The Story of God: Justification by Faith
Genesis 15:6
This last week we heard the tragic news that Tiger Woods has been unfaithful to his wife. And this raises a crucial question. Tiger Woods has it all – doesn’t he? Career – he’s probably the best golfer ever. Fame – he’s the best-known athlete in the world. Money – in just 2008 he made $110 million dollars, he’s got homes in Wyoming, Sweden, California, two in Florida. Family – he’s married to super-model Elin Nordegren and has two children.
So Tiger Woods has everything this world has to offer – and yet it’s clear that he’s not satisfied. Why not? It’s because he’s doing what we’ve all done – he’s ignoring the only complete and lasting satisfaction – God Himself.
We’re doing a series called “The Story of God.” We started with Eternity Past, and saw that God has always been – there never was a time when He was not. And from eternity past He’s been full of ecstatic, passionate joy in beholding His perfections as displayed in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And because of his passionate joy in the glory of His perfections He decided to create the Universe to display His glory – so he could share with us the joy of beholding His glory. The entire universe is here so we can see God’s glory – and share the joy He has in His glory. Which means there’s only one way your heart will be fully and lastingly satisfied – in knowing God.
But as the story of God continues, we saw that Adam and Eve did what Tiger Woods and you and me have done. We’ve all turned our backs on God and gone our own way – that’s what the Bible calls sin. And last week we saw in Genesis 4 through 11 that Adam and Eve’s sin spread throughout the earth – and we saw through the Flood that sin deserves God’s punishment. So we are left in Gen. 10 and 11 with a world in which no one calls upon God, walks with God, trusts God – and everyone deserves another flood from God.
But God purposefully allowed all of this – because the spread of sin throughout the world will bring an even greater display of His glory – the glory of His mercy. To see this display of God’s mercy, let’s turn to Gen 12. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand; we’ll bring one to you. Gen 12 is on page 8 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Here’s the background. In Gen 10 and 11 every people group on the earth has turned their backs on God. Every people group on the earth deserves another flood from God. And God comes to one man, unrighteous Abram, who’s been a moon-worshiper – and look at what God says to him in Gen 12:1-3 -
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2 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.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
But how can God say this? How can God bless Abram and every people group – when they have all been completely unrighteous? When they all deserve only God’s punishment?
To answer this, turn to Galatians 3:8 – which is on page 973 in the Bibles we just passed out. Paul was a Jewish rabbi; an Old Testament scholar. And here in Galatians 3:8 Paul explains what God said to Abram in Gen 12:3. Look at what Paul says --
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."
Notice that Paul quotes Gen 12:3 – “in you shall all the nations be blessed.” And Paul explains that here God is preaching the gospel to Abram. So after the Fall, after the Flood, after sin has completely spread through all the earth – in Gen 12:3 God preaches the gospel to Abram. And notice what the gospel is – it’s that God will justify the Gentiles by faith.
Now what does that mean? The answer to that is found back in Genesis 15 (page 10). Here’s the background: Abraham and Sarah had no children. And they were both well beyond child-bearing years, probably in their 70’s. And even when Sarah was in her prime she had not been able to get pregnant.
But look at what God promises Abram in Gen 15:5 --
And he [God] brought him [Abram] 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."
So God promises that Abram will have as many offspring as the starts he can see at night.
And God had changed Abram’s heart so he owned up to the truth of God. He knew that the God who had created the universe could give them a child – that the God who had given Adam and Eve the mercy of life and bodies and each other and Himself would not lie. So Abram trusted God. And look at what God did in response – v.6 --
And he [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he [God] counted it to him as righteousness.
Abram believed the Lord. And God counted Abram’s faith as righteousness – as a lifetime of perfect moral righteousness. Which meant that as Abram was trusting God, God saw Abram as if he had always been and always would be perfectly, morally righteous. That’s how God can bless Abram – and that’s how God can bless every people group in the earth: he counts people’s faith as a lifetime of perfect moral righteousness.
John Piper gave a helpful illustration. Let’s say I promise my son that I will take him to the baseball game tomorrow night if he gets his room cleaned by the time he has to leave for school tomorrow. But let’s say that my son doesn’t clean his room, and then it’s time to leave for school, so it’s too late. But when he comes home he’s very sorry that he didn’t clean his room. So I tell him, “I see how sorry you are; I’m going to count your sorrow as a clean room. Let’s go to the game.” That’s what God did for Abraham – and what he does for us.
See, my son’s sorrow was not a clean room, and Abraham’s faith was not a lifetime of perfect righteousness. But I count my son’s sorrow as a clean room, and so we go to the game; and God counts Abraham’s faith as a lifetime of perfect righteousness, and Abraham is freed from God’s judgment and has the joy of knowing God forever. That’s the blessing God gives to Abram in Gen 15:6; and that’s the blessing God gives to all the families of the earth in Gen 12:3.
But this raises a huge question: how can a just God do that? The flood described in Gen 7 shows that Abram’s sin deserves God’s punishment. So if we deserve punishment, how can God count our faith as a lifetime of perfect moral righteousness? The answer is in Gen 12:3 – where God preached the gospel to Abram: “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” “In you” – in Abram’s offspring – in what Abram’s great, great, great, great-grandson Jesus would do.
So what did Jesus do? He died on the Cross. And when I trusted him something amazing happened. Picture it like this. Here’s a white board – “Jesus.” And here’s another white board – “me.” My white board has all kinds of sin written on it – greed, pride, lust, self-righteousness, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness. And because of this, I don’t have the heart-filling satisfaction of knowing Him now, and I face God’s judgment forever.
But in great mercy, God decided to save me through Jesus. Jesus is fully God. He created everything. And in great mercy He came to earth and lived a life of perfect moral righteousness. So Jesus’ white board has perfect, moral righteousness on it: love and truth and integrity and compassion and mercy and goodness and righteous indignation and love for God.
So Jesus died on the Cross – and what happens the moment I believe in Jesus? (Erase what’s on Jesus’ board.) When I believe in Jesus God puts all my sin upon Jesus (erase what’s on Jesus’ board, and write on it my sin, and erase what’s on my board), and he’s punished for all my sin on the Cross. And then God gives all Jesus’ perfect moral righteousness to me. (Write it on my board). So from that point on – as I’m trusting Jesus -- God sees me as clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness. Even when I sin, which I still do, as I turn back to trust Jesus, God sees me as clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness.
That’s what happened to Abraham in Gen. 15:6. Let’s read it again --
And he [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
That’s how God can bless Abram and how God can bless every people-group on the earth.
So right here in Genesis we see how God saves people in the Old Testament. Old Testament salvation is not different from New Testament salvation. In both Old Testament and New Testament we are saved only one way – through faith. In the Old Testament they trusted God’s mercy, and now in the New Testament as we have an even more clear demonstration of God’s mercy in Jesus, we are saved by trusting Jesus. This is what theologians call being justified by faith alone – and that’s how Abram was saved, and that’s how we are saved. That’s the gospel.
But I’d guess that many of us don’t understand this clearly enough. For example, when a trial comes, how many of you think that God’s punishing you because you’ve been bad? Be honest. But if you are trusting Jesus, all the punishment you deserved was poured out upon Jesus. As you are trusting Jesus, you are counted as perfectly morally righteous; you will never face any punishment from God.
Or how many of you when you’ve sinned think you’ve got to do something good or spiritual before you can come into God’s presence? So whose goodness are you relying on to gain you access to God? Yours! That’s death. That’s not the gospel.
Or when you think – what will happen when I die? -- what is it that gives you assurance that you have been forgiven and will be with Jesus forever? Is it that you go to church? That you were honest? That you were a good parent? That’s not the gospel!
There’s only one way that we as sinful people can be loved by a perfectly righteous God – and that’s if we have perfect moral righteousness. And there’s only one way we can get that – through trusting Jesus. There’s only one human being who’s ever been perfectly righteous: Jesus. And there’s only one way to connect with Jesus so His perfect righteousness becomes yours: faith. That’s how God blessed Abram, and that’s how God will bless every people group on the earth – and how God will bless you. So that leads us to our next question:
How can I be sure I have this kind of faith? Crucial question. Lots and lots of people would say they have faith, but it’s not faith like Abram had. So what kind of faith did Abram have? The answer to that is found in Gen 12:1-3.
Let me set the stage with this illustration. Here’s two chairs. This chair represents all that God promises to be to me – to forgive me, change me, provide for me, and satisfy me in knowing and loving Him. But Abram, and all of us, have turned our backs on God – wanting to be in control. But we still long for satisfaction – so we’ve come up with other things we hope will satisfy us – that’s represented in this chair – money and independence and fame and comfort and vacations and sex and food.
See – we are always living by faith in something – we’re always trusting something to satisfy us – and if it’s not God as revealed in Jesus – then it’s something else.
So Abram starts off as an idol-worshiper sitting in this chair. And his security was in his country and his kindred and his father’s house – that’s where prosperity and joy and living the life would come from. But look at what God says to him in Gen 12:1-3 –
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2 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.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
So for Abram faith meant three things. First, it meant understanding what God promised him. It meant understanding what’s in that chair. God had promised to make him a great nation, and bless him, and make his name great, and bless all the families of the earth through him. Those were God’s promises to Abram. God’s promises to us cover four main categories – because of Jesus God will forgive all our sins, God will change our hearts so we love and trust Him, God will provide for all of our needs, and God will satisfy us now and forever in knowing Him. So faith means understanding what God promises – understanding what’s in that chair.
But understanding is not enough. Second, faith means turning from what I’ve been trusting to satisfy me. In Gen 12:1 God says “go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house.” Abram had to leave what he had been trusting. He had to get out of this chair.
And we have to do the same. Faith means turning from what I’ve been trusting to satisfy me. What do you trust to satisfy you? Ask yourself – “What do I desire the most?” Is it affirmation from people? That’s one of mine. Is it sexual pleasure? Money? Fame? Comfort? Whatever you desire the most is what you trust. But faith means turning from what I’ve been trusting to satisfy me. Faith means getting out of this chair.
And third, faith means turning to trust God’s promises as revealed in Jesus. Not just knowing God’s promises. Not just knowing that God is there, that Jesus died on the Cross. But trusting myself, my life, my future, my decisions to God’s promises. Faith means resting myself in the chair of God’s promises. That’s what we see in Gen 12:4 – “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” As Hebrews says “by faith Abraham obeyed.” Abram trusted his entire life to God’s promises. And we need to entrust our entire lives to God’s promises. That’s faith.
Now the Christian life doesn’t mean that we are always sitting in this chair. We should be – but we don’t. It’s a battle between the two chairs. You can see this in Abram later in ch.12. God had promised Abram that he would make him a great nation and protect him. Abram was sitting in this chair. But when Abram and Sarah traveled to Egypt, Abram feared that Pharaoh would kill him and take Sarah as his wife because she was so beautiful. So Abram told Sarah to lie and say she was Abram’s sister so Pharaoh would take Sarah and not kill Abram. So now where was Abram sitting? The other chair!
That’s why the Christian life is called the fight of faith. We constantly need to fight unbelief – our tendency to slip back into that other chair. That doesn’t mean we go from being justified to not being justified. But if you have been saved, if you have been justified, you will never stay long in this chair.
So understand what God promises to us in Jesus – to forgive for all our sins, to change our hearts so we love and trust Him, to provide for everything we need, and to satisfy us now and forever with His presence. And see God as He displays Himself in Genesis – as all-powerful Creator, as full of Mercy, as infinitely wise and good, as sovereign over everything.
And turn from whatever else you have been trusting to satisfy you – and trust God as He is revealed in Jesus.
Questions?
Some of you are sitting in this chair. And you feel hopeless about changing chairs, because you just don’t have faith. You are saying: “I know I should have stronger faith; I just don’t.” Well, I’ve got very good news for you. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Faith is not something we come up with on our own. Faith is a gift God gives us as we feast our souls on who He is in the Word. So this afternoon, sit down, open up God’s Word, and ask God to meet you -- and then feast your soul on God as He is revealed in His Word. As you see who God is He will give you faith. So do that this afternoon – and all of us – take time every day to nurture our faith by feasting on who God is as revealed in His Word.