The Faith Of AbrahamWhat is faith?We are told that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see and that it comes from hearing the Word. The Bible also says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:1, 6, Rom 10:17). So, in order to please God we must have faith in the unseen; we are called on to believe simply because the Word of God says so. It is very easy to say, “Yes, I have faith, I believe”, but the fact is these are just words. It is easy to impress others with words but God knows our heart and whether or not we truly believe. The real proof of our faith comes when it is put to the test.Abraham's faithAbraham was 75 when he obeyed God's command to leave his country and his people. He believed God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation and a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12) so he left his country behind in obedience to God.It took 25 years for Abraham to have a child though his wife Sarah but the Bible tells us that, despite this great period of time, Abraham's faith did not waver. Rom 4:18-22 tells us that “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed ... Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness”. Because he clung to his faith in God's promise of a son, Abraham was declared righteous.The greatest test of Abraham's faith was when God told him to sacrifice his son. In Gen. 22:2 we read where God told Abraham to "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about". I am sure that Abraham had a long night thinking over what he was told to do but early the next morning he set out for the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. In the same way that he did not waver through unbelief regarding the birth of his son, he did not waver in setting out to obey God's command to sacrifice Isaac. Once again Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised which was to make him into a great nation through his one and only son. We read in Heb. 11:19 that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death”. Once again Abraham faithfully obeyed because he believed that God would keep his promise.From these three examples of Abraham's faith we see that:1) In faith he left his country because he believed God's promise of making him into a great nation.2) In faith he believed that God would give them a son even though they were both well past it.3) In faith he was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he believed that God would resurrect his son.Abraham demonstrated his faith by acting on his belief, believing that God was able and would fulfil his promises. James 2:22 says that “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did”. God declared Abraham righteous because he lived out his faith. His faith went beyond head and heart to actions. God put Abraham to the test and he showed his great faith by unwaveringly doing what God commanded. For this reason, Abraham is called the father of all who believe by faith.Living out our faithEach person's faith is completely personal. No one can have faith for us. God deals with us individually as He works to increase our faith so that He can draw us closer and use us in His kingdom. God called Abraham His friend and used him mightily to establish the nation of Israel.We can see from Abraham's example that real faith is accompanied by actions, with the full assurance that God will do what Has promised. It is not likely that we will be tested to Abraham's extreme but our faith is being tested daily. For example, Jesus tells us not to worry but how many of us truly cast worry aside and trust God to get us through? We are more inclined to say, “I believe God will look after me”, and then continue on worrying or giving Him a hand to do what we 'believe' He will do for us.Have you refused God's call because you didn't feel capable? When Moses tried to get away from his call to lead Israel out of Egypt, God said, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exod. 4:11-12). God promises to equip us to handle whatever He calls us to do but we won't know that personally until we act on it. We will remain an arm-chair Christian until we step out in faith.Has God called you to leave everything behind and serve Him in some way or in some far off place but you lack the faith to take the step? Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). God promises to provide the needs of His servants but no one will ever realise the reality of that promise until they go.There are many ways in which God can use us and test our faith. It is our job to listen for His call and to respond in faith. The Bible tells us that God honours those who honour Him and that without faith we cannot please Him (1 Sam 2:30, Heb. 11:6) so let us be like Abraham and show our faith by our actions. Let us believe His Word.This article can be downloaded as a PDF from the Blog Articles group athttp://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.htmlMick AlexanderSee More

Many Christians believe that Paul lived his life as a struggling sinner and they use what he said in Romans 7 as an excuse to justify their sin. In Rom. 7:15, 19 Paul said, "... 15 what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do … 17 it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me ... 19 what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." These verses seem to say that Paul was continually overcome by his sinful nature. Because of this, some believers say that since the great Apostle Paul sinned all the time then they have no chance of stopping so they continue in sin. In this article, I would like to show that Paul was not a struggling sinner but an example for us all to follow.God sets Paul as an example for us to follow.If Paul was a habitual sinner then how could he say, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1)? Then in Phil 4:9 he said, "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice." These words of Paul's were inspired by the Holy Spirit so God Himself considers Paul to be a Christlike example for us to follow. God would not ask us to follow a struggling sinner therefore the belief that Paul struggled in sin is obviously wrong.The Holy Spirit rescues us from sin.The belief that Paul was a struggling sinner comes from not reading the rest of Romans 7 and on into chapter 8. If we read on we find that, through the Holy Spirit, Paul was delivered from his sinful nature. In Rom. 7:24-25 he said, "... Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" The words “rescue me” can be translated “set me free”, “release me” or “deliver me” so Paul is saying that Jesus rescued him and set him free from his sinful nature. As we read on, Paul tells us that through the Spirit a person can fully meet the righteous requirements of the law. Rom. 8:2, 4 say, "... 2 through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death ... 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." From these verses, we can see that after Paul initially spoke of his personal inability to resist his sinful nature, he went on to say that through the Spirit, through God's divine power, he was set free from his “body of death” and was able to fully meet God's righteous requirements. Fully meeting God's righteous requirements certainly does not include habitual sin so it is obvious that Paul did not struggle on as a helpless sinner. Rather, with the Divine help of the Holy Spirit, he overcome sin.Paul was a very holy man.Who among us would dare to say, "follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ"? I don't think any of us would say such a thing and this should lead us to realise that Paul was a very holy man. Because the Bible says that we should imitate him, we can be sure that God is not encouraging us to follow a struggling sinner but someone totally transformed by the Spirit. Paul didn't claim to be perfect (Phil. 3:12-14) but he pressed on toward perfection. He was not a weak sinner but a powerful Apostle, full of the Spirit, and God greatly honoured him by declaring him to be an example for us to follow.We have no excuse for remaining in sin.As we have seen, Paul was not a struggling sinner but an example for us to follow so he cannot be used as an excuse for our sin. To believers who say, "We are only human after all and can't help sinning", the question is, "What sin do you have that is too big for God to handle?" or "What sin do you have that is too big for Jesus to bear?" There is no doubt that in our own strength we cannot stop sinning but God's promise is that through His Divine power we can live a godly life and “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Pet. 1:3-4). God sends the Holy Spirit into our life so that we may become new creations, spiritually born again into new life. Titus 3:5 tells us that “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” and Gal. 5:16 gives us a promise: "live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature".The wages of sin is death, so we should not make excuses for our sin but rather submit ourselves to God because He “chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).This article can be downloaded as a PDF fromhttp://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/perseverance/paulthesinner.pdfMick Alexander See More