Sermon #1543 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: Standing On Justified Ground
Text: Romans
4:3 and Genesis 15:6-21
Subject: Things Seen Only By Faith
Date: Sunday
Evening –
Tape # X-78b
Introduction:
(Romans 4:1-3) "What shall we say then that Abraham our
father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? {2} For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not
before God. {3} For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
“Abraham believed God.”
What a tremendous declaration that is. Though faith has nothing to do with the
accomplishment of justification, we cannot have justification without faith.
Yet, this faith which is exemplified in Abraham is a thing no man can perform.
It is not the result of man’s will, decision, or moral and mental
determination. Faith is the gift of God. No man can or will believe, except it
be by the gift and operation of God in him. We believe according to the working
of his mighty power. So, when the Scriptures assert that “Abraham believed God,” the Holy Spirit is saying, -- Here is a
miracle of grace! Here is a sinner doing what no sinner can do, doing what we
must do, doing what only the grace of God can enable him to do!
Romans 4:3
is a
direct quote from Genesis 15:6. It refers us to that experience of Abraham
recorded in Genesis 15.
(Genesis 15:6) "And he believed in the LORD; and he
counted it to him for righteousness."
In this 15th
chapter of Genesis, when the Holy Spirit declares that Abraham believed in the
Lord, at least five things are evident.
1.
He believed the Gospel as the very word of God, as a
word directly from God himself.
Paul tells us that the word
God spoke to him was the
gospel of Christ preached to him. God had said, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward.” Upon the
hells of this revelation, Abram asked the Lord to give him a son in whom all
his promised mercy might be fulfilled. “And,
behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This
shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels
shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able
to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
Like Saul of Tarsus, Abraham
was a man who could declare, “I certify
you, that the gospel I believe is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The
gospel came to him, not as the word of man, but the word of God. His faith
stood not in the words of man’s wisdom, but in the power of God.
If ever a sinner believes
God, he will believe because the gospel has come to him in the demonstration
and power of the Holy Spirit with much assurance, being assured by God himself
that it is the very word of God.
·
(1 Thessalonians 1:5) "For
our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake."
That faith which stands in
the wisdom of man is but the faith of a man. That faith which stands in the
power of God is the faith of God’s elect.
2.
Abraham believed the word of God concerning his Son,
the Seed in whom and by whom redemption would be accomplished.
The promise he heard from
God, he recognized to be the very same as that made to mother Eve in the
Garden. Abraham understood that God’s promise here declared went far beyond the
promise of a son. It was the promise of God concerning his Son (Gal. 3:6-16).
True faith is fixed on
Christ alone. It is not the faith of this sect or that, but faith in Christ. It
is not the faith of this creed or that. It is not the faith of emotion and
fear. True faith looks to Christ, embracing him, his person and his work, as
the God-man our Mediator.
3.
Abraham believed that God could and would do that
which was humanly impossible.
Abraham believed God, who
gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they
were.
·
(Romans 4:18-25) "Who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations,
according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed
be. {19} And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: {20} He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
{21} And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. {22} And
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. {23} Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was
imputed to him; {24} But for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord
from the dead; {25} Who was delivered
for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
Faith believes that Christ
is able to save! He can cause dry bones to live. He can raise
up the dead. He can give life to the corpse, cause the
blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to hear, and the cursed to be blessed.
4.
Abraham believed the promise made to him by God in
the gospel, though vast and sublime beyond calculation, to be a matter of
absolute certainty, because God had spoken it.
·
(Romans 4:8) "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin."
·
(Ephesians 1:3-6) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: {4} According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: {5} Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, {6} To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
5.
Abraham believed the gospel as the word of God to
him.
·
“Thy Shield”
·
“Thy Great Reward”
·
“Thy Savior”
He heard God speak the
gospel to him as the word of his salvation.
·
(Ephesians 1:13-14) "In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, {14} Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory."
Believing God, Abraham was
justified. By faith he received the blessedness of sins forgiven, righteousness
imputed, and immutable, perfect acceptance with God himself, through the blood
and righteousness of Christ. That is what verse 6 declares
(Genesis 15:6) "And he believed in the LORD; and he
counted it to him for righteousness."
Now, beginning at verse 7
and going through to the end of the chapter, we see a believing sinner standing
on justified ground. This is the grace of God “wherein we
stand” (
Standing on justified
ground,
the most uneducated, illiterate believer sees with perfect clarity what the
most brilliant and most educated unbeliever cannot even imagine, because faith
understands all things.
·
(John 14:26) "But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
·
(John 16:13) "Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come."
·
(1 Corinthians 2:9-16) "But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God. (11) For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even
so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to
us of God. (13) Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. (15) But he that is
spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
·
(Hebrews 11:1-3) "Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a
good report. (3) Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear."
·
(1 John 2:20) "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things."
Now, if you will hold your
Bibles open at Genesis 15, let me show you what Abraham saw standing
on justified ground.
I.
Standing justified before
God, as a sinner accepted in Christ the beloved, faith sees the value of God’s
call and prizes it (v. 7).
(Genesis 15:7) "And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of
·
The Distinctiveness of It
·
The Blessedness of It
·
The Result of It – Faith in Christ!
When the soul is graciously enabled to perceive its
complete justification by faith, then it
more distinctly discerns its calling. Now, the believer perceives his
privileged separation and discerns why he was convinced of sin, why he was led
away from self-righteousness and the pleasures of this world, to live the life
of faith; now he sees his high calling and the prize of it, and from the one
blessing of justification he argues the blessedness of all the inheritance to
which he is called. The more clear a man is about his
justification the more will he prize his calling, and the more earnestly will
he seek to make it sure by perfecting his separation from the world and his
conformity to his Lord. Am I a justified man? Then will I not go back to that
bondage in which I once was held. Am I now accepted of God through faith? Then
will I live no longer by sight, as I once did as a carnal man, when I
understood not the power of trusting in the unseen God. One Christian grace
helps another, and one act of divine grace casts a refulgence
upon another. Calling gleams with double glory side by side with the twin star
of justification.
Justifying faith receives more vividly the promises.
“I have brought thee,” said the Lord, “into this land to inherit it.” He was
reminded again of the promise God made him years before. Beloved, no man reads
the promises of God with such delight and with such a clear understanding as
the man who is justified by faith in Christ Jesus. “For now,” saith he, “this
promise is mine, and made to me. I have the pledge of its fulfillment in the
fact that I walk in the favor of God. I am no longer obnoxious to his wrath;
none can lay anything to my charge, for I am absolved
through Jesus Christ; and, therefore, if when I was a sinner he justified me,
much more, being justified, will he keep his promise to me. If when I was a
rebel condemned, he nevertheless in his eternal mercy called me and brought me
into this state of acceptance, much more will he preserve me from all my
enemies, and give me the heritage which he has promised by his covenant of
grace. A clear view of justification helps you much in grasping the promise,
therefore seek it earnestly for your soul’s comfort.
II. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees the glory of God in blood atonement (vv.
8-11).
(Genesis 15:8-11)
"And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it? (9) And he said unto him, Take me
an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three
years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. (10) And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the
birds divided he not. (11) And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove
them away."
· The only grounds upon which
God can bless and save a sinner is blood atonement. --
“The precious blood of Christ.”
· All the sacrifices point to
one sacrifice.
· Faith drives away every
unclean foul of the air which would take away or turn it from the sacrifice.
· Faith sees itself involved
in the sacrifice.
Abramham, after being justified by faith, was led more distinctly to behold the power of
sacrifice. By God’s command he killed three bullocks, three goats, three
sheep, with turtle doves and pigeons, being all the creatures ordained for
sacrifice. The patriarch’s hands are stained with blood; he handles the
butcher’s knife, he divides the beasts, he kills the birds he places them in an
order revealed to him by God’s Spirit at the time; there they are. Abram learns
that there is no meeting with God except through sacrifice. God has shut every
door except that over which the blood is sprinkled. All acceptable approaches
to God must be through an atoning sacrifice, and Abram sees this. While the
promise is still in his ears, while the ink is yet wet in the pen of the Holy
Spirit, writing him down as justified, he must see a sacrifice, and see it,
too, in emblems which comprehend all the revelation of sacrifice made to Aaron.
So, brethren, it is a blessed thing when your faith justifies you, if it helps
you to obtain more complete and vivid views of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. The purest and most bracing air for faith to breathe is on
III. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees God in covenant grace, a covenant ratified by blood (vv.
12, 17, 18).
(Genesis 15:12)
"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;
and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon
him."
(Genesis 15:17-18)
"And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was
dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those
pieces. (18) In the same day the LORD
made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from
the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:"
Perhaps even more important was the next lesson
which Abram had to learn. He was led to behold the covenant. I suppose that these pieces of the bullock, the lamb,
the ram, and the goat, were so placed that Abram stood in the midst with a part
on this side and a part on that. So he stood as a worshipper all through the
day, and towards nightfall, when a horror of great darkness came over him, he
fell into a deep sleep. Who would not feel a horror passing over him as he sees
the great sacrifice for sin, and sees himself involved therein? There in the
midst of the sacrifice he saw, moving with solemn motion, a smoking furnace and
a burning lamp, answering to the pillar of cloud and fire, which manifested the
presence in later days to
Immediately after, God made
to Abram (and here the analogy still holds) a
discovery, that all the blessing that was promised, though it was surely
his, would not come without an interval of trouble. “Thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall
afflict them four hundred years.”
IV. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees that every trial, every trouble, every affliction, and
every sorrow we experience in this world of woe is ordained of God in covenant
mercy and comes to pass according to the purpose of God’s grace in the covenant
(v. 13).
(Genesis 15:13)
"And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not
theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them
four hundred years;"
Our trials are as much a part of our blessedness as
our justification.
· (Romans 5:1-5) "Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (3) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation
worketh patience; (4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope: (5) And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us."
When a man is first of all brought to Christ he
often is so ignorant as to think, “Now my troubles are all over; I have come to
Christ and I am saved: from this day forward I shall have nothing to do but to
sing the praises of God.” Alas! A conflict remains. We must know of a surety
that the battle now begins. How often does it happen that the Lord, in order to
educate his child for future trouble, makes the occasion when his justification
is most clear to him the season of informing him that he may expect to meet
with trouble! I was struck with that fact when I was reading for my own comfort
the other night the fifth chapter of Romans; it runs thus— “Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by
whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God.” See how softly it flows, a justification sheds
the oil of joy upon the believer’s head. But what is the next verse— “and not
only so, but we glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh
patience,” and so on. Justification ensures tribulation. Oh! Yes, the covenant
is yours; you shall possess the goodly land and
V. Standing on justified
ground, faith sees and is assured of the fact that our ultimate salvation
and triumph in Christ is sure (vv. 14-16).
(Genesis 15:14-16)
"And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and
afterward shall they come out with great substance. (15) And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be
buried in a good old age. (16) But in
the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full."
To close the whole, the Lord gave to Abram an assurance of ultimate success. He
would bring his seed into the promised land, and the
people who had oppressed them he would judge. So let it come as a sweet
revelation to every believing man this morning, that at the end he shall triumph, and those evils which now oppress him shall be cast
beneath his feet. The Lord shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. We may be
slaves in