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The Righteousness of Faith

October 16, 2022 Speaker: Brian Wilbur Series: The Book of Genesis

Topic: Faith Passage: Genesis 15:1–6

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH

An Exposition of Genesis 15:1-6

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: October 16, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

1 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.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And 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.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6)

WALKING THROUGH THE TEXT

The Lord Speaks to Abram (v. 1)

First, the Lord says to Abram: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” (v. 1)

Fear not”

“Fear not” or ‘Do not be afraid’ is one of the most frequent commands in all of Scripture. “Do not be frightened” (Joshua 1:9), the Lord said to Joshua. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27), the Lord said to His disciples. “[Do] not fear those who kill the body” (Luke 12:4). “[Do] not be anxious about your life” (Luke 12:22).

This command – “Fear not” – is relevant in all kinds of circumstances. In Genesis 14 Abram had experienced a great military victory over King Chedorlaomer and the three other kings of the Mesopotamian Alliance. Although one might assume that Abram would not be disposed to fear after having won this battle, the frail human heart is such that he might have been tempted to fear that the Mesopotamian Alliance would regroup and retaliate.

We often experience fear because our actual or anticipated circumstances overwhelm us and seem to be against us. We also are apt to experience fear because of the apparent uncertainty of the future. We can easily get afraid of what might happen or what might go wrong tomorrow. In Abram’s case, he probably had some anxiety concerning the future because he had no offspring. Any human being who wants to have children but, for one reason or another, has been unable to do so, might have angst about it. The angst of Abram’s childlessness, however, was compounded by the fact that the Lord had promised to “make of [Abram] a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). And the Lord had promised to give “all the land” of Canaan “to [Abram] and to [Abram’s] offspring forever” (Genesis 13:15; also Genesis 12:7). What offspring? What great nation? When and how would this come about?

Like Abram, do you know that God’s hand is upon your life, that He has called you into fellowship with His Son, that He desires to glorify His name and advance His kingdom through you, and yet at the same time are you aware of the gap between His high calling upon your life and your own limited strength as well as your won feeble sense of how it’s all going to work out? Then hear the Lord say to you: “Fear not,” my son; “Fear not,” my daughter.

“I am your shield”

Of course, the command to not be afraid is not given in isolation. The Bible is careful to connect commands with reasons and incentives to obey these commands. The Lord’s command to ‘fear not’ is accompanied by the compelling reason: “I am your shield”. The Lord’s shielding presence is always the compelling reason why the Lord’s people should not be afraid:

“Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

Before Jesus told His disciples to “[let] not [their] hearts be troubled… [or] afraid” (John 14:27), He had just told them: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:26)

“I am your shield” – I am your Defender, I am your Protector, I am your Refuge, I am your Tower of Safety. The Lord is promising that He will be with Abram, will watch over Abram, will see to it that no ultimate harm befalls Abram.

Although “Abram was very rich” (Genesis 13:2), wealth was not Abram’s shield. Wealth can evaporate in a single hour. The Lord is Abram’s shield!

Although Abram had 318 trained fighting men under His direction, they were not Abram’s shield. An army of men was not Abram’s shield. The Lord is Abram’s shield! Abram didn’t defeat the Mesopotamian Alliance because of superior armed forces; instead, Abram won the victory because the Lord “delivered [Abram’s] enemies into [Abram’s] hand” (Genesis 14:20). As Scripture says:

“The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the LORD is not those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 33:16-18).

The Lord is the Protector of all who call upon His name. His shielding presence is always the compelling reason why we should be unafraid as we navigate the highs and lows of everyday life.

“your reward shall be very great”

But there’s more: this compelling reason is accompanied by an expansive promise: “your reward shall be very great”.

The Lord protects His people in order to lead them into the very great reward that He has appointed for them. The Lord guards His people through the valley of the shadow of death so that, after they have feasted in the presence of their enemies, they may ultimately dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:4-6). The Lord’s protecting presence is a purposeful presence that leads us to a place of abundance. Abram will become a great nation. Abram will become the father of a great multitude. Abram and his offspring will inherit the promised land. Abram will become a means of blessing to the whole world and, as Jesus taught us in Matthew 8, Abram the Hebrew will feast with “many” Gentiles “from east and west… in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The Lord shields His people on their pilgrimage to everlasting joy!

The Lord protects us in order to prosper us – not in the cheap way that the world thinks about prosperity, but in the way of true riches that will last forever. The Lord shields us in order to satisfy us – not with bread that will perish, but with a life and a future that never ends. The Lord God is the Refuge and Rewarder of His people. Scripture says:

“And without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

The command to ‘fear not’ is essentially a command to trust the Lord: “[Trust Me], Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Abram Seeks to Understand God’s Promise in Light of His Childlessness (v. 2-3)

This command to trust the Lord is given to us in the thick of real life, in the thick of circumstances that often seem contrary to God’s promise. Abram knows that the promise of Genesis 13:15 that his offspring will inherit the land is tied to actually having offspring, but he doesn’t have any offspring yet. Will Abram trust God’s promise? Or will Abram trust his circumstances?

The issue of Abram’s childlessness now comes up in verses 2-3. Abram says:

“O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (v. 2)

“Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (v. 3)

In verse 3, Abram correctly states “you have given me no offspring”, but Abram seems resigned to the mindset that since the Lord has not given him offspring in the past, then the Lord also won’t give him offspring in the future. Do you ever do that? Do you ever operate on the assumption that the future is constrained by the past? Do you ever think, ‘Since God has never done that in my life before, I don’t expect Him to do it in the future either?’ Abram seems resigned to the prospect that a household servant, rather than a son, will be his heir.

In verse 2, Abram asks the Lord, “[What] will you give me…?” In the context of the faith and obedience that Abram has already displayed in Chapters 12-14, I take this to be an honest question. In other words, Abram believes that the Lord will reward him somehow with something, but he’s not sure about the details, and he doesn’t expect it to involve a son. Here also Abram seems resigned to the mindset that “I continue childless” means that ‘I will continue childless’.

What message resounds in your heart? Does the message of God’s promise resound in your heart, even when the circumstances seem to be against you? Or does the noise of difficult circumstances make it difficult for you to hear and find comfort in God’s promise? Do you trust in God’s ability? Or do you feel hemmed in by your own inability? Do you have a confident expectation of God showing up in powerful ways? Or do you think that past weakness, past barrenness, past emptiness, past unfruitfulness defines the future?

The Lord Reiterates and Clarifies His Promise (v. 4-5)

In response to Abram’s observation and question, the Lord reiterates and clarifies His promise in verses 4-5. “[The] word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision” in verse 1, and now in verse 4 “the word of the LORD came to him” again. Over and against Abram’s mindset that his servant Eliezer rather than a nonexistent son would be his heir, the Lord speaks directly to this matter:

“This man [Eliezer of Damascus] shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” (v. 4)

Although the prior promises about Abram’s offspring assumed that Abram would have physical descendants, now the Lord shines the spotlight on this matter: the Hebrew phrase translated “your very own son” literally means ‘one who will come from your own body’[1].

In terms of Abram’s offspring, the ‘one who will come from [his] own body’ was only the tip of the iceberg. Yes, Abram would have a son, but through that son would come innumerable offspring. This brings us to the object lesson accompanied by another promise in the next verse:

“And he [the LORD] brought him [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he [the LORD] said to him [Abram], “So shall your offspring be.”” (v. 5)

In Chapter 13 the Lord had told Abram that his offspring would be as innumerable as “the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16). Now in Chapter 15 the Lord tells Abram that his offspring will be as innumerable as the stars of heaven. This effectively answers Abram’s “what will you give me…?” question from verse 2: the Lord will give Abram a son and, through that one son, a vast multitude of sons and daughters. “[Abram’s] reward shall be very great” indeed!

Whenever the Lord reveals Himself and His promises to us, He is summoning us to believe. “Fear not, Abram” – Trust Me, Abram – “I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Trust Me, Abram, “your very own son shall be your heir” and “your offspring [shall] be” as numerous as the stars. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Do not lean on your own reasoning. Do not lean on your own experience. Do not lean on your own expectations. Instead:

“Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing….

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:26, 28-29)

And to the one who is childless, the Lord can grant a child that changes the course of history. “Fear not, Abram” – trust Me.

Abram’s Response to the Lord’s Promise (v. 6)

Abram’s response is spot on: “And he believed the LORD” (v. 6). And on account of Abram’s faith, Abram was counted righteous: “and he [the LORD] counted it to him [Abram] as righteousness.” (v. 6)

THREE VITAL LESSONS FROM VERSE 6

Through this God-ordained moment in Genesis 15:1-6 we learn the secret of having a right relationship with the Lord. We need to linger here and ponder what it means to have a right and healthy relationship with the Lord.

Is having a right and healthy relationship with the Lord important to you? It ought to be the single most important matter that occupies your heart. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, only to lose his own soul (Mark 8:36)? How would it benefit you to have a measure of fame, fortune, and comfort in this present world, only to be cast into the outer darkness on the day of judgment? To what advantage is it to be industrious, knowledgeable and religious, only to hear the Lord say to you “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23) when you stand before Him?

The greatest commandment in all of Scripture is for us to love the Lord with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength. If we excelled in a hundred other things, but were utterly impoverished and bankrupt in the most important thing, it would be a total loss – and we would come to ruin.

But how does a person get a right and healthy relationship with the Lord? Notice how I put the question. I didn’t say, ‘How does a person who already has a right and healthy relationship with the Lord deepen this relationship and demonstrate it practically in everyday life?’ That is also a good question, but that’s not the question I’m asking, because that’s not the question that Genesis 15:1-6 addresses. The question that our passage addresses is: How does a person get a right and healthy relationship with the Lord in the first place? What is the foundation of a right and healthy relationship with the Lord?

Our passage teaches us that three interrelated things are foundational to a right and healthy relationship with the Lord. They are:

  1. Hearing the Lord’s Promise
  2. Believing the Lord
  3. Receiving the Gift of Righteousness

Let’s take these three things one at a time.

Hearing the Lord’s Promise

So many people are in bondage to their circumstances (“for I continue childless”). So many people are in bondage to what has happened or not happened in the past (“you have given me no offspring”). So many people are in bondage to their own human reasoning on the basis of what their eyes can see (“a member of my household will be my heir”). So many people are in bondage to worldly wealth and worldly power. But the Lord God Almighty is not bound by worldly resources. The Lord God Almighty is not bound by our circumstances or our conjectures of how things might go. The Lord God Almighty is sovereign over our past, our present, and our future. The Lord God Almighty is unlimited in power: He calls all the stars by name and He directs the details of our lives. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord! “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) out of nothing. The sovereign Creator breathed life into lifeless clay; He is able to give life to the dead; He calls into existence things that formerly did not exist; and He is able to open a barren womb.

This sovereign Lord comes to us through His Word and makes promises to us. When God sets a promise before us, He is inviting us into a future far better than any future we could have without Him. Promises, by their very nature, are future-oriented. The Lord promised Abram, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2) “[Your] very own son shall be your heir” and as are the stars that you cannot number, “[so] shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:4, 5). The Lord promised Joshua, “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.” (Joshua 1:5-6) The Lord promised His people, “[Call] upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50:15) Or consider this promise given through the prophet Micah:

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” (Micah 7:18-20)

Here is a promise that Jesus made in the New Testament:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

The future orientation of God’s promises are evident through the various phrases where God tells us what will happen, what He will do, what shall come to pass.

The truth of the matter is that every single one of us lives our life on the basis of promises. The question is: whose promises are we basing our life on? The Book of Hebrews refers to “the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Sin is deceitful. Sin deceives us by making the pathway of sin look more desirable than the pathway of righteousness. People don’t sin because they have to; people sin because they want to. People sin because sin promises them something that they desire. Eve was deceived into thinking that the forbidden fruit was a pathway to a better future. Cain was deceived into thinking that a future without Abel was better than a future with Abel. The men at Babel were deceived into thinking that the Tower of Babel would bring them security and glory.

Every single day you believe promises. The question is: whose promises?

Believing the Lord

The big question is whether or not we are going to believe the infinitely powerful and sovereign God who He speaks to us. You are created in God’s image and, as an image-bearer of God, you are hardwired to hear and respond to God’s promises. But as a sinner, you are handicapped in your capacity to hear and respond to God’s promises. So, what are you going to believe: God’s promises, or the protests of your own heart? God’s counsel, or your circumstances? God’s definitive words, or the distortions of reality that are spun out by the serpent?

Eve believed the serpent, and she plunged herself into devastation. Cain believed the lie, and brought upon himself great punishment. The men at Babel trusted in themselves, and their works came crashing down. Lot was captivated by the external allurements of the Jordan Valley, and it got him into a world of trouble.

But a different heart was found in Abram: “And he [Abram] believed the LORD, and he [the LORD] counted it to him as righteousness.” (v. 6)

Verse 6 testifies to the truth that believing the Lord is foundational to having a right and healthy relationship with the Lord.

Frankly, how can you have a right and healthy relationship with anyone if you doubt the other person’s trustworthiness, truthfulness, and goodness? If you think that someone else is unreliable, or lying to you, or seeking to ruin you, then you aren’t going to have a right and healthy relationship with that person.

So here’s the question: have you come to believe that the Lord is trustworthy, truthful, and good? Have you come to believe that the Lord is for you, not against you? Have you come to believe that the Lord has made life-giving promises to you for your good?

David testifies:

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.” (Psalm 62:5-7)

Then David turns to everyone else and says:

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8)

The Lord declared through the prophet Jeremiah:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come….

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is 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 case to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-6, 7-8)

Over and over again Scripture testifies to the fact that believing God, trusting God, having faith in God, is central to a right and healthy relationship with God. The intellectual pursuit of theological understanding is no substitute for a heart that feasts on God’s promises. The religious pursuit of prayers, liturgies, holy days, sacred assemblies, and worship services is no substitute for a heart that pulsates with confidence in God’s Word. The social pursuit of community, neighboring, friendship, soup kitchens, deeds of mercy, and volunteer work is no substitute for a living faith that banks on all that God has pledged to do. Without this living faith, the heart remains far from God. With this living faith, all of life is sanctified and set apart for God.

The Gospel of John testifies: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The Book of Acts testifies: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

The Letter to the Romans testifies: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

The Letter to the Ephesians testifies: “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2:8)

The First Letter of Peter testifies that “by God’s power [we] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5)

The First Letter of John testifies that “we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” (1 John 4:16)

Multiple passages in the New Testament teach the priority of faith and love in that order. “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints” (Colossians 1:3-4). “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13) “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us.” (1 John 3:23)

The point of all this is simply to say that a right and healthy relationship with God is not something that we create by our own hard work. It is not a human achievement. It is not because we meditated enough or memorized enough or gave away enough or prayed enough or did enough good things or knew enough or attended church enough or acted loving enough. Getting a right and healthy relationship with God is not the result of our piety, diligence, or sacrifice. Getting a right and healthy relationship with God is not the outcome of an impressive record of service and good deeds.

Perhaps you have come to service this morning and you have a sense that something is missing in your relationship with God. I would say to you that you should consider the possibility that what’s missing is the central thing – that is, that deep down you don’t actually trust the Lord. You’re quite willing to learn about the Lord, to talk about the Bible, to attend church services, to sign up for church activities, to attempt to work for the Lord  – and yet you wonder why the yoke isn’t easy and the burden isn’t light. Could it be that you don’t know Him, don’t believe Him, and don’t trust Him? Stop trying to live a pseudo-Christian life – you know, the counterfeit Christian life in which it all depends on you, your resolve, your strength, your busyness. Instead discover the freedom and power of the true Christian life, which comes from believing the God who says “I will”: “I will bless you” (Genesis 12:2), “I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16), “I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7) “to you and to your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:15), “I will carry you” (Isaiah 46:4), “I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:10), “[I] will supply every need of yours” (Philippians 4:19), “I will raise [you] up on the last day” (John 6:40), “I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Receiving the Gift of Righteousness

Finally, Genesis 15:6 proclaims that good news that God reckons us righteous on account of our faith, not according to our works.

Up until now I have spoken in general terms about having a right and healthy relationship with God. But as we come to the end of verse 6, we get to something very specific: “and he [the LORD] counted it to him [Abram] as righteousness.”

What do you suppose it would take for the Lord God Almighty to look at a man and say, ‘This man is completely justified in My sight’ or ‘This man is completely acceptable in My sight’ or ‘This man is completely righteous in My sight’?

Some people suppose that in order to be justified, you must first jump through the right religious hoops: such as circumcision in the Old Testament or baptism in the New Testament, or extensive fasting and prayer, or enrollment in a discipleship school. If you perform these things, then surely God will look with favor upon you, right? No.

Some people suppose that in order to be justified, you must first experience a certain amount of internal transformation. You have to get your heart straightened out, you have to get your heart set in a new direction leading to new and better habits of life, and you have to accumulate a long track record of actual obedience so that you are actually consistently righteous in your everyday conduct, and then after all that God will declare you to be righteous, right? No.

Some people suppose that in order to be justified, you must make atonement for your sin. You must feel enough anguish, sorrow, and grief over your sin; you must compensate for all of your past wickedness with righteous deeds; you must suffer through acts of penance in order to satisfy the demands of justice; you must make restitution for all your misdeeds; and then, after all that, then God may eventually decide that you have done enough and reckon you righteous in His sight, right? No.

Pay attention: Abram was counted righteous in Genesis 15:6; he wasn’t circumcised until Genesis 17:24. Paul writes, “He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” (Romans 4:11) A man is justified by faith, not by a religious ritual (even if the ritual is ordained by God).

Further, Abram was counted righteous long before the costly act of obedience when the Lord commanded him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice – of course, in the end Isaac wasn’t sacrificed, but a ram was sacrificed in Isaac’s place. But Abram’s willingness to offer up his son demonstrated his love for the Lord, demonstrated his faith in the Lord, demonstrated that he was righteous – but that costly act of obedience was not the basis of his righteousness in God’s sight. A man is justified by faith, not by impressive acts of obedience.

In fact, Abram was in the habit of learning to walk in obedience to God’s commands. It is the nature of faith to express itself in practice obedience. However, Genesis 15:6 does not say that the Lord counted Abram’s obedience as righteousness. Instead, Genesis 15:6 says that the Lord counted Abram’s faith as righteousness. A man is justified by hearing and trusting God’s promise, not by walking in obedience.

We can also say that Abram was counted righteous before he was morally perfected. Abram will act foolishly in Genesis 16 and again in Genesis 20. A man is justified by faith, not by being morally perfected.

As long as you think that attaining to a righteous status in God’s sight is something that you can accomplish, you are missing the point. It is not by religious ritual, it is not by heroic or sacrificial acts, it is not my moral improvement, it is not by obedient actions that a sinner is counted righteous in God’s sight. As Scripture says:

“[One] is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

“[A] person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16).

“[If] you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

When God justifies a sinner, God does not treat that sinner according to what his sins deserve, God does not count that sinner’s sins against him, and God clothes that sinner with the free gift of righteousness, and God treats that sinner as someone who is perfectly acceptable in the court of heaven. There is nothing for the sinner to do, except to believe: “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5).

This gift of righteousness, this divine decree that the sinner is justified, approved, accepted in the sight of God, is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield”. If God was only willing to shield Abram from all external threats, but wasn’t willing to shield Abram from the consequences of sin and from the demands of divine justice, then Abram would be in deep trouble. But as it stands, God shields His people from His own wrath against sin; God shields His people from the law of sin and death; God shields His people from condemnation, final judgment, and everlasting hell. In order to accomplish this, God sent His dear Son to be our great shield and defender. As the apostle wrote,

“[Abram was] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for our also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:21-25)

Jesus is the truly Righteous One who took upon Himself the consequences of our sin, satisfied the demands of God’s justice, and broke apart the power of death. This is why we sing:

“No condemnation now I dread:

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown thru Christ my own.”[2]

Have you discovered the free gift of righteousness that comes through faith?

Only believe the Lord, and He will prove Himself to be your shield, defender, protector, and friend.

Only believe the Lord, and He will prove Himself to be your benefactor, rewarder, shepherd, and guide. 

Only believe the Lord, and He will prove Himself to be your justifier, your righteousness, your everlasting refuge and peace.

 

ENDNOTES

[1] See Genesis 15:4 in the Interlinear Bible available online through Bible Hub: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/15.htm.

[2] From the hymn “And Can It Be?” by Charles Wesley.

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