Basic HTML Version
The Amish Voice 3
friends, his meaningful relationships and personal attach-
ments. The fact that he did as God asked was evidence that
he believed the promise of God.
2. Those who are of faith are the true sons of Abraham. The per-
son who believes God is the person who receives the promises of God
(Ro.4:5-12, 16-17, 23-25; Ga.3:7-9, 14, 22, 26, 29). Paul argues that
neither heritage nor nationality, neither merit nor works, neither the
law nor the rules of the law have anything to do with the promises of
God (Ga.3:6-7). The true sons of Abraham are those who believe
God—any person of any nation. Abraham are those who believe God
— any person of any nation. In fact, God’s promise that a nation
would be born to Abraham and “his seed” was the promise of an eter-
nal nation. This eternal nation is to be of another world, of another
dimension of being: the spiritual dimension, a dimension just as real
as the physical dimension. But it is to have one distinction: every citi-
zen is to be a believer—one who has believed God and His Word.
This is exactly what this passage is saying: “They who believe are the
children of Abraham, the children of God’s promise. They are to be
blessed along with faithful Abraham. They are to be the citizens of
God’s Kingdom, ‘the new heavens and the new earth.’” (See He.11:8-
18; 2 Pe.3:10-14.)
2. SCRIPTURE PROMISED THE GOSPEL TO ABRAHAM
LONG AGO” (vv.8-9).
To Paul, Scripture was the Word of God, the very voice of God
Himself. Therefore, Paul could just as easily have said that Scripture
spoke to Abraham as he could that God spoke to Abraham. (Note
Paul’s high view of Scripture, a strong rebuke to many.)
1. Scripture declared the gospel of faith long before Christ ever
came: Scripture declared the gospel to Abraham. As stated in the for-
mer note, God told Abraham that He would accept him and bless him
if Abraham would believe (love and follow) the promise of God.
What was the promise?
“In thee shall all nations be blessed” (v.8)
Abraham believed God; he separated himself from the world, giv-
ing his life totallyto God; therefore, God accepted and judged Abra-
ham righteous.
2. Those who are of faith are judged righteous with Abraham.
Abraham was justified by believing God. What happened was this.
Abraham believed God, and God took Abraham’s belief and counted
his belief as righteousness. It was not Abraham’s works, but his faith
that God took and counted as righteousness. It was all an act of God;
therefore, all glory belonged to God, not to Abraham. Man is saved
by faith; in other words, God takes a man’s faith and counts that
man’s faith as righteousness. This has to be the case:
God is perfect; He is perfectly righteous. No man can achieve
perfection; therefore, no man can live in the presence of God.
However, God is love; therefore, what God does is take a
person’s faith and $counts that faith as righteousness and per-
fection. Therefore, a man is able to live in God’s presence by
faith or justification
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Sav-
iour toward man appeared, not by works of righteous-
ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost” (Tit.3:4-5).
ILLUSTRATION:
How close are you to the Word of God? Is it your desire to absorb it
and infuse it into your life or do you read it and hope that something
sticks?
There is a story of a missionary in Korea who had a visit from
a native convert who lived a hundred miles away, and who walked
four days to reach the mission station. The pilgrim recited proud-
ly, without a single mistake, the whole of the Sermon on the
Mount. The missionary was delighted, but he felt that he ought to
warn the man that memorizing was not enough—that it was neces-
sary to practice the words as well as to memorize them.
The Korean’s face lit up with happy smiles. “That is the way I
learned it,” he said. “I tried to memorize it, but it wouldn’t stick.
So I hit upon this plan—I would memorize a verse and then find a
heathen neighbor of mine and practice it on him. Then I found it
would stick.”
2 2 From Earnest Worker. Walter B. Knight.
Knight's Master Book of 4,000 Illustrations
, p.26-27.
The Bible is not just a book about people who have changed...it is a
book that
changes
those who read it and live out what they read!
QUESTIONS
:
1. What condition did God attach to the promise to Abraham?
Are His promises to you also conditional? In what way?
2. Contrast the principle of faith with the principle of works.
Which one is the easiest for you to live by? Why?
3. Abraham chose to believe God. In what areas of your life do
you have a difficult time believing God? What things can you
do to help yourself trust in the Lord?
QUESTIONS
:
1. How would you explain to a non-Christian how God speaks
to you through His Word? How else can God speak to His
children?
2. What attitude should you have if someone claims to speak for
God but his words contradict the Scriptures?
3. Did Paul see any difference between the spoken Word of God
and the written Word of God? Why do some Christians strug-
gle with this issue? What kind of encouragement can you
give to them?