My Fickle Feeble Far-Stretched Heart

My heart is a rubber band. Not a fresh new rubber band recently purchased from your local office supply store, but it is that old dry-rotting rubber band that you can find on your grandmother’s nightstand, or in the tool box of a 1970’s Ford F100 with the rusty hood and the blue exhaust smoke. It is not a thick well reinforced rubber band that you would use to hold together your precious documents, but it is the kind of thin well-worn rubber band that you might use to hold together those impossibly old pencils with the hard crusty ineffective erasers that only smear your hand-written typing errors. But my heart is not a stable rubber band used primarily for one purpose like holding pencils together, but it is in constant duress like the rubber band that finds itself in the hands of a curious five year old who is dedicated to determining the breaking point of his new old stretchy toy. For an extra set of hands he recruits his friend to play as well so as to maximize stretchiness in all directions. It would seem that it is but a matter of moments before my heart snaps and two five year olds fall on their bottoms, giggle, and toss my useless heart to the side in favor of a matchbox car or a slug or something less flexible but much more durable.

My heart is stretched in so many different directions by so many different stretchers. My heart is stretched from category to category of matters that seemingly require my whole heart. Even within each category my heart is stretched in endless directions. I want to put my heart into certain activities, pour my heart into certain people, but really I’m only affording another hand-hold for stretching it in a different direction. Sometimes for fear that it will finally snap I try to control my fickle, feeble, far-stretched heart by winning it back from some of the stretchers, but it is usually no more effective than a band-aid on a bullet wound. Most of the time I try to ignore the stretching and appease the stretchers, some of whom do not even know they are stretching, but I believe they were asked by other stretchers to help them stretch that which they do not know they are stretching—they are simply doing a favor for a stretching friend (but this might be a stretch). Some stretchers enter into the stretching circle fairly innocently, but I let them stretch the hardest. And just when I think my heart is stretched to the absolute limit a new stretcher arrives, or a stretcher who was dormant for a time begins stretching again.

Some of the stretchers are good, but some of the stretchers are bad. Some of the stretchers are particularly violent and malicious with their stretching. Many of the stretchers mean no harm, but many of them want nothing more than for my stretchy heart to snap. It is the violent stretchers that, though I often try to fend them off, find the weakest most dry-rotted hand-holds and with strong arms stretch with the most ferocity. There are other stretchers that disguise themselves as non-stretchers. Under the impression that they mean to heal and not stretch I allow them the greatest hand-holds, and when I least expect it they stretch even more violently than all of the others. It is from the malicious, violent, deceptive heart-stretchers, from whom I have been made free, who do the most damage.

‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.’ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’ Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool. A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who have forsaken you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water. Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise. Behold, they say to me, ‘Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!’ I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face. Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.[1]

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in the heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.[2]

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.[3]

Lord Jesus, break and mend my fickle, feeble, far-stretched heart. I confess that I have entrusted my stretchy heart to those who are no more trustworthy than I, and that is no indictment on them as much as a plea for Your strength to invade my life so that I will trust You alone. My desire, oh Lord, is to be like a tree planted by abundant water, that grows and produces fruit and is not fearful in drought, because You are a fountain of living water. Heal my fickle, feeble, far-stretched heart oh Lord, and pry it from the hands of those who stretch it (the animate and inanimate), and make it your own. Dominate my heart Jesus, and may it be Your holy temple Holy Spirit. Father, You are my refuge, and though I was brutish and ignorant toward You, I am now continuously with You, because Your Holy Spirit has sealed my fickle heart with the guarantee of my inheritance at the return of Your Son. My God who could I possibly have in Heaven or on earth that is worthy of my heart but You Lord? You Lord are the strength of my heart and my portion even when my heart fails to be stretchy any longer. I can rejoice knowing that hope does not disappoint, the proof of which is the love that has been poured into my heart Holy Spirit, for which I am now grateful, and pray that I can now pour the love of Christ out from my heart on all who would stretch it. And instead of stretching my deceitful sick heart, by Your strength Lord may my healed heart lead them to Your strong heart. Please make my fickle, feeble, far-stretched heart a testimony to your steadfast, faithful, far-reaching love, most prominently displayed in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Amen.

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[1] Jeremiah 17:7-17

[2] Psalm 73:22-26

[3] Romans 5:3-5

Famous Faith

I want you all to have resources to help continue studying Shame for Faith and The Greatest Story Ever Told individually based on what we are studying as a group. Therefore I am trying to post blogs related to the Scripture we are studying, so that you can dig deeper throughout the week, and keep up if you are not able to meet on a Sunday/Wednesday night. Without further ado: Famous Faith—last week’s installment of our Shame for Faith series.

The last three weeks of this study “Shame for Faith” we examined Paul’s life, his apostleship, his mission, and the people to whom he wrote this letter. He wrote Romans to the saints, the believers in Rome for the purpose of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of God’s name. The epistle to the Romans is all about the gospel, the gospel that brings about the obedience that only faith can produce—to the glory of God. Paul begins and ends this letter with God, for everything good and holy begins and ends with God. Paul is a bondservant of Christ, and acknowledges Christ above all things even in the opening lines of his letter, to ensure that the reader knows that this whole thing is about glorifying God. Verses 8-15 will give us more details about his ministry goals, and show us the earnestness with which Paul lived according to his desire to preach the gospel to all men, that they might hear the good news and embrace justification by faith—trading their shame for faith in Christ and recieving forgiveness from sin.

Romans 1:8-15 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹²that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. ¹³I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

Paul ends his God-centered-Christ-exalting introduction—his “dear Romans” if you will—in verse seven and in verse eight begins to delve into the teaching portion of this epistle. He writes, “first”—you might always assume that when Scripture uses the word “first” that is of the utmost importance. Paul writes, “First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” Paul begins this portion of his letter by thanking God through Jesus Christ for the faith of the Romans. Paul did not thank Peter, who served as apostle in that city, or Mark Peter’s associate for the faith of the Romans. Paul did not credit himself or his letter for their faith. Paul did not even credit them for believing, but he thanks God through Jesus Christ—the only mediator between God and man (2 Timothy )—for the Roman’s faith. Hebrews says that Jesus is the “founder and perfecter” of our faith. God receives the glory for our faith, for without God stirring our affections toward him we are unable to believe that He is better than our sin. God begins our faith, sustains our faith, and ends our faith when at the return of Christ our faith becomes sight.

The faith of the Roman believers was famous. Faith is invisible, as it is an act of the heart; however the obedience that faith produces is evident. Christians all over the Roman Empire faced harsh persecution for their faith, but there was no greater persecution than that which occurred in the city of Rome. To be a Christian in Rome was to be unpatriotic. Romans regarded their false gods highly, and their emperor as one of those false gods. Many of the gladiators were Roman Christians who refused to swear their allegiance to false gods. Christian gladiators would be beaten severely by soldiers, mauled by lions and tigers, and even set on fire. Their obedience to the gospel call to make disciples of all nations in the face of persecution made their faith famous. Do not forget who Paul credited for this famous faith. He was not thanking them for remaining faithful to God in the face of persecution, but rather he thanked God who begins, sustains, and ends faith. He did not leave room to boast in anyone save God Almighty in Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

Francis Chan tells a story of a group of Korean missionaries to Afghanistan who were arrested and detained in prison for their gospel ministry. Francis Chan had dinner with one of the missionaries who told him about the conditions of the prison. He told Francis that and that one woman managed to sneak a Bible into the cell and they tore it into as many sections as there were people, so that they could have the Scriptures to read whenever they had the opportunity. It became apparent that some of them were going to be put to death and the senior pastor of the group announced that he would die first. Another man told him that he could not die first, because he was their shepherd, and that the second man must die first as he was an elder. They argued back and forth, the senior pastor eventually saying that he had no right to dissent because the elder was not even ordained yet. It was however the elder who died first and it was the senior pastor with whom Francis Chan spoke. A few others died later in the ordeal. The senior pastor told Chan something that I will never forget. He said that since the incident the group members all agree that they wish they could go back. They wish they could go back to the prison cell, with the looming threat of death and torture ever upon them, because the fellowship with Jesus brought them so much joy. He told Chan that they group unanimously agreed that they have never been so close to Christ as they were in that cell, completely dependent on Him as to whether or not they carried on in the flesh or went immediately Home to Heaven.

The point of that story for you is that God is the giver of great, world famous faith. If you one of His saints, called and loved by God, then when you step out in faith to bear His name to the nations He will grant you the faith necessary to do that. And when I say nations, that includes your own nation, your own school, your own neighborhood, and for some of you your own families. You may not think you have the faith to step out and witness Christ to your dad, to that kid in school that everyone hates, to devote your whole life to some mountain in China, but Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith. Faith is synonymous with joy for the Christian. Be encouraged therefore, to step out and make disciples in this nation, and consider the possibility of making disciples in other nations on this planet for the glory of God and your joy! Be encouraged that God is the author and finisher of your faith, and he will give you the faith necessary to accomplish what He has set out for you to accomplish.

Life’s short. Preach Christ.

The Abrahamic Covenant Part III

In the last lesson God reiterated His promise to Abram that he would have a son of his own lineage, and through that son all nations of the earth would be blessed. He also reiterates that Abram’s nation would ultimately inherit the land in which he currently dwelt, a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, and the Scriptures say, “He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” We know that no one is righteous, no one born of Adam is without sin, and Abram was no exception; however, Jesus’ righteousness was counted to Abram by God’s grace (unmerited favor) through his faith. God called Abram by grace, just like he does with us, calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light. God counted Abram righteous by passing over his sin until He poured out His just wrath on Christ on the cross, and before we were even born He poured out His just wrath for our sin on Christ, so that by grace we could be saved by faith. This is the great story of God. But Abram’s story takes an unexpected turn in Genesis 15:7-21:

⁷And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess." ⁸But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" ⁹He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." ¹⁰And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites."

God announced Himself as the Almighty YHWY who brought Abram out of Ur, out of the darkness of idol worship, where his eternal destination was Hell, and brought Abram into fellowship with Him. It was this great God who, based entirely on grace, brought Abram out of Egypt that promised to give Abram the land. But in verse eight the man who was in verse six justified by his faith doubts the God who called him out of the darkness of idol worship into the marvelous light of salvation. Lest we prematurely judge Abram; how often do we doubt the God who by His grace alone called us out of darkness into His marvelous light? The root of all sin is doubt. It is the doubt that God is better. That God is better than our will, better than our flesh, better than lust, better than popularity, better than money, better than things, better than friends, better than video games, that He is better than anything in the Universe. That is why we neglect studying His Word, beseeching His will in prayer, witnessing to our friends and foes—we doubt that He is better that what we in our flesh desire. Doubt is on the same plane as pride, in that it makes us the ultimate in deciding what is best for ourselves instead of God.

In spite of all that God has promised Abram still has his doubts, but God does not give up on him and throw in the towel, rather He demonstrates one of His greatest attributes—his patience. Paul writes about God’s kindness and patience in Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” God is not kind and patient with you because you in some way deserve it, but he is patient and kind so that you will turn from your rebellion to His perfect love. God is not merely patient with Abram, but He shows Himself faithful by culturally signing the covenant that He made verbally.

God makes His covenant on His own terms. He arranges a practice foreign to us, but quite familiar to Abram. He has Abram bring all these animals, cut them in half, and make a walkway between them. The blood was to show the gravity of the covenant. Each party would bring some of their choice animals and they each would walk through between the carcasses. Walking through the carcasses was essentially like signing a contract that said, “If I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, may bloodshed befall my animals and me.” It’s a little more intense than a pinkie-promise. Abram then waits for the Lord to pass through the carcasses, but He tarries to the point that Abram must beat away the Buzzards until he eventually falls into a deep sleep. While asleep God tells Abram that he can know for certain that his descendants will dwell in a land for a time as slaves, but God will deliver them to the very land in which he dwelt. Why? God plans to exact judgment on a people, but only when their iniquity is complete. Later we will see that the Exodus from Egypt is for God’s glory, and also the conquering of this land is for God’s glory and renown to spread in the earth. You can know for certain that if you have been justified by faith like Abram that your affliction is temporary. You may be sick, you may be tired, you may be broke, your family might be a pain, you might serve Christ in a land where you could be tortured, you might have all sorts of physical afflictions, you might be troubled, but do not lose heart for your trials are temporary. The longest your pain can last, if you have faith in Jesus, is for your physical life; but then you have all of eternity to live with completely joy free of all the afflictions of this fallen world.

In the meantime we live in a fallen world. Earthquakes, floods, and all sorts of natural disasters will continue. Some people say things like, “The Haitian people serve the devil; therefore, the afflictions they are getting what they deserve.” There is a small extent to which I agree, but only to the extent that we are all servants of the devil lest God intervene in our lives and awaken our hearts to faith in Christ. If blame should be assigned for God’s judgment it is to be assigned to all mankind! Our sin is every bit as responsible as theirs for the disaster that befell them, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! That is why Christ, after hearing about the Galileans killed by Pilate in Luke 13, cited the 18 dead at the Tower of Salome as a call to repentance and said, “4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Where people have gone wrong is to say that Haiti is particularly cursed because of a particular pact with the devil, for we are called curses lest Christ save us, “13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”-Galatians 3:13-14. Prosperity is not a sign of righteousness; otherwise we would all be poor. Poverty is not a specific sign of wickedness; lest we would all be impoverished. Many times the wicked have flourished while Christians have suffered, in fact Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man (Jesus) has no place to lay His head.” How about the Macedonian believers who found great joy in giving abundantly out of their extreme poverty, “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints”-2 Corinthians 8:1-4

There is a false teaching called the Health, Wealth, and Prosperity gospel—it says that if you have faith in Christ you will inevitably be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. The Bible says in Romans 8:16-18, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The point: You will suffer, Christian or not you will suffer pain and strife in this world because of sin. If you are a Christian you are likely to experience even more suffering than you would experience otherwise. Abram suffered wandering around in a foreign land, but God said he would know for certain that his descendents would inherit the Promised Land. The Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt for 400 years! But they inherited the Land! You will suffer. Peter and John praised God in Acts 4 for being counted worthy to suffer on behalf of Christ. The promise for the Christian is that the suffering is temporary and not worth being compared to the glory that will be revealed to us!

Here is the proof that you can be certain: At night fire and smoke pass between the dead animals. You can trust in that why? It is this fire and smoke that guide Israel through the wilderness after the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. It is significant because this fire and smoke is the means by which God Himself led Israel’s paths. Whether or not Abram is still asleep, God does not require or so much as allow him to pass between the dead animals. Why? Man is not capable of good on his own. But God alone is capable of keeping both ends of the covenant. God alone is capable of accomplishing the salvation of His people. Hebrews says that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. God would not leave the salvation of His people in jeopardy by letting it be in the hands of Abram. He does not leave your own salvation in your hands either, for there are no works with which we can earn God’s favor. Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor, to accomplish our own salvation, but God alone accomplished salvation in Christ. That is what Redemptive History is all about, God saving a rebellious people for His purpose for His glory. Who gets the glory if God alone saves? God.

The rest of that passage in Ephesians says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to walk in good works. You are part of God’s story, and if you have faith your end is eternity with God. I implore you therefore, if you are not sure that you have in faith repented from your sin and turned to Christ do not waste any more time. Get involved in God’s story and live! If you know that you have turn to Christ in faith, and like Abraham have been justified by faith in Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the grave, then I implore you to seek out the good works Christ has created you for—not as a means of earning favor, because you have His favor by grace, but as a means of aligning your life with God’s global mission of making His name famous, so that you might live abundantly joyfully like the Macedonians who willingly suffered financially for the sake of Christ Amen. Life’s short. Preach Christ.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I did not know how to cut it down to size. Life’s short. Preach Christ

The Abrahamic Covenant Part II

We are studying the Greatest Story Ever Told, which is the gospel, the good news of God reconciling a people to Himself for the purpose of displaying His glory in the whole earth. This is story told from Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning to the end of time, and we are living uniquely between the first and second Advents (appearances) of Jesus the Messiah. Christians are to model and spread God’s Kingdom in between advents, so that God is glorified in every nation. This is just a survey of Redemptive History, for we could spend time in every chapter of every book, and that study would be well worth it, but what I desire in the present is for you to get a taste of the theme of the Bible, so that you can see it played out in detail in your personal Bible study, and strive to live your life according to God’s story and thus have supreme satisfaction in the only one who can satisfy—Christ the Messiah. This study is like a movie trailer, and the Bible is the full-length picture. If you read the Bible like it is a collection of short stories and laws, then it can been quite boring and confusing; however, God’s Word comes alive when you begin to realize just how interconnected and interwoven each story is in the grander story—and then you come alive when you realize that your life is just as interwoven into this grand story of God’s redemption. This story is not a sappy chick-flick of a movie, it is a super-hero Lord of the Rings meets Narnia meets Transformers meets Die Hard meets Armageddon meets 2012 Marvel Comics style epic; where the main character who is on a rescue mission to save humanity actually dies, but in the most drastic turn of events in history is raised from the grave and defeats death. What better foe to defeat than death!? Who is left to fight when death is defeated!?

By the time we get to Genesis 15 Abram seems a little defeated. Chapters 12-14 saw Abram in a precarious situation in Egypt, having lied about Sarai (his 60+ wife, who must have been quite the looker) being his sister, which brought plagues on the Pharaoh who took her as his wife. After the Egypt debacle Abram and Lot decided to part company, because there simply was not room and resources for both of them and all of their people and all of their livestock in the same land. Then Abram found himself and his people fighting in a war, and meeting a mysterious figure. Abram’s journey with the God who called him out of his home land and made him a wanderer had taken several twists and turns, so God comforts Abram in Genesis 15:1-6.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." ²But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." ⁴And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." ⁵And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." ⁶And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Abram has been following God, not knowing the road ahead; perhaps he was nervous, afraid, etc. When we follow God we follow Him down a road that is completely unfamiliar to our humanity. God’s road of righteousness is difficult, it is contrary to who we are, and Abraham did not know his next step and was discouraged, but God said, “Fear not.” Abram argues with God a little bit. How interesting is it that Abram would question Almighty God? He says that he has reason to fear, for he has not yet had the son whom God promised. He was sure that Eliezer of Damascus would be his hier. But God corrects his fear by assuring him that he will indeed have a son, a son of his own blood, just like he promised. God doesn’t yell at Him, or throw down lightning bolts, even though Abram doubted the very God to whom He spoke—rather God patiently explained that He is faithful to fulfill that which he promises. At this point in Redemptive History we have not yet seen a whole lot of covenants between Almighty God and sinful man. Perhaps Abram did not know what to expect. Perhaps all his other “gods” had let him down, but Almighty God King of Heaven and Earth does not fail to come through on His end of the bargain.

Genesis 15:6 stands out as a mighty beacon of Redemptive History, connecting the Old Testament to the New with one of the most important Christian doctrines. Abraham believes God and it is counted to him as righteousness: justification by faith. Paul explains in Romans 4:2-4:

²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." ⁴Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

Why is this so significant? To be justified before God is to be made right. Christians are justified, made right in God’s sight, by His grace through our faith, as a gift not of works lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2). That is how we are saved, post Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, but Paul explains that Abram (and all others in the Old Testament) was saved the same way. Righteousness was counted to Abram by his faith, not by his works, which places Abram in the same boat as you and me. The difference is that God passed over Abram’s sins, looking forward to the cross on which Christ would pay for Abram’s sin; whereas, for us He looks back at the cross where Jesus paid for our sins. But what is true for us is true for Abraham, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”-2 Corinthians 5:21

God promised salvation for Abraham, and delivered on that promise in Christ. When God makes a covenant God keeps both ends of the deal. God promised Abraham something, and He delivered. God promises us that if by grace we have faith in Christ then we will be with Him in the fullness of His glory for all of eternity. On that promise He will deliver, and that is the goal of Redemptive History. Amen.