Abraham's God

1. The God of Abraham’s Faith—Romans 4:17
a. God Is the Author of The Promise—Rom 4:17"(as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations")
(1) The promise given to Abraham was sure—“it is written…”
(2) It was beyond Abraham’s natural abilities to complete any part of the promise—he and his wife were too old to have children.
(3) The promise was even greater in scope than Abraham could imagine at the time, because it included all of his Spiritual lineage too—Rom 4:16
(4) The Promise to Abraham was part of a greater promise made in eternity—Titus 1:1-3
(5) The promise was sure, definite, guaranteed— I have made you a father of many nations
(6) The Promise to Abraham was authored by God Himself—Jonah 2:9 “…Salvation is of the LORD."" 2 Pet 1:2-3
b. Abraham Had Faith In God—in the presence of Him whom he believed…..Gen 17:1-8
(1) Abraham in God’s presence
(a) The promise of a People
(b) The promise of a land
(c) The promise of an everlasting covenant.
(2) Abraham’s perception of God—One Abraham could believe in and depend upon IN ANY SITUATION—
(3) The God of Abraham’s Faith—“…God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did…”

b. The Source of Abraham’s Faith—Knowing God – First, as with all humanity, God knew Abraham
(1) But since Abraham was one of the elect of God, God knew him in a VERY special way—Jer 1:4-5
(2) The source of Abraham’s faith was God’s self revelation and Abraham’s understanding of the Attributes of God
(3) First, Abraham, like any other human had available to him the knowledge about God available in nature—Psa 19:1-3, Rom 1:19-20
c. Life Giver— God, who gives life to the dead
(1) God is the only source of Life—
(2) God can raise the Dead (and has, and will again).
(3) Don’t forget, this includes spiritual life.
d. God the Creative Speaker—Gen 1:1-3
e. God revealed Himself to Abraham from the start as Jehovah, the Covenant God—Gen 12:1-3
f. In Genesis 15, God revealed Himself to Abraham as Adonai Jehovah, and as Shield and Reward. GOD IS the Reward! Gen 15:1-2
g. God revealed Himself to Abraham as the God Who Justifies the UNGODLY. Gen 15:6, Rom 4:5
h. IN Genesis 17, God revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the “full breasted one” who can supply ALL our needs, and God called Abraham to live fully for God
i. God revealed Himself to Abraham on the plains of Mamre, face to face. This is a Christopany.—Gen 18:1-8
j. God revealed Himself to Abraham as the One for whom nothing is too hard—Gen 18:9-15
k. God’s plan: to test Abraham and reveal to Abraham God’s purpose to judge Sodom. Gen 18:17-19
(1) First, God makes the rhetorical question: “…And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…” Not “what I might do?” But “what am I doing…” God is going to judge Sodom, and Abraham’s intercession will not change that—the prayer of Abraham, his bargaining with God, are a lesson to him.
(2) Second, God notes the certainty of the legacy of Abraham: Gen 18:1818
(3) Third, and most importantly, the real source of everything is the counsel and will of God: “…19 For I have known him…”
(4) Fourth, the purpose of God in this “training,” this discipleship by God is for him to train his own house

l. Other parts of God’s self revelation and Abraham’s knowledge, disclosed in this interchange
(1) Abraham knew God as the Judge of the Earth who will always do what is right
(2) Abraham knew God as the God who makes a distinction between the wicked and the righteous.

3. The Result of Abraham’s Faith Romans 4:18-22

a. The Physical Result: Heritage—4:18 “…who, against hope…” Consider the enormity of God’s promise to Abraham—Sarah thought it was funny. Gen 18:9-15
(1) The promise was awesome in scope—the father of many nations
(2) The promise was massive in quantity—more descendants than the stars of heaven.
(3) The Promise was tremendous in its effect, for hidden in it was the promise of the Redeemer.
(4) The promise was against hope, contrary to hope—
(a) the word “hope” is not a word of wishful thinking.
(b) In Biblical terms, “hope” implies a certain expectation of success. This promise was beyond any reasonable idea! Titus 2:13 "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ," Rom 5:1-5, Rom 8:24-25, Col 1:1-5

b. Hope for the hopeless— believed in hope … Abraham, in spite of having no plausible reason to believe and hope, put his hope, faith, and trust in what God had said, and moved on.
(1) In this case, hope was not reasonable
(2) In this case, hope was not the least bit plausible.
(3) But Abraham pinned his hopes on God’s promise. Why? Because Abraham knew God!
c. The Heritage—the father of nations. that he might become the father of many nations: Father of the Arab peoples, Father of the Jewish peoples

4. The Universal Result—ONE of the descendants— Gen 15:5.
a. A Savior for the whole world.
b. The saved are Numberless as stars—Rev 7:9-14
c. The saved, Abraham’s children, are from every tribe and nation-- Rev 7:9
d. The Saved, Abraham’s children, are the Children of the Promise— Gal 3:24-26
e. All this is fulfilled in Christ— Gal 3:16

5. The Nature of Abraham’s Faith
a. Not Weak—19
(1) No where is this more important than in the spiritual warfare we face daily—Eph 6:10-14
(2) Abraham was not weak in faith, he took his stand on what God had promised, and he stood on God’s Word.
b. Did Not Consider the obstacles— Again, these were formidable obstacles, such as no man could overcome. It was not that Abraham thought about it and said, “well, I guess God can do it,” or “it’s possible,” it was that Abraham did not consider the obstacles!
c. Did not Waver 20
(1) Abraham staggered not, he did not waver, he did not allow unbelief to be a factor.
(2) Heb 3:5-19—unbelief takes over, James 1:5-8
(3) Why did he not waver—whose promise was it? 20
d. Fully Convinced— 20-21
(1) The more he believed, the more God “helped his unbelief…”
(2) He gave all the glory to God for his faith.
(3) He was fully persuaded, fully convinced—why?—2 Tim 1:12
(4) He knew God’s abilities, he knew God’s faithfulness—21

6. The Spiritual Result—Imputation. 22
a. What kind of faith is saving faith?
b. Characteristics:
(1) The kind that believes despite obstacles.
(2) The kind that is not weak nor wavering— 1 John 5:13
(3) The kind that does not claim any glory or ability for itself.
(4) The kind that is fully convinced in the faithfulness and the ability of the object of the faith.
c. The Result of Saving Faith—a paid, clear, closed account.
d. The Doctrine of Imputation is not for Historical Purposes Only-- Rom 4:23 -24
e. The Only “If”—if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
f. The Work of Christ on the Cross—25 Who was delivered for our offences,
g. Who was delivered—Christ was delivered, not taken. God the Father planned it-- 1 Pet 1:18-20, God the Son volunteered for the task. John 10: 18
h. God the Son offered Himself, working together with the Spirit-- Heb 9:14
i. He was delivered, not captured! No one had the ability to overcome Him, He is the Overcomer, but He volunteered, the Father delivered Him, Christ laid His life down!
j. Who was delivered for our – He was delivered for OUR offenses. He was a substitute! He did not die for a shapeless mass, He did not die to make salvation possible, He was delivered for us! Isa 53: 5
k. Who was delivered for our offences—Make no mistake, it was our sins that placed Him there. We sinned and He died to pay for our sins.
(1) He was not delivered to show an example of love, though the Cross is the supreme example of Love.
(2) He was not delivered to be a martyr, though He is the Father of all the Martyrs.
(3) He was not delivered to set up some sort of automatic salvation machine
(4) He was delivered for our offenses. He was OUR substitute. Mat 1:21
l. The Resurrected Lord:
(1) He was Raised.
(2) He was raised for us
(3) His resurrection is the token that His sacrifice was accepted, that the debt was paid.