Father Abraham: What Can He Teach You About Faith?

Welcome to episode 328. In this episode, we're going to talk about the faith of Abraham, what that looks like, and what that means for you and I. But before we get started, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we talked about in the previous episode about what faith is and what faith looks like, but we need to see an example on the written pages. You know, this is a Bible study, so we've got to get into the Bible and allow the Bible to get into us.. And to do that, we need to go back in time. And I love the scripture. I love Father Abraham, and he is the father of faith. And since Father Abraham is the father of faith, we need to understand what he did and why he's called that. And the other thing I love about the Bible is you don't have to be perfect to have made the Bible. In fact, there's only one person that is perfect that's in the Bible, and that's Jesus. He is the Word. He is the Truth. The Old Testament, I have heard someone say, it is Jesus concealed, and the New Testament is Jesus revealed. However you look at it, Jesus is the Word of God. That's what it says in John 1:1. So that's how we're going to take it. But let's get, let's get into Abraham. And when we're talking about Abraham, the first scriptures I want to talk about is in Galatians. And we'll find what we're talking about in Galatians 3:5-9. Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you Does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. And I want to stop there, and I want to kind of clarify. I believe there is a spiritual Israel, and I believe there is a real Israel. I am not here to take away from the country Israel, but you and I have been grafted into the vine that began with Israel. So we are no longer— it says Jew or Greek slave or free, male, female, we are all one in Christ. So I'm not here to talk about replacement theory or any of that mess. I'm here to talk about Father Abraham and what he did and why it says, in Abraham all the nations shall be blessed. It's because he believed the word of God. We're going to go to Romans 4. Now I know we talked about Romans 4:3-5 in the previous episode, but we're going to pick up Romans Romans 4:17. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who contrary to hope, in hope believed, that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, So shall your descendants be. And not being weak in the faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was able also to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. And I'm going to stop there. I know that's a bunch, and we got to combine these two things These are two different spots where Paul was talking about Father Abraham and what that means to you and I. I want you to see a couple of things in here that Abraham did not waver with unbelief but was fully convinced that what God said he would bring to pass. Another way of saying he was fully convinced, that means he just did not doubt at all. So he had no doubt He had no fear. He had no unbelief. And I know that's the title of our— this podcast. That is one of the reasons that I'm doing this, is that Father Abraham just heard the word of God and then he acted on it, and he acted on it until it came to pass. And that is incredible. And Father Abraham did not do everything perfect, and that's another thing that I want to encourage you with, is you and I don't have to be perfect to be used of God. And that's great news because you and I are never going to be perfect. And if God can't use imperfect people, then he can't use anybody. And I talked multiple times— in fact, it's in the description of this podcast— I am an imperfect man following after a perfect example. We're not going to be perfect. I'm trying to be as good as I can be, but I'm just a guy. And I do stupid stuff all the time, and I don't mean to do it. It's just me going through life, and I'm not super spiritual where every step I take, angel's wings flutter, and just the glory of God is just poured out every step and every word that I speak. It's nothing like that. I'm just a regular guy, and I'm here to encourage, empower, and inspire you just to get in the word of God, because the Holy Spirit is here for everyone, and he will lead and guide and direct you into the truth that he wants you to be in. And that's kind of how I look at it, is when I'm digging into the Word of God, he starts opening up other things. And that's what I want to encourage you to get in the Word of God, ask the Holy Spirit, hey, how do I apply that to my life? How do I reach out and get that promise that you've promised in your Word? How do I apply that to my life? That's faith. We're gonna figure out the laws of faith in upcoming episodes. I wanna stick with Abraham. He did not waver. He did not waver with unbelief. He just knew that he heard God say, "Do this," and he just did it. He just believed it, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And if you remember, you are saved by believing and receiving. You confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and you believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead, you shall be saved. You believe by speaking it out, and then you believe it in your heart. That's how you get saved. That is how salvation comes to you. You believe the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Now, Abraham didn't have the Bible written down for him. Abraham had God speak to him and visit him. And when God spoke to Abraham, Abraham believed it. And I just want you to see this, that when you pick up your Bible, I need you to understand that that is God speaking to you. Now, it's not an audible voice, and it's not any kind of thought. You can take the words and you can read them. And that's why I want to encourage you, just get into the Bible. That's how faith comes. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. If you're a disciple of God, you abide in his word. In John 8:31-32, My disciples abide in my word, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The only freedom that you truly ever receive in life is when you know the truth. And I know if you're a frequent flyer here, you know that I just jump up and down trying to get you into the word, because the punk does not want you anywhere near the word. Because when you start diving into the word of God, you start seeing the power that's in there. You start imagining, hey, what if these things are true? And I'm here to tell you, they are true. God is not a respecter of persons. If he'll do it for me, he will do it for you. That is encouraging. He did it for Abraham. Abraham didn't do everything right, but he is the father of faith, and he is the father of many nations, and all nations will be blessed by Abraham. That promise, that seed is coming through Abraham, which ultimately got to Jesus. The seed— in Genesis 3:15, God prophesied the seed of the woman, which is Jesus, was going to crush, destroy Satan's head, but that Satan was going to cause him some pain. It was going to bruise his heel. It is exactly how God said it was going to be. The word is true. This word is incredible, and I want to encourage you get into the word of God. And I can feel myself rambling on, so let's stop that right here. God, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you for Father Abraham. I thank you that you spoke it to him and he believed as an example to me and this listener. God, I pray that you would just continue to lead and guide and direct us into your word, into your truth, and to help us to understand that is impossible to please you without faith. Lord, help us to get that faith going. Help us to destroy the unbelief and help us to dig into your word and allow this word to get into us. God, we thank you, we love you, we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode. Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.