Initially posted here:
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid02BE7ieQFar5MvEFpich4gX18UrMTYsHgFxnQGSKWTxkzkefg8AiQYf9xxrsk3Zzifl
Brother Gideon read
from Hebrews 11 when he introduced the first service.
Heb 11:8 sheds much
light on Gen 15:6.
May the Lord give you understanding. Amen.
Hebrews 11 - KJT
8 By faith Abraham,
when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Genesis 12 KJT
1 Now the LORD had
said [past perfect - i.e. said to him way back in Gen 11] unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will shew thee...
4 So Abram departed,
as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy
and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Abram was ALREADY a
man of faith and obedience when he was called by the LORD to leave his father's
house in the Ur of the Chaldees. Earlier, the LORD had effectually called him
out of his native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation in the
promised Messiah.
To call an elect out
of his native state of sin and death to that state of grace and salvation in
Jesus Christ, these divine activities must take place in this number and
logical order:
- justification by
God's grace to deal with the condemnation; justification reverses the
condemnation due to sins;
- regeneration by
the Spirit of God to deal with the spiritual deadness due to sins; and
- adoption by the
Father into the divine family to deal with the alienation due to sins. Adoption
is always accompanied by the bestowal of the Spirit to dwell in the adopted.
These divine
activities - three in number, and in that logical number - are necessary to
bring an elect out of his native state of sin and death to that state of grace
and salvation in Jesus Christ.
Abraham's faith and
obedience when called to leave the Ur of the Chaldees is concrete evidence that
he has been effectually called- i.e. justified, regenerated, and adopted - and bestowed
with the Spirit of adoption to dwell in him.
If this is true,
then what about the passage in Genesis 15?
What about it? Let's take a look.
Genesis 15 KJT
4 And, behold, the
word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he
that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him
forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in
the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham believed in
the LORD concerning His words on the promised seed; this promised seed is none
other than Christ. (Galatians 3:16 KJT — Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to
thy seed, which is Christ.)
Abraham's faith, his
act of believing the LORD's promise, was counted to him for righteousness, i.e.
to experience the blessedness of his justified state by the free grace of God.
NOTE CAREFULLY,
there is no accounting of Christ's righteousness to Abraham; therefore, there is
no justification in this passage. Abraham's justification by the LORD had taken
place long ago in Ur of the Chaldeans.
What happened here
is Abraham experienced the blessedness of his justified state, by the LORD's
free grace, through believing/faith in the promised seed.
Apostle Paul
marshalled Abraham as a proof to repudiate the Judaizers' insistence that
ceremonial laws must be observed. Abraham experienced that blessedness WITHOUT
observing any ceremonial laws. PERIOD. Romans 4:1-5.
