August 22, 2004 Genesis 15:1-6
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
It sure wasn’t easy to go to sleep after watching the men and women race to a gold medal in swimming and gymnastics. I would imagine that many children - after watching the Olympics - have been motivated and said to themselves, - “I want to be like Michael Phelps, Paul Hamm, Amanda Beard,” - etc. God knows that we need people to emulate and look up to. Like it or not, kids need heros - and so do adults. This is also true spiritually. God gives a whole list of them to feed our appetite in Hebrews 11. In that chapter the Holy Spirit mentions Abel, Noah, Enoch and many others. However, the one who seems to stand over and above the rest is Abraham, who is referred to as the father of faith. Romans mentions him, Galatians mentions him, and even James refers back to the FAITH of Abraham. He is the big daddy of faith.
However, in today’s text I don’t see the “father of faith” - not yet. I only see Abram - an undeveloped man - maybe a strong teenager - if you would. He needed encouragement - strength - to be the father of faith. Today we are going to look at the Father of the father - the One who made Abraham what he was - who gave Abram his new name and new reputation - I’m talking about the LORD. As we look at this fifteenth chapter of Genesis we’ll see that -
The LORD is the Father of Our Father of Faith
I. Abram was not the father of his faith
Up to this point in the history of Abram he had left Ur of the Chaldeans to live among people he had never met and on a land that was not his. This was a tremendous leap of faith. Once he arrived at the Promised Land, Lot had chosen the best part of the land. Not too long afterward, Abram had to fight to rescue his nephew Lot from several kings who had taken him and the people of Sodom captive.
Although Abram showed great faith up to this point, the father of faith still needed his faith strengthened. You can see from the words that God gives Abram after He approaches him. God starts out with a promise. He says to Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Why does he tell Abram, “don’t be afraid”? Obviously, Abram must have had his doubts and fears. He had just been through a war and a rescue mission. He realized that this was not going to be an easy journey - inheriting this “promised land” that was already occupied. So God said to him, “there’s no reason to be afraid here, Abram. Remember who I AM. I am your shield.” That word for shield was referring to a smaller and mobile type of round shield carried by light infantry and officers. It would easily be carried into all sorts of situations. That was what God was saying to Abram. “I’m here for you, and I will reward you much more handsomely than any foreign kings.” What God was trying to do was to encourage Abram to stick to the mission - to give him courage in this strange land and among this strange people.
Yet notice the RESPONSE of Abram. But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Abram was more concerned about the promise of his OFFSPRING than he was of his LAND. He looked at his wrinkles and his grey hair and realized that at 75 he wasn’t the young stud he used to be, and his wife was no spring chicken either - being at least 65 at this point. His body and his mind told him, “there’s no way you can have children. Neither can Sarah. Therefore, God must have been speaking FIGURATIVELY. He didn’t really mean that YOUR OFFSPRING would inherit the land and bear the Savior - but that your LEGAL offspring - ELIEZER - would inherit it.” Abram wanted to believe God’s promise, yet he feared that because it wasn’t PHYSICALLY possible - that God may have been speaking figuratively. His faith was being LIMITED by his PHYSICAL limitations - which meant that at this point he wasn’t quite the father of faith - more like the father of reason - or a child of faith. He was doubtful that God really meant what He said - and he sounds doubtfully despondent in his response to God.
Doubtfully despondent. Too many of us are much worse than Abram was. You know you were baptized and given the gift of the Holy Spirit. You know the body and blood of the Lord are in the Lord’s Supper - and that God promises you strength through eating it . . . but you doubt whether He really will work through these gifts - that He will really give you the freedom from your pet sins. You know that God promises you that you will not be tempted beyond what you can bear. . . . but you doubt whether that’s really true. You know God says your sinful nature has been crucified and you have the Holy Spirit - but you don’t really feel it - and you still have lusts - so you don’t think you have the gifts that you do. You also may question whether these worship services are really helping you or your children. You continue to worry about your future as if this world were not under the ultimate control of God and His angels. What did James say about this kind of faith? He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. (Jas 1:6-8) Is it any wonder that you find yourself losing control of your temper, your body, or your life - when you approach God’s throne and question His promises. What you have to understand is that faith isn’t about what is POSSIBLE or what you can SEE. Faith isn’t about what the STATISTICS say or the DOCTORS or your own BODY and MIND tell you. But even after a lifetime of listening to God tell us to just TRUST in him and have FAITH - even after knowing what faith is about - we still doubt. We’re too smart for God, aren’t we? We’re not that naive or IDEALISTIC to actually believe EVERYTHING will work out for good - or that God has real ANGELS watching out over us, are we - or that a Holy Spirit can actually free us from our addictions and or help us to improve on our sinful life. It’s a blatant sin against the First Commandment which says to fear, love and trust in God above ALL things. Abram committed it, and so do we.
II. The LORD fathered Abram’s faith
God would not allow Abram to remain a boy. Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” The LORD was saying to Abram, “enough of these interpretations! Let me make it a little more SPECIFIC for you. A son coming FROM YOUR OWN BODY - that’s your own BOWELS - Abram - HE will be your heir. Do you understand that? I’m talking about YOUR BOWELS HERE - not someone else - YOU.” Within the vision then God gave Abram a very graphic illustration by telling him to count the stars. Did you know that the Milky Way has 100 billion or so stars in it? If you counted one a second it would take you 33 years to count a billion - and there are an estimated 100 billion galaxies - at least a billion of them! Wow! What a promise! Imagine Abram out there starting to count - “one, two, three . . . ok, God I get your point!”
The most important part of this prophecy isn’t in the number of offspring - there could have just been ONE star in that sky - but in what would come THROUGH that offspring. Two thousand years ago, some wise men from the East made a long journey west - not looking at millions of stars but one special star that had appeared over a tiny town called Bethlehem. Numbers 24:17 had predicted that “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” That star was a young boy by the name of Jesus - who would save His people from their sins. Every evening when you wake up you can look at the stars and depend on the fact that it will be in the same spot it was the night before. The Evening Star - the Big Dipper - Andromeda - all of the constellations have remained the same throughout the ages. They have provided guidance and direction to ships sailing on the oceans. Jesus said of Himself - “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Re 22:16) When that Star rose on our earth - He gave people direction. He told people, “I am the way, the truth and the life - noone comes to the Father except through me.” He said, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” He said, “It isn’t the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Most importantly Jesus said, “I haven’t come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” That’s our light. That’s our guide. We look to Jesus on the cross - and the light of God’s forgiveness shines from it. We look at the empty grave - and it gives hope to our doubting souls. We put our spiritual hands in his side, and put our fingers in His nail holes - and it chases the gloom of our sins away. Jesus has died for us. Jesus was raised from the dead. God accepted His sacrifice. Like a light shining in the dark - it gives us hope and direction - because we know our sins are paid for. Jesus promises us, “I have prepared a place for you! And I will come to take you with me!” This is what made this promise so important to Abraham - and so important to us!
How did Abram respond to this promise? Abram believed the LORD. After all of those promises - after the great visual aid - what else could Abram do but believe? What else could he do but rejoice that God really was literally talking about HIM - that the promise of salvation would come through HIM. There was no way he could misinterpret it. It’s kind of like when a child sits at a dinner table and looks at his carrots and liver - it smells a little funny - and says to you - “I’m not hungry.” But then, somehow, after you bring out some chocolate cake with ice cream on top, and the child smells the chocolate and sees the cream melt down the sides of the bowl - suddenly declares, “I’m hungry now!” Where did that hunger come from? It came from the bowl. In the same way - Abram’s faith came from the Father - our Father - the good LORD’s promises.
So how did the LORD respond? He credited it to him as righteousness. As Abram believed what the LORD had promised him, the LORD declared to Abram, “I regard you as righteous - holy - as one of my children.” That word “credited” is an interesting term. It reminds me of when someone credits your account - like when you return an object to the store that doesn’t work - they “credit” your account - put the money back in it - reimburse your funds. When Adam and Eve sinned, man’s account was empty - zero righteousness - zero holiness. But when God developed faith in Abraham - he then declared to Abraham - now your account has complete righteousness - complete holiness. That righteousness didn’t come out of nowhere. Faith in the promise of God connected Abram to his future Savior’s account - and put all of Jesus’ blood and righteousness in Abram’s bank account - making him absolutely RICH - beyond all measure. This was the most comforting and wonderful thing God could have done for Abram - was to bring him to faith in his Savior to come and then to give him salvation through that same Star.
III. The LORD is the father of your faith of Abraham
My friends, the devil wants you to take the path that Abram was on - the path of doubt and despair. He wants you to think that all of God’s Word is really just a matter of interpretation - that there are no absolutes. The problem with “religion” today is that nobody believes in absolutes - there really isn’t necessarily a heaven or hell - good or evil - right or wrong. What’s right for me might be wrong for you, while what’s wrong for me might be wrong for you. This vast sea of “interpretation” is leading to a society of “Christians” who don’t know what they believe or what the Bible really says. It is leading to many “Christians” who not only doubt what God’s Word says - but also doubt their salvation. A majority of people who are asked - “if you were to die tonight - are you sure you would go to heaven?” - would answer - “I hope so”, or “I think so.” When they go through troubles in life they worry and wonder, “I hope this all works out ok.” When they try to conquer pet sins they assume that they’ll go back to their same old vomit again.
Are you one of “those people”who wonders if they’ll really go to heaven, or who fears if God is really in control, or who doubts that you’ll ever be able to stop you addiction? Then close your physical eyes - shut your brain off - stop looking at what is possible - and look at the vision God has given Abram. Paul says to us that - The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Ro 4:23-25) If Abraham was credited with righteousness through faith - then this is an eternal pattern. If he was saved by faith in the coming Savior - then so are we! Even if your faith is weak - that salvation is still YOURS. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it or what you think about it or whether you’re worthy of it. God promises you have been saved through faith in Christ. He declares that you are a righteous offspring of Abram through faith. He promises YOU that all things work out for your good. There is NO OTHER WAY to interpret it. This is the CLEAR Word of God. Stop doubting, and listen to these promises.
The neat thing about this prophecy to Abram - is that YOU are included in it. You are one of those stars that the LORD was pointing Abram to. You may not have the same skin color. You may not wear the same sandals. You may not live in the same country. But by faith - you have descended from Abram. You believe in the same Savior. Therefore, God regards you to be the same as Abram - holy and righteous - like a star that lights up the dark sky. God wants this prophecy to light you up - to give you hope - and to make you strong.
There’s more to being a father than just providing the seed. There are plenty of “men” who “father” children - but sure don’t act like fathers. As a matter of fact, their children never even know who they are - or if they do know who they are they never train them to be or do anything. Shaquille O’Neill’s “father” was never there for him - and Shaq never even hardly acknowledged him because of it. Yet there are many adoptive fathers who have provided much more than seed - they’ve provided guidance.
God did more for Abram than just create him or give him a new home to live in. Abram’s faith needed strengthened. He was afraid. So the LORD provided him with wonderful promises - and fathered his faith. If the LORD was willing to build up and strengthen and father Abram and make him into the father of faith - the same faithful LORD is willing able to do the same thing with you - no matter how doubtful and fearful you may be - through the same promises He gave to Abram. The LORD can change you from being a child or a boy of faith into a father of faith through the same promise of the Savior. The Father of our father is the Father of our faith as well - and a faithful Father He is. Amen.
