3-20-2016 weekly message
Meditation of the week: Psalms 2:1-12
Main scripture: Genesis 15:1-21
Subject: The faith that please God
              The LORD God called Abram, and gave him a covenant saying, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”(Gen. 12:1-3)
               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. Any child had been not given yet unto him. The LORD promised him to give him a son; and all nations of people shall be blessed through his children. But the LORD had not given him a son even after many years yet.
              In the main passage that we read today, the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, and said unto him, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”(Gen. 15:1)
This time, God told him to give him great reward instead to give a son. Then Abram said unto LORD God, “What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my houseis this Eliezer of Damascus?”
            The LORD God answered him saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”(Gen. 15:4)
The word of God was unreasonable  to understand unto him knowing, he was too old to reproduce a child anymore. And God brought him forth ahead, and said unto him, “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.”(Gen. 15:5)
               Upon hearing the word of the LORD, he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. he believed in the word of the LORD, for he believed in him. In this age of grace, whosoever believe in Christ Jesus regardless of any sinner for his death for his sin according to the scriptures, and buried and rose again the third day shall be counted it for righteousness, just because he believes in the word of the gospel. He believes in God that gives eternal life not to be perished through his only begotten Son.
                 After the LORD God counted the faith of Abram for righteousness, he gave a covenant that cannot be broken at all unto him. God shall be divided into two pieces whenever he break his covenant for Abram. His covenant for Abram was made pledging the life of God himself saying,
” Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”(Gen. 15:18-21)
             But no child was born in him until he was ninety nine years old. When Abram was ninety years and nine,  the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him once again: ” I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.  2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”(Gen. 17:1-2)
And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him again saying,  “4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.  5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”(Gen. 17:4-8)
              Yeah! Even nowadays, first of all, God wants to reveal himself as the Almighty God unto them that believe in him. And he also wants to see the faith from them of his OMNI-POTENT. God had waited for twenty five years until Abram and his wife had no power of reproduction of child at all to reveal himself the Almighty One unto them.
              Even the children of God born again of the Spirit through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ should be able to bear the fruit of faith of God as the Almighty One so that they may be able not to fear the Devil that is the prince of the world, and to overcome the world by their faith. Apostle John testified of the faith of the children of God: “4For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”(1John 5:4-5)
             Abram never doubt of the LORD, when he asked him to take his only son Isaac into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering. He rose up early in the morning, and took Isaac to the mount of Moriah, and lifted the knife to slay his son Isaac. And angel of the LORD  called unto him out of heaven, and said unto him, “Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”(Gen. 22:12)
                  Apostle James testified of this:
“21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”(James 2:21-24)
            Apostle Paul testified of the action of Abraham giving his son a burnt offering as the faith itself, In other word, without faith, he was not be able to do so: “17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”(Heb. 11:17-19)
               Apostle Paul testified of the promised seed of Abraham that is not only his carnal seed Isaac, but Isaac is the figure of Christ that shall be a sacrifice for the sin of the world at the Calvary that is the mount of Moriah at the time of Abraham. He actually testified of them that believe in God that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead as Abraham believed in God that was able to raise Isaac from the dead: “16Now 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.”(Gal. 3:16)
                 Apostle Paul testified once again of the salvation that we received by faith when we believed in the gospel of grace  through the ensample of Abraham:  “1What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”(Rom. 4:1-8)
                              Apostle Paul testified of the faith of Abraham as well as the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in this age at the same time:
“18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”(Rom. 4:18-25)
                 The scripture testifies of what please God:
“1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear…. 6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”(Heb. 11:1-3,6)
                  Abraham, the father of faith never doubted the promise of God through unbelief; he was strong in faith until the day of fulfillment of the covenant of God; and he shall receive the inheritance in the future when the time comes. His inheritance is pertaining to the flesh related to the earth. In other word, he shall receive the inheritance as the eternal father of Israel. In addition to this, he became the father of the children of God in the church of God saved through believing in the death of Christ and burial and resurrection as testified by Apostle Paul (gal. 3:7). As Abraham received the promise of God,  all the nations of people have been blessed in him. The children of God shall be glorified with the Lord Jesus Christ as much as they suffered with him. Apostle Paul testified of the inheritance for the children of God unto the saints in Rome that were under persecution of Roman Empire:
“17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”(Rom. 8:17-18)
Amen! Hallelujah!