What does God want?  

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- February 13, 2005

Romans 4:1-2

1Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith? 2Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God’s point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride. 3For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.”

Dr. Seuss in one of his memorable stories, tells of a character named Zoad that describes so many of us and our ability to choose:

Did I ever tell you about the young Zoad?
Who came to a sign at the fork of the road
He looked one way and the other way too
The Zoad had to make up his mind what to do - Well, the Zoad scratched his head,
And his chin, and his pants. - And he said to himself, "I’ll be taking a chance.
If I go to Place One, that place may be hot
So how will I know if I like it or not.
On the other hand, though, I’ll feel such a fool
If I go to Place Two and find it’s too cool
In that case I may catch a chill and turn blue.
So Place One may be best and not Place Two.
Play safe," cried the Zoad,
"I’ll play safe, I’m no dunce.
I’ll simply start off to both places at once.
And that’s how the Zoad who would not take a chance                                                        Went no place at all with a split in his pants.

As we continue our journey through Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome…we come now to the 4th Chapter. And as we do, Paul begins writing about the faith of Abraham.
We have seen that justification is by faith alone and that the deeds of the law will never justify anyone in the sight of God. We have noted that there is no difference in the way God declared man to be sinful and the method by which he now declares man to be righteous in Christ. Paul’s argument in this section of his letter is that mankind is utterly ruined by sin and that he is completely identified with Jesus Christ when be places his faith in Him.
All other religions are man groping after God. Christianity is God’s reaching out to man and His revelation of truth.

Abraham believed God and it was credited unto him as righteousness. Abraham’s expression of faith (Genesis 15:6) in God’s promise that he would have a son and that through that son would have offspring as numerous as the stars of the night sky. Abraham was childless and was concerned about having an heir.

We note that Abraham’s expression of faith came long before the Law was given to Moses. The Law according to the last verse of Chapter 3 is established as the ultimate reality. It is established in several ways:

* The Law was an expression of the holiness of God. God demands what he is intrinsically in Himself. The Law is a demanding thing.
* The Law is established as an expression of the righteousness of God. He is righteous and he demands that of man also. God must require righteousness of His creation because of His own righteousness. It does not matter if no one in all of creation is able to fulfill the righteousness that is required. That demand is part of the very nature of God Himself. His love for mankind provided a way for unrighteous man to approach God and enjoy His presence in peace.

* The Law is a revelation of the sinfulness of man. We have done the things we ought not to have done and we have left undone those things which we should have done.

The existence of laws prohibiting certain actions is always proof that there are many transgressors. A hundred years ago there were no laws prohibiting people from going faster than 65 miles an hour. No one could travel that fast. Now the reason we have those kind of laws is that there are people who go that fast and place other people in danger by going that fast. Because people go too fast, laws are now on the books to slow you down.

o If there were no law, a sinner might have the idea that somehow salvation could spring forth from something in a man’s own heart.
o But the Law once given, shuts every mouth and brings the whole world guilty before God. The Law is like a mirror. It can show you that you have a dirty face, but it can do nothing to clean it up. The purpose of a mirror is to drive you to soap and water. The purpose of the Law is to drive you to Jesus Christ.

* The Law is a sword to slay man.
o The problem with the law is that the law can only accuse--it cannot deliver.
It can only point out sin--it cannot save us from sin.
It can only show us where we have failed--it cannot show us how to keep from failing.
It can only condemn--it has no power to save!

 For example, a man in the wilderness was found gathering up sticks to make a fire on the Sabbath Day. Now the Law had clearly said that making a fire on the Sabbath was forbidden. The Law demanded that Israel stone the man to death. The Law was established by the execution of the guilty for that is what the Law demanded.

Dr,. Harry Ironsides once told this story:

Some years ago, I had a little school for young Indian men and women, who came to my home in Oakland, California, from the various tribes in northern Arizona. One of these was a Navajo young man of unusually keen intelligence. One Sunday evening, he went with me to our young people's meeting. They were talking about the epistle to the Galatians, and the special subject was law and grace. They were not very clear about it, and finally one turned to the Indian and said, "I wonder whether our Indian friend has anything to say about this."

He rose to his feet and said,

"Well, my friends, I have been listening very carefully, because I am here to learn all I can in order to take it back to my people. I do not understand all that you are talking about, and I do not think you do yourselves. But concerning this law and grace business, let me see if I can make it clear. I think it is like this. When Mr. Ironside brought me from my home we took the longest railroad journey I ever took. We got out at Barstow, and there I saw the most beautiful railroad station and hotel I have ever seen. I walked all around and saw at one end a sign, 'Do not spit here.' I looked at that sign and then looked down at the ground and saw many had spitted there, and before I think what I am doing I have spitted myself. Isn't that strange when the sign say, 'Do not spit here'?

"I come to Oakland and go to the home of the lady who invited me to dinner today and I am in the nicest home I have been in. Such beautiful furniture and carpets, I hate to step on them. I sank into a comfortable chair, and the lady said, 'Now, John, you sit there while I go out and see whether the maid has dinner ready.' I look around at the beautiful pictures, at the grand piano, and I walk all around those rooms. I am looking for a sign; and the sign I am looking for is, 'Do not spit here,' but I look around those two beautiful drawing rooms, and cannot find a sign like this. I think 'What a pity when this is such a beautiful home to have people spitting all over it -- too bad they don't put up a sign!' So I look all over that carpet, but cannot find that anybody have spitted there. What a queer thing! Where the sign says, 'Do not spit,' a lot of people spitted. Where there was no sign at all, in that beautiful home, nobody spitted. Now I understand! That sign is law, but inside the home it is grace. They love their beautiful home, and they want to keep it clean. They do not need a sign to tell them so. I think that explains the law and grace business."

As he sat down, a murmur of approval went round the room and the leader exclaimed, "I think that is the best illustration of law and grace I have ever heard."
                
       
* The Law is established forever as a demonstration that God demanded its fulfillment to the last iota and exacted its extreme penalty from Christ Jesus.
o The Law of Faith establishes the Law of Moses by executing Christ in conformity with that Law. It had to be just as it had to be that the blood of the Passover lamb had to be placed on the door posts in Egypt for the death angel to Passover their homes and not take the life of the first born. It was the blood that makes it possible for God to pass over their sins.
o Jesus announced that he came to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). He paid the penalty for every man, woman or child who believes God.
Everything depends on the goodness of God and the grace which He has provided through the Lord Jesus Christ. By the shedding of his blood on the cross for us.
Now, lets go back to Abraham. He was an imperfect man. The Book of Genesis is clear about his failings. The wrong things he did in the sight of the Lord are clearly mentioned, and then there is the flat statement that he is saved, reckoned righteous, because he believed God. His faith is the basis and ground of his salvation.
Abraham was a man who had no claim whatsoever upon God, but when God came to him and made great promises to him about a son and about the land, Abraham simply believed God. And because he believed God, it was counted unto him as righteousness.
Donald Barnhouse tells the story of a man he was speaking with about his soul. As he spoke with the man, he just did not seem to understand the gospel. Finally, the man asked Barnhouse, “What does God want? Tell me, What does God want?”

Barnhouse’s response was, “God wants to be believed. More than anything else, God wants to be believed.”

God simply wants you to take Him at his word and believe what he says. Then God is completely satisfied and will declare you to be righteous. God wants to be believed.
God gives us as a gift what we could never provide for ourselves. What we could never attain we can obtain freely from God.

That is all that God demands of the sinner. Believe Him, believe His word, and He puts down on our account righteousness…even in that moment when we are as imperfect and ungodly as Abraham was when he believed God.
God spoke directly to Abraham.

How does God speak to us today? Well, certainly by the Scriptures. The Bible makes it clear that it is not men who were inspired, but that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. Believe it.

What does God want?  He wants us to believe Him.

He wants us to believe what he has told us in the pages of that book, about himself, about ourselves, about the world we live in and about how we can have life in Jesus Christ.
When we believe righteousness gets credited to our account. And we receive forgiveness, and life.

We are often worried about permissiveness--about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness. . .While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn't. He wasn't afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He's angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue--that music, dancing, and a fatted calf are, in effect , just so many permissions to break the law.

And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: "Cut that out! We're not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he's alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping. 

One last thought seems to be in order here:  If what I have said is true…that God simply wants us to believe him, then we need to understand that God loves us just the way we are. He may not like what we are, but he loves us just as we are.

That is how he came to Abraham before Abraham got his life cleaned up. He loved Abraham and sought him out and called him. Abraham began a life of progressive obedience and faith.

He simply believed God and the result was that he was saved, forgiven and counted as righteous before God.

That is what takes place in our lives too, when we simply believe God.

--Dennis Gleason