ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD

Galatians 3:6-7 (KJV)

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

The subject I am attempting to explore right now is based out of Galatians 6:1 (KJV)

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

There is an assumption made in the verse that I believe is worthy of thought – the assumption is that a person can be spiritual and can know it.

I want to try to help us get a grip on identifying whether we are spiritual or not by examining the lives of key persons in the Bible, what was and was not spiritual about them.

None of us, I imagine, would argue that Abraham was not a spiritual man.

• ·   Abraham spoke with God
• ·   Abraham is called the friend of God
• ·   Abraham worshiped God, building several altars
• ·   Abraham prayed to God and got his prayers answers
• ·   Abraham obeyed God even when it must have been difficult to do so

But that thing which illuminates all of this, and is most explicitly said about Abraham is simply, “…Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

That simple description is repeated three times in the New Testament,

Galatians 3:6-7 (KJV)

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Romans 4:3 (KJV)

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

James 2:23 (KJV)

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

As well as once in the Old Testament,

Genesis 15:6 (KJV)

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

The story of Abraham begins in the book of Genesis chapter 12 and continues all the way through the New Testament. The last mention of him is in 1 Peter 3:6

The Bible says Abraham believed God. And it was that faith, which God accounted to him for righteousness and by which we may be may the children of Abraham.

I listed for you a number of remarkable things in Abraham’s life but I want to pocus on three areas in particular where Abraham believed God.

Abraham believed God first,

I. FOR A SPACE

Hebrews 11:8-10 (KJV)

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

A. Abraham’s first act of faith involved a walk.

He left all that he had ever known:

·   His home

·   His family

·   His place of employment

To go – well - he didn’t know where.

Mind you, he was no child.

By this time Abram was already married many years.

He had no children because, apparently, his wife was unable to bear children.

He left everything he was accustomed to and all that he was comfortable with to follow God and lead his wife into unknown adventures.

B. I know a little something about that.

It was May of 1981.

I was about to turn 23 years old when I left my job as an ironworker, to train for the ministry.

My wife and I had just lost the first of two children in miscarriages.

I packed up the little bit we had left into a 33ft park model trailer, I was making $50 per month payments on and hitched it to a 1979 Chevy pickup my father in law had paid off for me so it would not be repossessed.

And we headed off to Virginia.

Neither of us had ever been to Virginia. We had no idea what we were getting in to.

·   We suffered flat tires on the pickup

·   A blinding snow storm in Wyoming and

·   Ended up in Westminster, Colorado, just north of Denver.

We stopped in Denver so I could try to get an ironworking job there. I didn’t know if I would get one, but my union dispatch hall had told me there was work in Denver and in Houston.

They advised me to go to Denver and, if I did not have a job in 7 days, figure I was half way to Houston.

I got a job on the 7^th day and never made it to Virginia at all!

All along the way Anita kept a sweet spirit and reminded me that we were on an adventure.

C. Abraham left the Ur of Chaldees and ended up in the Promised Land.

But I want you to notice that Israel was not his final destination.

Hebrews 11:10 (KJV)

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

·   Abraham wasn’t home when he got to Israel.

·   He was home when he got glory.

Abraham believed God secondly,

II. FOR A SEED

Romans 4:18-20 (KJV)

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.

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 Sara's womb:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

A. I was in Bible College when I heard about these preachers of the past who had “life verses.”

You know? A Bible verse they had picked out to describe their life and relationship with God.

I decided I wanted one for myself – but how do you pick one?

If you do it too lightly, it might not be the one you stick with. How weird would that be to change your life verse mid life?

I was doing my regular devotional reading one day when I came across Romans 4:20

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

I feel like I did not find that verse but that it found me.

I’ve staggered a few times since, but I have never given up on the ideal of that verse.

B. What Abraham didn’t stagger over was a promise of a baby for he and Sarah.

Mind you, we know that Abraham and Sarah did “sway a bit” if they did not fully “stagger.”

Sarah proposed, and Abraham agreed, to try to have a son through another woman.

The act was immoral, and it did not work out well at all.

There is no question that Abraham failed in the issue with Hagar and Ishmael.

But I want you to notice that:

·   He never quit God

·   He never stopped listening to God

·   He never stopped worshiping God

·   He never stopped praying to God

He did go down to Egypt a couple of times, but

·   He never returned to his old home or way of life

And in God’s own time, God gave them a son, Isaac.

You know, life throws at us some pretty tough things sometimes.

·   Some of us have faced disappointments and discouragements that are nearly unbearable.

·   Some of us carry loads that are unimaginable.

·   Some of us have heartaches locked away in our souls that someone else couldn’t possibly live with

Abraham believed God despite it all and just never quit on God.

Abraham believed God thirdly,

III. FOR A SAVIOUR

Galatians 3:16 (KJV)

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Remember I said that Abraham wasn’t home when he got to Israel?

He looked for a city whose builder and maker was God.

Abraham really never got his promised son when Isaac was born.

There was no way that a nation that came from Abraham’s children; even through a child so miraculously given as Isaac was, could be a blessing to the nations of the world.

Abraham knew something else was at play in the promise from God.

We know that promise was fulfilled, not in Isaac, but in a son of Abraham’s seed that would come thousands of years later, Jesus Christ.

·   Jesus Christ blesses all nations with the promise of salvation for all who will believe in Him and call upon Him.

·   Jesus Christ blesses all nations by reconciling the saved of every nation to God the Father and

·   Jesus Christ blesses all nations by making of all those who are saved a peculiar people, a new kind of people, united in a local church

One of our greatest troubles today is that we Christians think it is our business to bless everybody.

·   They ought to be blessed with how holy we are

·   They ought to be blessed with how kind we are

·   They ought to be blessed with how evangelistic we are

Truth is, we’re just supposed to be the conduit that gets Jesus Christ to them.

If they are blessed, it will be Jesus who does the blessing.

Conclusion

What does Abraham teach us about being spiritual?

He teaches us that being spiritual is, first and foremost, not about works but about faith.

A spiritual person is a believing person.

He trusts God for things that, may appear to be just earthy,

·   a home,

·   a piece of property,

·   a little baby to round out the family

in reality he has his eyes fixed on things much grander, much more meaningful and much farther into the eternal future.

A spiritual person walks with God every day, and he is blessed for it.

But he knows the real blessings only happen after he crosses to the other side of eternity.

And he is happy to wait for them there.