THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From Abraham to Joseph
Message One
Abraham (1)
Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:6-9; Rom. 4:1-3, 12; 12:3; Acts 7:2; Gen. 12:1-3, 7-8; 15:5-6; Heb. 11:8-10; Gal. 3:7; 1 Tim. 1:4
I. As believers in Christ, we are repeating the history of Abraham; the Christian life is the life that Abraham lived—Gal. 3:6-9; Rom. 4:12: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
A. For Abraham to live and walk by faith means that he had to reject himself, to set himself aside, to forget himself, and to live by Someone else—Gal. 2:20. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
B. Abraham’s life of faith is presently being repeated among us; the church life today is the harvest of the life and history of Abraham—Rom. 4:12. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
C. An Abraham is a person who has been called out, who no longer lives and walks by himself, and who forsakes and forgets everything he has by nature—Gen. 12:1-3. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
D. The way God worked on Abraham is the way He works on all the believers in Christ—Rom. 4:12. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
E. The God of Abraham is the God of human friendship; God conversed with Abraham as a human friend—2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23; Gen. 18:17. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
F. The experience of Abraham signifies the experience of God the Father in His calling us, justifying us, and equipping us to live by faith and to live in fellowship with Him—2 Tim. 3:17. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
II. Abraham obeyed God’s calling by faith—Heb. 11:8; Rom. 4:1, 12; Gal. 3:7: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
A. God appeared to Abraham to call him out of his fallen condition and to bring him back to Himself as the tree of life—Acts 7:2; Gen. 12:1-3. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
B. When Abraham was called by God, he went out by faith, not knowing where he was going—Heb. 11:8. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
C. Abraham’s faith did not originate with himself; rather, his believing in God was a reaction to the transfusion of God’s element into his being—Acts 7:2. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
III. Abraham was justified by faith—Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:2-3: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
A. Abraham’s believing was the springing up within him of the element that God had transfused into him—v. 3. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
B. God’s reaction to Abraham’s believing was to justify him, that is, to account him as righteous—Gen. 15:6. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
C. For God to justify Abraham meant that God was happy with Abraham and that Abraham was in harmony with God. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
IV. Abraham lived by faith, living the life of the altar and the tent—Heb. 11:9; Gen. 12:7-8: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
A. In order to live by faith, we must first build an altar, signifying that our life on earth is for God, and then pitch a tent, indicating that we do not belong to the world. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
B. By living the life of the altar and the tent, Abraham testified that he was sojourning by faith, as in a foreign land, longing after a better country—the new heaven and new earth—and eagerly awaiting for the city whose Architect and Builder is God—the New Jerusalem—Heb. 11:9-10, 16: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
1. The excellent and lovely New Jerusalem is the dear expectation of God’s elect and the destination, the goal, of the heavenly pilgrims—vv. 13-16. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
2. Today we are sojourners, journeying on a rugged road toward our eternal goal—the New Jerusalem—1 Pet. 1:1, 17; 2:11. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
3. The New Jerusalem will be a tabernacle for the remembrance of how the overcomers, before the consummation of the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age, lived in tents as they were journeying toward the New Jerusalem—the eternal Mount Zion—Rev. 21:2-3. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
V. Faith is the unique way to carry out God’s New Testament economy— 1 Tim. 1:4: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
A. The believers in Christ are justified by faith and have life and live by faith—Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
B. Through faith in Christ Jesus we are brought into an organic union with Christ—Gal. 2:16: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
1. Faith creates a life union in which we and Christ are one—1 Cor. 6:17. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
2. Faith in Christ Jesus is related to our experience of Christ as the most precious One, who is infused into us and who becomes in us the faith by which we believe into Him—Gal. 2:20. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
C. In the Body “God has apportioned to each a measure of faith”—Rom. 12:3: (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
1. God first allotted faith to us in quality (2 Pet. 1:1), and then He apportioned it in quantity; how much faith we have depends upon God’s apportioning. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)
2. We should esteem ourselves according to the faith that God has apportioned to us, that is, according to the measure of God’s element that has been infused into us. (2000 FTTA-Fall, msg. 9)