Righteousness by Faith

Today's reading is from Genesis fifteen, verses one to six.

It says, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.

Your reward will be very great.

But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me?

For I continue childless in the heir of my house as Eliezer of Damascus.

And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, This man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir.

And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.

Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

My name is James Rathman.

I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver.

Thanks for making it out in the frigid cold.

This is crazy cold.

And uh also happy Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day Valentine.

Yep.

I don't really know what that means, um, but happy Valentine's Day.

Uh, my wife bought me this red shirt to wear.

So that's what Valentine's Day means to me.

Uh we are uh continuing through our series in Genesis, uh, but I also want to uh open up an opportunity for you to reach out to connect with our church.

A great way to do that is to email info redemption info at redemptiondenver.com.

And uh we'd love to connect with you, get a cup of coffee, get to know you, um, and uh explain a bit about what our church is.

It's also a great way to start the path towards church membership, which is an important feature.

Okay, let's pray, and then we'll get into the text for today.

Father, we thank you for bringing us all together to speak uh a creed that's been passed down through the ages to remind us of our unity in Christ.

Lord, we pray that today, as we look at a text that is so central to our faith about how uh our faith relates to our righteousness, Lord, I pray that you would give us uh a clarity that only the Holy Spirit could provide of the free offer of salvation that you give to us.

Lord, let us see that in your text today.

We pray that you would move in the hearts of the people in this room, Lord, even that we might see people come to know you and become Christians, Lord, by their faith in you.

We lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So as we've been looking over the story of Abraham, we've seen that all of the drama of the story has to do with the promise that God has made to Abraham.

And there's this question over and over again, is Abraham going to be faithful to the promise?

And this question which is related to it, is God actually being faithful to his promise?

Will God follow through on the promise that he has made?

This is the question.

And it's answered through this story of the drama of Abram's life.

Now, last week we saw that the pressure came in the form of an opportunity for wealth and ambition.

Abram was given the opportunity to receive prematurely this sort of worldly kingship as the king of Sodom comes to him and offers that he keep all the things that he gained from the war that Abram had justly led.

And this would form a sort of alliance between Abram and the king of Sodom, and we would see that Abram would become a king just like any other king.

But that's not the promise that God has for Abram.

The promise that God has is that God will make him king.

God will be the one who provides him with offspring and an heir.

God is the one who blesses him.

And so, with his heart strengthened by the presence of this pre of this priest and king named Melchizedek, he is able to withstand the temptation towards worldly ambition.

And instead of gaining unjustly, he actually makes a sacrifice of worship, a gift of 10% to this Prince of Peace, Melchizedek.

But what happens when he does that is now Abram has, in a sense, stepped into the world of kings.

He is no longer uh, you know, Switzerland in this story.

He's picked sides, and he's waged a war against one of the most powerful uh kingdoms in that area, Chedor Laamar.

And they uh and he's denied be becoming allies with any of the other kings, which means that Abram is now more vulnerable than ever.

In his decision to follow the Lord, he has placed himself back into the homeless condition that he was previously in.

He has placed himself out of alliance with any of the other kings around him, and he is extremely vulnerable in his position in the land of Canaan.

Now, I think a lot of times we think, you know what, life would be so much simpler if I were like one of these Bible characters.

Like, can't God just come to me in a dream like every like five to six years?

And then he'll just like reiterate like, hey, don't forget, here's the plan for your life.

You're I'm gonna give you offspring, and you're the whole world's gonna be blessed through you.

So just stay faithful to me.

Be like, that'd be a nice help, right?

Maybe that would make our lives less complicated, and we would be less inclined to think, I've got this ambiguous purpose from the Lord that I can't seem to discern.

But then you look at the Bible and you study what the lives of what the life of someone like Abram was like, and you're clearly shown it's just as complicated.

What was Abram's life like in his faithfulness to the Lord?

It's like yours.

It's complicated.

He goes back and forth and is full of questions of whether the Lord is being faithful to him or not.

Uh, we see in a situation like this, in his obedience to the Lord, what he receives is more and deeper vulnerability in the situation that he's in, rather than what we might expect, which is you're faithful to the Lord and then things just keep going well for you.

Like I always think of that Gatsby quote: My life has got to be like this.

It's gotta keep going up.

Uh, that's a uh movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the great Gatsby.

Uh they uh, or Robert Redford, depending on your age.

They uh uh but we are um sorry, I distracted myself completely.

Uh my life has got to my life has got to keep going up, and we think that's what our faith should be like.

Just from strength to strength to strength.

We look at a life like Abram's and we realize our faith, our lives are full of complexity.

Abram's life is like yours.

But what we see Abram do is keep moving.

How does he keep moving?

He keeps moving in faith.

We're going to see today that the center of Abram's strength is that he moves in faith.

It's the faith that he has in the Lord's promises, which allows him to continue moving in obedience, even when we see that it just makes him more vulnerable.

So today we're going to see how faith is the central component in our faith.

Faith is the essential ingredient in how we live our lives and how we relate to the Lord.

It all comes down to faith.

So we're going to see in this passage this just initial goodness of the Lord that he offers to Abraham.

Then we're going to see Abraham, or Abram, he's not Abraham yet, he will be.

Spoiler alert.

Abram will press in to see the specificity of the promise that God had given him.

So Abram strengthens his faith by questioning the outcomes that he's already received.

And then finally, we're going to see what does it mean that Abram is declared righteous by his faith.

So, first, let's look at this goodness of the Lord.

Genesis 15:1, it says, After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

Genesis 15:1

Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.

Now remember the situation I just described.

It says, after these things, those things are Abram denying an alliance with another king and stepping back into this vulnerable position of only being allied with God, only depending on God for his protection.

And this is at night.

How many of you get anxious at night?

Oh, really?

You just you can't make facial expressions with the bottom half of your face, but you can raise your hand.

Seriously, how many of you nighttime is your for me?

It's morning.

Morning's tough for me.

But any of you nighttime?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, and one all the time.

There we go.

It's my sister.

Same DNA.

Um so it this is Abram has stepped into this night where he's made this decision to just embrace the vulnerability of what it means to follow the Lord.

And he must have been deeply afraid, deeply nervous.

What have I done?

I had an opportunity to have clear safety with an alliance with the king of Sodom.

And I denied it.

Was I a fool?

Is this an absurd thing that I'm doing?

But we see God step directly into that, directly into the anxious fear that Abram would have been in.

And he says, Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.

He comes right next to him and he says, Don't be afraid.

I know that you just denied the clearest shield that possibly could have been offered after a war, which is an alliance.

But you don't need that.

That alliance wouldn't have been your shield.

Your shield is me.

God is your shield.

And then he lifts his eyes to the future and he says, Your reward will be great.

Look, you it might have looked like you just said no to receiving a great reward from the king of Sodom, but trust me, God says, your reward will be very great.

What we see here is just the heart of God towards his people.

It is so common, it is typical of God that when he takes his people through a difficult situation, even individuals that go through a very difficult situation, a hard whatever it may be in your life, that he comes to them and he offers specific comfort so that you might keep going.

Abram is in that type of situation where he is saying life has gotten so complicated, I'm more vulnerable than ever, even in his faithfulness, and God comes in and he offers specific, real comfort.

Looking over my life, I've seen this and experienced it so deeply, just in the pattern of how God has brought me.

After a hard conversation, I'll receive a phone call from an old friend.

Or after, you know, I'm a pastor, so all I have is hard conversations.

Not like, I don't know, hard other things.

Hard what one of you is like engineers diesel engines.

So after I've had a hard time engineering diesel engines, how you could experience that.

But uh God comes to you and he offers this comfort.

Now, look at how typical this is.

In Acts 23, Paul is about to be torn apart by a group of Pharisees that just become a mob towards him, an angry mob towards him, as he's proclaiming Christ.

And he barely makes it out with his life.

And Paul's got to walk out and think, like, this has just gotten absurd.

All anywhere I go, all I do is cause strife, and it's terrible, and I'm barely making it out with my life anywhere that I go.

And God comes to him in that moment and he says, Take courage.

You're going to proclaim what you proclaimed here in Rome.

And he's given that courage.

In John 9, Jesus heals a man who was born blind.

And when that man who was born blind received back his sight, he goes into the synagogue and he proclaims that Jesus healed him.

And when he proclaims Jesus heals him, he causes an uproar and people are mad at him and saying, you know, you shouldn't be proclaiming Christ.

And he gets cast out of the synagogue.

Jesus hears that the man born blind was cast out of the synagogue and he goes and finds him and just encourages his heart.

Do you see this pattern of God?

Even Jesus himself, after his 40 days of being tempted in the desert, what follows immediately?

God sends angels to minister to him.

Or Elijah, after his great success in ministry, and then the one final death threat that he receives, where he's like, I just can't take this anymore.

And he has an actual nervous breakdown because of the pressure that he's under.

And God sends an angel to give him a meal and a nap.

This is the character of God toward his people.

Look, life is hard.

Seasons of life are very hard.

God offers his care through those things.

Have eyes to see it.

Have eyes to praise him for it.

God didn't come in and say, Look, I've, you know what, let's just take care of this today.

I'll make you a king right now.

Here's your offspring, here's the land.

Congratulations, everybody.

You get your own vine and fig tree.

You get your own vine and fig tree.

Instead, he says, Abraham, I'm with you.

Abraham, uh, I'm your shield.

Don't forget that.

Look up.

Your reward is gonna be really good.

I know it feels like you just walked away from something that was immediate and better, but your reward's gonna be good.

God will provide you with what you need to keep going.

If you're on a long journey, if you're in a hard place, He will care for your soul through it.

This is not out of character for God, this is typical of God.

It's what he's like.

If you take notes, write that down.

All right.

Now Abram hears this promise of God, and it drives him towards a deeper question.

Listen to Abram's question when he hears this promise of God.

Genesis 15, 2 through 3.

But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me?

For I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.

Now, we hear that, and I and I think what our minds go to is, Abram, come on, you just went through this hard thing.

God comes to you and says, Don't fear, I'm with you.

Your reward's gonna be great, we've got this.

Uh, and the first thing you say is, Yeah, but come on, where's my child?

Where's the offspring that you promised me?

Does this seem like faith on Abraham's part or lack of faith?

Yeah, it seems like lack of faith.

All right, here's why I think it's actually a demonstration of Abram's faith.

What he feels confident pressing into with God is the specificity of God's promise towards him.

You aren't frustrated by God not providing you exactly what he said he would, unless you think that he is worth trusting and that he will follow through on his promises.

What we're seeing in Abram's heart here is that Abram has so identified with the promises of God that he has made them his heart's desire.

And in making the promise, the promises of God his own heart's desire, even when God offers this immediate comfort, yes, it's received as a good thing by Abram, but it also inspires his confidence to come before the Lord and say, But Lord, where is the thing that you've promised me?

I look at my household and there's no heir.

This great servant that I have, Eliezer of Damascus, but he's not, he's of Damascus.

See, this is not someone of my household.

And he might even be thinking, the promise was an heir.

God, does that mean that it's just going to be someone from my household, one of my servants?

Was this like, you know, there was some clause buried in the covenant where this wasn't actually going to be my son, not one of my true offspring that you gave me, but is there some sort of ploy that's going on here?

I think that's the shape of doubt that is creeping in for Abram.

So Abram presses into that specificity.

And what we see in that pressing in is a thing like this Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

That's what's taking place in Abram's heart here.

And so listen to the answer that he receives from the Lord in Genesis 15, 4.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him.

This man shall not be your heir.

Your very own son shall be your heir.

This is where, this is one of those situations where the King James Version version just has it.

It says, Out of thine own bowels will be your heir.

Look, what is the heart of the doubt?

Lord, this promise, I thought it would be specific, and I thought you really were promising me a son.

Perhaps there was some strange way where that's not actually going to be the case.

You're you're less good than I thought you were.

The promise is slightly worse than I thought it would be.

God speaks directly to that.

Do you see how Abram says, I believe, help my unbelief?

And the Lord steps directly into the specificity of where his doubt is, and he heals and rests right there, right where his doubt was, he strengthens him with belief.

Now, many of us are living in a state of a constant questioning of God, a constant doubting of God.

And we wonder, why is this never resolving in faith?

In the way that we see the question of Abram resolving in faith.

Well, the reason that Abram's question resolves in faith is because it begins in faith.

The way that our doubts become stronger faith is when those doubts are grounded in faith.

The story of Christianity, of what it means to be a Christian, is from faith to faith.

It starts in faith and it grows in faith.

Now I know what you're thinking.

James, you're just talking in circles.

Because it how am I supposed to believe in something that I haven't believed in yet?

How am I supposed to have faith and then have that faith grow when I can't say that I believe in that thing yet?

And I know that this sounds like I'm just talking in circles, but listen, I'm not talking in circles.

I am acknowledging the reality of faith as the foundation.

Starting point for any understanding of God, and therefore the foundational starting point of any understanding of anything.

All human knowledge and understanding always begins in faith.

All human knowledge and understanding always begins in faith.

And that's because we are designed as creatures who are meant to find the grounding of our understanding in our faith in God.

If you go on a walk through the neighborhood that I live in, about every fifth house, uh there's a yard sign.

I don't know where people get these.

I must have missed the place where they were uh being handed out.

But uh it says, in this house we believe.

And there's a there's a creed on it.

It's like a secular creed.

We're not the only ones that like creeds, you know?

Everybody likes creeds, they just don't admit it.

Uh and do you do y'all know the signs that I'm talking about?

In this house we believe, and what is it?

We believe science is real water's life.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah, so okay, so we've all seen the signs.

Best marketing campaign ever.

I mean, I don't know how they're just that sign company is crushing it.

Um so this is what I the one that I want to pick on today is uh in this house we believe science is real.

First of all, I just love that sentence.

Uh there's a um, but there's there's a lot underpinning that phrase.

In this house, we believe science is real.

Okay, so what I'm trying to demonstrate is that beneath all understanding, there is faith.

All understanding starts with faith.

Okay, so many of us think that science is the type of category that is outside of faith claims.

We think that science is this thing that stands apart from what we're doing in here this morning, which is a religious activity full of faith claims, but science stands outside of that.

Science allows us to do a phrase that became the phrase of 2020, follow the science, which just means that there's a reality out there, and you can simply look at that reality in an objective way, and then it will inform you with what you should do, how you should be, how you should act, simply by responding objectively to the reality that is out there.

And the method that we use to do that we call science.

But if you look at the way that science must be done, you realize that every act of science must begin with an act of faith.

In order for your knowledge to grow in this paradigm of science, you first must have faith, then there's questioning and doubt, and then your faith is rewarded through the method.

See, this is the normal way that we work as humans.

Consider, let me provide some examples.

So uh Aristotle is considered like the first scientist, and he wrote Aristotle's Physics.

Uh, I don't think he called it Aristotle's Physics, but he just called it physics.

And he uh uh he here's the question that he's asking what's happening when I drop that and it falls to the ground?

There's the data, right?

I let go of it and it fell to the ground.

Aristotle had a view of the world, which said that all of reality is pulled towards its purpose, towards its final ultimate purpose.

And he also had a view of the world which said things are made of essences.

And there's there's four essences.

Uh can you name them?

I'll give you uh fire.

Yeah, exactly.

Earth, wind, fire.

And water.

Yeah.

Uh and then the fifth essence, the quintessence, it's where we get that phrase quintessence.

Uh it's what's in the stars, they're eternal.

Uh, which is where we get the movie The Fifth Element, which is a great French Noir futurist movie with Bruce Willis.

And so when I drop this, what's happening is this is made of earth like substances.

It's pulled by its essence towards the category to which it belongs on the earth.

Now, that paradigm, that faith claim, explains the data.

But you see that he begins with faith assumptions in order to explain the data.

Another example, Newton.

Newton thinks is explaining the same thing.

What's going on here?

But he doesn't think that things are pulled towards a future.

He thinks that things are pushed towards the past by things like cause and effect.

And they're acted on by certain forces in the present.

So what is the world mostly like?

It's like an empty container that has objects inside of it.

And those objects interact with each other based on the forces that take place upon them.

So I let go of this and it falls.

Well, a force is acting on it.

And that force is gravity.

And so gravity pulls it down.

Now, that paradigm perfectly explains the data.

Now, here's the data, right?

Aristotle standing here, Newton standing here, we both see this.

And we say, just follow the data.

They'd both say, I am.

I am following the data.

But you see how the data changes based upon the paradigm that is brought to it.

The ability to interpret the data depends on the initial faith claim that is made about the nature of reality.

After Newton, we get Einstein.

And he says, Well, what happens to the ball when I throw it forward at the speed of light?

Well, we're not in an uh empty container anymore.

Now we're in a place where space-time itself can bend, and the constant is light.

See, these are very different understandings of the raw data, and they depend upon the faith claims that we are bringing to them.

So, my point in this brief history of the philosophy of science, is that there's no such thing as uninterpreted data.

There's no such thing.

You're always beginning with a faith claim in order to understand the reality which you are in.

So when I say that Abraham's faith leads to more faith, you will see that that is the only way it can be.

Because the true example of knowing anything, the true example of knowledge in the human heart and in human understanding is not just knowing things or facts about reality, it's knowing God.

That's what all other knowledge is based upon.

And we'll see that as the story goes on, knowing God is not like knowing the explanation for why a ball or something would really fall to the ground when it's dropped.

It's like knowing a person.

This is where the difference comes in.

This is why it's a far more essential type of knowledge, a far more essential type of faith to know God.

It's knowing a person.

And you can see that in the way that God responds to Abram.

Genesis 15, 5.

After God has already said, Behold, this man shall not be your heir, your heir shall be your very own son.

He gives him the promise again.

But after that, you see, this is Abram is not just learning a new piece of data, he's learning the heart of God, which is personal.

And so God does this in Genesis 15, 5, and he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them.

Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.

Do you see how personal God relates to Abram?

How personally?

He says, Yes, I see your doubt here, and I will fill it in with, I will take your faith that you've given to me, and I will grow it with the particulars of the promise, but then I will grow it in your heart as I say, walk outside of your tent with me, Abram, and look up at the stars.

If you can count them, then you'll know what your offspring will be like.

My promises to you are as glorious and as certain as the stars in the heavens.

And he understands what the human heart is like.

We don't just know things by hearing them once, we also know things by being brought into a relational explanation of them so that Abram can then walk outside and see those stars are certainly there.

They shine bright and glorious, and they're innumerable.

Such are God's promises to me, and there his faith really grows.

The last time that Abram was promised something similar to this, he was told, Abram, if you can count the dust of the earth, that's what your offspring will be like.

Do you see how God is wrapping Abram in a world of faith in God?

Abram walks outside and he kicks up the dust of the earth and he's looking down at his feet.

And when he looks down at his feet, he says, The dust of the earth is innumerable.

So glorious is God's promise to me.

And then he looks up into the sky and he sees the stars shining down at him, and he says, They are innumerable and certain.

Such is God's promise to me.

Everywhere Abram looks, he is surrounded by the most fundamental aspect of reality, which is the word of God that upholds it.

When we understand that all of existence is upheld by the Word of God, then we begin to realize that only by faith can we know anything.

Only by trusting what God has said to us about the world that He made.

Sorry, time's up.

Your next breakout session is gonna be in the I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you.

And you'll see that uh only by faith are we able to know anything.

It all we live in a world that really is created by God.

And when you live in a world that really is created by God, it's only by faith that you're able to see the reality that you're in.

See how God takes just this little smidge of faith that Abram has.

This faith that says, this is great, but where is the I still don't have a son, so are you really trustworthy?

Like I believe you, but are you really trustworthy?

And God surrounds him with a world that's grounded in his promises.

This is Abram's response.

Genesis 15, six.

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Abram believed what the Lord said to him.

And God says, Because you believed me, you're righteous.

Now, what are some things that we've seen Abram do so far?

He left his house, that was good.

But when things got messy in Canaan, he fled to Egypt.

And when he fled to Egypt, he lied about his wife, and he he basically said, like, hey wife, no matter what harm I put you in, uh as long as it protects me, that's gonna be okay.

And then he profited unjustly from that decision.

There's a sense in which we could say Abram has prostituted his own wife for his own safety.

He believes God's promise, and God says, Abram, you're righteous.

Now God can't tell a lie.

So what's happening here?

You know, our problem, the problem of scripture, summed up, Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What does that look like?

We constantly seek to exist in ways that deny the reality of God.

We seek to craft stories that make God unnecessary for the explanation of our existence, and we seek to craft moral codes which make the commands of the Lord look archaic and wrong.

We're always trying to create a world where we don't need God, but instead we can stand as judge over him in what he has said.

This is what our sin does in our hearts.

It causes us to look down at the ground and say it's just dust and to look up at the stars and say they're just giant flaming balls of gas.

That is what sin does in our hearts.

And we are all corrupted in that way.

And yet, God is able to look at his servant Abram and say, Because you believed me, you are righteous.

You are not counted as a sinner.

You are counted as righteous.

You are not cursed by my goodness, doomed into an eternity, with which is the one that you've created for yourself, which is the one that doesn't need me and is without me, that enjoys the silence of God.

But Abram, since you believed me, I count you as righteous.

Listen to the way that Paul in his letter to the Romans interprets this very verse.

In Romans 4, verses 3 through 5, Paul asks, for what does the scripture say?

Romans 4:3–5

And you guys all know the answer to this question now.

Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Listen to this verse, because I I bet you don't believe me.

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

How is God able to look at Abram and say you're righteous?

It's because he's looking forward to the fulfillment of the very promise that he made to Abram, which is that one day his offspring would be a blessing to the whole world.

And that offspring was Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the very Son of God Himself, who went and lived a perfect life on our behalf, perfectly righteous, but then was punished like a criminal and a sinner on the cross and died.

But because he was sinless, he could not be held down by death.

And so he was resurrected on the third day.

Now, what does that mean for us?

It means that in Christ our sin is atoned for, and that in the righteous life of Christ, God is able to look at us and say, You are righteous.

And what does it take to receive that righteousness?

You simply believe him.

When Jesus says, My righteousness that I have lived, I give to you.

The death which I have died, I take from you.

All you need to do is believe him, and that becomes true of you.

Our faith is completely free.

What does it mean to be righteous before the Lord?

It means that when we look to Christ and we say, Christ saved me, then He saved you.

It means that when we look at Christ's life and say, God will treat me as though I lived that righteously.

That is the way that God will treat me, treat me as though I lived with Christ's level of righteousness.

When we have faith in that promise, we receive that promise.

Our faith in Jesus is the mechanism that God uses to give us Jesus' righteousness.

What does it mean to have Jesus' righteousness?

What does it mean?

How does Jesus relate to the Father?

Well, they are one.

Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in him.

Jesus says, I and the Father are one.

What does it mean for us to relate to Jesus by faith?

Jesus says, You are in me.

He is the vine.

We are the branches.

We abide in him and we receive his life.

All of the rewards, all of the benefits.

The King of glory and God might look at us by faith alone in all of your sin, all of your messed upness, all of the complexity and chaos and disaster of what your life is right now, even right now.

By faith alone, you might hear the words.

This is my beloved son, with whom I'm well pleased.

How could he say that and that be true of people like us?

He accomplished it.

God did it in Christ.

I know at least one of you is an aeronautical engineer.

I don't know why I'm talking about particular engineers this morning, but and so this won't apply.

This analogy just won't apply to you.

But for the rest of us, uh imagine being nervous about getting on a plane.

You say, I'm not gonna get on the plane until I understand how the plane works.

And I need to know exactly how this piece connects to that piece, and I need to understand the way that the you know, pitch and yaw.

I don't really know.

I just like those words.

Uh like, you know, and how like the shape of the wing creates pressure zones, whatever.

And then once I understand all of that, then I'll feel comfortable enough for the plane to fly.

Many of us uh are treating Christianity like that.

Saying, like, look, I'm not gonna get in because I don't know everything yet.

Once I know everything, then I'll be able to get in.

And Jesus is saying, like, look, just get on the plane, see how it goes up in the sky.

And once you go for a ride, I promise you, you'll be convinced the sucker can fly.

You know, what type of faith do you need?

You just need to get in and fly a little bit.

And I think you'll start to grasp it.

Oh, but it's so much better than that.

Because what do we know?

We know that God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

We know that he who didn't spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

We know the heart of God has been revealed to us on the cross.

We know that there are no lengths that he won't go to to demonstrate his love towards us.

That is who I'm asking you to put your faith in.

What other information do you need to know?

You can figure it out.

He'll show you on the way.

He did for Abraham.

He'll show you as well.

What I'm saying is come to him in faith.

Begin to say a sentence like this.

Jesus, I trust you for my salvation.

Begin to trust him for your salvation.

That is all it is to be a Christian.

That's it.

Okay, let's see if there are any questions.

What kind of spiritual disciplines are helpful in increasing our faith?

Well, a friend of mine says there's two ways that we mature in our faith: prayer and pain.

And no one prays enough.

I think that one of the best ways that you can grow in your faith, this is going to sound self-promoting.

Commit to coming to church each Sunday, hearing the word proclaimed, speaking about it with your friends, and worshiping the Lord.

Another thing that you can do, read the Bible and learn to ask questions of it.

You know, the Bible is an incredibly intimidating book to begin in.

Where do I begin?

I feel like there's a story that I just don't understand here.

I feel like I'm always jumping in in the middle.

It can be really intimidating.

My encouragement is stick with it.

Stick with it.

Because God begins to show you the shape of his love and his character and how he interacts.

And God is not intuitive.

Our intuition is that when we disappoint God, he flees from us.

What the Bible teaches us is that when we disappoint God, he rushes into us even more closely.

See, that's not intuitive.

You need to see that over and over again in the stories of the characters' lives in Scripture.

So don't be intimidated.

Do you know how long you have to understand the Bible?

Your whole life.

So start today.

Begin that journey today.

And then while you're reading the scriptures, learn to respond to God in prayer.

Just as Abram was able to look down at the dust of the earth and see the promises of God.

And then he was able to look up at the stars in the sky and see the promises of God and realize I'm surrounded by a world that is upheld by his promises.

In prayer, we make that possible in all the details of our lives, where we make them holy and we make them a place that God is directly interacting with in our prayer.

So that we're given the eyes to see.

There is not a space in my life that Jesus is not Lord.

So the spiritual disciplines, come to church, sing, listen to the word, read your Bible and pray.

Start with those.

Start with those.

If you want to get into reading your Bible, you can download the redemptionchurchdenver.com.

Excuse me, not.com.

The Redemption Church Denver app in an app store of your choice.

There's a Bible reading plan in there.

Are any of you doing that right now?

Raise your hand if that's yeah, yeah, several.

Have you found that beneficial?

Yeah, one person.

Great.

So we're uh and then pray.

Pray over your life.

Those spiritual disciplines, and listen to how personal and relational those are.

You hear from God in his word, you speak to him in your prayers.

You aren't getting to know a principle like gravity.

You're getting to know a person, the one who upholds gravity.

Or whatever metaphor we switch to in another 50 years.

You can tell I don't have much confidence in the science being.

It's a let's just say it's a developing story.

Okay.

If there's someone out there who's thinking about becoming a Christian, just do it today.

Liz will be up here, she'll pray with you.

She's a great prayer.

She's got an awesome accent.

Oh, let's just make this thing happen.

Let's pray.

That's about as alter-cally as I've ever been.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life in peace.

Holy Father, let us take those words as true.

In our hearts, let us be a church that believes you.

Lord, you say that to know you we need to be holy.

Praise you, God, for making us holy.

Let us worship you.

In Jesus' name, amen.