WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.840 Good morning, everybody. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.200 Really good to see you. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:09.759 I'm Tim Bowl, one of the teaching pastors here at Grace, and we're going to continue our series in the person of Abraham. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:20.000 Imagine making a mistake that impacted 4.5 billion people over 4,000 years. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:21.519 Wow. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.920 I would say that could be classified as an epic failure. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:29.519 Epic. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:41.679 And yet it's the failure that happened to the man that the Bible tells us is the archetype of every person of faith, and that's the person of Abraham. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:01:06.000 In the person of Abraham, we have not just this man of incredible blessing, but we have a man who's filled with foibles, just like us, and whose mistakes might last for centuries, but who, when the books are finally opened about his life, he comes away with a positive grating from God. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:10.640 We're going to look this morning at the promise God made to Abraham. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:23.599 We're going to look at some failures in Abraham's life, big mistakes that he made, and then we're going to look at how God takes and frames that life so that we might be able to recognize how God views us. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:37.840 Because I'm convinced every time you walk into a church building and sometimes in your bed at night, the internal voice inside will ask the question, How am I evaluated by God? 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:44.400 So I want this to be an encouragement to you today as we look at the life of an imperfect person by the name of Abraham. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:53.040 So let's start by opening up the Bible to Genesis chapter 15, and this calling of Abram. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.400 That was his name before God blessed him with a new name. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:59.280 And here's what Genesis 15, 1 through 6 says. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:05.760 We're going to just park here because this is the promise, one of the promises that gets the whole story of Abraham moving. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.439 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.439 Do not be afraid, Abram. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.520 I am your shield, your very great reward. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.840 But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:29.120 And the one who will inherit my estate is Elisiar of Damascus. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:38.159 And Abraham said, and Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.199 Then the word of the Lord came to him. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:50.879 Then he said to him, So shall your this man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:58.159 He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:02.400 Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.520 Abram, believe the Lord. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:10.639 And God credited it to him as righteousness. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:15.759 All right, so this begins another part of the story of Abram. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:20.240 He is promised by God that he will have an heir. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:36.719 And in that promise, since he's an old man, since he's been married a long time, and since he has no son of his own, the thing that is obsessing within his heart, and I think that's what you could call it, is an obsession. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:45.039 Something that has gripped his mind and he can't think about anything else, is this idea that when he dies, he's not going to have an heir to give his estate to. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.360 He's not going to have anyone that can carry on his family name. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:58.879 He's going to end up having to give it to somebody who was an employee in his estate rather than to his heir, because he has no heir. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:04.639 And so God shows up and says, Abraham, I'm your reward, and I'm going to give you an heir. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.400 And this heir will be of your own flesh and blood. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:19.040 Now, in some versions of the Bible, in the translations, the word that is there for heir or for offspring is the word seed. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:32.240 Basically, it is God saying to Abraham, This child that you're going to have will come from your body, he will be your flesh and blood, he will carry your DNA, and through him all the nations are going to be blessed. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:45.439 In fact, he will have so many descendants that if you look up at the stars of the heaven, you won't be able to count how many descendants come from this promise I'm making you, Abraham. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:47.759 So what a promise. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:05:01.199 However, like most promises of God, they don't happen in a vacuum, they happen in real life, and real life doesn't always match what the promise seems to suggest. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:05.360 And Abram's got some questions, and so would you, and so would I. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.800 I'm an old man, my wife's past childbearing years. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.279 How in the world can this possibly happen? 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:23.199 Have you ever noticed that God chooses procreation or some means whereby he fulfills promises as a way to try and show people? 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:26.879 You think this is the only way it can actually be done? 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:31.040 Who figured this out that people could be made by procreation? 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:32.399 I figured it out. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.040 Guess who can figure out the other stuff? 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:36.000 So can I. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.560 If I want a baby to be born, throw out the science books. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:42.879 I can make a baby be born. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:50.480 In fact, he does it to Abraham, and later on he promises the whole nation of Israel, I'm gonna really blow your mind. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:56.079 I'm gonna create a baby without two human parents, but only one. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:58.000 Huh? 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:00.560 Man. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:02.560 Come on now. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:04.319 I've been around a long time. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:06.959 I know how babies are made. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:09.920 And this does not make any sense. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:10.720 That's right. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:18.720 God made a promise that was gonna require a belief other than what Abram knew to be true in his own life. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:23.040 And when God makes you a promise, it's often going to be the same way. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:34.800 God's gonna make you a promise out there somewhere that you say that doesn't seem to make any sense because when I look around, all I see is this stuff, and you're telling me there's something else out there. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:36.000 Yeah, that's right. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:07:02.639 God invites you to trust him to see whether or not you'll believe him, that he can do anything, including give you offspring when you're old, give millions and billions of offspring to you, and then give you a son, cause him to be raised from the altar, and cause you to believe in a resurrection. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:04.959 That's what God can do. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.120 And that's what's happening in this promise to Abram. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:17.199 But Abram's a human being, and human beings oftentimes like to help God out. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:29.680 So we're gonna read in Genesis 16 where Abram and his wife Sarah, both recognizing what science says, decide that they are going to enact a more scientific plan. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:35.040 One that goes and helps God out because God promised we would have an heir. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:37.839 We're really old, it's probably not gonna happen. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:41.360 So let's figure out a way that we can make this happen. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:08:04.800 So we read in Genesis 16, 1 through 4, this epic failure of Abram and Sarah that is going to impact 4.5 billion people, 2.2 million Christians, or 2.2 billion Christians in the world, 2 billion Muslims in the world, 15 million Jews in the world, and all three of those groups claim Abraham to be their founder. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:18.079 And none of them can agree on how they should act to each other, and at least two of those groups were in the news this week as the brothers were fighting each other, bombing one another in the Strait of Hormuz. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.199 How important are the decisions in our life? 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:22.000 Pretty big. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.000 4,000 years important and 4.5 billion people important. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.879 That's what you're going to read about what happened right here. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.920 In Genesis 16, 1 through 4, we read this. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:39.200 Now Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:44.799 So she said to Abram, The Lord has kept me from having children. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:47.279 Go sleep with my slave. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.879 Perhaps I can build a family through her. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.399 Abram agreed to what Sarah said. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:09:03.759 So after Abraham had been living in Canaan for ten years, now, ten years ago, God made him a promise to go to that land, and God was going to give him the land. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.279 It's been ten years. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:08.080 It's been a while since God made the promises. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:19.519 He slept with Hagar and she conceived. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:20.399 Alright. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.279 God said, Abram, I'm going to give you a son. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:27.360 He even comes later and he says to Sarah, a year from now you're going to be pregnant. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:28.960 And Sarah laughs. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:34.159 These are people who live in their world with a worldview of how things work. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.840 In that world, it was okay to take a second wife. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.240 It was okay to have multiple wives. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.240 It was okay to own slaves. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.039 Obviously, nothing we believe in today. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:47.759 But that's how the culture worked back there. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:52.879 So within the framework of their culture, this was an acceptable act. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:55.679 This was acceptable. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.440 The problem is it wasn't the plan of God. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:03.039 It was the plan of people trying to help God out. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.799 And what resulted? 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:14.799 Hagar became expectant with Ishmael, her son, and the tensions between Sarah and Hagar would become real. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.200 The tensions between Ishmael and the later promised son would be real. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:24.320 The two sons would have people groups that arise from them. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:33.200 In Isaac, the promised son, the Jews, in Ishmael, the child that was put together by human thinking, the Arabs. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.840 And we know how that's working out today, don't we? 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.080 Those two brothers are still fighting with each other, only on a much more massive scale. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:56.480 So I want you to think for a moment about how Abraham's wrong thinking, because all actions, all actions, all behaviors, start with some kind of thought. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.320 You just don't go out and do something. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.720 You normally have thought about something first. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:12.559 And so Abraham has some failed thinking as it relates to the power of God, the timing of God's promises, and how God wants to accomplish what he's made as an offer to Abraham. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:23.440 So what I want to do is to show you very quickly that in this failed man's life, a man of great faith, but a man who was not sinless. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.399 I want to show you some of his wrong thinking. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:35.120 And before we pick up stones to cast at Abraham, let's remember that we have false thinking from time to time as well. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:39.600 So let's not get all bent out of shape over this guy's bad choices. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.200 Let's remember that you and I have made bad choices from time to time as well. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:45.120 But let me show you his first. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:47.200 God shows up. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:48.399 Did you see this? 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:53.600 It was subtle, very subtle, but very, very, very important. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:12:00.159 Now we just sang a song at the end that said, I just want you, Jesus. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.960 I don't need anything else, right? 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.799 Bad paraphrase. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.679 But nonetheless, you get the idea. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.480 And we sang that and we meant it, right? 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:16.080 Look at what God does for Abram in Genesis 15. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:21.200 Abram, I am your great reward. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.879 What did God really offer Abram? 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:32.480 He offered him far more than land, far more than an offspring, far more than children beyond the numbers of the stars. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:36.159 God offered Abraham himself. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.200 God doesn't do that with just anyone. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.799 Abraham, I am your great reward. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:46.639 Wow. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:56.320 John Piper says that our hearts find full contentment when they fully delight in God. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:03.840 And the truth is there's so many things that come into our life of things that we want other than God. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:11.679 And yet God is the fullest, deepest, richest, most incredible person in the entire universe. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:18.480 What we experience in this life and in this earth is just a small fraction of who he is. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:25.519 I mean, think about his attention to the minute details of life at the molecular level. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:33.200 And then think about his incredible detail and attention at the level of the universe at a macro level. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.759 I mean, everything is gravity-driven, mathematics driven. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.120 It's an incredible, right? 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:43.440 And God says, that's just the surface of who he is. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:57.759 And he shows up to a mere man in the middle of this wilderness called Canaan, and he says to him, Abram, I am, that's God's name, your great reward. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:02.320 If he had only stopped there. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:04.799 Wow. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.120 But that's not where it stopped. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:18.000 If you read the next verse, it says, But Abram said to God, obsessed with his own need, God, I don't have an heir. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.799 And God, in his graciousness, gives Abraham more than just himself as a gift. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.519 He makes a promise to Abraham that is going to bless all of the nations. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:36.799 When you desperately want something, desperately. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:44.799 And God shows up and says, Here I am, and I just heard you sing that I am all that you need. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.080 Is that true in your life? 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:53.759 What's the one other thing you need beyond God? 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.120 I'm guilty of it too. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.200 I love gadgets. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.559 Tammy gets sick of gadgets showing up at my door. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:04.399 Oh, that's cool. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:05.279 Look at that. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:06.639 Here's this little cable. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:15.120 I bought this this week because I lost the first one I bought, which I then found, so now I have two. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:22.480 It's this little gadget, it's this little cord, and on the one side, it's got four different connectors for all of your devices. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.639 So it has a Type-C connector, uh a FireWire connector. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.039 I don't even know all the names of the connectors. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:30.799 What I know is it's awesome. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:32.879 And I just thought I have to have this. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:37.120 Now, did I have to have it? 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:51.200 I'm sure it'll be very convenient and useful when my phone and my old iPad and my computer, which all seem to have different connections, Apple has completely won my heart and my wallet, apparently. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:56.159 But silly little illustration. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:58.639 Sometimes we have much bigger ones. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.519 Oh God, if you'd just fix my kid. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.720 Oh God, but I'm still stuck in this same mess financially. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:15.279 You have a need like that in your life, it's just you're you're obsessed with it, you think about it all the time. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.000 But God, I don't have an heir. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.879 So God makes him a promise. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:26.320 Now, look at all the other mistakes that Abraham makes. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.519 Yeah, he just said, Here, take my wife. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:44.559 He offers his wife to Pharaoh because of his fear of Pharaoh. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.399 So he tells Pharaoh that Sarah, his wife, is his sister. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:50.480 In reality, she's his half-sister. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.120 They have the same dad, but different moms. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:55.039 And they married. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:02.960 And so she's his half-sister, but he, there's a famine, he goes into Egypt. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:14.960 He is afraid that Pharaoh's gonna look at his beautiful wife because the Bible tells us Sarah at that time in her life was a beautiful woman, and he's thinking to himself, I know how this is gonna go. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:17.440 I'm a stranger, a foreigner, I have no army. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.079 I'm gonna go down into Egypt, and he was gonna want my wife. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:21.920 So I'm gonna get ahead of this. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.319 I'm gonna offer my wife to him. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:31.680 What a sick thing! I mean, hey man, have my wife. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:40.079 And of course, Pharaoh finds out and is appalled that this is what Abraham has done and kicks him out of Egypt. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.039 But listen now, listen. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:53.119 Abraham didn't just do it once, he did it a second time when he offered his wife to Abimelech the king back in Canaan. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:55.920 Okay, you know. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:59.279 Fool me once, shame on you. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:02.480 Fool me twice, shame on me. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:05.200 He didn't learn his lesson. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.079 You know, he didn't learn his lesson. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.319 He's back here and it's the same exact thing. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:12.000 His heart is filled with fear. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:18.480 He can't trust God to take care of him, so he offers his wife as a way to allay his fears. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:19.680 And now get this. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:20.559 Are you ready for this? 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.319 This will really blow your mind. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:30.559 When Abimelech asks him why he did this, because God began punishing Abimelech and his whole household got sick. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.039 Abimelech didn't know that she was his wife. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.279 He again thought she was his sister. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:48.079 God puts all kinds of uh wounds and sores and sickness in Abimelech's household and then tells Abimelech, hey, you're being punished because you have another man's wife in your house. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:49.839 And Abimelech says, I didn't know that. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.440 And God says, I know you didn't know that. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:54.960 That's why I came to warn you that if you don't fix this situation, I'm gonna kill you. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:04.000 So he fixes the situation and he says to Abram, Why in the world did you do this to me, lie to me like this, and bring God's judgment upon my life? 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:05.920 And he says, Ready? 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:14.160 Long ago, when we lived back in Ur of the Chaldees, Sarah and I came up with this plan. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:17.519 You know, Abram gets blamed all the time for this plan? 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:19.599 His wife was in on it. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:21.279 Yeah. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:26.480 Yeah, he, it's, it's, it's, it's buried there in the text, but when you read it, you're like, huh. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:34.079 They were so afraid of going out on their journey when God called them to go, and Abraham gets blessed because he obeyed God and left. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:48.640 But they were thinking before they left, what if we go down into this land God's going to show us, and you're beautiful, and I'm rich, and some powerful king is gonna take you and my money? 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.279 So they sat down ahead of time and they planned the plan together. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:55.440 Partners in crime. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.039 Go read in Genesis 16. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:03.440 Whose idea was it to give Hagar as a slave, her slave to? 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.680 It was Sarah. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.640 Like, let's not just bust on Abram. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:10.720 She's got her issues too. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:11.359 Right? 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.200 They're both called and they're both blessed. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:21.759 And in Hebrews chapter 11, we both read that God bless calls them people of faith, and he calls them blessed, and they make it into God's Hall of Fame. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:23.759 Look what Hebrews 11 says. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:34.720 When by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.559 All right, this is an imperfect couple. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.640 This is an imperfect person. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:50.640 Both his good and his bad are recorded for us in God's word, just like God records both the good and the bad that's gone on in our life. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:21:01.200 The question is, how does God take imperfect people like this and then talk well about them? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:07.680 Because Abram, I mean, these are some pretty, scandalous, and scoundrel kinds of things to do. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.279 Don't you agree? 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.160 This is not like loving somebody else. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.279 This is all about being motivated by something other than love. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.599 Fear, worry, obsession. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.839 All of that stuff is a part of this story. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.519 It's all a part of Abram's life. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.960 It's all a part of this person who is the archetype of faith. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:39.759 He is an example of what we are supposed to be, and he is also an example of what every person experiences, true faith and the promises of God that are mixed together with mistakes and sin and failure. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:41.279 And it's all there. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:47.680 And so when we come before God, how can any person stand before him? 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:59.759 In fact, when you read the story of God's people in the Bible, except for one or two instances, like a Joseph or a Daniel, in every one of the instances where God records the lives of his father. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.400 Faithful saints, he puts in there all their failure. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:07.359 You want to know why he does that? 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:14.079 The Bible says the saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament, those stories were given to us so we could learn from them. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.319 And here's one of the things to learn from the failures of the saints. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:24.640 Number one, we've made plenty of dumb decisions and we've just joined them in their dumb decision crowd. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:25.279 Okay? 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.640 I'm I, you know, I've had a dumb decision or two in my life. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:30.559 And so have you, if you're honest. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:40.319 But when the New Testament starts talking about Abram and Sarah, notice I'm going to share with you some verses now from the New Testament. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:46.319 And it's not just the writer of Hebrews who commends them, it's James who commends them. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:49.200 It's John who commends them. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.599 It's Paul who commends them. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.440 And you're almost like reading, like, wait a second. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:00.400 Well, let's show you the history of God's history. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.200 And it's one that should encourage your heart. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:09.920 Abraham, it says, was a man who was justified by faith. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:11.759 Look at what Romans 4 says. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.119 This is Paul writing to us about the life of Abraham. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:16.240 He says this. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.640 What does Scripture say? 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:26.799 And Paul will create the entire book of Romans around this promise of God to Abraham. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:39.680 And he will talk about justification, which is a big term, which means that you have righteous standing before God instead of sinful standing before God. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:41.920 So here's what Paul writes. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:43.920 What does the scripture say about Abraham? 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.480 This is Genesis 15, verse 6. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:53.680 Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.359 Now notice two things about that word, about that verse. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:09.359 First, when God views Abraham, God doesn't primarily view him through the lens of a 4,000-year-old mistake that has impacted four and a half billion people. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:13.519 When God looks at Abraham, he evaluates him like this. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:16.240 You are a righteous man. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:18.079 What? 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.160 Okay, stop. 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.839 God, hold on here a minute. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.200 Abraham had faith. 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:29.759 He was not a righteous man. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.440 Not all the time. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:37.359 A lot of the time, he worshipped God, he made altars, he gave tithes, he delivered his family from the enemies. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:41.119 But then there were those times I just mentioned, times when he just failed miserably. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.880 So, God, how can you look at Abraham and say he's righteous? 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.200 Well, here's the key in that verse. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:50.400 Abraham believed God, he had faith. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:52.880 Now, did you notice the next part? 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.000 God credited it to him. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:58.960 God reckoned it to him. 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:02.079 It's not that he had it in himself. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.960 God credited it to his account. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:05.759 Why? 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.160 Because Abraham's faith believed the promises of God. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.599 I'll leave my land and go to a land that you say that I'll inherit. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:17.359 I'll believe that you'll give me a child that will bless the nations. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.480 I believe that through him salvation will come. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:27.200 I believe, the Bible tells us, Abraham believed that even if he had to take Isaac's life, he believed God would raise him from the dead. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:39.759 He believed the same exact thing we believe: that there's a sacrifice, that a blood offering pays for the sin of those who believe in it, and that death is not the end, that even if you die, you'll be raised to life. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:41.759 What's God's word say? 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:52.880 If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:53.920 How do you get saved? 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:59.839 You get saved by God crediting to you the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:02.799 That's what Pastor Dan talked about in the communion. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:05.680 Jesus became our substitute. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.000 He took our sin upon himself. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.559 All those bad, epic failures in our life, they all belong to Jesus now. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.400 And Jesus gave to you his sinless, righteous life. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:22.319 And God credits to you the righteousness of the Savior. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:24.160 How does God look at you? 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:30.000 Remember last week we looked at the book of Revelation, there was the books came out, and the good and the bad deeds were judged. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:37.599 Well, that occurs at a judgment called the Great White Throne Judgment, and it's for people who've never placed their faith in the Savior. 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:42.000 There's a second judgment for those who have come to know Christ. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:47.359 It's called uh whatever it's called, I can't remember right now. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:49.680 The Bemisat judgment. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:50.799 Thank you very much. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:59.839 And at that judgment, the Bible talks about believers being rewarded for their works as a Christian, but it also says that there's something called the book of life. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.440 And the book of life is opened. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:08.559 And if you were if you were looking last week at this, I talked about the the book of judgment where the good and the bad are weighed. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.759 And then I also said the next verse talks about the book of life. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:16.240 And whoever's name was found written in the book of life has salvation. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:18.240 How do you get written in the book of life? 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:27.920 By asking Jesus Christ to be your Savior because you believe the promise of God and the Lamb of God who washes away your sin, writes your name in the book of life. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:35.920 And when the books are opened at the end, and when God opens the book for you, he's gonna see your name there, and what's gonna happen to you? 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:42.240 You are gonna be credited with righteousness, no matter how many epic failures you've had in your life. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.440 Isn't that something worth? 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.200 I mean, that's amazing. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.839 And if Abraham's the archetype, he's like the example of people of faith. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.759 Here's what you can take heart in. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:28:00.079 When God evaluates you, if you've come to know the Savior, God's not gonna evaluate your eternal standing by how many times you got it right and how many times you got it wrong. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:09.279 He knows all of those things, but he's going to evaluate your life by the fact that Jesus Christ got it right all of the time. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.160 And it's that righteousness given to you. 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.119 You're not standing before God in your own righteousness. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:16.079 Thank God. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.799 Thank God. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.799 Which means that you have to start re-evaluating your life. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.880 You can't keep evaluating your life on the basis of your failures. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:31.519 You have to start evaluating your life on the basis of his success. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.839 Jesus Christ satisfied God's work. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:39.440 And the Bible calls that propitiation. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:51.599 It's a big long word, which means this: God was satisfied in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as a payment for your sin and as a means to give you the righteousness of his son. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:59.519 And so, God's word says he's the father of all believers who believe in the gospel. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:17.200 And just as just like Abraham is this father of people who share in that faith, so if you share in that faith, Galatians 3 says this, understand then that those who have faith are the children of Abraham. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:23.440 Did you know in Isaiah 41, God says of Abraham, he is my friend. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:30.640 Did you know that Jesus says to his disciples, I no longer call you my disciples, now I call you my friends. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.720 That's how God wants to call you. 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:37.039 That's how God thinks of you, and that's how God wants you to relate to him. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:44.640 Not relate to him in the basis of your failures, but relate to him on the basis of the success of Jesus Christ. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:50.720 Scripture foresaw that God would justify us by faith. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.480 And he announced that gospel to Abraham 4,000 years ago. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:05.920 And because Abraham believed, all the nations are blessed through the offspring that God sent through Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.720 That's the offspring, you see, through your heir. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:09.839 It wasn't Isaac. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.960 Oh, Isaac was the first offspring, but that's not the seed that God's talking about. 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:18.319 God's talking about Abraham, I'm going to give you a promise. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:20.319 His name is Jesus. 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:26.240 He's coming through your lineage, and all who believe in him will be blessed. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.319 So, how about you? 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:32.640 How are you interpreting your life? 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:40.720 You interpreting it through the life that you've lived so far, or are you going to interpret it through the life that Jesus lived for you? 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:45.440 He lived for you, he died for you, he rose for you. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.839 And that's why we say that faith, right? 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:55.680 Faith is a gift and that salvation is a gift. 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:00.000 You don't get saved by your works because you have epic failures in your life. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.160 You don't measure up, neither do I. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.319 But you do measure up in Jesus. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:10.240 And that's why James says that Abraham was called righteous because of his obedience. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:11.839 Well, what did he obey? 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:19.359 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:21.119 What made him righteous? 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:24.400 His obedience to receive the promise. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:25.920 Right? 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:27.920 God said, offer up Isaac. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:28.480 He did. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:32.880 And because he obeyed, God reckoned it to him as righteous and he credited it to him. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.640 And what's God ask you to do? 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:39.119 Believe in my son who I laid on the altar of Calvary's cross. 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:42.240 Do you believe in that salvation gift? 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:45.039 It's yours free for the asking. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:52.160 And if you say, because, you know, you might not interpret your life as being a failure, you might interpret your life as being, I'm pretty good. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:53.599 Why do I need a savior? 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.359 Because God says you do. 00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:57.200 God says you're not perfect. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:07.599 And if you're going to live by the law, the Ten Commandments, you better obey every single one of them, every time in your life, all 365 days a year, 24-7, for every year you've lived. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:10.799 And if you break one of those, you've broken them all. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:14.960 And if you've broken even one, you're done. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:22.799 You need a perfect record, not a 99.4% ivory soap record. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.960 Because that soap is not clean enough. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:30.319 And if you're sitting here thinking I'm good enough, no, you're not. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.519 Only Jesus Christ can make you good enough. 00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:41.839 And he not only wants to make you good enough, he wants to make you so righteous that when God looks at you, he calls you his daughter. 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:43.759 His son. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:46.880 That's why we say we're a Jesus church. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:49.279 We're not here talking about moral principles. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:52.160 Obey better and God will like you. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:54.240 Because you can't pay well enough. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:33:00.400