Romans 4, 9 through 15 this morning, so let's stand together and hear the Word of God. I'm going to back up to verse 7. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith. which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression. Amen. And all of God's people said, Amen, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We pray that you would help us to understand this portion of your revelation to us. It is important. We pray that we better understand it, that we would believe it and live it every day. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. As we get through the book of Romans, it may appear to you that it's a bit of tough slogging because, well, it's, fairly theological, there's a lot of complexity to God's word, and that's okay. God reveals his word such that a child can understand it, but he also gives it a little bit more content to it, such that we're gonna have to dig a little bit more, we're going to have to love God with all of our minds, such that we're really gonna discipline ourselves to listen to the sermon. Well, that's kind of hard. I can relate to that. Certainly listening to my messages must be a trial. I don't particularly like to listen to the recordings. But when you come to these passages, Let me give you a few things. Let me coach you a bit on what to do. There is some language we have a hard time understanding. Some of the concepts may be somewhat foreign to us, but let me just say a few things. The first of which is this, what we're talking about is really important because we're talking about salvation, talking about eternal issues. So that's critical. If the airliner is going down and the pilot tells you you got five minutes, to harness onto your parachute or whatever it is, then you're probably going to listen to the message. You probably need to know a little bit more about how you're going to be saved. So that's an important point. I think you probably will get the message that the airliner is going down in five minutes. You're going to pay attention because this is probably more important than your average discussion on this or that or the other thing. So the first thing is, if you're going to be saved, and we've got life and death in the balance here, we have eternity we're talking about here, then the discussion on salvation is really important. And that's one reason why you need to pay attention. The second thing that you need to know is that the devil is tricky. He's always tried to drive chinks into the doctrine of salvation. And that's what we've seen over a couple of thousand years. If the devil leads you astray, which is happening to majority of people in America today, then that's it. That's just destruction for them. The latest statistic from those who have collected cell phone data find that church attendance for actually the percentage of Americans in church on a Sunday is only 4%. It's not 21%. So a lot of people have been lying, evidently, at least if you go by cell phone data. It's a new study that came out a couple of months ago. Only 4% of Americans are in Christian churches on a Sunday. Actually, that's all kinds of churches. There's only about 4% of Protestants that attend church and only about 0.25% show up on a Sunday evening. So it's very, very, very rare where people attend church or church services in any given week in America today. And I would say that, you know, based upon that and based upon the fact that there are so many wayward sects or cults In America today, and America is probably the most Christian nation in the world, by and large the majority of the population is really going to hell. So that's just the sad fact. The majority of the people you see down at the mall, we were there bringing evangelistic message yesterday. The majority of people walking around in the mall are going to hell. And so that's just the sad, horrible, horrible condition of the people that you see around you today. That doesn't mean that everybody attending church is going to heaven either. It's already said. But these are very important issues. We want to be sure that we're paying attention to what God said, and not bringing man's ideas into play. And that's the kind of thing that's happening. The devil is tricky. The devil is doing everything he can to disrupt the Word. And immediately as the Gospel makes it into Samaria, what happens? The very next thing Simon the Sorcerer shows up and he twists and he brings in the very first cult as far as we know in Christian history. So Simon the Sorcerer is always on the next train or the next bus if the gospel makes it anywhere into the world. So the devil is very tricky. Thirdly, I want you to be patient as you study God's word. It takes a bit to sink in So marinate somewhat in God's word. If you don't get it the first time, but you have some interest in Jesus, you have some interest in the word of God, my encouragement is to keep coming to church. Okay, just keep on studying God's word. I can't tell you how many times I've been through the book of Romans. But it didn't sink in the first time and not the second time. It's taken a bit of time for me to really get into it and get it into me. And so I encourage you to marinate in the Word of God. I believe it will sink in eventually if you keep it, if you guard it, if you embrace it, if you stay involved with it, I believe it will sink in. There's also a spiritual element certainly in the preaching of the word where our minds oftentimes tend to go blank because remember the devil is constantly engaged, he's distracting, he's always doing this number. It's interesting that I found that If I'm looking at some kind of a typical academic study of something in the world, I seem to be able to absorb it fairly well, but that's because the devil isn't doing this. He doesn't care about this particular lesson on nuclear physics or the history of the ancient Greeks or whatever. He doesn't really care. We'll sit there and we'll absorb it. We'll understand a lot of this. But when you get into the church service on a Sunday morning, have you ever noticed that your mind just can go blank for a moment or something like that? I'm just saying it happens to me too. So I understand that. But you've got to pray through it. You've got to realize that when you come into church on a Sunday morning, you're in all out warfare. You're battling against the forces of darkness that are constantly biasing you against the truth. And so pray through it, pray before, pray during, and pray after that God would seal these words to your own heart. All right, well that's just an introductory comment. I'm just hoping that some of this coaching will help you. It helps me to remind myself of these sorts of things as I enter into the study of God's Word. All right, well, the theme of the Book of Romans, as you know, is that, well, wickedness prevails in the world, sin is all around us. We get that in chapter 1, 2, and 3. And then we want to be sure that God wins, that righteousness wins out. As far as we have death all over the place, we want to find that life appears. And where there's so much sin and wickedness in the world, we want to be sure that God wins. And He, of course, will not lose this thing to sin and the devil. The power of God will break through. The power of God comes unto salvation to those who believe. And that's it. There's an optimistic, encouraging word that comes in the book of Romans, and that is, yes, we're against the enemy, we're against sin and death, these things are dogging our heels and will drag us down, but for the power of God, unto salvation, God will break through. So that's the message of the book of Romans. But then we also come to justification by faith alone. Our right standing before God comes by faith alone. Now we enter into verses 9 and 10 at this point where the Jews had a notion that if you were just circumcised, if you obeyed the law of circumcision, then you would make it to righteousness. Now circumcision is an external right of cleanliness. It's a cutting away of the yucky flesh. We actually will take a shower or a bath from time to time. because we had a little dirt that clings to our flesh and so we take a bath and we wash ourselves off. This is external form of cleaning ourselves up. Well, that's not the only problem that we have in our lives. We have dirty hearts and so we want to be cleansed of that. Well, it turns out circumcision was only an external right of cleanliness. Well, as we come to verse 9, does this blessedness come upon the circumcised only? or upon the uncircumcised also, for we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. So now, these are the blessings that flow to the Jews and to the Gentiles, the blessing of sins forgiven. We got that in verses seven and eight. Sins forgiven, sins released, done away with. then that blessing applies to Jews as well as Gentiles. And it turns out that it is not a circumcision that's required in order to engage this. Circumcision is not the requirement, was not required of Abraham. He was justified by faith and not by works. It was imputed to him unto righteousness well before he was circumcised. And that's the point that the Apostle is making here, that this accounting of righteousness was not on the basis of his circumcising himself and his family. So circumcision was not required of Abraham until long after he was accounted as righteous. So circumcision, not the basis for his being accounted righteous. His being accounted righteous was not on the basis of his move into Canaan. Not on the basis of his offering Isaac. It was on the basis of his faith. And this is the point that Paul is making in this passage. It was on the basis that Abraham believed God would give Sarah a son. Now, Abraham did not believe in his works. He did not believe that anything he would do would bring about a son for himself. He didn't run off course at points. He compromised a bit. He lapsed in faith a bit with Hagar, but there was a growing in faith, as we mentioned last week. And this faith was the basis. The faith was the important thing. was that Abraham believed God's promise. That was the thing that mattered more than anything else. Now some people make a big deal out of the timing of circumcision and baptism. Here we find the timing of circumcision comes years after faith. Isaac was circumcised as a baby but the justification we receive from God is not on the basis of our baptism or our circumcision, either way. Whether we've been circumcised as a baby or whether we were circumcised as an adult or whether we've been baptized as a baby or baptized as an adult. I want to make just a few comments on circumcision and baptism for just a moment. I realize that's not the theme here, but I want to address it just for a moment. Remember that circumcision was a cutting away of the contaminated flesh. Baptism is what? Baptism is a bath. It's a washing away of the contaminated flesh. Both ceremonies are symbolic of what? A cleanup job that can only be done by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, there are discontinuities and continuities in relation to this. And realize there's a little bit of debate that goes on over this matter. In the Old Testament, only the boys were circumcised. Girls could not be circumcised for obvious reasons. In the New Testament, boys and girls are both baptized. Circumcision also was assigned to the eighth day in the Old Testament. Baptism is not assigned to the eighth day. It turns out that Baptists and Presbyterians both agree that baptism does not have to be on the eighth day. Praise God. there's a little agreement between Baptists and Presbyterians. Thank God for the little things, you know. We all agree that we're not assigned to baptizing our children on the eighth day as they circumcised children on the eighth day in the Old Testament. God also instituted both household circumcisions and household baptisms. I know it's strange to hear this. In fact, you don't even hear Presbyterians talk about household baptisms because the individualistic mindset is so strong among Presbyterians today. Sadly, America is the individualistic form of religion and hardly ever talks about households treated as a unit, household economies. Households serving God together, members of churches together, or baptized together. It's pretty much a lost concept in the modern day, even for Presbyterians. But God instituted both household circumcisions and household baptisms in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Baptism also symbolizes the washing away of sin by regeneration, that's Acts 22-16. It is also, on top of that, an induction into the discipleship program according to the Great Commission and that's clearly taught in Acts 28 and The other thing about baptism you need to know, it is an appeal to God that He will do the work of cleaning up the inner part of us, cleaning up the heart, washing away the sin by regeneration, cleansing us, renewing us by the Holy Spirit. That's 1 Peter chapter 3. Whether He's already done it or whether He'll do it in the future, 1 Peter 3 is very clear Baptism is an epitome. Baptism is an appeal to God. It is a prayer to God that He will do the work. We cannot do it ourselves. That's what we're acknowledging when we baptize. Now, whether or not the person has already been regenerated or not, perhaps we don't know. In fact, we never know for certain. But whatever the case, baptism is an appeal to God, an epitome that God will do the work. So circumcision, a sign, a seal placed upon the righteousness of faith. Paul's argument here is if this be the case, then circumcision was not necessary for justification for Abraham or for the Gentile saints. So therefore, many of the Gentile saints would not be circumcised. There were actually a couple that were as far as we know, at least one we know. But it was not necessary. That was a conclusion drawn in Acts chapter 15. So there's no necessity. for circumcision to happen for the Gentile saints. Let's move on to verse 11. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had while still circumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. So Abraham here is the father of all those who believe the promises of God. And that's Jew, Gentile, that's anybody anywhere around the world today Abraham is your daddy. Abraham is your father. He is the father of faith. He is the father of anybody who believes, and indeed, this is true, Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let's just praise the Lord. We'll end it there. So indeed, this is true. We are the children of Father Abraham because we are the children of faith. We follow in the faith of Abraham, our father. Now, there is somewhat of a difference. I want to point this out for just a moment because some of you are saying, yeah, but Abraham got the word of God directly to him. You will have a son. So there's a slight difference here, and I wanna go to this just for a moment, because I think this may be something that is working in the heart or the mind of any of you here, and that is, you know, God says to Abraham, you will have a son. He's speaking to Abraham himself, and we find that God addresses Abraham by name, but he doesn't address me by name anywhere in the word of God. Now this is, I think, something of a concern for us, isn't it, at times, perhaps? that he addresses Abraham but there's my name is not there anywhere so what we say well I think we have to go to John 3 verse 16 again that God God speaks to all of us by his word and by the way Jew and Gentile alike there's no question about that we see that coming through the ministry of Jesus then busting out at Pentecost and then approaching, you know, the epistles we find it throughout the entire Gentile world. So the message of the gospel is for everybody, but remember what John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And here's the key word, that whosoever believes. Now that word whosoever is the word pas in Greek, and that is a key word. That's all those who believe. Any and all. So you could refer to that word as any and all who believe. Now you have to stare at that word for a moment and say, does that include me? Is this word, God's word speaking to me this morning? And so as you hear God's word, as you read it, you have to know that God is speaking to you as clearly as he spoke to Abraham so many years ago. So stare at the verse and say, God, is this me too? That you gave your only begotten son for me. And if I believe, any who believe, whosoever believes, all the people who believe, Jew, Gentile, anybody in any place, anywhere in the world today, if he believes, he will have everlasting life. He will have that eternal life. Jesus said, whoever hears, whoever keeps my word will never see death. There's another example of it. If you hear my word, Jesus said, anybody can hear. If you can hear me, Jesus is asking this morning, as he presents his word to you, can you hear me? Will you receive this word? Will you keep this word? The word keep is to grab onto it and hold onto it. Say, this word is for me. This is mine. I'm keeping it with me. That's the word. Jesus said, anybody who keeps my word, anybody who guards my word, anybody who embraces my word, he will have eternal life. He will never die. He will never see death. That's John 8, 51. So the promise that we receive is the promise of Jesus as Savior, as the one who died on the cross for you, for me. Jesus, as it were, lifted up on the cross. And I appreciate the fact that we see his arms spread out. I appreciate the fact that, yes, we have some indication from Roman history that that's the way that it looked. We actually have some recent data that that's the way it looked, but there His arms are reaching out. He's been lifted up for the whole world, such that if anybody will look to Him, they will live. That's John 3, 15 and 16, 14 and 15, up into verse 16. So Jesus is there. He's looking down upon all of us and saying, I have died for you, will you believe that I have died for you? That's the key word. Will you believe that you are part of the all that believe? And will you receive this word this morning? Will you believe that I have loved you, that I've given myself for you, that I promise this to you? that I have done it for you, that I forgive you, that I cleanse you, that I redeem you. That's the question that Jesus poses to all of us this morning. Will you believe the promise of God in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ? Faith is what matters with God. This is the hinge point. This is the thing that matters more than anything else. Faith is such a big deal for God. Now, you may ask the question, why? Why does God want faith? Well, I'll tell you one thing, he's invisible. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and that is God is not visible. The promises are not immediately completely revealed and fulfilled for each and every one of us. We're still in the battle, et cetera. So there is something of a need for a faith. And God commands it. He demands it of you to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. God wants His people believing His promises. He loves faith. We're watching Abraham for three long days trudging on his way up to Mount Moriah, believing God every step of the way that God would raise his son from the dead. God loves it! He sees that faith of Abraham. That's the thing that matters to him. And God will test your faith. God will grow your faith because he loves faith. He wants to see it in your life as well. So as we read the promises, we believe the promises. We believe that God has raised the dead. He raised his son from the dead and will raise us from the dead someday as well. Spoke to a woman at Costco yesterday and she was a little doubtful around the edges. And I said, well, you know, what's neat is that we're getting old, but I'm going to heaven. I get a new body when I get there. She said, how can you be sure? I said, it's already happened once. And that's what the season is all about. And she kind of went, took about four steps back from me. And that was pretty much the end of the conversation. The fact is, it's already happened once. Somebody say amen to that? Amen to that. And I'm gonna be raised up too at the end. Death is not the end for me. I will be raised from the dead. Put me in the coffin with a button. Raise me from the dead. Indicating that that's going to happen. That's next. It's appointed for men once to die. After that, the judgment. But for us, it's the resurrection to everlasting life. Amen and amen. Okay, let's move on to verse 12. We are those who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham. Abraham, the father of circumcision, to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of faith, which our father Abraham had while still circumcised. So here we find that our lives are characterized by faith. Abraham's life characterized by faith. again, not perfect, but a growing in faith, a looking to God, overcoming some of his faithlessness as he moves, especially as we see him approaching Moriah. But this is a walk by faith, and faith and works are distinct but not separate. Very important that we maintain this distinction, that there's not the same thing, we are not justified by faithfulness, as some have said, but we are justified by faith which is not separated from works. It's impossible to separate them even as the body and the soul cannot be separated, but There is a distinction there, and what matters for our justification is faith, not works. And yet, those works will demonstrate the faith of our lives. Now, you can't say, I believe you, Jesus. I'm just not getting out of the boat. I just don't believe that you're going to preserve me. I just don't believe that. I don't believe you're going to save me. I will not persevere in faith because I don't believe that you will preserve me. I will not go to Moriah because I don't believe that you will raise me from the dead. You see, we can't be saying, I believe you, Jesus. I just don't believe you. Does that make any sense? I believe you, Jesus. I believe you are who you say you are. I believe your promises. I believe what you did on the cross. You died on the cross, crushed Satan, overcame sin, beat death by your resurrection. I believe all that, but I just don't believe it. Does that make any sense? Does it make any sense? The just shall live by faith, Hebrews 10, 38. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but those who believe to the saving of the soul. So we walk in the steps of the faith, which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. We walk in the steps of that faith. Our faith is often put to the fire. Why? Well, God tests us. And that testing does two things. One, it determines what's already there. But secondly, it also grows the faith in the process. It tempers it, strengthens it, develops it. See, that's what fire does. It determines what's there to begin with, right? It gets burning on it. But then it also does a work hardening. If you take any kind of steel, material science, manufacturing, things like that, you're going to know That there's got to be a work hardening that happens to the stealing. God does that to our faith. And we go through the fire and it's hard. God takes away a child. God takes away our health condition, our condition of health, or God does something to us that just presses on us. Determines whether or not we're gonna react in faith, whether we're gonna continue to look to the power of God. Read this or heard this quote from Paul David Tripp this last week. Marriage can be take your breath away hard. No question about that. Each and every year introduces its own challenges to us. It's not like you've got it at 48 years of age or 57 years of age. It seems to me it just keeps, you know, it's a way in which God is testing our faith along the way, as well as our love, of course. But here's what Paul David Tripp said, people acquiesce to divorce because of a lapse of faith in the power of God. They fail to believe in the power of God. Not looking to the other, not looking to oneself, but looking to God. So faith will break down where faith doesn't exist. And then we see this lapse of faith in American society among Christian churches so often all around us. But he says at root, this is a lapse of faith. It's people acquiescing because they fail to believe in the power of God. that God is big enough for this, no matter how dark the path no matter how excruciatingly difficult it gets you have to believe in God that God is big enough for the trials that you face yes, amen, we all face our giants we face our Goliaths And yes, they're breathtakingly difficult. You sit there and you can't think how you could possibly make it over that Red Sea or beat down this giant or that. But ultimately, it's the faith that you have and the power of God. It's looking to God in faith that makes the difference. God is able. God will get you through it. Believe it. have firm conviction of it. That's what matters more than anything else in the Christian life. Let's move on to a single word that I take to be important. These prepositions. Some say theology is based on prepositions and I agree at points. We do have to be particular at points. We have to know at which point the scripture is is speaking something very profound and we have to draw from that and I want to do that from verses 13 and 14 for just a second. Let me read verses 13 and 14 for the promise that He, as Abraham would be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect." Now what I want to do is boil or drill down into this matter of being of the faith or of the law. There are some who are of the law, there are some who are of faith. Somewhat strange we don't use that language very much, but perhaps we ought to perhaps sometimes we ought to say Sir appears that you might be of the law Now I am of faith But you appear to be the ilk, the culture that expresses itself in a certain way because you happen to be of the law. See, we don't really use that language very much, but I just want to throw that out to you because I think it's important. It speaks of our derivation, our original identity, or our major operating principle, as it were a DNA. I think it's a DNA. Because our DNA derives who we are, right? Your DNA effectively determines what you look like. By the way, you go to the mall and you see people of every possible shape, size, look, etc., etc., all determined by DNA. It's phenomenal. You are of a certain look, you're of a certain approach to life because you have a certain DNA. This is your derivation. I am of Ralph and Carol Swanson. That make sense? I am of Ralph and Carol Swanson. What does that mean? That means I am derived of, I have come from Ralph and Carol Swanson. That's my origination, that's where I come from. I come From faith. I am of faith. My derivation is faith. I have come from the nationality of faith, not of the nationality of law. Now, there's identical language in Galatians as well. And I'm sure you remember some of these from a recent study in the book of Galatians our brother took us through a year ago or so. But in Galatians 2 verse 16, we read that by the works of the law, the word is ek, better translated out from. Galatians 2.16, out from the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Galatians 2.21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes because of, on account of the law, then Christ died in vain. Galatians 3 and verse 9, so those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Verse 10 of chapter 3, for as many as are of the works of the law are blessed with believing Abraham. Excuse me, are not of the works of the law, are blessed with believing Abraham. Then verse 12, the law is not of faith. So here we see the principle by which we are righteous is not the law or the works of the law, the ultimate principle or source or cause or derivation from which we are derived is faith. There are those who come of law and there are those who come of faith. That is our starting point or jumping off point. Now here's another way to look at it. I wanted to use an analogy that I think is helpful. Think about taking a train to Righteous Town. You wanna make it to Righteous Town. There are two trains. One train is the works of the law, the other train is faith. Turns out the works of the law will never get you to Righteous Town. This is one thing you determine when you wind up in a system of subways or trains in some major city. If you get on the wrong train, you're not gonna get to the right place. So it's one reason why when I'm in a foreign nation, I usually ask somebody three times, is this going to Tokyo? Or is this going to Kagoshima? Is this going north or south? I need to know that. But if you get on the wrong train, you wind up in the wrong place. You're not gonna get there. So here's the illustration. The works of the law cannot get you to righteous town. Only one train will get you there. That's a train of faith. Now, as we speak of faith, it's not just theoretical knowledge, it's to believe. Again, to drive this home one more time, and I believe it's important, we just took a look at this in the confession this morning, and it is to receive Jesus. as he is presented to us in the gospel. And how does Jesus present himself to us in the gospel? As prophet, priest, and king. You believe in Jesus. You believe him, the very son of God, to come to die on the cross for your sins, to rise from the dead. You believe him as your prophet. That is, Jesus speaks the truth. That's why Jesus said, if you keep my word, you will never die. Because He is the Prophet. So to believe Jesus, you believe His Word. You receive Him as Prophet. You embrace Christ as your Prophet, your Priest, your King. As if the truths of His Word are the truths upon which your soul and your life will hang for eternity. You believe in Him as your Priest, as the only way to God, through His sacrifice on the cross for your sins. and, of course, His intercession for you on the right hand of the Father. You also believe in Him as your King, that Jesus is your Lord and He has the right to tell you what to do. So this is to accept Jesus, to believe Him. And then, of course, the next thing that happens is you follow Him. So the problem with the Jews in Jesus' day is that they had no faith. People who don't have faith to begin with, all their efforts are in vain. So if someone is striving and striving, but they never have a sense they are in right standing with God, well, obviously they're relying upon their striving to achieve that. Those that claim to have faith, But don't really believe in Jesus. Well, demonstrate that by their lives. The problem with the Jews again is that there was no faith. And without faith there was no justification or sanctification for that matter. But all they got was what? A thin-coated hypocrisy, a lot of religious language, checking off a few externals, and a pretense that they kind of like the law of God, but not really. especially when Jesus began to drill down into it in Matthew 5. We don't really like this law. We like the external thing, but boy, when you start getting down to the heart of the matter, we don't like this at all. And so, these people in whom there was no faith, they didn't believe in Jesus, they didn't receive His Word, and all they had was a hypocritical faith, a lot of religious language, checking off Some externals and a pretense of liking God's word, but not really. Paul then says the law brings wrath because when the law appears, immediately we have a problem. That is, we've transgressed the law. But let's end this with verses 13 through 15, and then we'll take up the rest next week or in the following week. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are errors, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. So what does this mean? The promise, the promise comes about and it is fulfilled. with the faith of Abraham. It doesn't come on the basis of the law, whether it was circumcision or whether it was the Mosaic law that would come 400 years later. What mattered was Abraham believed God. Abraham believed the promise of God. And this promise was really a big promise. It's interesting as we see this promise develop, in the revelation of Genesis and then on into the New Testament Genesis 17 and verse 8 God says to Abraham I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God Now watch as this develops. We see the promise gets, as it were, bigger as we go. Genesis 22, 17, God promises Abraham, I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, which has to include all the enemies, the Moabites, The Edomites on the other side of the river, and then Persia, Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. Here is the promise that your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, and in your seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed. And then on into Genesis 26, verse 3. This is to Isaac, as we move on a few chapters later. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham, your father, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." So not just Israel, this would impact the entire globe, there's no question this would have a global impact, which indeed we're seeing in our time as well. But here it is, in Abraham and his seed, and that of course is Jesus. In Abraham and his seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. It would be in Jesus this would happen. It would not be in Abraham. but that Abraham would give birth to a seed and it would be the seed in which all the nations of the earth would be blessed but then it says also here in this passage it's not just Abraham and Jesus who are blessed by the way Abraham would be blessed in this way as well and that is an indication that Abraham would not be dead but would be resurrected and be a part of this this vision as well of inheriting the earth This would still apply to Abraham because it was sworn, it was given to Abraham and to his seed both, but also to ourselves who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is where Romans 8 goes, verses 16-18. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then we are heirs as we are these heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ again speaking of this great inheritance that was promised to Abraham we in Christ are joint heirs with him that we will indeed inherit all of this that has been promised to Abraham and to his seed and then again verse 17 if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Now, why is this important to us? Well, let's go back to the full story. What is the story of the world? The story of the world goes this way. The world has been captured by the devil. In fact, the devil is referred to as the god of this world. Once again, we're looking at what has happened to the world that is under the reign of wickedness, under the reign of the God of this world, and that is the devil. The world is effectively stolen territory. This devil has come in and he has usurped God and he has grabbed control of all of these things. Of course, God will have his glory. and the destruction of this wicked one, and the retention of his kingdom, which will be over the entire world, over all of creation, over all of existence, of course. But that has happened. Satan grabbed it and ruined it, and then we all joined the camp of the usurper, but Jesus has come. And Jesus has come to restore all things, to reconcile all things to Himself. Jesus has come to redeem us. He's come to judge the world, both to redeem and to judge. We know that in the Gospels and all the way through the book of Revelation. He puts His enemies under His footstool. He makes His people willing in the day of His power, and the meek indeed will inherit the earth. Psalm 37 and Matthew chapter 5. So that's the story of the world. That's why we rejoice that the devil does not win. God wins. We always end on this point, brothers and sisters. Yes, we see that the clouds of darkness tend to run over the entire globe and yet we have to believe that Jesus won and Jesus is winning and Jesus will win and he will continue to win until all of this is consummated at the end. So what is your basic outlook? That's the question I want to leave you with this morning. What is your basic outlook on the world around you? Are you worried? Are you upset? Are you angry? And what do we do about all the problems in the world? A lot of guys get together and we go back and forth. Sometimes we argue over strategies and such. We might even get a little red in the face at times. But what is the problem with the world? What's the problem with the churches? Or what's wrong with families and relationships and all of these things? We can argue and fight and lust and wish things were like this or that and align ourselves to this movement or that movement within the church. We can engage the political battles as if the whole world depended on this particular fight, etc., etc. But Paul's final argument on this issue of arguing over strategies and movements in the church, He comes down to a final argument in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 21. Very interesting. Here's what he says. Therefore, let's not boast in man. We talked about that last week. We don't boast in man. We boast in God, what God is doing, what God has done. But he says, we don't boast in men. We don't need to. We don't need to get into these fights over strategies, et cetera, et cetera. For he says, all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death, there it is, the world. The world is yours. All things present, things to come, all are yours. Why? Well, because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. So in other words, what is it that you were complaining about? What was it you were worried about? What did you want? What were you grabbing for? What were you discontent over? That's the practical application that I want to draw in at the end of this. In a sense, we need to be at peace that it's under control, that God is bringing all these things to a beautiful reconciliation, consummation, and all of this belongs to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus has it in the bag, as it were. Why? The victory is certain. God has given us all things. He gave us Jesus, and how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Reconciling all things to himself. All things work together for good. The key, all things. Even when you're in the midst of seeing something irredeemable, something irreconcilable, et cetera. I don't know how he's gonna reconcile all things, but he will do it and is in the process of doing it. So brothers and sisters, this is the glorious blessing that we have in front of us. And it's for us to believe just the sheer magnitude of the promise that God gave to Abraham here. We inherit the earth. All are yours. It's interesting also, he says it in the present tense. All are yours right now. All are yours. As good as yours right now. All are yours. All belongs to you. As long as you belong to Christ, everything belongs to you. Also a very interesting passage Mark 10, 29, in which Jesus says this to his disciples, speaking of the persecution that's about to come upon his people, Mark 10, 29. And remember, the kingdom is already, but not yet consummated. Here's what he said, Mark 10, 29. Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time. Did you ever see that before? Nobody has so been persecuted and they've lost their families, their lands, their property, their belongings, et cetera, but they will receive a hundredfold Now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters, mothers, children's lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life, but many who are first will be last and the last first. In other words, what Jesus said, this is what your life looks like as a believer. You will sacrifice, you will give up, but God will give to you. That's the Christian life. And there is a down payment on the inheritance. My dad gave me a down payment on my inheritance. And I'd like to do the same thing with my children. That enabled me to do some of the things in ministry that we've done, especially with the house. My father gave me a down payment in the inheritance such that I could enjoy it today instead of waiting until he was gone. And this is exactly what God has done for us. He's given us a down payment in this time. A hundredfold over everything else we've given up. So here, these are the promises of God to believe, to know that we have received the world, the down payment now. And then houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands with persecution and in the age to come, eternal life. So we at both and brothers and sisters, yes, it is the life of sacrifice, but it's the life of reward, the life of blessing here in this life, but also eternal life and that which is to come. Now, again, I'm presenting the promise to you because I want you to believe it, to hope in it, to exalt in it, to know that you have received the promise and this promise is bigger than you could ever imagine. This puts a light in your eye in the midst of the trials and persecutions, tribulations you go through in this life. So listen again to the first words God gives Abraham in the promise of chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, listen to this, Abraham, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. How great a reward is God going to be to Abraham and to his seed? An exceedingly great reward. So brothers and sisters, for us to know that God is giving us an exceedingly great reward. God is blessing us with a blessing that's even in this life beyond what we could have ever expected. And I do believe we need to open our eyes to see it. Perhaps it's the complaining, perhaps it's the negativity, perhaps it's, I don't know what it is, but sometimes we don't see it, we're not grateful for it enough. But God has been good to us, amen? God has been good to me. God has lavished his amazing gifts upon us. Where was I 25 years ago? Where were you 38 years ago? God is good. God has lavished his blessings upon us in this life. And also in the age to come, both. Listen to chapter 22, verse 17 again. After Moriah, God turns to Abraham again and says, I will greatly bless you. I am your exceedingly great reward, Abraham, and I will greatly bless you. And remember what he says, as the stars in the sky, so your descendants, as the sand in the seashore, God uses hyperbole to describe it. And I don't know what that looks like in eternity. I don't know what that looks like in the years yet to come on this earth. But I'm just saying, this is how God is presenting himself and his blessing to Abraham who believes God. And that is for us to believe as well this morning. Will you believe God? You're an investor. You invest. And that's what we do. We invest. We lay up treasures. We invest. If you're gonna be investing, you have to have a hope of return. If you do a CD, a certificate of deposit in a bank, you sign a document that says you're gonna get 0.64% while inflation runs at two and a half. Okay, whatever. It's a great deal. But you sign that document expecting a return. That's what investors do. It's a faith and a promise. It's a contract. It's a covenant. It's a short contract signed by somebody who can guarantee the outcome. Now you have to believe in the one who makes the promise. You have to believe what's written in the print. signed by God in the blood of His Son. You have to believe it. You have to believe that God's good to His promise. You have to believe it's a good investment. It's a great investment. That God can guarantee the outcome, the best outcome. And listen, God loves faith. And you will sign that document, yourself in faith, and then face the Mariah of your life in faith, believing God will raise you from the dead, and boldly, courageously act in faith to get out of the boat and walk on the water, and to take the first step into the Red Sea, knowing that God is going to divide the seas, and God will overcome our enemies for us. This is the life of faith. This is it. This is to follow in the steps of faithful Abraham. Amen. Father, we thank you for these great promises. Oh, that we would believe them more. God, that we would know more of it. You are our exceedingly great reward. You will greatly bless us. Not just bless, but greatly bless because you are our exceedingly great reward. Father, that we would believe it. Give us more eyes of faith. Increase our faith, God. And help us to have a sense of it's okay. You've got this. Jesus is reconciling all things to himself. And we are the inheritors of the world. In Jesus Christ, we have nothing to worry about, nothing to grasp after because we already have everything. In Jesus' name, amen.