Dive into the profound narrative of Abraham, a man whose journey was intricately woven with faith, promises, and the quest for fulfillment. Despite the years of waiting and heart-wrenching doubt, Abraham’s story serves as a timeless reminder of God’s unwavering promise and faithfulness. In this episode, we unravel Abraham’s thoughts, his doubts, and the ultimate reassurance he received from God, highlighting the human experience of hope and belief against all odds.
So Paul moves in more closely into Abraham’s life when discussing this issue of how God visits a human being with salvation. And you remember the verse that I mentioned yesterday. For it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed, God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. How amazing. I mean, just ponder a little bit. In fact, I really would encourage you to read the account of Abraham from chapter 12 in Genesis onward. God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit this land that he had taken him to, the land of Canaan. Well, time was running out for Abraham, and he and his wife had not been able to bear children. Now, can you imagine? Well, I think you can. There are quite a lot of people in the modern era, families, that just can’t produce the child they had hoped for and wanted. and they become frustrated, and they hope, and they keep trying, and on it goes, and slowly disappointment sets in. Well, that’s apart from the fact that Abraham had received a specific promise from God. God had visited him. I really wish I knew how God visited him, whether it was in a dream or whether God literally, through Jesus or the angels, came to visit him. or whether the Holy Spirit deeply impressed on his mind the promise. But anyway, it was definitely a promise to Abraham. And you can imagine the frustration that Abraham must have felt over the years, and his wife, as their disappointment occurred month after month when there was no pregnancy. And Abraham must have tried all the aphrodisiac medications and herbal treatments of his day. They must have had the wisdom of counsel from others who might have suggested various approaches, but it didn’t work out. And they must have begun after 10 years of this, remember, to wonder whether the promise had been withdrawn. Were they unworthy of the promise? Perhaps they had sinned more than God had tolerated, and the promise was withdrawn. That’s a possibility. We all feel it. You know, you get a promise from God and it doesn’t get fulfilled for years and years or ever, and you wonder what went wrong. And then it might have been that they wondered whether Abraham had seen God at all, whether it was all an illusion or a delusion, and perhaps he was just as high as a kite one day for some reason and thought he’d heard from God when he had not. But then there was the occasion, you remember, with Hagar when he was encouraged by his wife, Sarah, to have a child by Hagar, and he agreed to it, and so did Hagar, and so thus was born Ishmael. Now, you know what that’s all about, don’t you? That is forcing the promise. How many times have you and I forced the promise? We have seen the gospel, we’ve heard the good news of Jesus Christ, we have thought, we have heard of his victory, and that we can have that victory too, and then we see, especially if you’ve been struggling with addictions, defeat after defeat, And you can imagine that that would have created such chaos in the mind that somehow you tried to get around the promise by another approach, by forcing it in some way. And this is what Abraham did. God said nothing. But it was only some years later, well, about 14 years later, that he realized that he had forced the promise and that Ishmael was not the promised child. So just imagine the chaos of mind. Just imagine the conflict of faith. Don’t take the story of Abraham so simply. Try to enter into the psychology of it and realize the enormous turmoil that must have gone on in Abraham’s mind as he continued to believe in the promise of God year after year. Ten years. Fifteen years. Twenty years. Twenty-one years. Twenty-two years. Twenty-three years. Twenty-four years. My goodness! Incredible! And the account doesn’t draw back on Abraham’s doubt doubts. What’s amazing is that God never rebukes Abraham’s doubts, but he only encourages him. Do not be afraid, Abraham, he says in chapter 15, verse 1, says God. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. And that promise was given just after Abraham had rescued his son Lot in those battles. Now Abraham may have come away from that thinking, My goodness, I was near death. I was an inch away from a sword, and yet I haven’t received the child yet. And God says, Don’t be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But what does Abraham say to God? Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus? And God says, look. And then Abraham says, look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. You see how Abraham is whining and complaining? He’s lost his faith at that point, and God has to instill that faith in him again. And that’s the wonder and grace and loveliness of God. He does instill that faith again. How does he do it? Well, he tells him the truth. This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body will be your heir. Oh, so Abraham is reassured. Mind you, God doesn’t tell him about Sarah yet. He waits for years before he tells Abraham that Sarah will bear this child. Look now towards heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. Oh, man, how ironic is that statement? Now that James Webb Telescope has revealed to us that there isn’t simply one galaxy, well, we knew that before, of course, but there aren’t simply billions of galaxies. There are probably trillions of galaxies, as James Webb has revealed. and with billions of stars in each galaxy. Well then, count the stars if you can. We now realize how incredible that statement is. God alone is able to count and remember all their names that way. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. And then it says, and he believed in the Lord, and God accounted it to him as righteousness. But then he said to him, well, God said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees and to give you this land to inherit it. And what do you think? Abraham doubted yet again and said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it? You see, then, this story is not of a brilliant, courageous, faith-filled man going forth, sallying forth to conquer the world. This is not about the greatness of Abraham’s faith. It is about the faithfulness and the loving kindness and the generosity of God. who implants faith in human beings. Now look, you may be struggling with your faith. You may be defeated over and over again, and you say to yourself, how can I possibly be saved? And does God rebuke your unbelief? No, he doesn’t. Your mind may rebuke your unbelief, but your mind must not be given the rule of the day. It must not be given a voice. Faith comes from God and enables you to counter that. You say, oh, I’m such a poor believer. How could I possibly be saved? And your faith says, Father in heaven, I give praise to you and thanks to you that Jesus is my life, that Jesus is the one who has believed faithfully all the way through his life, walked with you faithfully even to his own death. Lord, all that is his is mine. That’s how you go about this, you see. And so what we see here in Romans chapter 4 is Paul describing this life of faith of Abraham’s. The God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Your soul may feel dead. Your successes may be complete failures, but you lift up your heart and say, Lord God, I’m tempted to look at my failures and my unbelief, and yet I must not, dear Lord, I look at Jesus Christ and his success on my behalf, his victory on my behalf. the fact that he rose from the dead on my behalf, bringing life out of death, and I thank you that you bring life to my dead soul. And then look at this in verse, what is it, verse 18, who, that is referring to Abraham, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. Contrary to hope, in hope he believed. You have hope. Where does that hope come from? It comes from God. And what does it hope in? A kingdom that is invisible to human eyes. We look at what is not seen. What is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal. And that is where you go forward. You are renewing your mind by this wonderful faith, and that renewal of your mind will bring new victory to your soul. Well, as I have told you in the last couple of days, this is Colin Cook here, I’m offering something that is beginning to be quite exciting to me, actually, and I hope it will be to you. Monthly Romans notes. Nothing elaborate, no elaborate design, simply two printed pages of Romans notes per month, plain and simple and to the point. Over time, these two pages will cover various aspects of the Book of Romans. So you might be able to put them together in a folder or a binder in which you’ll have a really nice covering of the Book of Romans. Now, why am I doing this? Well, to keep you afloat, but to keep me afloat too. Maybe I can keep you afloat with these radio broadcasts, you afloat in faith. and also by my Romans notes, but also me, because I’m having a deeply serious trouble keeping the finances going for this ministry, a small ministry, but long-lasting, many decades, four or so, And so I hope you will help me while I can help you. Now, if you would like to have these monthly Romans notes, then they are made available to you as you subscribe, as you commit to a monthly donation of any amount. I wish I could send them free of charge, but I’m trying to help me as well as to help you. Any amount, a dollar will do, or five dollars, or ten, or twenty, or fifty, or whatever amount works for you. You can receive these notes, Romans notes, by regular mail or by email, whichever your choice. Simply sign up by requesting the monthly Romans notes. by going to my email, faithquestatfastmail.net. That’s faithquestatfastmail.net, all one word, and simply request the monthly Romans notes, and I will let you know how to send your donation. So I hope you’ll enjoy that and find them stimulating. I’m enjoying writing them for you. And also remember that I have available for you some faith training sessions by phone, $60 per hour. If you need help with your addictions and how to exercise your faith in the gospel in Romans to get a new state of mind, then simply request these faith training sessions, and you can request them at faithquestatfastmail.net. Well, thanks for all your support, and those who give regularly, I appreciate it so very much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio, and God bless.
