December 20th

Abraham Believed God

Romans 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Romans 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

The Righteousness of Faith

There is a righteousness, or a right standing with God, that comes from believing, or, that is, by faith. This is the great message of the New Covenant, that we can receive forgiveness through the work of Jesus at Calvary, and not as the result of our own good works.

A New Concept

This would have been revolutionary thought in the religious world of Jesus’ day, as righteousness was measured among the Jews of that era by the ability of a person to keep the law of Moses. Yet the Jewish history presented in the Old Covenant had within itself examples of righteousness by faith.

God’s Promise to Abram

One of those examples was in the life of Abraham, who lived hundreds of years before the law of Moses was given. The LORD spoke to Abram, who was later named Abraham, and promised to do some things in his life that would have looked impossible to him at the time. Abram was an old man, trying to determine who would be the one to inherit his possessions, because he had no son to give it to. But God gave him a promise.

Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

The LORD told Abram that the number of his descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven, even though Abram and his wife were past the age of having children, and his wife had been barren all her life. But that did not stop Abram from believing the LORD.

Faith in God’s Promise

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

It was Abram’s faith in believing what God had promised him that the LORD credited to him as righteousness. Abram was made righteous before the LORD by believing what He said to him. That’s righteousness by faith.

The Struggle for Righteousness

Christians struggle with the idea of being righteous before the LORD, because often we don’t feel righteous. But it’s not the feeling of righteousness that makes us righteous before Him. It is believing in the work of Jesus at Calvary that makes us righteous before Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Believe the word of God today. Jesus was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We are made righteous before the LORD by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and not by our own good works, the Bible says, lest any man should be boast. Receive that righteousness by faith today.