Three and four. And so to make this argument, to prove it, to go into detail, to persuade hearers and listeners and readers of these points, the Apostle does something very interesting. He appeals to historical precedent. Well, how does he do that? He does it by appealing to someone, certainly all the Jewish readers would have known Abraham. No less than seven times in this passage does Paul refer to Abraham as the father of the faithful or the father of all those who believe. In typical Pauline fashion, he is piling on. He keeps referring to Abraham. He references David as well, another towering figure of the Old Testament. But he takes Abraham and applies the ideas through the life of Abraham. Why is this important to us? Is it just an intellectual, a theoretical nicety that we care how the Apostle goes about his case? Not at all. The reason it's important is the first point that we're making. Our faith is rooted in history. God has acted. God has spoken. God has called people unto himself and has presented and shown himself faithful in the lives of countless people throughout the ages. And the prominent figure that every Jewish person reading this document, it's notwithstanding that Gentiles would appreciate, is the life of Abraham. Jews in the Old Testament and even in Christ's ministry constantly will refer to themselves as sons of Abraham. It is great debate with the Jews in the Temple Courts in John 8 in the midst of a very rancorous discussion between Jesus and the Jews. They appealed to the idea that they were sons of Abraham. And Jesus gave it right back at him. He said, if you were sons of Abraham, you would believe in me. For Abraham saw my day. In other words, Abraham knew me. So this idea of this appealing to historical precedent is fundamental. It's fundamental for the Apostle to make this important set of statements on the cardinal doctrine of Christianity. And what is that? Of how someone can be right with God. As Paul opens up with in chapter 1, the just shall live by faith. You know, we live in a time where our faith is ridiculed. Christianity is ridiculed. Christians are ridiculed and mocked. We're portrayed as idiots with no minds who have something called faith because they can't deal with life. Well, as we'll see a little bit later on, that is just not true. We do appeal to faith, but not faith in some wimpy, ridiculous, mauglin and saccharine sense, but something that God over the ages has proven himself faithful about to work in and through. Historical precedent is important. And my question to you this morning, along these lines is, do you know your history? When you are assailed with doubts,
and doubtless you are assailed with doubts, when Satan visits you in the moment of temptation and if you're in Christ this morning, he undoubtedly will visit you with temptation. What do you appeal to? When you wonder whether something is right or wrong, what do you do? I would say there are two sub-points and two benefits to appealing to historical precedent. That first of all, the way to correct error is to recognize the historical precedent. It was George at the end of the Spanish-born American philosophers that said, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. We wonder sometimes why we can't advance in our Christian life, why we can't overcome, why we don't seem to be faithful in particular endeavors, and my challenge and my belief this morning to you is, do you know your history? Let me give you two sub-points, the first one from Matthew 22. It is a great section where Christ has the opportunity to correct error just to set the context. Jesus is in the temple courts. He was teaching, and the leaders in chief priests came up to him and challenged his authority, and then through a series of parables and responses, he responded to that challenge. He gave the parable, the tenets and Matthew 21, the parable, the wedding banquet and Matthew 22. So that wasn't enough to rebuff them. They challenged him and tried to trap him about paying taxes to Caesar. Most of you know what he responded there. Give unto God what is God and the Caesar, what is Caesar's. That wasn't enough. So they sent the Sadducees to him. We pick up in verse 23, that same day, the Sadducees to say there's no resurrection came to him with a question. Teacher, they said, Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. Their first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second, and the third brother right on down to the seventh, finally the woman died. Now then at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seventh since all of them were married to her. Talk about Glutton's repunishment, huh? They couldn't trap to Jesus so they sent the Sadducees over, and the Sadducees a sect of Judaism created his very clever hypothetical, and they say we got him now. We've got this so-called Messiah. We'll just create this clever hypothetical, this clever scenario, and we'll demonstrate that he doesn't know what he's talking about, and in particular the Sadducees denied the biblical doctrine of the resurrection. Do you see Jesus trembling at this moment? Is he trembling with fear at the Sadducees? Nope. There's no fear in trepidation. Jesus replied in only a way that our Lord and Savior could reply to such errant nonsense. Jesus replied in verse 29, you are in error because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given a marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven, but about the resurrection of the dead by the way. Have you not read what God said to you? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Historical precedent is such an important notion that Jesus himself appeals to it in correcting this erroneous teaching of the Sadducees. He appeals to the fact that God is the God in living, and not of the dead, and he produces the idea that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Historical precedent is important for correcting error, but I would give you as a second subpoint that it's also important as part of your spiritual arsenal for defeating the enemy of your souls. I presume you know who that enemy is. If you don't, his name starts with an S.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil or Satan. After fasting four days and forty nights he was hungry, the Tempter came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered. Now before we talk about what Jesus answered, keep in mind who's speaking. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the one sent by the Father, could have merely spoken anything, and it could have been sufficient, but that's not what Jesus does. Jesus answered, it is written. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, appealing to the Book of Deuteronomy, the historical recapitulation of the life of the Exodus for the Israelites. He thought it was important to appeal to a verse of scripture, not only the Word of God, but the Word of God and Deuteronomy that dealt with the history of God working with his people. Historical precedent. I mean it would seem just to give you an idea analogy, could you imagine the history of the United States of America without appealing to George Washington seemed ridiculous? How can you talk about a history? How can you make describe the psyche of Americans without some appeal to what's called the Father of our nation? So that's what we have here with this appeal to Abraham. Well, you might say to yourselves, well, I don't know about that. I don't know that history is that important. I would remind you of the words I've just spoken from George Santiana. The reason why we often go in circles and circles and circles and our Christian lives is because we don't know that God is acted and that God is spoken. You wonder why you're distracted by ridiculous things and by ridiculous notions. It's mindful of what Paul says to Colossians in 28. He said, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ. I would argue ladies and gentlemen that you need to understand your history and if you're a Christian this morning you have a history, not only the history of your personal life, but the history of the God working through his people through the ages. That was our first point. Our second point this morning is that our faith achieves verse 18 again against all hope Abraham and hope believed and so became the father of many nations just as it has been said to him, so shall your offspring be. There is a biblical and legitimate point to be made about the achievement of faith. Now as Protestants, as specifically reformed Protestants, we get a little nervous. We're talking about achievement and faith. It almost sounds like, well Bill are you talking about the way we earn our standing before God is to do things and to achieve things? No. In case that wasn't clear let me repeat that. No. I'm not saying that at all. As a matter of fact the text is saying the opposite. It's saying against all hope Abraham and hope believed and so became and my question to you this morning is what are you becoming? Do you realize the calling the great and very high calling that Christ is called all of us to that there is achievement? There are things to do to grow, to know, to accomplish. We have this week and as I've said already this saccharin like view of Christianity. Christianity is how we got to go to church on Sunday morning, drop a few bucks in the offering plate and go to lunch and go play golf or watch golf. That's it. That's Christianity right? No. That is not the Christianity of the Bible. That doesn't describe the faith of any of the prominent figures in the scriptures. Abraham believed and then became.
Paul and Romans 8.37 says that we're supposed to be more than conquerors. Now certainly Bill, you're out of your mind. Not a conqueror. Just a guy that goes to work. Just a mom takes care of kids. Surely this idea of being a conqueror or rather more than a conqueror. That can't be correct. Check your Bibles. Romans 8.37 and what Paul talks about thereafter in Romans 8 is all the things that will not separate you from the love of God through Christ Jesus. You are called as a Christian to achieve. The historical precedent is Abraham. Oh Bill, our life is so much different from Abraham. Oh really? Do I have this conversation with myself? You are mused. Do I am mused you? Well Abraham, actually you have quite a bit in common with Abraham. Before God called him, he was a pagan worshipping idols. We see Abraham and we appreciate maybe now the historical precedent, but we really don't get his background. He was a pagan worshipping idols. In other words, God for his own wisdom and reason chose this man. Didn't have to, wasn't compelled to, call this man out of all the colonies when he was well into his later years, made a promise Abraham believed and over the course of years believed as this text pointed out by the time he had the promised heir, he was a hundred years old talking about waiting on the promises of God, but he didn't waver and he achieved and became precisely what God ordained for him to do. There was just a pagan that was worshipping idols in a far way place and all of us had the same thing that applied to our lives. How do you see your life? Just as a grind. Now I got to take the kids to school. I got to work. I deal with my boss. He's a pain in the neck and I go home. I eat dinner. I watch TV. I fall asleep on the sofa and I do it all over again. Saturday comes. I sleep in late. I go out for breakfast and I watch TV. Is that the life the achievement of faith Christ has called us to? I challenge you this morning to see yourself through this biblical lens. If you don't think you can achieve in faith because oh I'm a mom and all I have my kids to worry about. You don't think raising two, three or how many children you have and a godly fashion for the glory of God is achievement of faith? Have you looked at the culture lately? If you're not overwhelmed with the things you see in video games and all the death and destruction that makes up that commerce, just go to your local McDonald's and take a look around. Hopefully you can see the covenantal difference if you're raising your children to the glory of God. That is an achievement of faith. If maybe that's too big, how about just getting the church and Sunday school and Bible study on a weekly basis. Let's start there. We talk about achievement of faith. You know, we talk about Daniel and the lions then. And Daniel was in the lions then. That's a fact. And we talk about whole what great faith that Daniel had in the lions then and he did have great faith. But what we often neglect to talk about is that it was at the latter part of Daniel's life. Daniel lived faithfully every day in the small things when he was taken into captivity, when he was in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, when he was offered food and said and that would violate the Israelite dietary laws. He would say no, just give me this and that will be sufficient and succeed it there. And then him and his friends succeeded in not bowing down to an idol. And they succeeded and this achievement of faith was day after day after day until ultimately, at the end of his life, he's challenged again in a great way being thrown into a den of lions and was able to withstand it. You don't get from there without working it out day by day, day by day. So our faith achieves. The last point we want to make this morning and this might be very well the most important point is that our faith faces facts. Verse 19 without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Some people like to toss up your Christianity and your faith. You Christians, besides looking like a bunch of nuts, your religion is just escapism. You don't face facts. And what do we do? Yeah, you're kind of right. We have these whimpering responses because we don't know the facts of our Christianity. And here we have Abraham, advanced at years, giving God's promise. It's not like he ignored the fact that he was on in years. He faced the fact, but in spite of that, he did not waver in unbelief. He knew God was able to do what God was promised. I think it was Karl Marx that said that religion is the opium of the people. What does that mean? Well, according to Marx, people in Christian society seek deliverance in a fictional afterlife in heaven instead of seeking the cause and the solution to their earthly problems in the economy. When Marx wrote this text, opium was a very popular medicine and recreational drug. Marx says the religion is a way the oppressed workers can convince themselves that their lives are worth living, though it is an illusion, a fantasy, like an opium dream.
Is that your idea of Christianity this morning? Is it some drug that you need to feel better? So you don't have to face facts. If that is your idea of Christianity, I challenge you to ask yourself if you're a Christian indeed. Christianity has to do with confronting facts, not only basic facts, but ultimate facts, facts that pertain to life and death. Abraham faced the fact. He saw it as a difficulty and it was. There was something extraordinary about this, but what we're called to do is to surmount those circumstances, those facts, whatever they are, through the grace of faith that God has given us through Christ Jesus. And you all have and I have circumstances and facts. We all have a story, but Bill, you don't know my story. My life is so hard that fill in the blank. You don't know my wife. You don't know my husband. You don't know my boss. You know what, they're all facts. They're all real. They all cause pain. You don't know my illness. Whatever the facts are, my argument, my point to you this morning is you're called to overcome. You remember the account when Jesus was walking on the water? Peter sees him. Peter says, Lord, if it's you call, can I come out to you? Jesus says come. And Peter just walked on water and he grabbed and hugged Jesus and a bear hug and things were great, right? Is that what happened in the gospel text? No. Not at all. Peter started looking at the waves and started to sink.
And you can hear Peter's saying, Lord, the waves, they were washing over me. I was starting to sink. Those are real facts, real circumstances. And Jesus said, that's okay, Peter. Right? Is that what Jesus said? You're right. Your facts are more difficult than any other facts. No, that's not what Jesus said at all. He said, why did you doubt? Ye of little faith. Christianity is all about facing facts. And as Paul says once again, being more than not only a conqueror, but more than a conqueror. Christianity is not a drug. It's not opium. It's not escapist. It's dealing actually with the brutal facts of reality. If this is your first time here this morning, I'm glad you're here. We're very anxious to welcome you and have you here. If you don't know Christ, there are some really difficult facts that need to be faced. Outside of Christ, human life, as the Scriptures would say, is futile. It's hopeless. To use a phrase, the Apostle uses, and Ephesians 2 is, we're children of wrath outside of Christ. Those are really tough facts. Those are really tough facts. And I would challenge you this morning to think long and hard about those facts. There is only one way you can know God and know eternal life. And that is through the risen Son Jesus Christ. I say that to folks who might not know him this morning. For the rest of us that are part of the kingdom of God, I ask you to reflect upon what your lives look like, what God has called you to, the trajectory of your growth in Christ, because the promise is there that you will grow if you're abiding in him. And I challenge you to think deeply about what you are accomplishing by grace through faith. You know, we have this mistaken notion of being a celebrity. So it's interesting to go through a supermarket checkout counter and see all the wonderful reading material. Jennifer Aston doesn't love Brad Pitt. But Brad Pitt does it loves this one now. And so our lives and our culture are consumed with things like, is Pluto a planet? Or is it a dwarf? I don't know. And bears zero relevance to me here now, to us here now and the life to come. I challenge you to think deeply. I challenge you to know your history, because all of us have a story and to look upon the scriptures and understand how God has been shown faithful. That you can answer Satan when he knocks on your door because he does knock on your door. If you're in Christ this morning, he's got your zip code, your telephone number and your email address. And he will come knocking. How do you respond to that? Well, the answer to all these questions is by grace through faith. That's pretty good. Father, I pray for all of us here this morning that make up your visible, coveted community at Kendall Presbyterian Church, where your people you've called us onto yourself. There are those here this morning, Father. They're just struggling to hang on. Those facts that I so easily spoke about this morning are just crushing us. Your call as I understand the scripture, Father, is to face them in faith. And to be like Abraham and so become as he fulfilled that great covenant promise thousands of years ago, Father, lift us up. Fulfill your promise to us and make us more than conquerors through him who loved us. I pray these words that you would seal these words and authenticate them by your Holy Spirit. Bless us now in Christ's name, Amen. Now to him who is able to do a measurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations and may his blessing rest upon all of us this day. Amen.