about ways we can get involved, even beginning on Easter Sunday, but then from there on a developing ministry of making our church more hospitable to visitors, so that we can reach out to the people that God brings us. Hospitality is Strategic for Discipleship And then finally, hospitality is strategically vital in the area of discipleship. So much of the Christian life is what we say caught rather than taught. How valuable is it for, let's say, a more established family that's got older kids to take in a younger married couple that's just getting going in life, or has a newborn so that they can put their life on display and say, "This is how we discipline our children or this is how we train them or these are the things we do for a family, devotion time, this how we eat a meal together," and it helps you to be better too, as well. You want to put your best face on and to have guests from the outside, things just go so well at that point, and there's just a sweet spirit. So it's a beautiful inducement both ways. But discipleship works that way. And then the home fellowships are discipleship times. We have developing home fellowship ministry but we had a practical problem, we didn't have enough host families. And so some of the home fellowships have 25 or 30 people in them, that's large. And as a result, it's hard to get everybody in one room. The fellowship's not as intimate. We need more host families for the fall. So that's about as practical as it gets. Be willing to open your home on a Sunday evening and have a home fellowship. III. Supernatural Joy in Trials The final area of Christian life that I want to talk about here is supernatural joy and trials. Verse 12, it says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." It seems to me as I look at the Christian life that God has given us the challenge of waiting on him. And I told you the third sweet thing for me is that the best is yet to come. But sometimes it seems like I'll never get there. Do you ever feel that way? When do we get to see the Lord, when do we get to be in his presence? And it's even harder when you're going through a trial, isn't it? Maybe it's a chronic illness, maybe it's a chronic financial problem, joblessness, for example, maybe there's other issues that make life here on earth very shrill and difficult, but here God is calling on you to be joyful in hope and patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. What does Paul mean by be joyful in hope? Well, first of all, he's not talking about a natural hope, you know what I'm talking about? Like, "I hope my team wins the NCAA tournament," something like that. I don't want to drag us down into the mundane from the sublime, but that's a kind of a temporal hope that rarely gets fulfilled. Or an unemployed person could say, "I hope I get the job I'm interviewing for." Or even a lonely person in a nursing home can say, "I hope somebody visits me this week." Well, those hopes are fleeting. That's not what we're talking about here when we talk about be joyful in hope. Christian hope is a certainty that's coming to us some day based on the promise of God, you just don't have it yet. That's not a technical definition, but that's what it is, it's something you will most certainly get because God said you would get it, you just don't have it yet. And based on that, we get 11 chapters of what that hope is and from that draw on it, like from a bank account. Be joyful in the hope that someday you're going to be with Christ, even as you're facing great afflictions. I have seen in this church people go through afflictions in marvelous ways. I've seen people get diagnoses of cancer, and keep drawing on their faith in Christ to get through it. I've seen it again and again, it's one of the most beautiful aspects of the Christian life. I've also seen, not so much in this church, but I've seen people go through difficult trials, and they begin to question God. They begin to murmur against him and they begin to abandon their prayer life. That's why Paul combines be faithful in prayer, keep praying even when things don't seem to be going your way. George Mueller, the great prayer warrior, said it well, when he said, "The great fault of the children of God is they do not continue in prayer, they don't go on praying, they do not persevere." This is a man who recorded over 50,000 answers to prayer, but also prayed for over 50 years for something he never received while he was alive. God waited until after he was dead to give it to him. Be faithful in prayer. Jesus told many parables on this, like the parable of the unrighteous judge and the widow who kept coming again and again and again. Why did he tell that prayer, except that he's not necessarily going to grant you everything you want right away, but he wants you to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Now, today we have looked at three aspects of the supernatural life that God is calling on Christians to live. My question to you is, do you see this power at work in your life? Perhaps you've already made a commitment to Christ, you've already come to faith in Christ, you've already given your life to him, but you're not seeing this kind of love flowing through you for the brothers and sisters in Christ. You're not seeing the humility that you'd like to see where you honor somebody above yourself. Maybe you haven't been hospitable, you haven't opened your home to anybody sacrificially. Maybe you don't see this is what you want, or maybe you've allowed the trials of your life to get you inward-focused, get you bitter, get you down. You know, God, when he comes to us through the Scripture, calls on us to repent, and to turn back and say, "I want to live this kind of life. This is my inheritance while I live here on this Earth. God work it in me." But I said at the beginning, if you're not a Christian, you can't live this kind of life. My hope then is that the description of it will be inducement to get you to look at the cross and say, "I want Jesus, not only because I could live this kind of a life here on Earth, but because when I die I can be with him forever in glory. That's what I yearn for." Don't leave this place without having trusted in Christ as your Savior. Close with me in prayer.

I. Our Historical Faith I'd like to ask if you would open in your Bibles to Habakkuk chapter 3. We're continuing in our series, in Habakkuk 3 looking this morning at the verses that Warren read verses 3-15. When I was in sixth grade, I had to walk home every day up a certain hill and at the top of that hill was a group of neighborhood thugs that used to wait for me there. Now I was not a powerful fighter or a boxer. I know that may be surprising to some of you looking at me now, but at that time I was rather small for my age. And I feared and dreaded that walk up the hill every week. At that time, my parents contracted with a builder to have an addition put on to our house, and this man, one of the biggest men I've ever seen in my life, came and started working on our house with his two sons. Sons were in their mid 20s and they were powerful and strong. And one day this builder took me to his house, he was going out and I wanted to ride in his truck. And he said, "Well sure, I'm going home to pick some things up come with me. And so I rode in his truck and I just happened to notice that his house was at the base of that hill that I walked home every day and I said wow what a coincidence. The next week as I was starting to walk home and I looked up the hill and there were those kids waiting for me, I said, "I think I might ring the door bell on that house and see if I might obtain some help." Well, I rang the doorbell and one of his sons, maybe 22, 23 year old young man came out, he wasn't young man to me he was big and strong, and powerful. Said, "What can I do for you? I explained the situation, he said, "Come with me. So the two of us walked up that hill together. And the faces on those bullies was just completely different than anything I'd seen up to that point. There had been arrogance, there had been control, there had been dominance there had been all these kinds of things, but now they were puzzled. They didn't quite understand the connection between me and this 6 foot 2 builder next to me. And as we came to the top, all of a sudden I realized that eighth grade bullies aren't as big as they really seem to be. Well, this guy soon sized out who the leader was and he went to him and he took him by the shirt and just did this arm curl thing, and just pulled him right up and they were face-to-face, so they could have a conversation. His feet dangling a little bit off the ground and he explained to him that he and I were friends and that he wouldn't take it kindly, if this behavior continued. And so they had that conversation. I don't remember the words that were said but I remember the picture I remember it, and so then he lowered him back down and they were gone and I never saw them again. But while he was doing that, I felt safe, I felt protected, I felt that somebody had interceded and stepped up in front of the danger and had taken care of me. And I want you to come to Habakkuk 3:3-15 and read the text that way. But my experience on that hill is nothing compared to the power and protection and sovereignty that moves out for us and stands between us and our enemies. It just moves right in in between and says, "You will not get to them because in order to get to them, you have to go through me." I get the picture of Jesus our Good Shepherd, going out from the garden of Gethsemane and standing between us and wrath between us and death between us and condemnation and judgment. Just standing there and saying it's going to come to me and not to them. And that's the picture I want you to have, as you read and look at Habakkuk 3 verse 3-15 because they're the prophet, Habakkuk is looking back in history at a time that God did that for Israel. The Exodus is a famous time, but God moved his people out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and they came and they were right up against the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his mighty army. The most powerful in the world at that time, was coming out and going to destroy Israel, and God just moved and placed himself between his people and that hoard that was coming to destroy them. Now, the situation in Habakkuk say it was different. At this point the real danger to the people of God was the wrath of God. But God was using an invading nation of Gentiles, the Babylonians to come and destroy his people and Habakkuk was praying to God in the light of some past historical events. He was looking back in history, he was thinking about what God had done in the past in history, and he was bringing that knowledge of ancient historical events to his present day, in effect saying God what you did in the past, do it again. Move out, protect deliver your people. Now, ours is a historical faith. Is it not? We spend much of our time looking back at ancient historical events. You might wonder what do they have to do with us? What could the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 600 BC have to do with my life, today. Well, it has everything to do with your life because God doesn't change, and you still have enemies and God still moves out to deliver and to protect you from your enemies. One of my heroes from the 20th century Josef Tson a Romanian pastor had an experience concerning this whole issue of our historical faith, Josef Tson growing up in communist Romania, came to personal faith in Jesus Christ, as a young boy, he was nurtured in that faith in a Godly home, went to college, and continued to grow as a Christian and then he got to seminary. Now, seminary can be a very enriching and an empowering experience you can grow in your faith if your teachers are good, but if not, you can actually have your faith destroyed you can have the tenants and the pillars of your faith shaken, cracks in the pillars can appear. At that time, Josef Tson got hold of a book written by a liberal Methodist named Leslie Weatherhead, and in the book by Weatherhead (it's called The Plain Man Looks At the Cross), basically said that all of the historical events of the Bible are really myths. Really they're just metaphors for our present relationship with God. It really doesn't make a difference whether any of those things actually happened or not. There are metaphors for our present relationship the atoning sacrifice of Christ it's just a myth, it's a metaphor for love, gives us courage for our present life this metaphor. Well, Josef Tson, was very deeply troubled by this, and he went to his professor and he explained the book and the man looked at the dust coffer, looked a little bit and said, "This man Leslie Weatherhead is a renowned scholar academic if he says it, it must be true." That's what Josef Tson's professor said. That's what Josef Tson said at that moment, "I saw my faith like scaffolding in my insides going down in pieces, everything in me was demolished. I went to my room and said it is risky to preach the gospel here in Romania. I was ready," listen now, "I was ready to risk my life for the truth, but for metaphors I will risk nothing." And he left the seminary, and started working as a teacher. Now, praise God, later, somebody came and was able to give him the biblical truth and some answers to Weatherhead's attacks on Christianity, and came to a strong, vibrant courageous faith in Christ. And led that Romanian Church. He was persecuted for his faith, and his faith was strong and able to stand firm. But listen, again, what he said, I was ready to risk my life for the truth, but for metaphors I will risk nothing. James Montgomery Boice put it this way, "Christianity is fact. The first issue any inquirer needs to settle is whether it is truly fact or only fiction." Is the Biblical faith only a collection of beautiful, and inspiring stories or, did God actually deliver the Jewish people from Egypt by miracles, at the time of the Exodus. Did he actually bring plagues upon Egypt. Did he actually divide the waters at the Red Sea, and later the waters of the Jordan River. Did he stop the sun, and the moon in the days of Joshua, at Gibeon above all did he really send his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of his people, his death for their death, and then rise again triumphantly from the dead. If these things are true, we have a great God in whom we can indeed rejoice we can rejoice even in the worst of times as Habakkuk did. The whole issue is, "Is it true? I want to know, is it true." Christianity is unique in this way. Unlike Buddhism, unlike Hinduism, unlike even Islam, Christianity stands or falls on whether certain historical events occurred or not. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul puts it this way: "If Christ has not been raised, from the dead, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith." In other words, if Christ Resurrection is a myth, if it's just a story then preaching about it is a waste of time, your faith is worthless and you're still in your sins. Christianity relies on historical fact, God's truth is based upon God's acts James Boice put it this way, "The religion of the Bible is not essentially a religion of ideas, although it contains many great ideas, it is essentially a religion of acts." God's mighty acts in history. He sent his son, his son died on the cross, but did not stay dead. But actually in the third day was raised again to life historical fact. And if not then there is no Christianity. And so, what Habakkuk does at this particular crisis in his life at this crisis in Israel's history, he looks back, himself to historical facts that had occurred a long time before that. God's mighty moving in history on behalf of his people. And he derives strength and courage from that and so we see in Habakkuk 3 a movement in Habakkuk as he's praying in the prophet himself a movement from fear to faith. And he does it all based on a meditation of God's actions in the past, that's what we're seeing in Habakkuk 3. Now, the whole thing, the key to it all is God's immutability, the fact that God never changes. And therefore, God's actions in the past teach us something about his character, it teaches us something about what kind of God he is. Now, he never seems to do the same thing twice. If you notice, have you ever seen any Red Seas parted recently? Have you actually sat on a hill and had Jesus feed you like the 5,000? He doesn't do the same thing again and again, he's infinitely creative, he's always doing new things. But all of those mighty acts in the past, they all teach us something about the character of God. And if there's something you can learn about the character of God, and it was true 2,000 or 4,000 years ago, guess what? It's still true today. God's immutability. His actions show us his character and he never changes. And so, therefore, history, ancient history, even, 600 BC, is actually prophecy. It tells us what God will do again in the future, it tells us how he will act because his character doesn't change. II. Habakkuk’s Poetical Prayer: Moving Him from Fear to Faith Now, we're looking at a prayer. Basically Habakkuk 3 is a prayer. It's a poetical prayer, but it's a prayer. Isn't the Bible amazing? We have a prayer here from a prophet long ago and it makes it into the Bible. Therefore, not only is this prayer Habakkuk's word to God, but because it's written down here, it's God's word to us. Isn't that incredible? And so we're reading the prayer of a man who lived a long time ago, and we're seeing something of Habakkuk's personal journey of faith. He's struggling, he's going through hard things. He begins by looking around, in chapter one, at his own people. He sees that the Jews are corrupt, they're evil, they're using their positions of power, as judges or counselors, or authority figures in the land, for their own personal gain, they're wicked and they're sinful. And so he cries out against his own people. He says, "God, how long are you going to let them go on like this? They're evil, they're doing bad things. How can you let them continue?" God says, "I'm not going to let them continue. I'm going to bring the Babylonian army, and they're going to come in here and they're going to destroy this place, they're going to destroy Jerusalem. They're going to sweep in here like a desert wind, and when they're gone nothing will be left. At that point, Habakkuk felt like he was out of the frying pan into the fire, he's much worse. He said, "God we're bad, but we're not as bad as the Babylonians, they are idolatrous people, they're wicked. How can you use evil Babylonians to destroy your own people? Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. Why are you tolerating injustice? Why are you tolerating the wicked?" And so he's deeply concerned. And he says... At the beginning of chapter two, he says, "I'm going to stand here and I'm going to wait for you to give me an answer. I don't understand evil in the world. How can you, a good and righteous powerful God, allow evil in history?" Habakkuk 2 is God's timeless answer, four-fold answer, and we've seen it already. Answer number one, the Babylonian Empire will get theirs in turn. Yes, they'll have their day in the sun, they'll be in charge for a while, 70 years to be precise, but then they are going to fall, and the people that they have conquered will then turn and conquer them. The law of the boomerang, we've already talked about that. What goes around comes around. You live by the sword, you will die by the sword. And so the Babylonian empire is temporary, but guess what? Secondly, the empire that replaces them is temporary as well, and the empire that replaces them is temporary. As a matter of fact, all human effort apart from God is dust in the wind. All human empires will rise and they will fall, and they will amount to nothing. Is it not from the Lord has not the Lord Almighty, determined that the people's labors only fuel for the fire. The nations exhaust themselves for nothing. Why? Because lesson number three. Habakkuk 2:14, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." God is building an empire for Himself, for his own name's sake, for his glory, and all nations will see the glory of that empire. Now, those three answers are all a big picture aren't they? It's what God's doing with the big tapestry of human history. What about the individual though? What about the lowly man, woman, and child? What about the individual? Are they going to just get ignored, swept away. No, God's plan is big enough to look down to the single individual and give them a word. Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous will live by faith." And to that single individual, he speaks and he says, "If you believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now if you believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through faith, in Christ's name, you will live for ever. You'll enter my Kingdom and you'll see my glory." Habakkuk 2, that's his answer. Habakkuk 3 is Habakkuk's response. He prays and we see him moving from fear to faith. And specifically in verses 3-15, we see that, I think at that point, he's hoping for an encore of God's past actions. He said, "You know God, that time that you moved out in power back then, remember how you did that to Pharaoh's army? Or remember how you did that in Hezekiah's day, when in one night an angel came out, and 185,000 Assyrian troops around the walls of Jerusalem fell down dead in one night. God, would you do it again? Would you move out again and do it again?" And so we saw in verse 2 the last time I preached. Verse 2, it says, "Lord, I've heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, oh, Lord. Renew them in our day. In our time, make them known. In wrath, remember mercy." he's praying for God to deliver his people. And then from verse 3-15, he's talking about past deliverances. He's looking back in history. Now, people at Habakkuk's time came to Jeremiah, who was one of Habakkuk's contemporaries and said the exact same thing. Jeremiah 21:1, people said to... Of Jerusalem said to Jeremiah, "Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, is attacking us. Perhaps, the Lord will perform wonders for us, as in times past, so that he will withdraw from us." They were counting on that, right? They're saying, "Please pray that God would do that thing again that he did with the Assyrians a little while ago." They're hoping that God will move out, but God's not going to do that this time because his people have sinned. They're idolaters, they're wicked and then time has come for judgment. And so Habakkuk is praying, but ultimately he is allowing God to be God. Can we even speak that way? God's going to be God, whether you allow him to be or not. He's powerful, he's mighty, he's strong, but we're going to allow God to be God. In the end, he says, "No matter what God does, I will rejoice in him." Verses 17 and 18. "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produced no food, though there are no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the stalls, yet, I will rejoice in God, my Savior." I will be joyful in him. No matter what happens, no matter what the circumstance of my life, I will rejoice in God." And so we see the full movement from fear through contemplation of God's past actions up to a confident faith and reliance in him. That's Chapter three. III. Looking Back: God’s Mighty Deliverances Now, as we look back at God's mighty deliverances we have a timeless principle in verse six. Look at it. The very end of verse six, it says this, "His ways [namely God's ways] are eternal." Do you see that? God's ways are eternal. He speaks and it stands forever. Heaven and earth pass away, but his words never pass away. And therefore, his actions stand eternally. What he has done in the past, stands for eternity. And so as he moves through, he begins to recount God's powerful acts for Israel. Look at verse three. "God came from Teman the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah his glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the Earth." Now, Teman in Mount Paran is where Mount Sinai was and I think this refers to God coming out from the region of Sinai coming across at the time of the Exodus to protect his people from Pharaoh and his army. He's coming out to protect his people and deliver them. Deuteronomy 33:2. It says, "The Lord came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes." And so he comes with angels, like God bring them all, bring the whole army and come and protect us, come and deliver us and that's what he does. This is what we call a "theophany." It is God moving down and saying, "Here I am." he did that at the time of the Exodus. That's in Exodus 14. This is one of the most powerful stories in the Bible. "Then the Angel of the Lord who had been traveling in front of Israel's army withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them coming in between the armies of Egypt and Israel." So here's the picture. There's the Red Sea and there is the Jews, their back is up against the sea and they're in trouble. Pharaoh's army, the most powerful in the history of the world at that point, was coming to wipe them out. And the angel of the Lord comes and stands between the army, between the army and the people of God with a pillar of fire. That's what it says. And so it said, "Throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other side." He makes a distinction between his people and his enemies, between his people and his enemies. If you are his people, he protects you. If you are one of his enemies, his wrath is upon you. And so there it is, there's a division and he stands between in the breach. So that neither went near each other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and all that night the Lord drove the sea back, the Red Sea, with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were thus divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them. That was foolish. They chase them into the Red Sea. I would have run the other way, after 10 plagues. But they followed them. The Lord had hardened their hearts. They followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into a confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptian said, "Wait a minute, let's get away from the Israelites because God is fighting for them." That's exactly right. God was fighting for his people, but it was too late for the Egyptians because of the Word of God, the sea came down on top of them and they were destroyed. That is what I think is in Habakkuk's mind as he recites this. Look at verse four. It says, "His splendor was like the sunrise, rays flash from his hand where his power was hidden." This is like lightning and thunder coming from the hand of God. And then he turns to God's use of plagues and pestilence, the very thing he had destroyed Egypt with before. Verse five, "Plague went before him," it says, "pestilence followed his steps." This is the judgment of God. And then in verse six, "He stood," it says "And shook the earth. He looked or he scanned out, he scoped out the nations, surveyed them and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled, the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal." So God surveyed the nations and made them tremble. Even though they were like mountains, strong and permanent, powerful. No, they tremble when God just looks at them. He touches the mountains and they smoke. That's the power of God for his people. Verse seven, "I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish." These are Gentile people, they represent the whole world. God's wrath and his power is there for his people, and that whole army was destroyed at the Red Sea. For the Sake of His Name Now you might ask, "Why does God do this?" Well, for many reasons, first of all, just because of his holiness and his righteousness. But also that his name might be proclaimed in all nations. He makes his name great. God's reputation spreads all over the world, people hear of these mighty acts of God, they hear and they tremble. So that when Joshua sends two spies into Jericho, it's the first city that they're going to destroy, there's a prostitute there named Rahab. A single individual but she heard the reputation of God. I heard what you did at the Red Sea, I heard what God did and I know that he is the God, he's the true God, the only God, and she was justified by faith, she trusted in this God and she believed. So why does God make much of his name, why does he make much of his reputation, why does he want his name spread all over the world so that people might call on that name and be saved, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And so God does these great and mighty acts for the salvation of people but also so that his wrath might be known. If you are his enemy, his wrath is a terrifying thing. If you're on the wrong side of that divide if you're not among his people, but rather you're among his enemies, his wrath is terrifying. Our God is a great savior, but he's a terrifying enemy, and so that we would flee from the wrath to come, and find salvation through faith in Christ, so that's why he makes much of his great acts and his mighty name. Look at verse eight, "Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots?" Were you angry at the Red Sea? Not at all. But rather he came out to deliver his people. Look at verse nine, "You uncovered your bow and you called for many arrows." Bow and arrow, instrument of war this is God at war, and he uncovers his bow and he calls for not just one or two arrows, but handfuls of them, groups of seven, it says, in the Hebrew, it's a tough verse to translate, but I think the NIV does a good job. He uncovers his bow and he calls for lots of arrows, and then suddenly in verse 11, "sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear." So in verse nine, he calls for the arrows and not just one or two, but lots of them. And then in verse 11, they're flying, they're moving through the air, and when God shoots an arrow it finds its center with deadly accuracy. Oh, flee the wrath to come. Why should God be your enemy because when he centers on you to destroy you, you will not be able to escape, but there is a place of refuge, there is a place of refuge and that place is Jesus Christ. I love this. Look at verse 13. The point of it all is deliverance for his people. "You came out to deliver your people to save your anointed one. You crush the leader of the land of wickedness, You stripped him from head to foot with his own spear, you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us gloating as though about to devour the wretched who are in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses churning the great waters." The point is deliverance for the people of God, God comes out to save them, he comes out to deliver them. But who are his people? That's the question, isn't it? Is it the Jewish nation as a whole? Well, most of them were being destroyed that day, most of them were being destroyed when the Babylonians invaded. He's already told us who his people are, it's those who believe in him. The righteous will live, they will survive by what? Faith. If they have no faith they are his enemies and his arrows will find them. But if they believe, simple faith in the eternal God, then he will protect them far greater than the protection I received that day on that hill. He will come out with all of his power and nothing will harm you. He will bring you to eternity forever and ever. IV. God’s Ultimate Deliverance: Salvation in Christ His people was not ultimately Israel. All Jewish history leads to one individual, doesn't it? To Jesus Christ? So what does it say in verse 13, "You came out to deliver your people to save your anointed one." What's another word for anointed one? The Greek word is Christ, Hebrew word is Messiah. You came out to deliver your Messiah. Why? Why does that matter? Because Jesus hadn't been born yet, he had a Jewish lineage. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, salvation is from the Jews. If Jewish history ended the day the Babylonians invaded then there would be no salvation for anybody. Why? Because God promised through Abraham's seed all peoples on earth would be blessed and so God had to protect some Jews, he had to keep alive a remnant so that there would be a history. And so, ultimately, the Babylonian Empire would be crushed by another empire, the Persians, and the King of Persia would allow some Jews to go back to the promised land, right, and they would establish or re-establish a Jewish history in that Promised Land, and generations later, Jesus would be born in the fullness of time, Christ would come and why, so that we could call on him and be saved, so that we could have eternal life. And not have to face the wrath of God, not have to face the flying arrows of God because he never misses. He never misses. And I wondered about Jesus, you know. I've thought about him and I've wondered about Satan concerning Jesus. If you were Satan, what a terrible way to begin a sentence, would you have killed Jesus or not? That's a tough question, isn't it? Prophecies all speak of him dying. Isaiah 53 talks about him as a lamb led to the slaughter. Would you have killed him? I think Satan didn't know what to do with Jesus. Caesarea Philippi one day, Jesus says to his disciples, he says, "Who do the people say I am?" "You are the Christ, the Son of living God," says Peter. A minute later though, Jesus tells him, "I'm going to die on the cross." Peter takes him aside and begins to rebuke him and says, "Never, Lord. This shall never happen to you," and Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me." Satan was tempting Jesus not to die. But the night before Jesus was crucified, Satan entered into Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus to death. In the end, Satan wanted to kill Jesus. And so he took a spear, spiritually now, took a spear and point it right at the heart of the Son of God. It's called death. Death on the cross. "Do I throw it or not? Do I throw it or not?" In the end he threw it. Why? Because he hated Jesus, he's a killer, a murderer. Satan, I mean. And so he takes that spear and hurls it at the heart of Jesus and it penetrated his heart. Jesus died on the cross. He did. But look again at our text. Verse 13 and 14. "You came out to deliver your people to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness." Who's the leader of the land of wickedness? The land of wickedness is Babylon, but then it's the Persians, then it's the Greeks, then it's the Romans, then it's the Barbarians, then it's the Nazis and one empire after another. Who's the real leader of the land of wickedness? It's the devil himself. It's the god of this world. Okay, then Satan must be crushed. Okay. Well, I came out to deliver you from him? To crush you. Well, how am I going to do it? Look what the text says. Verse 14. "With his own spear, you pierced his head." Okay, so there's a death on a cross coming right at the heart of Jesus and it goes through his heart. But through the powerful and mighty resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day, that spear turned around and came right back at Satan and destroyed his kingdom. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross has destroyed the devil. It's destroyed his kingdom. Somebody's saying then, "Hallelujah, with his own spear you pierced his head." The very thing that God had predicted in the first predictive prophecy back in Genesis 3. "You [Satan] will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head." With his own spear, you pierced his head and you stripped him of all of his plunder." That's us, folks. He rescued us. He delivered his people by the death of Jesus Christ. I bet you never thought this was in Habakkuk 3, but there it is. It's all right there. V. Application: This Means You!! What is the application for us? Well, as you look at it, I'm speaking to you, this means you. First and foremost, I'm saying to you that God, if you're a child of God, God is for us. Therefore, be not discouraged or dismayed. I don't care what you're facing. It doesn't matter what could discourage or gets you down. Nothing compares to the invasion of the Babylonians to destroy your hometown. But no matter what you're facing, be not discouraged because God is for us. And so therefore, I urge you to do what Habakkuk does. Think back at God's mighty actions in the past. The beauty of it is, we have even more to think about now, don't we? He didn't have the New Testament. We've got all of Jesus' miracles, including his death on the cross and his mighty resurrection from the dead. Think about it much. If you're depressed this morning, if you're discouraged, if you're going through a hard time, think back to what Jesus did at the cross. Think to what he did when God raised him from the dead. Think of that mighty victory and be not discouraged. If God is for us, who can be against us? Be not discouraged. Secondly, God is holy, be not presumptuous. God never changes. His eyes are still too pure to look on evil, too pure to look on evil. God is holy, be not presumptuous. Don't presume that all is well with you if you're not a child of God. Do you know what God was doing in Habakkuk's time? He was destroying his own city, his own temple and "Will you escape?" he said in Jeremiah 25:29. That's what I'm doing. Will you escape? God has never changed. He's still holy, be not presumptuous. Thirdly, God is Savior through Christ. Believe in him. Flee from your sins. Flee from the wrath to come. There is a division between God's people and God's enemies. There is no third category. And if you are not among his people through faith in Christ, then you are among his enemies and his arrows will find you. Flee from the wrath to come and find salvation in Christ. And if you are a child of God nothing shall harm you eternally. God will protect you. He will stand between your foes and you and nothing shall harm you.

I. The Highest Honor of the Gospel If you would, take your Bibles and open to Romans chapter 8, a magnificent passage of Scripture. We're looking this morning at verses 14-17, but in a little bit of a different way. Last week, we went through the verses, verse by verse, and we tried to understand the privilege, and what it means to be called a child of God, and specifically, in one sense: How do we know if we are children of God? And we drew out five questions, and we applied those to ourselves, that we might understand and know, whether we, ourselves, are children of God. Nothing could be more important than that. There is no inquiry more significant than to determine, are we children of God? Am I a child of God? "I believe the reason why so many poor souls," it says, William Gurnall said, "The reason why so many poor souls have so little joy in their hearts, is that they have so little light of Gospel knowledge in their minds. The further a soul stands from the light of truth, the further he must needs be from the heat of comfort." I guess, in a way, I'm inviting all of us to come into the cottage and sit right by the fire. Get right close to the Scripture truth, that we might be warmed by it, that we might understand the light and the heat that come from the promises of God. Because the fact of the matter is, we don't experience, in our physical world, in our physical lives, all the blessings of being a child of God. Most of them are deferred, aren't they? And we're not going to experience them all, until we die, and go to Heaven. And so, we actually have to read, constantly, the Scriptures, and renew, again, our minds in them, that we might understand the privileges of the child of God. I'm hoping that joy will enter your heart this morning. I'm going to be going over a list of privileges of being a child of God. I'm hoping that, as you read each one, the promise, the lavish promise that comes to you, as a child of God, might bring joy into your hearts. Thomas Watson said this, "Here, in this world, joy enters into the saints, but in Heaven, the saints enter into joy." Here, we just get a little foretaste, don't we? We get a little drink, and hopefully, it'll be enough for you, as you face all of the trials, and the things that you're going to face this week. But think, someday, perhaps, even soon, for some of you that are listening to me, joy won't enter into you, you're going to dive into an ocean of joy. As Jesus said, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in a few things. Now, I'll put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Master." What kind of joy does God have? Well, it's an ocean of joy, and someday, as a child of God, you're going to dive in. But today, I'm praying that just joy will enter into you, as you consider the blessing of being a child of God. I believe that when we first come to faith in Christ, all of these things are given to us in totality. They're all ours. They're part of our inheritances, as a child of God. They're given to us in lump sum, and then time, the purpose of time, among other things, is to unfold each of those blessings, as we walk along, as children of God. We're going to unfold them a little bit this morning. Thomas Watson said this, "God is ever giving to His children, yet, has nonetheless forgiving. His riches are imparted, they are not impaired. And so, as God doles out these privileges, these riches of the Gospel, He doesn't have any less to give." We're looking, this morning, in terms of adoption, and the fact that we are adopted children of God, at what I think is the highest, the most surprising honor and blessing of the Gospel. Now, Romans chapter 8, as a whole, is given to us, to give us assurance of salvation. The very first sentence in Romans 8, namely, verse 1, gives us a sense of that assurance. Look, again, at it. It says, "There is, therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." What an incredible promise that is. But realize that, even there, it's delimited. It's stated very clearly who gets that blessing, "Those who are in Christ Jesus." For them, there is no condemnation. And so, all the way through to the end, in Romans chapter 8, at the very end it says that, nothing, "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus." From the beginning to the end of Romans 8, from 'no condemnation' all the way through to 'no separation,' there are incredible blessings given to us, but all of them come to those that are in Christ Jesus. Or, to zero in the way we've been looking, last week, and this week, to those that are adopted children of God. All the blessings of the Gospel are given to those that are children of God. II. Am I a Child of God? Those Who Receive Christ by Faith Now, last week, we zeroed in on that question, the central question of your existence. We could put it this way, "Am I or am I not a child of God?" We looked at five questions. A child of God are those who have received Christ by faith, so have you received Christ by faith? In John 1:12, it says, Those who are justified by faith are children of God. They're adopted by faith into the family. Simply by receiving Christ, by trusting in Him, that He is God in the flesh, that He died on the Cross for you, that He rose from the dead, that His death was your death, the death you deserve, that His resurrection from the grave is really your resurrection, spiritually now, physically later, that there is a union between you and Christ. Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If so, you're a child of God. Those Who Are Led by His Spirit Secondly, the text says that, "Those who are led by His Spirit are children of God." Look at verse 14, it says, "All who are being led by," is a good translation, "All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." Now, we saw last week, that that meant, specifically, if you look back, if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die, but if by the Spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you put it all together, basically, you are a child of God, if you are daily putting sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the second test and the second way you can know, whether you're a child of God. Those Who Cry “Abba, Father” by His Spirit Thirdly, children of God are those who cry, "Abba Father," by the Spirit. As we began our prayer time today, as I stepped up here, I had the privilege of addressing God as Abba Father, daddy. A sense of intimacy, a sense of love. We're going to talk more about that this morning, but those who have the Spirit moving us to cry up to God, "Abba Father," those are the children of God. It says in verse 15, "You have not received a Spirit of slavery leading to fear, again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption, as sons, by which we cry out, 'Abba Father.'" Those Who Receive the Internal Witness by His Spirit And then fourthly, those who receive the internal testimony of the Spirit, that you're a child of God, those are the children of God. Look at verse 16, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God." If you're a child of God, the Holy Spirit's going to be telling you so. Over and over, He's going to be speaking to you. He's going to be addressing your spirit. He's going to be talking to you and saying, "Child of God. You're a child of God." It's like a homing beacon. "A child of God." He's just speaking and communicating to you, "You're a child of God," the indwelling Holy Spirit. Those Who Suffer With Christ by His Spirit And then, fifthly, we said, those who suffer with Christ, by His Spirit, these are children of God. Look at verse 17, "And if we are children, then we are heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified with Him." In other words, you boil that verse down, "No suffering, no Kingdom." If you don't suffer with Christ, by the Spirit, you will not go to Heaven and reign with Christ. It's a clear teaching from Scripture. Well, what kind of suffering? Again, we talked about that last week, but I think there are two specific kinds of suffering that are in mind here. Suffering from temptation, as we resist sin and say, "No," and suffering persecution from a world that cannot understand Christ. These are the types of suffering, I think, that are in view here. Those are the questions that we have to ask, to determine, am I a child of God? We did that last week. But I think it's still good for us to review it. III. What Are My Privileges As a Child of God? Now, what I'd like to ask, secondly, this week is, what are, specifically, my privileges, if I am a child of God? Boy, isn't this joyful? What a joy to go through a list like this. I've written out 11 privileges. You might wonder, "Why didn't I squeeze it out and get 12?" I didn't count them, until this morning. I guess I might've worked at it and we could've found more. I'm not saying these are all the privileges there are for a child of God, but these are some that we can find most naturally in the New Testament. And here, we're going to digress a little bit from my ordinary method. Usually, I'm just going verse by verse, word by word, looking through, but I have to tell you, that the New Testament is so filled with rich teaching on the idea of us as children of God, that it's really quite a delight to go through the New Testament, to try to understand the privileges, and also the responsibilities, of being a child of God. Eternal Life Well, the first privilege that I'd like to bring to your attention, as a child of God, is that of life, mainly eternal life. Look what it says, again, in verses 13-14, "If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit, you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." That's the life that we're talking about. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." There's an abundant rich, spiritual life that Christ has come to give. Now, the opposite of that life is spiritual death, and the confirmation of both of those, is either condemnation in hell, or a rich welcome into Heaven. The life that we're talking about is the life of a child of God, namely, an intimate love relationship with God. We're going to talk more about that in a minute, but a life that can never be snuffed out. Children of God cannot die. Therefore, we have eternal life. That's the first privilege of being a child of God. Title The second is a title. Now, in America, we've kind of turned our back on titles and privileges, haven't we? We left all that behind in the Revolutionary War. We're a free and open society, and we don't think much of Dukes, and Duchesses, and Lords, and Ladies, and all of that. That's part of the old world. But I think there is still a sense of a title being significant, that we should be called by the title 'children of God.' Isn't that incredible? And what an honor and a privilege it is. It says in 1 John 3:1, "Behold, how great is the love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God." There's a sense of a delight, in just having the title 'child of God,' that we could be called 'children of God.' It's incredible. And it's an honor, isn't it? It's not something we deserve. We can't say, "This is my birthright as a created being." No, not at all. We've already said, in John 1:12, "As many has received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." It's a privilege to be called a child of God. It's not for anyone, but for those who have faith in Christ, and they received this privilege. Hebrews 2:11, it says, "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy, are of the same family, so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." What an incredible verse. He's not ashamed to own you as a brother or a sister. We've been meeting on Thursdays, and discussing Hebrews in a Bible study, and we've turned the whole thing around, saying, "Jesus is not ashamed to call you a brother. Are you ever ashamed of Jesus?" Isn't that a stinging question? We should never be ashamed of Christ, or of this Gospel that gives such blessings. Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel," not at all, but sometimes, I think the world wants to make us feel ashamed of Christ. Well, let me tell you something, on Judgment Day, if you're a child of God, he is going to own you as a brother or a sister. He's going to say, "She's mine. He's mine. I've paid with my blood for them." 'Child of God,' it's a title that's bestowed and it's an honored title. Love Relationship with the Father Thirdly, there is a precious and a special, an intimate love relationship with the Father. God could've sat as a Judge and with his robes on there, just merely justified us very coldly, "Based on the blood of Jesus Christ, I absolve you of all of your sins. You're free." But there's no relationship there, is there? That's why I think adoption's the most incredible thing in the Gospel. He hasn't just sat there with his black robes on and discharged justice, but rather, He has adopted us into His own family. And so, we have a love relationship with the Father. Verse 15, again, "You received the Spirit of adoption, and by Him, we cry out, 'Abba Father.'" Romans 5:5, "God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." There's a sense of God just taking a huge cistern, and a pitcher, and just pouring love into you, because of His love for you in Christ. He loves you in the same way that He loves His own Son. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." That's the way that Jesus loves you. There's a lavish love here, isn't there? A love relationship with the Father. "How great is the love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!" Can I ask, just for a moment, are you taking advantage of that? Do you have a sense of the richness of your relationship with the Father, that He has loved you? It says in Jeremiah 31:3, "With an everlasting love." He set on you a love which cannot be broken. We're going to talk more about that at the end of Romans 8, but there's no enemy that can come, that can separate you from the love of Christ, nothing. Oh, you should be filled with joy, filled with a sense of security, a sense that, "I belong to the family of God," a sense of protection in that love relationship. Free Access to the Throne Well, along with that, fourthly, we have free access to the throne. Your Father runs the universe, isn't that incredible? You ever hear a little son or daughter boast about what his or her dad does? "Well, my dad's this. My dad's that." Well, your Heavenly Father runs the universe, runs the universe. I remember a story, Christy Wilson, one of my heroes, a missionary in Afghanistan, and he trained me and many others, in terms of missionary theory. But one of the best things about him, was he was a great storyteller, phenomenal storyteller, just from experiences. And he was there in Kabul, that very same place we've been thinking a lot about, and it's bombed out now, and we're praying. He was the one that enjoined on President Eisenhower, that a church building be built there, and it was. He was a great man of faith and a great man of prayer. Anyway, they had a hospital for the blind, and it was very renowned in that whole area, and people would come from all over to come to this hospital for the blind. And it was very difficult to get in, because there were so many people. And one poor person, who was losing her sight, came to Christy Wilson, and said, "I need to get in there. I need to be able to get in." Now, Dr. Wilson had nothing to do with the hospital. He prayed for them and knew the people who ran it, but he had nothing to do with it. He said, "Well, I want you to know that I know the person who's in charge of this hospital. Why don't we ask him, if you can get in?" And then he stopped, and prayed. And he interceded with God, that this individual would be able to get in, and she did, that very same day. Now, he had no power over the queue, and the line, and where people were, but an opening worked out, and so she was able to get in, and her eyesight was restored. You should have that same attitude toward anything, "I know the CEO of that company." "I know who's running that country." "Oh, I know who's in charge of that particular wing of the government." It is God, your Heavenly Father, and you have access, right to the very throne room of God in prayer. If you're a child of the King, you can just go right into His presence with a holy boldness and ask Him for anything. Listen to what it says in Ephesians 3:12, "In Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Do you approach God with freedom and confidence? Do you have a sense of the freedom of access, right into the very throne room of God? You should, if you're a child of God. It says in Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need." You have free access to the one who runs all things. Discipline Now, the fifth one, you may say, "What? What is that? Discipline is a privilege of the child of God? Well, first of all, let's understand discipline properly. Discipline, in this case, would be a holy spanking when you do wrong. And that's a privilege from a child of God? The Bible thinks so. The Bible speaks of it that way. If you're a royal prince or princess, you're trained from an early age, how you are to behave, and there is a training program, isn't there? And so, also, for the children of God. Deuteronomy 8:5 says this, "Know then, in your heart, that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord, your God, disciplines you." "As a man disciplines his son, so…God disciplines you." And then, of course, Hebrews 12:7-8 says, "Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his Father? If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children, and not true sons." In other words, if you're walking along in your life and start to stray from God, start to sin, start to disobey, expect a response soon from your Heavenly Father. It is a privilege of the child of God, and why? Because He loves you. He's not going to let you stray. He's not going to let you roam or wander. He's going to discipline you. You're a child of God. Provision Sixthly, He's also going to provide for you. If you're a child of God, it's His job to take care of you, isn't that right? If you're a slave, it's the master's job to care for the slave. If you're a servant, the master's job to provide for all the needs. It's a servant and slave's job to just do what the master wants. We are also servants of God or slaves of God, it says in Scripture. And so it's up to God to provide for all our needs. Why then do we be anxious about these things? Now, fess up, have you been anxious at all about material needs this week, about money, about taxes? I don't know. It's coming up. Sorry to remind you. I saw that pained look on some faces. It's true. Are you concerned about these things? Are you anxious over them? Your Father has promised to provide for you. He's promised to provide for you. Psalm 37:25, "I was young, and now I'm old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread, never." Royal children get to eat from the royal table, don't they? There's a story about David adopting Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, into his own family, and he got to sit at the King's table every day. What does that mean? No more worries. You don't have to worry anymore about where your next meal's coming from. "I get to sit at the King's table." Isn't it that exact way of thinking, that Jesus uses in Matthew 6, to banish anxiety forever? Why do you worry about your life, what you'll eat, or your body, what you'll wear? Your Father's going to take care of you. He's going to meet all your needs. Seek first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. He also said in Matthew Seven, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or, if you ask for fish, he'll give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?" He knows how to take care of His children, and so provision, rich provision is part of being a child of God. Protection So also, protection. Royal children are the apple of the King's eye. "You better not touch him, because if you touch him, you're going to rue the day." And anyone who wants to get to you has to go through God first. Do you realize that? Is that not one of the many lessons of the Book of Job? Remember, Satan’s frustration in front of God? "I can't touch him. You've got this hedge around him all the time, and I just can't get at him. Would you just give me a chance, to just get a pop at him?" And he said, "Yeah, I'll give you a chance, but this far, and no farther may you go." Remember, how it worked? God controls all of these things. And so you have protection. Now, you might say, "How does that line up with the sufferings we have in this world?" We're going to talk about that, God willing, next time. There is suffering in this world, physical suffering. But what God is protecting you from, ultimately, is ultimate spiritual ruin, do you understand that? He's protecting your faith, that it may not fail. He's protecting your spirit, that you may not be attacked and go down, but rather, that you may stand firm in the midst of your temptation and your struggle. Jesus, in praying the high priestly prayer in John 17 says to the Father, "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world." Do you know what that means? They're in a place of danger. Everything of this world system hates your faith. You're in a dangerous place. Jesus said, "I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves, but don't worry about it, because I'm Sovereign and I will protect you. I will keep you safe." He says, "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name… While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe, by that name you gave me. None has been lost." Do you understand how Jesus is thinking about protection? "Protect them by your name, Father, that none may be lost." And so also, God will protect you. If you're a child of God, you're not going to drop out of the family, He's going to keep you safe. Fellowship with the Royal Family Well, along with that comes fellowship with the Royal Family. Now, again, you're going to say, just like the discipline, "That's not always such great shakes." But to be honest with you, it really is one of the richest blessings in this world, isn't it? Fellowship with the children of God. As a matter of fact, the more that we go on in this world, and if our culture continues to go non-Christian, who do you think are going to be the most precious people in the world to you? True believers in Jesus Christ. Isn't that what David said in Psalm 16:3? "As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones and whom is all my delight." I love being with them. I love to be with true children of God, who love the Word and who love Christ, and who are growing in their faith, don't you? Isn't that precious? But not only that, we get fellowship with dead people too. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about seances or anything weird. Those things are cut out from Scripture. But what I'm saying to you, specifically, is that we are part of one family of God, and many of them have already died, and gone on to be with the Lord. You're in rich fellowship with the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Someday, you'll meet them too. They still are Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. They haven't lost their identity. We're not Hindus, who believe that the water drops into the ocean and loses its identity. There's still Abraham, there's still Isaac, still Jacob. They're still the same ones. David's up there, also Nehemiah, also all the saints of old. Aren't you looking forward to meeting them? And then all the ones from church history, from when the Bible ended on to our present day, 2,000 years of godly women and men, and they're waiting, rich fellowship, fellowship in the Royal Family. Freedom And ninth, freedom. You're free. If you're a royal son or daughter, you're free. There's a freedom that comes there. Freedom from what? Well, freedom from law. You don't have to obey the law anymore. Is that what I'm saying? Well, in one sense, yes. Think of what Jesus said in Matthew 17:25-26. You remember, there was the question about the taxes you had to pay to go into the temple? You remember that? And so they asked Peter, "Does your teacher, [Jesus] pay the temple tax?" "Yes, He does," Peter said. Then they go into the house, and Jesus sits Peter down, and said, "I want to teach you a lesson about what it means to be a child of God. From whom do the kings of the Earth collect duty and taxes, from their own sons or from others?" "From others," said Peter. "Then the sons are exempt," said Jesus. Did you hear that? Exempt from paying taxes. Now, don't misunderstand me. It says in Romans 13 that you need to pay your taxes to the secular government, but the point is, you have freedom in this matter of spiritual access to God. Why should you have to pay to go into the house of your Father? In one sense, we are free from the law. Why is that? Because law is given to transgressors, not to sons. What do we get instead? We get the Spirit from within. We're not under the law anymore, but rather, under the Spirit. We're free also, therefore, from sin. Romans 6:18, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." You're free from fear of condemnation. Isn't that wonderful? Look, again, at Verse 15, "You did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave, again, to fear." You don't need to be afraid anymore of condemnation. You don't have to be afraid of death. It says in Hebrews 2 that by faith you should be free forever from the fear of death. You're free from these things. You're free, also, from fear of earthly catastrophe. Now, understand what I said. You're free from fear of earthly catastrophe. I did not say you'd be free from earthly catastrophe. You're free from fear of earthly catastrophe. Listen to this. This is from Robert Leighton. He was a Puritan. He said this, "How can you make a child of God afraid? Bring him word that his estate has been ruined and he'll say, 'Yet, my true inheritance is safe.' " Did you hear that? "Bring him word that his wife, or child, or dear friend has died, 'Yet, my Heavenly Father still lives.' " Do you hear the response? "Tell him you, yourself, will soon die. He will answer, 'Well, then, I go home to my Father and to my eternal inheritance.' " Do you see that? There's an attitude. You're free from fear of these things, because they have no ultimate harm for you. Immense Inheritance Also, as a child of God, you have an immense inheritance. Look at verse 17, "Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. If indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory." And Revelation 21:7 says, "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his Father, and he will be my son." And so we have this incredible inheritance. Well, what are you going to get? What do we get as children of God? Well, you get the Kingdom. You get the Kingdom itself, and you get to rule on the Kingdom. You will sit down and rule with Jesus. Listen to this one, Revelation 3:21, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne." John Piper gets this image of lap, and lap, and lap. Father on His throne, Jesus on the Father's throne. We're on Jesus' throne, ruling with Him. What is that going to mean? I don't know. But, boy, is that rich? And an inheritance of your own possessions. Jesus said, "If you're not faithful with worldly mammon, who's going to give you true riches? If you're not faithful with little things that belong to somebody else, who's going to give you," listen, "Possessions of your own?" The Book of Hebrew says that, they were willing to not even worry about their houses being destroyed, because they had their own lasting possessions. You're going to get an inheritance in the Kingdom of God, if you're a child of God. Well, those are all the joys that come from being a child of God, and they culminate in the greatest, and that is in glory. Look at 17-18, "Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. If indeed, we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory." Glory And then, again, verse 18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Someday, you're going to be glorious. You're going to, it says in Matthew 13, "Shine like the sun in the Kingdom of your Father." You're going to be like Jesus, and you're going to radiate with a brightness that can't even be measured. Well, 11 privileges of the child of God. Maybe to make it a round 12, just like the number of the tribes of Israel or the apostles, you could find another one today, but this is a rich inheritance, isn't it? But along with that, comes some responsibilities. IV. What Are My Responsibilities As a Child of God? Look at verse 12, it says, "Therefore, my brothers, we have an obligation." We are debtors, aren't we? We have an obligation. There's a story that James Baldwin tells about King Alfred, King of England, and the Cakes. I read this, this morning. I found it interesting. He was King of the West Saxons in England during the ninth century. He was called King Alfred the Great, because he was able to defeat the Danes in battle, and drive them out of England. He also was a very enlightened ruler, and that he taught common people how to read, and so was an early advocate of public education. Well, the Danes had invaded England and they were winning one battle after another. After one particularly fierce battle, his own army was defeated, and he had to flee for his life. He put on a shepherd's outfit, and managed to escape, and was fleeing through the woods and the bogs, and he went that way for a long time. He was hungry, and tired, and came to a little clearing in the woods, and there was a cottage there. Just being in need, he went up and knocked on the door of the cottage. It was a woodcutter's cottage. His wife opened the door, and she looked at him, and said, "What can I do for you?" And he said, "I'm very hungry. Is it possible for me to have a morsel of bread, and maybe warm myself by your fire?" She was a kindly woman and said, "Well, I'm cooking some hearth cakes now. If you'll sit down, and tend the cakes, and watch them, care for them, I'm going to go out, and milk the cow, and we'll share what we have with you." Well, he agreed to do that. And he sat down, and started to tend the cakes. She went out to milk the cow, and he just, through fatigue, and through his concern and worry for England, didn't pay attention to his work, and let the cakes burn. Well, she comes back in, and smells the smoke, and looks down, and they're burned to a crisp. And she loses her temper, she said, "You lazy, good-for-nothing fellow, I left you with a simple task to do, taking care of cakes, and now, none of us has anything to eat, because of you. I couldn't entrust you with a simple task." And he just quietly hung his head in shame. Well, at that moment, the woodcutter comes in, and immediately recognizes who he is. And he had caught the tail end of his wife's rebuke, and said, "Do you realize who this man is? This is the king." She was immediately afraid for her life. And he said, "Don't worry, you were right to scold me. I told you I would watch the cakes, and then I let them burn. I deserve what you said. Anyone who accepts a duty, no matter how small the duty or how great the person, should perform that duty faithfully. I have failed this time, but I shall not fail again. Now, I must leave. My duties as King await me." Now, I've given you a list of 11 privileges. How could it be then, that you are called on to do something as humble as sweep a floor, or wash the feet of a brother or sister in Christ, or some humble task, if you're this exalted child of God? Well, God has given you many tasks to do, and just like King Alfred The Great, with this great task, and this great inheritance and responsibility, sometimes called on to do simple tasks. And Jesus said, "He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much." He wants us to be faithful, both in little and much, and He's given us some responsibilities, and we need to be faithful to them. Imitating the Father’s Nature The first responsibility of a child of God, is that we need to imitate the Father's nature. The basic principle in the New Testament, as in the Old is, "Like the Father, like the Son." Whatever the Father is, that's what we must be in this world. We must imitate our Father. It says in 1 Peter 1, "As obedient children, do not conform any longer to the desires you had while you lived in ignorance, but just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written, 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" Do you hear that? "Imitate me. Be like me." He's calling on us to imitate Him. That includes love. It says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Do you see that printed in your outline? "Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Is that not a challenge? Well, that's the responsibility of a child of God. Bearing the Father’s Name Along with that, secondly, we bear the Father's name, don't we? We carry the Father's name. Do you know one of the Ten Commandments says, "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain?" What do you think of when you think of that? Isn't it a sense of not letting a word slip out of your mouth? Don't say 'God' or 'Jesus,' unless you're praying or meaning to address God. But I think it means more than that. We are, in effect, carrying or taking the name of our God everywhere we go. Do you hear that? Everywhere we go, we're taking His reputation with us. Don't bear His name in vain. Do you hear that? Everywhere you go, His reputation goes with you. It says in Jeremiah 15:16, "When your words came, I ate them. They were my joy and my heart's delight. [Listen] For I bear your name, O God." Obeying the Father’s Commands Thirdly, along with that, we need to obey our Father's commands. First John 5:3-4 says, "This is love for God, to obey His commands, and His commands are not burdensome. For everyone born of God overcomes the world." If you're born of God, if you're a child of God, you're going to obey His commands. You're going to do the things that He's told you to do. You can't tell your Father, "I love you," and then you don't do what He says. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a father who had two sons. He went to the first son and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard.' And he said, 'I will,' but he didn't go. And then he goes to the other son, and says, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard.' He says, 'I won't,' but he later changes his mind and goes. And He says, "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" The point is, we need to obey our Father's command. Doing the Father’s Work Along with that, we need to do the Father's work. Jesus lived constantly to do the will of the Father. He said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and finish His work." We also should be doing the Father's work. We should be about the Father's business. 1 Peter, it says we should live such good lives among the Pagans, that though they may accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and, do what? "Praise your Father in Heaven." As you're doing good deeds, serving God, obeying Him, doing His work, they're going to think about God, they're going to understand Him differently. Well, what kind of work are we going to do? How many of you read Henry Blackaby's book, "Experiencing God?" He talks about being where the Father's at work, working where the Father's working. Jesus put it this way, "The Son can do nothing by Himself. He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does." Facing the Father’s Enemies And the fifth responsibility, is we need to be willing to face our Father's enemies. We need to be willing to face our Father's enemies. A child of God has to bear the reproach and scorn of a world that hates Him. If you're going to carry His name, you are going to be reviled and persecuted. Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, who wants to carry the name of God into a world in rebellion against Him, will face that persecution. Jesus said in Romans 15:3, it says, "For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." And Jesus put it this way, "If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how do you think they're going to treat the members of the household?" If you're in His household and He's your Father, be willing to bear the reproach that Jesus bore. V. Summary Now, the last two weeks, we've asked three questions concerning being a child of God. The first is the most important of all. All of you have heard me talk about the privileges and the responsibilities this morning, of being a child of God, but none of it means anything to you, if you are not, in fact, a child of God today. The first and most important question I want to ask you is, are you a child of God? Have you come to personal faith in Christ? Are you, moment by moment, step by step, following the Holy Spirit, to put sin to death in your life? Do you have the internal welling up of the Holy Spirit, to cry out, "Abba Father," from your heart? Is He speaking to you and testifying to you, that you are a child of God? Or is He actually convicting you right now, that you are not a child of God, and that you need to become one? These are the questions you have to ask. Are you, in fact, a child of God? If you are, do you understand your privileges? Do you know all the things that you get as a child of God? Eternal life, a title, love relationship with the Father, free access to the throne, discipline from a loving Father, provision and protection, fellowship within the Royal Family, freedom, immense inheritance and glory. Do you understand these things? And finally, are you fulfilling your responsibilities as a child of God? Imitating the Father's nature in holiness and in love, bearing the Father's name, obeying the Father's command, doing the Father's work, and being willing to face the Father's enemies? As we close in prayer, I'd like to ask any, who you feel like the Lord is convicting you, that you are not a child of God, please come and speak to me. Don't let today go by, without knowing, for sure, that these things are yours. And if you are a child of God, look over this list of privileges, and thank God, and look over, again, the responsibilities, and ask to be faithful.

I. Is Anything Guaranteed? Good morning. Please take your Bibles and open to Romans chapter 4. We're going to be looking this morning at verses 13-17 in which God makes such an incredible promise to us that I can scarcely imagine my ability to explain it to you. And then He goes beyond it and guarantees it to every one of us who have faith in Jesus Christ. He makes an extraordinary promise to us and then guarantees it. This should make any child of God sit up and take notice. Where else would you rather be than right here, right now, listening to this? It's extraordinary. A guarantee. And you begin to look in your life and you look around and you say, is anything guaranteed? Is anything guaranteed? Everything seems so changeful. Everything seems so weak. Can we really bank or guarantee on anything? In 1861, a man named John Wanamaker started a clothing bazaar in Philadelphia. Have you ever heard of Wanamaker, the store? He was a Christian, a committed Christian. He began to do some extraordinary things with his store because of his conviction that we should do to others what we would have them do to us, the golden rule. And he thought that he ought to bring that right into his store, that we should treat the customers the way we'd want to be treated if we were a customer. Up to that point, most shop owners and mercantiles had worked on this principle, "let the buyer beware." Ever heard of that expression? And so they would have their articles of clothing or whatever it is they were trying to sell and they knew what the true value of it and the worth of that and the quality of it, and it was up to you to be aware. Furthermore, no one had any idea how much these things were worth to the shop owner and so you would come in there and you would dicker and bargain over the prices. John Wanamaker changed all that. He was the first one to put a simple thing called a price tag on all of his articles of clothing. Never been heard of before. The price was set before you got there. The shop owner was to assess the value of the article and put a price tag on it. And you came in and if you wanted that, you would pay that price. That removed all the dickering. And then you could compare one shop to another and see whether you were getting a good deal. But soon, another radical concept rocked the mercantile world. A notice appeared in the newspaper one morning that Wanamaker had put in there, and this is what it said: "Wanamaker and Brown desire to say, that the quality of all goods sold at their clothing bazaar will be guaranteed. Any article that does not fit well, is not the proper color or quality, does not please the folks at home, or for any other reason is not perfectly satisfactory should be brought back at once. And if it is returned as purchased within 10 days, we will refund the money. It is our intention always to give value for value in every sale we make. And those who are not pleased with what they buy will do us a positive favor to return the goods and get their money back." Well, his rival shop owner said, "He's going to be out of business in one year." Money back guarantee? But yet, it was soon they who were changing their practices. He was the one who focused the attention on the quality and was willing to put his own character behind a guarantee, but that's the whole issue with a guarantee. It is only as good as the character and the quality of the man who makes it. Are there any guarantees in this life? Benjamin Franklin cynically said, yes, death and taxes are guaranteed to us. Death and taxes. But we have a word from the Lord this morning that says more than death and taxes are guaranteed. Eternal life. And even more than that, that we should be heirs of the world. I'm going to open that expression up to you this morning. Is guaranteed to us. Look down, if you would, to Romans 4:13-17. "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by the law or heirs faith has no value and the promise is worthless because law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations.'" II. Overview of Romans 4: Abraham Justified by Faith Now, in order to get our bearings and understand the context here, let's take a step back and look at the big picture. The gospel of Jesus Christ is most clearly laid out in the Book of Romans. That is exactly why Paul wrote this letter. He came to preach the gospel. He was a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, an apostle called for that purpose. And he's writing Romans that we may understand the message of the gospel. So often these days, people think they understand the gospel. They don't know what it is. It's found in Romans. And Paul said in Romans 1:16, he said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just or the righteous shall live by faith." He then expounds over the next two chapters, the fact that every single one of us needs to be saved by faith alone because we're all sinners. None of us can stand before the righteous throne of God's grace. None of us can stand before God on Judgment Day on our own righteousness or on our own merits, for all have sinned and lack the glory of God. And if anyone is to be justified, we are to be justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That's what he's been explaining. So we are not going to be justified by our works, by our efforts, by our striving, by how good we are, We're going to be justified by faith alone. Then he brings up in chapter 4 an example of what it means to be justified by faith, and that is Abraham. Abraham is our example of faith. He is our father of faith. The way that Abraham was justified or vindicated before God's justice is the same way we will as well, by faith. And the way it works is that God makes a promise to Abraham, and Abraham simply believes the promise, that's all. Abraham simply believed the promise-giver and the promise, and at the moment of belief in the promise, God justified it. God read his heart, He saw his faith and He justified him by faith alone. That's the purpose of Roman's chapter 4. Now, in the verses we're looking here, we're talking about the expanding of that promise and the relationship between law and the promise. It was not through law that he received the promise. It's not through law that he believed it. It's not through law the promise was given to begin with, but rather simply by faith. And that gives a guarantee to the promise, that's the whole section that we're looking at here. And now we've set it in its proper context. III. What is the Promise? Well, let's take a step back and look at the nature of this promise. What is the promise that God made? First of all, what is a promise? Isn't a promise a verbal covenant? It's a statement of intention about the future. I promise you that I will behave in such and such a way or that I will do this or I will do that. And again, the promise is only as good, like a check, the promise is only as good as the account that stands behind the promise. You write a check, if there's no money behind the account, the check bounces, and so does your reputation as a faithful check writer. If you're going to make a promise and do not keep the promise, your reputation as a faithful promise keeper goes down, and that's the way it is with all of us. Every one of us have had promises made to us that have been broken. And so therefore, we tend to distrust promises, don't we? But why is it that the promises get diluted or broken? Human promises are diluted or they're nullified by the wickedness of our own hearts. We may intend something, but we do not see it through. We may even have lied. We may have promised something we never intended to do. Second of all, human promises are diluted by our changefulness. We may have intended to do something good, but then we change our minds, our hearts change. We shift around, we blow around. We are divided beings, aren't we? There's a pulling within us. Sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another. And so we'll make a promise, but we will not see it through. Human promises are also diluted by our own weakness and frailty. We may not have lied, we may have intended, we may not have changed our mind but we lack the power to bring the promise about. Isn't that the case? We don't even know if we'll be alive tomorrow. So how can we make any promise about the future? So you can see the weakness of a human promise, diluted by our own wickedness, diluted by our changefulness and diluted by our lack of power to bring it about. But God is not that way. Amen. He is not that way. God never changes. God says very clearly, Numbers 23:19, a great verse. Numbers 23:19 stands behind any promise that God makes. "God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" That is our God. When He makes a promise, He keeps it every time. Numbers 23:19, God never lies. God never changes His mind and God never lacks power to bring about the very thing He's promised. And your salvation, your guarantee that I'm talking about today, depends on that. It depends on the changeless character and nature of eternal God. If you're a child of God, it is my prayer, you'll walk out of here today with a sense of the guaranteed certainty of your salvation on the changeless character and nature of God. He's made the promise. He's made many, many promises. He's going to keep every one of them. Well, let's look at the promise that God made to Abraham. What did He say? In Genesis 15:1-7, He says this. "After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' But Abram said, 'Oh, sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estates is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.' Then the word of the Lord came to him. 'This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.' He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the Heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.' And then He said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" That's a promise. Did you hear the promise? This is how many offspring you will have. "Abraham believed the Lord and He credited it to him as righteousness." He justified him at that moment. He also said to him, verse 7, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." Two aspects to the promise: Numerous Descendants So there's two aspects to the promise. Many descendants and a promised land. These are the two aspects of the promise that God made to him. Many descendants, He said, "So shall your offspring be." "Look up at the stars and count them if you can." You can't count them, Abraham, "So shall your offspring be." Made him a promise, and that he would be the father of many nations, not just one descendant, but a whole world full of descendants, father of many nations. He establishes this in Genesis 17 when he changes his name from Abram to Abraham. He says God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you and kings will come from you." And Paul picks up on that in our passage this morning in verse 17, where it says, "As it is written, I have you made you a father of many nations." So this is the nature of His promise, the first part of it, namely that he would have numerous descendants. Now, Paul gives us a greater or a broader understanding of this, that all we Gentiles who are believers in Jesus Christ by faith look to Abraham as our father in faith. He is our father as well, our father in faith. And so he is the father of many nations. That was the first aspect of the promise. Possession of the Land The second aspect of the promise was possession of the land, the land that he was traversing on, the land that he was pitching his tent on. He said, "I will give it to your descendants. It's going to be your Promised Land." But in our passage today, Paul lifts our eyes up above that promise, the Promised Land, to something far more glorious. He uses an expression that's not found in the Genesis account, in which he calls Abraham heir of the world. Not just to the Promised Land, that he would inherit the Promised Land, but heir of the world. Because as it turns out, Abraham did not receive the Promised Land in his lifetime, did he? He did not receive it. He looked ahead by faith to something that hadn't come to him yet. This is all made clear in Hebrews 11:9-16. Very plainly, it says there, "By faith, Abraham made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country." He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who are heirs with him of the same promise. They didn't settle down in the Promised Land. It wasn't their true home. "They were aliens and strangers," it says in Hebrews 11, "In that Promised Land." But it says in verse 16 of Hebrews 11, "Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." God is not ashamed to be called your God because you're hoping for something better than this. You're waiting for something better than you can see with your eyes on this Earth. You're waiting to be an heir of the world. You will inherit the Earth. Isn't that incredible? You stop and think about that. You are an heir of the world just as Abram, Abraham, all those who have followed him in faith, we are all heirs of the world. Jesus said this, didn't He? Matthew 5:5, remember the Sermon on the Mount? Blessed are the meek for they will, what? Inherit the Earth. Isn't that just one place? This is many places. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you will inherit the Earth, but not this Earth. Not this one. We know about this one in Romans chapter 8, it's chained to corruption and futility, isn't it? It's chained to corruption and futility. No matter how beauteous it is, it is not the world you will inherit. 2 Peter 3:13 says, "In keeping with His promise, we are looking forward, looking ahead to a new heaven and a new Earth, the home of righteousness, or where righteousness dwells." That's the Earth that Abraham will inherit. That's the Earth that you will inherit as a believer in Christ. Recently, I got a book which goes through all the country, the United States, all the national parks, and just kind of unfolds the beauty there through photography, the Rocky Coasts of Maine, Acadia National Park. They're so majestic with the pine trees and the rocks right up to that cold blue ocean, all the way down to the much lighter blue of the Florida Keys. I don't know if you ever seen that, the white sand, and there's the bridge. It seems to go right through the ocean, but there's a little spread of sand on either side. Just recently on our vacation, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River, which graces the cover of, I think, Time Magazine, or at least last week it did. Ancient Mississippi, a powerful river. And then the strange colors and the depths of the Grand Canyon, how many have you seen it? I've never seen it. I wanted to see it. I thought I could drive from LA to the Grand Canyon in one day, you can't do it. The country spreads out. It gets really big once you cross the Mississippi River. Where I'm from in New England, the states are real small. But out there, they get very big. You can't just drive from LA to the Grand Canyon. I want to see it someday, though. And then how much more the great Denali National Park in Alaska, a strange place, almost like from another country, rolling mountains and hills. Not a soul to be found there unless they were helicoptered in to do some hunting and perhaps some skiing. A very remote and distant place, but part of this Earth. None of it compares with the glory that is coming. None of it. And your feet will walk that holy soil, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. You are going to inherit the new Earth someday. It's not the pastor of First Baptist that's saying this. This is God who has promised this to you, that you'll be inheritor of the world. What is the promise? Well, to Abraham, it was a real and symbolic promise, a real promise to him, but also symbolic of future glory that would come, numerous offspring, a Promised Land. A Promised Land in Canaan and his descendants did inherit it, although they were eventually evicted because they could not obey the law. And that's relevant to where we're going. They couldn't obey the law and they were evicted from the Promised Land. That is the nature of the promise. IV. How is the Promise Obtained? Now, the question we have to ask here is, how is the promise obtained? How do we receive the promise? That's kind of important, isn't it? We're talking about big things here, important things. Well, how do we receive this promise? Negatively, it does not come through law. Positively, it does come by faith. That's what the text says. Look at it. In verse 13, it says, "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world." Now, the law here means a command and obedience to the command. It's not the law of Moses that's in view here. How do we know that? Because the law didn't come for another four and a half centuries. It's not that law. It's just God giving you a command and you obeying the command that God's given. That law does not produce the promise. It does not grant the promise. That is not the law here. And it is not through law that Abraham and his offspring received this promise. Positively, it is by faith, verse 13, specifically, through the righteousness that comes by faith. What is at stake? Becoming an heir of the world. We've been talking about that. Well, according to Peter, I told you, that that new Heavens and new Earth is the home of righteousness or where righteousness dwells. I'll read it again. 2 Peter 3:13, "In keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new Earth, the home of righteousness." What does that mean? If you're unrighteous, you can't live there. You don't belong there, if you're unrighteous. You will not be welcome there. And so, on what basis will you enter that new Earth? On the basis of a righteousness that is not yours. On a basis of a righteousness that comes by faith, the very thing we've been talking about all this time. A righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ; that robe of righteousness, which will cover you on Judgment Day, will also escort you into the new Heavens and the new Earth.I can't wait to see it. Covered with the righteousness of Christ, living in a place where righteousness alone dwells. I look forward to it, can't wait to see it. And what is going to give it to me? Simple faith. That's all. Not any obedience of the law. Now, the question you have to ask now is, V. Why is the Promise Obtained This Way? "Why is the promise obtained this way? What is God getting at, so that He assigned all of this to faith and not to anything else? Why faith?" God Wants the Glory and He Wants You to Have the Guarantee We're going to talk more about this over the next two times, but I think the issue comes down to this. Two things. God wants the glory and He wants to give you the guarantee. I think that's what we're getting to from this text. God wants the glory and He wants you to have the guarantee. Now, let me unpack what it is I mean by that. First of all, the nature of law is, no glory for God and no guarantee for you. Do you see that? No glory comes to God, if it's by law, and no guarantee comes to you. The law is absolutely no platform to obtain righteousness. For the law invalidates or nullifies faith. Look at verse 14, "For those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless." In other words, if you get it by law, the promise is worthless. I'll explain what that means in a minute, but look at how law works. Law looks inwardly to the self. Law looks inside. Can I do it? God's given a command, now can I do it? I will do it. I'm determined to do it. I'm going to try to do it. And then, this will never happen, but then, "I did it. Now, give me what I deserve." That's how it works. That's how law works. There is no glory for God in that. The focus actually is totally on self and self-effort, self-achievement. Faith, however. Where does faith look? Does faith look to self? Absolutely not. The standard posture of faith is, "Give to me what you have promised." Do you see that? It's a reception of what God has promised. It's a looking out of yourself to the power of God to accomplish what He has promised. That is the nature of faith. "Can God do this?", is the question that faith asks. "God can do this," is the answer that faith gives. He will do this for me. And then when it's all done, "God did it. Glory to God in the highest." That's how faith works. The focus isn't on self at all, but on what God can do in fulfilling His promise. And so who gets the glory when you get saved? God gets it. Isn't that where it belongs? We've already disqualified ourselves from that glory. We've been through that, Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3. All have sinned. There's no glory coming on your own. The glory has to come from the outside. By faith. Now, if God made law-keepers heirs, let me ask you a question. What would we need faith for? Would you need faith? If you could get it by law, would you need faith? Let me ask a deeper question. If you could get it by law, would you need Christ? Would you need Christ, if you could get it on your own? Paul answered that one in Galatians 5:2. He says, "Mark my words. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised," that is, obey the law of Moses, as though that's your righteousness, "If you let yourself be circumcised, Christ would be of no value to you at all." You don't need Jesus. Why did He come from Heaven to Earth and die on the cross then if it can be done by law? It can't be done by law. Therefore, law nullifies promise. If the promise is conditional on law keeping, by the way, you'll never get it. Do you know yourself well enough to say 'Amen' to that? Do you know that if it comes down to whether you obey the commands of God, you're not getting it? If you don't think that, I would urge you to come back to the cross and realize just what God has done there. You're trusting in yourself and your own efforts. You should know yourself well enough by now to know that if it depends on law, you'll never get it. Now, we were talking a little while ago in a staff meeting and Bill told us a story about a woman that she knew in Oklahoma City. This woman was in poverty. She had a number of children and difficulty. I think the husband was disabled and they had been supporting and caring for her and just providing for her financially, in many cases, showing the love of Christ to her. Well, one day, she came in with a new outfit, a new dress. Her hair had been done. She looked great and she started talking. She started making promises. She said, "I'm going to buy the choir new robes." Well, obviously, the people were amazed and wanted to know what had made this transformation. And she said, "Well, I just received the incredible word that I have won $1 million. A letter came in the mail and said, 'Congratulations! You have won $1 million!' Said so, right on the outside of the envelope." Well, that was before the lawsuit with the clearing house publishers, clearing house thing, where they're not allowed to do that from then on, because there's a little word "if" on the inside. From then on they had to put the word "if" on the outside of the envelope. It was tragic, isn't it? A little humorous but tragic. This woman had gone into some debt buying the new clothes and doing some other things because she'd based it on a promise which was conditional, and she did not meet the conditions. Her number had to line up with a string of numbers that were found on the inside. And lo and behold, it didn't, she did not win the $1 million. She did not meet the condition. So it doesn't really matter how grandiose the promise, if there's an if connected to it which you will not meet. See what I'm saying? We're wasting our time. But God has removed that because of the issue of grace and how grace works. By the way, if you don't believe what I'm saying, think about this. Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden. Adam and Eve had never sinned. They had no sin nature. They had no surrounding sinful culture. They had one simple command from God. How did they do? They failed. You have an indwelling sin nature, a surrounding sinful environment, and many commands from God. How will you do? Will you succeed? If it's by law, you will not get the promise. The law only brings wrath and verse 15, it says that, because law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Law also nullifies grace. Paul says in Galatians 2:21, "I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing." If you could do it without grace, without Christ, then why did Jesus die? Now, remember, I've said that the big issues here are glory for God and security for you, guaranteed for you. Well, grace does both, isn't that beautiful? Grace gives glory to God for your salvation and gives guarantee to you as the believer. Look what it says, verse 16, "Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed or made sure and certain for you who believe." Now, what is grace? Grace is God's sovereign decision as a King to give incredible riches and blessing to you who deserve eternal condemnation. That is grace, His determination as a King to give unbelievable blessings to people who deserve the opposite because of their rebellion against Him. Grace does not depend on anything it sees within you. God isn't searching you to find something to be gracious toward, that's not it. Grace is all about something inside God. He determines to be gracious. Faith is a pipeline established by God into the heart in which blessings just roll down, it is a gift from God, part of the salvation which He gives, I've said it before, I'll say it again. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved through faith, through faith, through faith and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." Faith is a gift of God. So God establishes the pipeline and then just rolls blessings down the pipeline called faith as you get your eyes off yourself and look up and receive what He's given, and there's guarantee in all this. Glory for God, guarantee for you. There's a kind of a chain here, grace, faith, guarantee, that's how it works. Promise comes by faith, it may be by grace, it may be guaranteed, you should just leap for joy at the word guarantee, leap for joy at it. Nothing can take it away from you. It's absolutely guaranteed that you will inherit the world. God's incredible love is so strong, He wants you to understand the certainty of the promise. And so God labors in so many verses to give you the security. John 6: 39 and 40. This is Jesus' words as your good shepherd. "This is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but shall raise them up on the last day, for my Father's will is that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day." What can break that? Is there any power on Earth strong enough to break that? Now, if all of this comes by faith, do you understand the connection? Do you understand what that means? It means your faith will never fail. I'm going to talk more about this next time, but your faith will not fail. The things you believe today, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the things you believe today you'll be believing on your deathbed, because God is going to make you stand firm by faith. 2 Corinthians 1:21, "It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." He can do this. It says the same things in Romans, "To the Lords, to his master, he will stand and the Lord is able to make him stand." The Lord is able to make a stand. Your faith is strong because God is going to energize it. Sometimes you may feel my faith is getting weak. God sees. He knows. He will give you what you need. He's going to strengthen your faith. We'll talk more about that next time. Now, the central issue in all of this is not your salvation, it isn't. For you it may seem that way, and I understand that because I'm a sinner too and I look forward to these things, I'm glad to receive them. What is the central issue here, though? Isn't it the glory of God? Didn't He exist before the world was made? The central issue here is God's glory, and God is glorified by this kind of salvation. Next time we're going to look at this. But the magnitude of the promise glorifies God. The obstacles to the promise glorify God, we'll talk about this next time. Abraham is an old man, but he believed God anyway. The obstacles glorify God. Faith itself, its nature glorifies God. The guarantee glorifies God, but confidence in the law does not glorify God. VI. Summary and Application Now, what application can we make to this? What can we do with this truth? First of all, can I just say praise God to you? Praise God for the magnitude of the promise. Praise God for what He's promised you, that you are going to live someday in a home of righteousness, and He's going to fit you for that. He's going to get you ready for it. Praise God for the magnitude of that, all sins forgiven, power over death through Christ's resurrection, eternal friendship with God, a rich inheritance as the heir of the world and fellowship with others who are also heirs of the world and, by the way, unlike now, we won't be fighting over it. Well, what hill do you want? What do you want? Like Abraham and Lot dividing it? Not going to be like that. "You take it." "No, you take it." "I want you to have it." That kind of thing. Such a oneness and a unity which we do not experience on this Earth because of our selfish sin nature. But in Heaven, and on Earth, a new Heaven and new Earth, perfect unity. Praise God for the magnitude of these promises. Number two, trust God that He's going to do it. Trust God that He's going to give you all these things simply by faith. Get your eyes off of yourself. Don't look at your own capabilities, but look to the God who made the promise. We break promises all the time, but God never breaks His promise. Number three, understand the grace, the faith, grace guaranteed connection. There's an absolute guarantee here, because this comes by faith. Nothing was in you that motivated God to do this and nothing will be in you which will turn His love away from you. God will sanctify you through and through by His power. And then finally, and this is very direct. Cease striving for Earthly things. Do you understand the logic? You're going to get it anyway. It's all going to be yours. Why struggle for it now? It's corrupt now anyway. You can't hold on to it. There's a filter called death and you can't pull it through. Let it go. Use it for God's Kingdom. Pour yourselves out. Use every hour, every minute, every dollar, every effort for the Kingdom of God. You're going to get it anyway. Didn't Paul say that, 1 Corinthians, he said, "All things are yours…" so stop squabbling over things now. They're all yours through faith in Jesus Christ.