SYC 2015: Justified

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Southern Youth Conference

Chester Clark

Father Abraham

This morning we're going to be looking at Father Abraham.

So I appreciate the song that we started off with today.

And when I was a kid I sang this song and you know all the the marching and nodding and turning around and it just seems a little bit silly, right?

We don't always think much about what it means for us to be saying Father Abraham.

And yet, that's what we're going to be looking at today.

Last night we looked at Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, we explored the therefore, right?

What the therefore was there for and why Abraham was pointing us, or sorry, Paul was pointing us back to the experience of Abraham.

How Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

We remember that therefore is a connecting word.

It means consequently or so or hence or thus, accordingly, for that reason.

And so As we begin Romans chapter 5, he's pointing us back there to Romans chapter 4.

And we looked through how Paul is using this illustration of Abraham's belief.

Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness.

And so when we think about this, I want us to especially look at 1 verse here today.

I want us to notice that in Romans chapter 4, there's a couple of verses actually.

In Romans chapter 4, Abraham is called a father in more than 1 sense.

Abraham is called here in Romans chapter 4 and verses 17 and 18, he is called the father of many nations.

That phrase is used twice, the father of many nations.

And of course we understand that out of Abraham we do have many nations today, don't we?

In fact, in some ways it's a little problematic.

The descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac don't get along very well, do they?

And so we have this stress in the Middle East.

But nonetheless, the promise is that Abraham would be the father of many nations.

I'm going to propose that in this sense, in these verses, Paul is suggesting, or God is suggesting, that Abraham would be literally the father of many nations.

He would have descendants from many different countries.

He would be the ancestor of many nations.

We notice in verse 11 that he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that..." What does it say?

"...all them that believe." So, here in Romans chapter 4, there are 2 senses in which we have Father Abraham.

1 is Father Abraham, the father of many nations.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't know that I can say that he's literally my ancestor.

I don't know that I can say I descended from Father Abraham.

I'm not aware that I have any Jewish or Middle Eastern bloodlines in me.

I don't know exactly what my, all my background, I'm American, you know, that's the problem.

But the Bible here says that even if you're not a descendant of Abraham, you can still be a descendant of Abraham.

Because he says, I will make you the father, or because of your faith and because you believed so fully persuaded that God was able to do what he promised to do, I will make you the father of all those who believe.

Now all of us can fit in that category, amen?

So we're talking here in verse 11 not about physical ancestry, but about spiritual ancestry.

In other words, we have the opportunity of having Abraham as our father, even if Abraham's not our father, even if he's not our literal ancestor.

Spiritual ancestry is what this verse is talking about.

Now let's talk a little bit about spiritual ancestry.

I have a few verses I want to look at very quickly.

And we're going to look at the life of Father Abraham, because we want to understand from his life what we should be living.

All the gospels, of course, are powerful.

Most of the book of John is actually over the last couple weeks of Jesus' life.

And you remember John chapter 6, he gave that sermon about the flesh and blood, eating the flesh and blood, and He said to His followers, you're following Me not because you want to hear the words of truth, but because you like the bread we had yesterday, you know.

And in John chapter 6 and verse 66, very interesting, 666, right?

The Bible says that many of his disciples turned and left him and followed him no more.

They couldn't handle the words that Jesus was speaking.

Well, in John chapter 8, we actually have another 1 of these testing presentations by Jesus, where Jesus, you know, sometimes I get really convicted.

I think, what kind of a pastor would the devil be?

And sometimes I'm tempted to think, you know, I think the devil would be a pretty good pastor.

I'm guessing a whole bunch of people would want to go to his church.

But what kind of a pastor would Jesus be?

I noticed a couple of times in the book of John, Jesus actually sort of weeds them out, you know?

He tells them things they don't want to hear.

In John chapter 8, It seems like something similar is happening.

I want us to notice John chapter 8, and we're going to just start reading about verse 31.

It says, Then said Jesus to those Jews which...

So were these the Jews that didn't like Jesus or were they the Jews that did like Jesus?

Evidently, I mean that's what the Bible says.

But Jesus is about to say some things to them that they don't like to hear.

These are the Jews that are following Jesus.

But when Jesus says these things to them, they start having a little bit of trouble with Jesus.

Notice with me, he says in Verse 31, verse 32, actually verse 31, we'll continue the rest of it.

If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

He's like, look, this is how you're going to know if you're really a follower of me.

If you don't just get discouraged very easily and you're very fervent and memorizing it S.Y.C.

But the rest of the year you forget about the Bible.

Because sometimes we get really excited about something, right?

We want to be a part of something big and something exciting.

But Jesus says, if you'll continue, then you're my disciples indeed.

You'll know the truth and truth will set you free.

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Father Abraham

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