Morning, everyone. It was a snowy, blowy day. That's how I used to like telling a story to my daughters. My daughters, probably like many of your kids, like when you tell them stories. And when we would put our daughters to bed at night, often I would tell them a story, and one of them started out that way. It was a snowy, blowy day. Well, it's not snowing right now, and it's not blowing. And I was just wondering, you know, in Thailand, it doesn't snow, but they have a word for snow. In Haiti, it doesn't snow, and they have a word for snow. In Haiti, the word is la neige. And of course, obviously, it must come from France and the French, but in Thailand, it's hima. And I was thinking about that. I mean, sometimes my mind works overtime, and I was thinking hima, Himalayas. That's probably where that term comes from, because Thai comes from Sanskrit and some other languages there. How many of you use or have credit cards? Yeah. A credit card, as opposed to a debit card, has been something, had been something that was very elusive for me and my wife for many, many, many, many years. Actually just in recent months did my wife get her first credit card and now I'm included on that credit card. What was the problem? We hadn't been in debt. We'd lived overseas, we had a bank account in the States, but we had insufficient credit history. So our credit rating wasn't good. And we want to look this morning at several Old Testament people, but specifically we'll focus in for a while with Abram and Abraham, and just see what God does because When I didn't have sufficient credit rating, how does that relate to our Christian lives? How's your credit rating with God? Question to ask. But seriously, what does credit mean? It simply means is the ability to borrow or access goods or services with the understanding that you'll repay later. And usually you'll repay later at interest. They hope that maybe you don't make all your payments on time because they can make some great interest at that. But biblically to be extended credit spiritually is a huge thing because we can't earn credit with God. We can't do it. And actually, without credit, it's impossible for us to be right with God crediting righteousness to us. And the question is, has it always been that way through history? Has salvation been a bit different in the Old Testament than it was in the New Testament? After all, in the Old Testament, you have the law. And so let's look at some of these things. Job, for instance, probably the first book that was written for the Bible, we're not absolutely sure, but it seems that way. He says, I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a termad. It's interesting, when you come to Book of Romans, it says we should be clothed with Christ, clothe yourself with Christ. Here, Job says, I put on righteousness as a robe. He goes on to say, as for me, this is Job. And there's a great book, by the way, titled The Gospel According to Job. If you ever get a chance, read it. It's set up kind of like a devotional, two pages, but very deep reading. But Job says, as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, he will take his stand on earth. even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God." What assurance that Job had. Now obviously, Job was an interesting man. God said that Job was a man who was blameless in his time. When Satan had come to accuse and say, well, you know, you've blessed him, God pointed him out and he says, you've blessed him, you've put a hedge around him. And that's why he's serving you the way he has. Well, then God took everything away from him. And in Job's calling out for justice, he wanted to stand before the judge. But while his friends, the best thing they could have done was be there and be silent. They all started talking and accusing him. But he says at one point, I know my Redeemer lives and I will see him. As we look at the story of Adam, Adam was created and he lived in untested holiness, righteousness, and perfection. Now I ask you a question, was Adam a righteous man before he sinned? Was he a holy man before he sinned? Was he a clean slate person before he sinned? Did he know what good was? I mean, obviously when God created everything, he said it was good, but there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. And certainly he figured out what evil was when they decided to test the fruit. We've seen Job already being declared as righteous. Noah was a righteous man in his own day. It's interesting that God preserved Noah's wife, his three sons, and their three wives because it says that only Noah was righteous in that day. Abram, exalted father. Here's a man when you come to Genesis chapter 11, you kind of see his background, you see Terah, you see his two brothers, and it's interesting that Terah is the one that set out for Canaan. And then they end up at a place called Haran, they're making this long trip from Ur of the Chaldees, hundreds of miles, probably the whole trip from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan would be close to 1,000 miles. But they ended up in a place called Haran, and that's where Abram's brother died, but God comes to Abram in Genesis chapter 12 and talks about how he will bless him. And that name Abram means exalted father, but Abram had a problem, did he not? He did not have a child at that point in time. And so God tells him, I'm going to, Bless you with a child, I'm going to make an everlasting covenant with you, and I'm also going to give you an everlasting inheritance this particular land." Do you ever wonder why there's so many problems in the Middle East, in Israel at this day? Is it a war against Israel only, or is it a war against God? Because God has made a promise there, and God will keep his promise. And so when God tells Abram this, and he takes him out and he shows him all the stars, he says, then he, Abram, believed in the Lord, and God credited it, reckoned it, I mean, it's just using different translations of this word, reckoned it, credited it, counted it, accounted it to him as righteousness. He credited it to his account. This week in my, I went on my, we do online banking. And I noticed there was some, a small sum credited to me from Social Security. And I was trying to figure out why is it, I'm still not sure why it's there. But it was credited to me, it was less than $30. But here, he believed God and it was credited, it was accounted, it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, righteousness is something that was given by God. As we go on, Abraham is referred to as an exalted father, but when we come to Hebrews chapter 11, and I'm not trying to jump too far forward, but Hebrews helps to clarify what we see about the life of Abraham. When he's in Haran, God appears and says, I want you to continue on to Canaan, to the land that I'm going to give to you. Now, he went out not really knowing where he was going. God says go. He had not been there before. He couldn't look it up on the internet, get all the stats on it, and figure out what it was going to look. He went out not knowing where he was going, but he believed God, and so he went out. Not only that, God tells him that he's going to give him this land, he's going to give him a son, And he didn't really know how. It was a long time of waiting for him. And yet he obeyed God. Sometimes we may not know where God is leading us. Sometimes we may not understand how God is going to do something. But yet Abram took God at his promise. He also went out And he didn't know when God was going to grant him all the land that was promised. Finally, he knew when he was going to have a child, because remember, the three angels come, and one of them, it says, the Lord went, and three angels. So the Lord was one of those angels. It was a theophany, an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. And the angel said, or the personage, it appeared as a person, said, next year at this time, you will have a son. Now, obviously, earlier when God had promised things to Abraham, he laughed, but he believed. Sarah laughed because she couldn't believe. She was past menopause. She was well past childbearing, and she's like, ha, ha, ha. How can that ever be? Well, not only did he not know where, he did not know how or when, but he did find out when as far as when the sun would come. And you know, one thing that we see in Hebrews, Abram was looking forward to a heavenly city. Now I've thought about that. How many of you like big cities? Well, we're gonna be part of a big city one of these days, and we're going to like it. So rest in peace at that, you know, and you come to Revelation and it says, and there was no sea. And so when we're in the Bahamas and everybody loves the sea, they feel claustrophobia when they can't see the sea. Well, one day there's not going to be a sea like that, but they're going to still enjoy it. Well, and then God asked him something. Finally, he has the promise on, and you know, there's so much we could say about Abram. Sarai, the princess, that's what her name meant, was changed to Sarah, which simply meant princess, and God had promised Abram out of him, out of his loins would come kings. It's interesting that from princes would come kings. But then after the son is born, the son of promise is born, what happens? You come to Genesis chapter 22, and God says, I want you to sacrifice your only son. I want you to take him to Mount Moriah, which probably is referring to Jerusalem, because it's referred to that later in the Old Testament. And Abram said, now wait a minute, no he didn't. Immediately, he starts getting ready, and he heads out with his son. Now, when I was young, my parents had family devotions, and my dad was not a man to shed tears very easily at all. But I remember when he started reading the story of how Abram was going to take his son, then he ties his son, he puts him on the altar, takes the knife, and is ready to pierce it into his son, my dad just broke down and started crying. Because he was thinking, what if that was me, and God had asked me to do that with my son? Now God, I believe very strongly God is not going to tell anyone here to go sacrifice your child today. This was a test that came from God. And when you look in Hebrews chapter 11, it tells us that Abraham believed that God could raise him up from the dead if so possible. And it's interesting. I hadn't mentioned it earlier, but it's mentioned right here. Abram was changed to Abraham. from exalted father to father of many nations." By the way, he was called that before he had Isaac, but yet he believed. He believed. What about Moses? Moses is known as the lawgiver. Listen to what Moses says. Moses says this in Deuteronomy 6.25, we are careful to observe all this commandment, that is, it comes right after the 10 commandments are reiterated again in Deuteronomy 5. First they're mentioned in Exodus 20. He says, it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as he promised us. And then we see Moses was a man, he willingly gave up the riches and the glory of Egypt. He identified with the people of God. Was it possible for the law to be the children of Israel's righteousness? What does James 2.10 say? He who obeys the whole law yet offends in one point is guilty of all. If you crack the egg just a little bit, is it still uncracked? It's cracked. It's cracked, and so the law could not bring righteousness. The law could bring knowledge of sin. The law is a schoolmaster. That's how we know even today we're breaking what God has commanded us to do. I mean, when we look at the Old Testament anyhow, it says, thou shalt not, thou shall. And we become very aware of the fact that we're lawbreakers. And then as we keep reading in Scripture, we see that we can't help ourselves. We're helpless. But that's a problem because a lot of people are trying to help themselves. And then we see David, a man after God's own heart. How can that be? An adulterer? A murderer? You know, one thing that you become aware of as you get older is that except by the grace of God, we're all capable of anything. You realize that? Except by the grace of God and the righteousness that He extends to us, but David really truly did love God. But that was a dark moment in his life. Another dark moment in his life was when he decided he wanted to count all his military forces to see what kind of strength there was. But David says this in Psalm 21.1, O Lord, in your strength the king will be glad, and in your salvation how greatly he will rejoice. Psalm 27.1, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? Psalm 62.1, my soul waits in Silas for God only, in him. is my salvation. But I think when we come to Psalm 51, we really have an opportunity to look into where David's Faith rested, because here he's been approached about his sin already, and he is a broken man when you come to Psalm 51. And I want to pick up just in Psalm 51.10 and read a bit for you, but I want to emphasize some things. You're very familiar with this because there's songs that have been written about this. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come and rest on someone to accomplish the purposes of God. It says that the Holy Spirit had come upon Saul, and then the Holy Spirit left Saul, and the Holy Spirit then came upon David to do the work of God. And he says, restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, because he was guilty of that, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness, your righteousness, O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Your salvation, your righteousness. Friends, we need to be careful. Jeremiah, looking forward, looking forward to when Christ returns, and it says that the laws of God will be written on everyone's heart at that time. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name which he will be called, the Lord is our righteousness. Is the Lord your righteousness today? The only righteousness that truly matters is the imputed righteousness that's given to us by God through Christ. If we look internationally, there's estimated to be something like 4,200 religions, cults, sects, persuasions in the world. Only one of them is not based on human performance or individual works to gain salvation. Only one, only one. We lived in Haiti and most Haitians, really basically all Haitians believe in God. And they believe that it's possible somehow to serve the spirit world and God at the same time. That's called syncretism. They mesh it together, and they refer to God as Grometla, the great master, the grand master. But that's not enough. I may have mentioned it here one time before, but I remember visiting a witch doctor at a place where they made sacrifices at a particular place in Haiti, and wasn't doing all that great. And I didn't tell him I was a believer at first. And I said, you know, well, if I'd like to have eternal life, what must I do? And what was his response? Oh, you would have to receive Jesus Christ as your savior. Isn't that interesting? And I said, have you? No. Why? Because there's no profit in it for me. Like I'm not making money. I won't make more money if I do that. I'll lose my income. Incredible, incredible. In the Bahamas, much like the United States, where we just were and where we were in the 90s, the idea is kind of pray a prayer, show God a little respect, be a good cultural Christian, and hope you're good. Is that enough? Show God a little respect. Be a good cultural Christian, keep living in your sin, but show them a little respect and you're good. Sometimes the thing that comes across is it's what you know that counts more than how you live. Well, friends, let me tell you something. If we really know it, and as Todd prayed, that our eyes would be opened and our ears would hear and our hearts would be receptive, Then we should also add that we have willing wills to do what God wants us to do. In Guyana, Todd and Chris were there longer than us. There's Hinduism, there's nominal Christianity, there's Islam, there's Baha, there's animism, all coming from different directions. And I remember going to pay respect at a Muslim funeral and standing back across the street because we had this policy and the mission of not doing joint funerals together. Christians, you know, so We would attend if someone else was doing it to show respect. And I'm way back across the street, but I remember one of the guys from one of the persuasions got up and says, well, we know that all roads lead to the top of the same mountain. Well, if you're talking about the 4,200 persuasions and religions and sects and cults, they all lead somewhere, we know where, but they don't all lead to the mountain going up to God. because it makes it very clear in scripture. And I thank you for jumping ahead there for me while I forgot to do this. You know, I'm most at ease teaching under a mango tree. And you know, the biggest concern I had this morning was all these different technicalities and things. But Titus 3.5 makes this very clear. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. He saved us. If you are in Christ, he saved you. He saved me. It's interesting, too, in whatever other way people are trying to make their way to heaven. And I think in the West today, it kind of sounds more like this. I mean, if you follow and you watch what's happening in Western society today, and that would include America, it's almost like I am God and I can save myself. Now, people aren't saying that literally, but that's what's coming across. You know what scripture says about that? It says that is the theology of filthy rags. If you're trying to be good enough to make it, Isaiah 64, six makes it clear. That's a theology of filthy rags. Let's summarize a bit. If you have your papers, you've probably been filling them in, but sin has always been the separating factor from God. Always. You know, when you're counseling people, you usually say, don't use always and never. But scripture makes certain things clear. It's always and never. Sin has always been the separating factor from God. Secondly, It has always been impossible for people to reconcile themselves back to God, whether by good works, whether by obeying the law, or by making all kinds of sacrifices. Scripture makes it clear that with God we have bad credit. Every year in the Philippines, there are a group of fellows, maybe there's actually some women involved now, that get themselves crucified to atone for their sins. I mean, they actually bleed and are nailed to a cross. And they think, and they do this, some of them year after year. Bad credit, bad credit, stained blood, polluted blood. Third, Isaiah 42, 21 says this, the law was great and glorious, but it was impossible to bring salvation to mankind, since mankind, humankind, if you wanna be politically correct today, cannot obey it completely. And we're indebted. We have a bad credit rating. without Christ. Fourth, Job declared, I know that my Redeemer lives. That Redeemer was first alluded to in Genesis 3.15, where it says that the serpent will strike his heel, but he will crush his head, implying that Christ would have totally victory over the devil. Isaiah chapter 52, 53, Psalm 22, many other Old Testament scriptures make it so clear that we need to be clothed in righteousness. Clothed. We put on Christ. We put on the hands of Christ. We put on the eyes of Christ. We put on the compassion of Christ because he gives it to us. It's imputed to us. Fifth, who was that Redeemer? It seems very clear that the, the, the, the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was none other than the Word. In the beginning was the Word. appeared often in human and angelic form. And when we look at several passages in the Old Testament, whether it has to do with Samson's parents, Manoah and his wife, or Gideon, or Abram, or others, we see that the Lord and the angel of the Lord are used interchangeably. If you jump to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, it tells us that the rock where the water came from, that rock That rock that was with them in the wilderness was Christ. The manna, the bread, Christ was there with them. Sixth, salvation has always been by grace through faith or belief in the promised Messiah or Christ. The Old Testament sacrifices could only cover the sin until the sin bearer came to cancel all the transgressions of those who had placed their faith in Christ. Hebrews chapter 11 attests to that, whether it's Abel or Enoch or that whole list of people who placed their faith in Christ. We are surrounded by that cloud of witnesses in the sense that they place their faith and they're waiting for the day when we're included with them. And finally, Abram, Job, David, Jeremiah, Joseph, they all believe God and it was reckoned or it was credited to them as righteousness. So I guess the big question today for us is this. When Christ returns, will he find faith? That's a big question. Jesus gave a parable on prayer, and that's how he ended that parable. When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith in you and in me? And the question then is, what is your credit rating with God? It can never be earned. It is only credited to those who truly believe and place their faith in Christ. And that's how it was in the Old Testament. A thing with righteousness, it can't be earned. But once you have it, it should be evident. It can't be earned. but it should be evident. And I think this song expressed it very, very clearly. It's easy to say, here we believe. When we go out, how easy is it? Is it evident? I'm reading from Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. May the God of peace, who brought the blood of the eternal covenant, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will. And may He work in us what is pleasing to Him through Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Father, we commit ourselves to You, and we ask You, O God, by Your Spirit's presence in our lives, to make Your righteousness evident in us and through us. In Christ's name, amen.