The Example of Abraham, Part 3 (TMF:2024)

Thursday, February 09, 2023
Peace to Live By: The Example of Abraham, Part 3 (TMF:2024) - Daniel Litton
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       It was that Abraham’s faith, his belief in God, was shown to be real by his actions. It was his faith, his belief, that justified him. The action, though, of offering up Isaac to be sacrificed showed that his faith was real. We know that this action didn’t save Abraham because of the verse James cites in Genesis 15:6. This was before Isaac was even born that Abraham believed God that he would be. Therefore, it wasn’t the action at the makeshift alter that caused Abraham to become righteous. He was already righteous by the time this scene unfolds. It was belief in what God had said, not action, that made Abraham righteous. Let’s not miss that little plugin there in the verse where James notes that Abraham was called a friend of God. This is pretty important. God is our only true friend—friend that can be counted on one hundred percent of the time. A human friend can be counted on, and is oftentimes very trustworthy for us. There’s no guarantee, however.