Parresia · Let’s Keep the Amazing in Grace, Session 7, “Father Abraham”

Introduction

Welcome to the 7th session of Let’s Keep the Amazing in Grace. This session is entitled “Father Abraham.” 

Throughout my whole life as a Christian I have heard that Abraham is the “father of our faith.” However, for many years all I knew about Abraham was the Sunday School song “Father Abraham” (including the hand motions, of course). 

For all practical purposes, I had a mental file for Abraham, but it was empty. God says that I am blessed because of Abraham, but I didn’t even know it!

Genesis 12:3 – God told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Paul taught extensively on our spiritual heritage in Abraham, and the cornerstone of his teaching was this statement: 

Romans 4:3 – Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

This sentences is repeated 6 times in the Bible. 2 in the Old Testament and 4 in the New Testament. What does it mean? It means that Abraham was in right standing with God and abundantly blessed simply because he believed what God said. (Romans 4:3; Romans 4:9; Romans 4:22; James 2:23; Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6)

What had God said to Abraham? What had God promised Abraham? We’ll see as we move through the scriptures. But first I want to share a story.

Unless I had believed

A few years ago I was preparing to teach about Abraham and the “righteousness of faith.” I read in Romans 4 where it says that Abraham had a situation that was “contrary to hope.” Another version says “hope against hope.” In other words, it was hopeless.

At the time, I was thinking about a situation in my own life where what I saw in the natural was not yet lining up with the promises that God had given me over many years.  

God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, but the problem was that he didn’t have any children. But “contrary to hope, in hope he believed.” And then when he was 100 years old, he finally had a son.

So as I was pondering this, in my heart I kept hearing the phrase “the land of the living, the land of the living.” 

I knew the verse – or at least I thought I did. I was remembering it like this:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had seen the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.” [that sounds right, doesn’t it?]

But I was missing a very important phrase. I looked it up and saw what it actually says – 

Psalm 27:13 – I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

The Holy Spirit said to me, “Tricia, you must continue  to believe in Me and in every promise I have given you.   Hang on to hope, and you will see the goodness in the Lord in the land of the living.”

What is hope? It’s the Greek word “elpis,” and it means a joyful, confident expectation of good in your future. It means that when There are times when everything in the natural goes against the promises of God, we don’t give up on His faithfulness. 

What does that look like for us? It’s a 4-letter word: Wait!

Psalm 27:14 – [the very next verse in Psalm 27 says] Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord! [“Wait” is the Hebrew word, “qavah,” and it means “expect, look eagerly for.”]

Ever since that time a few years ago when I was studying Abraham, and God connected his story to Psalm 27:13-14 in my heart, Abraham truly became “the Father of my faith.” His story inspires me to always hope and never give up on the promises of God.

I pray that this teaching will also inspire you to trust in the faithfulness of God no matter how long you have been waiting for a promise to be fulfilled.

Only one thing changed

As I have mentioned before, Abraham lived 430 years before the law was given, and he was considered “righteous” by faith, not by works and adherence to laws, therefore the “Abrahamic Covenant” was a covenant based purely on grace. In this covenant of grace, there is no record of Abraham being punished or rebuked by God, or even a mention of wrath.

however, after the law was given, we see in Numbers and Deuteronomy that time and time again when God’s people complained or broke laws, they incurred punishment and wrath.

Why? What Changed? Did God change? No. He is and was and always will be the Lord, Merciful and Gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness. He is Jehovah Jirah, the Provider. He is Jehovah Shalom. He is Jehovah Nissi, the Deliverer, Jehovah Rapha, the Healer, and I could go on…

Did the people change? No. They were still Abraham’s descendants, and they were still behaving in many of the same ways. They “missed the mark” before the law was given, and they “missed the mark” after the law was given.

The only thing that changed was the kind of covenant they were under.

With the Abrahamic Covenant, they were under undeserved blessing with only one qualification: being in the bloodline of Abraham, whose faith made him righteous.

Under the Mosaic Covenant of Law, bloodline wasn’t enough. It was now bloodline + performance, which included obedience to the over 600 laws of the Old Covenant.

If they disobeyed, they would be cursed with the “curse of the law” which you can read about in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. But God was always gracious to them. 

Jeremiah 31:3-4, The Message – God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again.”

Whenever I read about Abraham’s physical descendants, whom God calls the “sand on the seashore,” I know that there is a parallel for us, because we are Abraham’s is spiritual descendants, whom God calls the “stars in the sky.”

No matter how far we wander, we’ll never wander beyond the reach of His everlasting love and kindness. No matter how much we tear down what He has built, He will start over with us – seven times seventy to infinity. 

Redeemed; covenant

1500 years after Sinai and the giving of the law, a prophet named John the Baptist came on the scene and declared, 

John 1:29 – “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In the fullness of time, when the law had served its purpose and proved that the flesh of man would always fall short of the glory of God, He sent His Son, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Redeem means “to buy out of slavery.” The law was bondage because of its death sentence, but Jesus paid the price with His own blood to break the bonds of the ministry of death and condemnation over us.

Jesus was the end of Old Covenant system! No more would man relate to God by his performance as a slave. From then on access to God would be by grace through faith in Jesus’s righteousness imparted to us as a free gift.

As the writer of Hebrews said:

Hebrews 8:12-13 –  “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.

In those days, a covenant was stronger than a legal agreement or a business contract because the only way a covenant was enacted was by death.

Hebrews 9:16-18, 22, 26, NASB – For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. [So-like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the New Covenant came into effect with Jesus’ death.] 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant [the Mosaic Covenant] was not inaugurated without blood. [You can read about it, but Moses took the blood of goats and calves and sprinkled everything – even the people and the scrolls – to establish Old Covenant, saying “This is the blood of the covenant.” It was through the blood that everything was cleansed.] …22 without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.… 26 But now once at the consummation of the ages He [Jesus] has been manifested [put on a human body, and became the Lamb of God for us – ] to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. [as Hebrews 10:12 says it’s “one sacrifice for sins forever”]

At the last supper, Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and said to His disciples, 

Matthew 26:28 – “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

On the Cross Jesus experienced all of the effects of sin and the curse for us – the shame, the condemnation, the disease, the physical death, and the separation from God because that’s what sin demanded. And – 

Galatians 3:13-14, 26-29 – Christ has redeemed us [set us free by buying us out] from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us [we are NOT under the curse of the law!] (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), [why? Back to Abraham-] 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, [what is the blessing of Abraham? The righteousness of faith] that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith…    26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [Paul goes on to write in verse 29 -] 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

By virtue of our living spiritual union in Christ, we are Abraham’s spiritual seed and heirs of “the promise.”  What is “the promise”? In verse 14 Paul called it “The promise of the Spirit through faith.”

What the Law could never do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit within. He transformed us into sons of God who are worthy as His very own heirs.

And with the Holy Spirit’s eternal indwelling presence, He has ensured our righteousness before God, and the Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of eternal life and all the blessings and promises of God. 

Hebrews 6:13-15 – [This is likened to the promise He made to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations] For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He [God] swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he [Abraham] had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. [This is specifically referring obtaining the promise of a son – Isaac who was the physical seed of Abraham, through whom the rest of a great nation would come.]

Abraham’s son, Isaac – his only son, the son that he loved – is a shadow of Jesus. And God also says to us, “Through My Son, Jesus Christ, Blessing I will bless you ekklesia! You church! Multiplying I will multiply you. You are blessed to be a blessing! And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 15 – the Abrahamic Covenant

Now to Abraham’s story. In Genesis 12, God met a 75-year-old, childless  heathen in the desert named Abraham, and He told him what was to come:

Genesis 12:1-3 – “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Then 10 years later, in Genesis 15, Abraham was still childless, and God came to him again, but this time to enact the unconditional covenant of His grace.

Fulfillment of the covenant fell on God alone. In this covenant there were no “IF-then” clauses for Abraham. God said – 

Genesis 15:5-7 – “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he [Abraham] believed in the Lord, and He [God] accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

Here is Abraham, 85 and still childless, but he still believed God, that he would have countless descendants and would be blessed in every way, and God counted Abraham as righteous because of his faith.

God also told Abraham in Genesis 15 that he would inherit the Promised Land (Genesis 15:7 & Genesis 13) – which we know for us represents the Promised Land of rest in the finished work of Jesus, from Hebrews 4, which we will see in a later session.

As Abraham was looking up at the stars, he asked God a good question:

Genesis 15:8 – “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

It was at that moment that God told Abraham to bring animals for a sacrifice to enact a covenant. Through the manner in which God made this covenant, Abraham would know beyond any shadow of a doubt that what God was telling him would surely come to pass.

In those days, when two parties came into a covenant, they would each pass between the pieces of animals. But in Genesis 15 we see God alone passing between the halves of the animals. (3-yr-old heifer, a 3-yr-old female goat, a 3-yr-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, vs 9)

Genesis 15:17 – And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

Genesis 15:17 says God appeared as “a smoking oven and a burning torch” as He passed between the pieces, symbolizing that in the midst of darkness, God would bring the light of His salvation – a prophetic picture of the coming of Jesus.

God alone bound Himself to the terms of the covenant with all its promises. He did this by causing Abraham to fall into a deep sleep so that he would have nothing to do with the enactment of the covenant. 

Fulfillment of the covenant fell on God alone.  What God had promised, He would do – no matter what. And after this, Abraham was fully convinced that what God had promised He was also able to perform. 

Fourteen years later, when Abraham was 99, the Lord came to Abraham  again – and I am greatly abbreviating this story – but God said to Abraham – 

Genesis 17:19 – Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; [which means laughter] I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

Abraham would finally have the heir of promise to carry on the heritage of God’s grace. 

As we read about the family line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see grace upon grace upon grace for people who were not perfect. In fact, at times they were quite flawed. However, never, not once, do you see the wrath of God directed towards them, nor even a rebuke.

Romans 4, Abraham’s faith

Let’s look at what Paul says about Abraham in Romans 4 to find out how all this applies to us.

Romans 4:1-4 – What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? [in other words, what did Abraham discover about his own righteousness? His own efforts? Nothing good! We’re going to see that Abraham was not always a model citizen!] 2 For if Abraham was justified by works [made righteous by his performance], he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, [to be righteous] the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. [in other words, if you could earn righteousness, then God would be indebted to us!]

If our right standing before God is a reward for good behavior, then we’d get credit for earning it, and we could boast about it.

But then we would have to concede that the flip-side is also true: we’d lose our righteousness if we weren’t perfectly behaved. Now, that’s not the covenant that we want to be under!

You can’t establish your own righteousness and then submit to the gift of righteousness. (Romans 10:3) You can’t believe that you’re righteous by what you do and still believe you’re righteous as a gift. You’ll never be grateful to God!

If righteousness is truly a gift by the grace of God, then Jesus, who actually purchased it for us with His own blood, gets all the credit, and we can’t lose it even when we fail. 

Romans 4:5 – [Next verse:] But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly [there’s the scandal of the gospel, a Holy God makes wicked people righteous! But if you are crazy enough to believe it, YOUR], his faith is accounted for righteousness. 

Again: “To him who does not work” for it, it is given to him as grace. If we can just stop working for it, He’ll just give it to us for free!

Abraham is a perfect example of someone who wasn’t justified by his good behavior, and couldn’t possibly have been justified by obeying the law because the law wasn’t in existence when he lived. For another 430 years! (Galatians 3:17)

On two occasions Abraham lied about his wife Sarah, being his sister and was willing to let her be taken by two different kings to be in their harems. And you know what that means!

He had a noble reason for it: to save his own skin! Abraham wasn’t always a model of integrity. He was a model of someone living under the grace of God.

Again – you won’t find one time that God punished or even rebuked Abraham. The Bible even calls Abraham “God’s friend.” (James 2:23). 

In fact, God defended Abraham. And He prevented the kings from touching Sarah, and He caused Abraham to walk away with great wealth: “livestock, silver, and gold.” You can read the accounts in Genesis 12-14 and 20.

Heir of the World

Back to Romans 4, jumping to verse 13:

Romans 4:13-14 – For the promise that he [Abraham] would be the heir of the world [cosmos – all the world’s riches and advantages – ] was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, [if you obtain righteousness by EARNING it – then #1- your] faith is made void and [#2] the promise [of being an heir is] made of no effect… [in other words, it would be like having a $1,000,000,000 inheritance check in an unopened envelope. It would do you no good.]

What voids faith according to this passage?

• Is it sin? No! our sin was dealt with at the cross.

• Is it that we just haven’t worked hard enough? We haven’t been good enough? We haven’t confessed enough scriptures or prayed enough or fasted enough? No! That’s not it either!

Faith is made void if a person could obtain the promise of righteousness – or any other blessing or provision of God – through their performance. 

The more you trust in your performance with the belief that because you worked hard and did something right for God, or prayed hard enough or fasted long enough, that He has to call you righteous, you’ll find that your faith will be void, and you will never feel assured of your righteousness before Him, because your works it will never be enough!

And why would you need faith if you could obtain it on your own? You can’t have it both ways! It’s either our works or faith in His.

IF we live in that system, we void our faith and make God’s promise of no effect in our lives because we’ll be taking matters in our own hands with our own self-effort!

Galatians 5:4, KJV – Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law [made right by DOING]; ye are fallen from grace.

Falling from grace isn’t falling into sin. It’s falling back into law – earning through performance!

And this truth can be applied to everything we pray about – the minute you connect God’s provision, promises, or blessings to anything you have achieved through self-effort, then faith will become void.

“Void” is the Greek word kenoō and it means “to make empty, deprive of force, render vain, useless, of no effect.”

If you are sick or depressed or confused or addicted or broke or can’t sleep at night, you need Christ and His righteousness to be of effect. You need to know that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for you.

He is your Mediator. And our Mediator isn’t before the throne, He is on the throne at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having purged our sins.

We when we stand before the throne of grace in our time of need to obtain mercy and find grace, our job is to behold Jesus seated on His throne, with all our enemies under His feet, resting because the work is finished!

Back to Romans 4:

Romans 4:15 – The law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. [so – with the law comes wrath]

The kind of wrath that Paul was referring to is the Greek word “orge” which means “anger exhibited in punishment.”

If there is no law, there is no violation of it; and therefore, no punishment.

Romans 4:16-19 – [Back to Romans 4 -] Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, [Abraham’s physical descendants] but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all [Jews and Gentiles!] 17 (as it is written, [God said to Abraham – ] “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him [God] whom he [Abraham] believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did 18 who, [And Abraham – ] contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, [by God] “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And [Abraham] not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. [He didn’t consider, “katanoeō” – fix one’s eyes or mind upon – he didn’t focus on the natural circumstances] 

Against all odds, Abraham and Sarah conceived Isaac through faith in God’s promise! At age 100 when Abraham was all but “dead,” and Sarah was 90 – way past the age of child-bearing, God did the miracle, and Isaac was born by promise.

Romans 4:20 – He [Abraham] did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,…

Abraham’s faith grew stronger because he gave glory to God. What does it mean to “give glory to God?”  It’s the Greek word is “doxa,” and it means to have a “good opinion.” Abraham was strengthened in faith because he kept a good opinion of God, through thick or thin.

The best way we can give glory to God is just to believe Him! More than anything else, trusting in His faithfulness shows that we have a good opinion of Him.

How could Abraham have a good opinion of God when year after year God did not seem to be delivering on His promise of a son?

Romans 4:21-22 – …and being fully convinced that what He [God] had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Are we convinced that what God has promised, He is fully able to perform? #1 – that we have been reconciled to Him through Jesus, and #2 – all of the other promises of God that come from that foundation.  If so, that’s what God calls “the righteousness of of faith.”

Conclusion – God’s promises are yes in Jesus

God has made promises to us, and if you are in Christ, all of God’s promises are yes and amen in Jesus. That is from 2 Corinthians 1:20. 

This week when I was preparing, I read that verse in the Living Bible, and all of a sudden I was filled with hope in God’s faithfulness, not just because of the words, but because it reminded me of my favorite Bible – Mama’s Living Bible from the 70’s.

This Bible is a very sentimental symbol of God’s faithfulness to me to give me a Mama who taught me about Jesus, so I will read from it to you.

2 Corinthians 1:19-20, TLB – Timothy and Silvanus [who was also called Silas] and I have been telling you about Jesus Christ the Son of God. He isn’t one to say yes when he means no. He always does exactly what he says. 20 He carries out and fulfills all of God’s promises, no matter how many of them there are; and we have told everyone how faithful he is, giving glory to his name.

After I read that in Mama’s Bible, I noticed that she had highlighted lots of passages about God’s faithfulness. She was obviously hanging on to God’s promises at the time. It brought back memories of some hard things that Mama was dealing with during that period. I love her highlights, her handwriting in the margins and her faith in God. I thank God for the heritage of faith she has passed down to me.

On the next page of Mama’s Bible, the following passage was highlighted in yellow, underlined, and enclosed with brackets around it: 

2 Corinthians 4:16-17, TLB – That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. 17 These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever!

And then on the next page, she underlined this:

2 Corinthians 5:19-21, TLB – For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. 20 We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be reconciled to God. 21 For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!

God is faithful to us through His Son who is called “Faithful and True.” Amen!

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• (TLB) The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
• The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson